Create Multiple Income Streams for Security and Wealth
When I lost my job last year, my former employer didn’t have the means to pay me a severance. Not even close. Our family had emergency savings, but it was our multiple income streams that kept us afloat. Five years earlier, a job loss would have been much worse. But since I saved and invested […]
Life Without the Constraints of Time and Money
It’s summer break for our kids. They don’t have much to compare this summer to, but life is good. No school. No homework. No job. No workday calendar. No bills to pay. They had Lucky Charms cereal for dinner Saturday night. Parenting fail. This is the best dinner ever. – My 4-year-old daughter The marshmallows are way […]
32 Questions, Five Years in the Making
More than five years ago, I started reading an anonymous money blog called 1500 Days. The writer had a similar idea to mine, to escape the rat race early and stop working on his terms instead of what’s traditionally considered normal retirement age. Since the beginning, the 1500 Days blog has hosted an almost weekly […]
Two Early Retirement Concerns that Scare Me
The concept of early retirement has gained in popularity and legitimacy over the past decade fueled by knowledge sharing over the internet and healthy market returns. Though I’m 12 years away from my retirement goal and have plenty of time to prepare, I still harbor early retirement concerns for the future retired me. Most people […]
StreetShares Review – Earn 5% Lending to Veteran-Owned Businesses
This StreetShares Review was updated on 03/07/2019 StreetShares is a Reston, VA-based small business lending and investing platform that aims to bring trusted digital financing to veteran business owners. Small business loans are funded with investments made by individuals and institutional investors, making this a peer to peer lending platform similar to LendingClub. However, instead […]
3 Top Retirement Income Securities Yielding Above 5%
Hey everybody. This week we’re fortunate to have a guest post talking about retirement income securities that yield above 5%. This article is from Bob Ciura, a writer at Sure Dividend. Today’s article recommends three retirement income securities of three different flavors. The first two you’ve probably never heard of. The third, you most definitely have (but […]
Work Optional – A Free Book Giveaway
Another friend of mine in the personal finance blogging world has written a book about early retirement. It’s called Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way by Tanja Hester of the blog, Our Next Life. After a few years of anonymous blogging, Tanja left a fast-paced career to become a leading voice in the FIRE […]
Eliminate Car Payments from Your Life (and Never Go Back)
If you want to get serious about taking control of your financial life so you can build wealth, it’s time to eliminate car payments. Car payments are a persistent nag on the lives of U.S. consumers. But they don’t have to be, and shouldn’t be even with low interest rates. Because they crush your monthly cash […]
Another Day in Corporate Paradise
Elevator small talk is the worst. Riding the lift with someone you know and talking about your work or weekend is fine. But when strangers are stuck in the confined space for a 30-second ride, I don’t see the point in talking. In my 20-some years of riding office elevators, I’d never heard a decent […]
How I Measure Progress Toward Financial Independence
This article is about how I measure progress toward financial independence (FI), which I consider a prerequisite to my early retirement goal. The terms financial independence and early retirement are often used interchangeably. I consider them different. Financial independence is a financial milestone. Retirement is when I’ll stop working completely. I plan to reach financial […]
4 Reasons to Invest in Multifamily Real Estate Properties
Independent landlords who own residential real estate typically own single-family homes, condo units, or maybe a small multifamily real estate property such as a duplex or triplex. Multifamily real estate properties can require substantial capital and significant elbow-grease before being ready to produce positive income. Until recently, single-family and small multifamily properties were the primary […]
Should You Max Out Your 401(k) in 2019?
The department head at my job invited me into his office for a 30-minute chat when I first started. We spent the time getting to know each other and talking about our past experiences and current roles at the company. Then he asked if was contributing the 403(b). I live and breath this stuff so I saw it […]
12 Investments I Made Last Quarter – The Q4 2018 Update
The Portfolio page on my blog has been updated as of December 31st, 2018. This page outlines my portfolio of taxable investments and the income generated on a yearly and average monthly basis. Click here to see all previous quarterly updates. This update contains a summary of my personal investment activity for the past quarter. I’ve shared the investment income (aka […]
The 5 Best Investments in 2019 for Long-Term Growth
Happy New Year everyone! Now that resolutions are fresh on your mind, there’s no better time to determine what smart money habits to initiate in 2019. To help inspire you, I’ve created a list of best investments for 2019. These ideas are geared toward long-term investors and those looking to earn more this year. This article […]
Here’s How I Track Spending in Excel Using Pivot Tables
I use a simple Excel spreadsheet with pivot tables to track spending. I’ll explain why I started this exercise this year and why I felt the free online tools were inadequate for my purposes. Tracking spending this way is a compliment to tracking net worth and my taxable investment portfolio. With an accurate annual spending number […]
Bumped App Review 2019: Free Stock Rewards from Brands You Love
This Bumped app review 2019 was updated 01/11/2019. I’ve now earned $22.55 worth of stock from 8 different companies since 10/18/2018. The majority (about 80%) is in Target and AT&T. I’m excited to share my experience with a brand new investing app on the scene. It’s called Bumped, a Portland Oregon-based startup. This app is […]