I’m not one for round numbers. But I had a thought recently. What if I could retire at 50, then live to 100? Is that even possible? If so, which part is the bigger challenge? The whole basis of this blog is my goal to retire by age 55, one year prior to the age…
Buying compact discs (CDs) used to be a thing. That’s how we bought music back in the 1980’s and 1990’s. I spent a few thousand dollars on CDs throughout high school, college, and my early working years. One summer, I worked in a record store to earn money because my internship at a financial services company was…
Achieving success in personal finance is simple but not easy. Make more money. Spend less than you make. Invest the surplus. That’s the formula to become wealthy over time. The Nintendo fanboy in me calls this the Triforce of Wealth. But doing those things requires habit, persistence, and a steady income. If personal finance were…
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…
In my mid-twenties, I quit my job to travel the world for 14 months. I visited 18 countries and spent about $10,000. A lifestyle of frequent and extended travel in retirement, funded by passive income, is a primary motivation to reach financial independence. This post is about how I was able to travel the world…
In the almost five years of sharing my investments on this blog, I’ve never shown exactly how I track dividend income. This article lays out the steps (with screenshots) I take each month to import dividend data into my tracking spreadsheet, estimate forward dividend income, and easily capture dividend increases. My forward 12-month investment income…
Are you living paycheck to paycheck? If your monthly budget is tight already, any recession or economic fallout will make matters worse. Now is the time to break the paycheck to paycheck cycle and start building wealth. For years, I’ve assumed most of my readers don’t live month to month. But according to a recent…
A New York-based company called Construction Robotics has designed and built a bricklaying robot called SAM (Semi-Automated Mason) that can place up to 3,000 bricks during an 8-hour day. That’s about three times the number of bricks that the fastest human bricklayers can set. The machine requires at least two humans to load materials and finish…
About twelve years ago before starting a family, I met up with an old college friend for happy hour at a bar in Washington D.C. called The Big Hunt. I remember the booth, nachos, and the conversation like it was not so long ago. My friend was a new Dad. He told me about the college…
This week’s article is a guest post featuring Beau Mueller. Beau is from Hawaii and a proud father of two young boys. He is also the founder of The Moneywise Teacher, a site where educators can find useful information, advice, insights, resources, and inspiration to help them make and save more money. I’m personally looking…
In 2002, a nineteen-year-old garbage man in the U.K. named Michael Carroll won a lottery jackpot worth $14 million dollars. Instead of making smart money moves with his winnings, he spent his fortune on jewelry and a mansion where he threw lavish parties with drugs and prostitutes. A decade later, he was broke and working…
Some people are driven to the idea of early retirement because they lack job satisfaction in their career. Working into their 60’s isn’t sustainable. Unhappiness at work comes in many forms. It could be a negative coworker that makes you dread going to the office. Or the job pays a low salary with few opportunities…
My latest article on U.S. News & World Report recommends tips to simplify your finances in retirement. Retirement isn’t the only time to simplify. Anytime is a good time to simplify. But I’m a bad role model for simplifying finances because I’m on the far side of the spectrum with multiple personal investment accounts and bank…
I’ve never joined the debate about individual stocks vs. index funds because I’ve never chosen one side or another. I invest in dividend growth stocks, index funds, and even a few growth stocks and managed mutual funds. I’ve invested in individual stocks since 1995. That year, my uncle gifted me one share of Chevron stock…