Around friends and neighbors, I’m using the phrase “in between jobs” to describe my current employment situation. That’s a convenient euphemism to make it sound less bad. Most people aren’t familiar with my business so they only see a jobless Dad of three kids married to a non-working Mom, dealing with a mortgage and the same…
Sometimes I assume my blog audience is a bunch of 42-year-old Dads like me balancing work and kids while building income streams. But the emails I get tell a different story. Many readers are beginner investors only recently finding my website and getting started with investing. Some are young. Some are not so young. With all…
This article was originally published on US News & World Report and republished here with permission. Head over to the “Featured on” page for a list of other RBD articles on US New & World Report and featured around the web. Imagine a life free of obligations to anyone. Sounds great, right? That may never come…
This article is about learning to protect yourself from a future job loss by creating sustainable income streams that will continue to pay you even if you’re not working. If you’re unemployed today, use this article to frame your strategy once the income is back. Of all the financial advice I read and practice, the one…
There’s been some turbulence at my nine-to-five workplace. Funding was tight, but it looked as though I’d survive any downsizing. Well, things got worse. My project was hit hard, and the surrounding projects were hit even harder. I found out two weeks ago that my number was up. Without a billable project to call home,…
Very few decisions during your time on this earth actually change the trajectory of your life. After a party in 2007, I scanned the huge Evite email list to try to find a woman I met there. Then I ‘stalked’ her on Facebook and asked her out. We have three kids together now. Though truly…
My 401(k) savings grew to a plump 6-figure level after 14 years of participating in my employer’s plan. For 13 of those years, it was a very crappy 401(k) plan due to poor fund selection, high expense ratios (fees), and third-party adviser fees. The third party did nothing after 2004. But they still took fees every…
If you own a home, you might be contemplating how extra mortgage payments may or may not fit into your overall financial plan. As is with all personal finance choices, your mortgage payment strategy is personal based on many factors. You don’t find many people who paid off their mortgages and regret the paid off debt….
Some exciting news to share with you today. Back in May, I was approached by US News & World Report to become a regular contributor to their On Retirement blog. Since then, I’ve been writing new content about retirement and money once or twice a month. As of today, I’ve written six articles for US…
This money post references Sunday’s Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 4. You don’t need to be a viewer to appreciate the personal finance lesson. However, if you aren’t caught up on your episodes and want to stay in the dark, this is your spoiler alert. Season 7 of Game of Thrones is here…
A few months before the summer of 1996, I committed to a lifeguarding job at a local pool. It was supposed to be my fifth consecutive summer as a guard. Lifeguarding was an easy and stable summer job in my youth, but it never paid well. This new gig was at a private club with…
The financial firm UBS publishes a quarterly report called Investor Watch that analyzes investor behavior. One of these reports has remained on my mind since publication in 2015. The report is called When is enough… enough – Why the wealthy can’t get off the treadmill. The premise is that more than half (52%) of millionaires surveyed…
About a decade ago, I was hanging out with a good friend of mine who’s a veterinarian. At the time, I was always looking for speculative investments. So I picked his brain about the profession. When I asked if any specific companies were notable in veterinary medicine, he mentioned one called MWI Veterinary Supply. The…
Among friends and family, I’m known for being a vocal advocate for colon health. Maybe this is TMI, but since realizing the benefits of a high-fiber diet, I feel like I know a secret that everyone should be in on. My penchant for eating fiber was even mocked in the best man speech at my…