I fell into my career at age 23. A childhood friend worked for a nearby information technology (IT) consulting company in a hiring frenzy. It was 1998. Dot-coms were booming. Y2K loomed. The U.S. government had a revenue surplus, and we lived in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. Experienced talent was scarce, opening…
Viewing category: Career
A Healthy Obsession with Money
I’m obsessed with money. I think about earning, saving, and growing money most of the day. I’ve written about money for more than seven years. Saying someone is obsessed with money might conjure to mind words like greed, fame, power, influence, and opulence. Picture a celebrity flashing fancy clothes and jewelry on Instagram and their…
Don’t Let an Oppressive Mortgage Prolong Your Career
A former manager was into office gift-giving. Most of the team was over 50. As a joke, she gave everyone a pocket guide to texting acronyms. The “older folks” were still learning about terms like LOL, TL;DR, LMFAO, OMG, and WTF. This was around 2014 before we had our third child. Flipping through the pages,…
Intoxicated by the Romance of the Unusual
Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual. – Ernest Hemingway This Hemingway quote came up in one of my social media feeds (read to the end to learn the quote’s origin). Most of the time, I roll my eyes at quotes and memes shared…
Retire Before Dead
Someone on Facebook with a very dry sense of humor commented: You misspelled dead. — Facebook Reader It took me a while — then, the epiphany. After seven years of blogging, I realized my blog name is one letter away from Retire Before Dead. And wow, far more people are probably striving for that goal…
Is Your Salary an Unhealthy Addiction?
I’m grateful to work for a high-quality employer that appreciates my contributions and pays me a reliable paycheck 26 times a year. The retirement plan is best I’ve seen anywhere. The healthcare plan is first-rate — our family never worries about coverage or costs. It’s challenging work, and I occasionally even feel like I’m making…
The Definition of Financial Success is Not So Obvious
The Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction recently opened at both Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, and Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. Despite the long-awaited openings, Disney stock analysts were disappointed to see overall theme park attendance down 3% in the fiscal third quarter. Visitors to the planet Batuu meet face-to-face with the Millennium Falcon and…
For the Happiness of All Humankind
I’ve been thinking a lot about happiness recently. Not so much about what makes me happy, but about the mechanics of creating sustained happiness in life. Over and over again, I read about successful people I admire who have all the money they need but still don’t feel fulfilled with their lives. The actor Jim…
How to Retire at Age 55 – An Interview with Fritz Gilbert of The Retirement Manifesto
Not long ago, a fellow retirement blogger retired at the age of 55. I have the same retirement goal! So when I read about his triumphant exit from corporate America, I thought, who better to interview about how to retire at age 55 than Fritz Gilbert of The Retirement Manifesto? Fritz spent 30+ years at…
6 Powerful (and Low-Risk) Financial Maneuvers that Put Extreme Frugality to Shame
Powerful financial maneuvers are meaningful decisions you make with your money and lifestyle that have a significant long-term impact on building wealth. Too often, we focus on the little ways to save money. We used to be a coupon clipping couple before having kids. We had more time back then. Coupons influenced our shopping choices…
The Path of Least Resistance May Not be the Optimal Route
On the day I started my first real job in back 1998, I had little ambition for building a successful career. My primary goal was to earn enough money to quit my job and travel, so I did what was necessary to receive decent raises without taking on much more responsibility. Close coworker friends held…
Two Early Retirement Concerns that Should Scare You
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…
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…
5 Things I’ve Learned from 5 Years of Blogging
Starting a blog five years ago changed my life. Before my blog, I watched too much television and lacked self-motivation. The blog empowered me to make better use of my time. I became more productive, more thoughtful about investments and money decisions, and eventually, I replaced the part-time income my wife once earned. Through the…