Perfect grass seemed like the ultimate suburban pursuit. I’ve always envied lush green lawns and sharply trimmed edges — the kind you fear stepping on at wealthy over-55 communities. But after ten years of living on a quarter-acre lot, my lawn is mediocre. A diverse patchwork of weeds and crabgrass decorate our front yard. Each…
Viewing category: Unusual
It’s Only Worth What Someone Else Will Pay
I used to work for a small IT company and reported directly to the owner. After seven+ years of regular lunches, I started encouraging him to sell the company. When times were good, we could grow the business. But my boss wasn’t willing to make long-term growth investments. So revenue was only reliable to the…
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…
8 Alternative Investment Ideas for Asset Diversification
Consider these alternative investment ideas to diversify your assets. Diversification is said to be the only free lunch in the investment world. If your stock portfolio is heavily weighted toward one company, you can reduce your risk by purchasing shares of other companies. The same is true for asset classes. As your stock accounts grow…
That Clutter in Your Home Used to be Money
Useless clutter around the house irritates me every day. Not because it’s in the way, but because when I see unused stuff around the house, I see things that used to be money. And I wish I had the money, not the item. Most items aren’t worth money anymore. Even if they are, they probably…
How Personal Finance Blogs Make Money
Are you curious about how blogs make money? Personal finance and investing is an excellent blog niche because the demand for financial advice is neverending. It’s satisfying work, as bloggers can positively influence readers by helping them make smarter financial decisions. Writing insightful content can lead to earning money through multiple blog income streams aligned…
What if the Economic Stimulus Doesn’t Work?
The U.S. government is taking extraordinary measures to inject trillions of dollars of economic stimulus into the economy through a variety of lifesaving financial flotation devices. The numbers are staggering, and it’s hard for average onlookers like you and me to comprehend the scale or effectiveness of what’s happening. It’s all so nonchalant, $2 trillion,…
Gratitude, Optimism, and Investment Opportunities
The negative news is overwhelming if you spend the day consuming it on your phone or TV. My wife worried a lot about the virus and all that’s happening until she deleted Twitter. I’m very comfortable with our new lifestyle. On the first day I worked from home, I came up with a list of…
Traveling to 45 Countries Taught Me These 8 Things About Money
A week after graduating from college, I flew to London and spent the summer riding trains and sleeping in hostels around Europe. Two things became clear that summer. I had no interest in more formal education, and I wanted to travel a lot more. The fastest way to travel again was to find a decent-paying…
Estate Plan or Vasectomy — What’s Worse?
One of my biggest failures as a parent and personal finance aficionado was waiting seven years after our first child was born to finish our estate plan. It seems that doing an estate plan is more prone to procrastination than most other grown-up checklist items, even vasectomies. (Be sure to answer the two survey questions…
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…
Masterworks Review 2021: Andy Warhol in Your Investment Portfolio?
This Masterworks review was updated on 01/01/2021. Part of what I love about being a money blogger is learning about innovative startups and investment platforms. Last year, I came across one that was particularly interesting and mentioned it in a post about alternative investment ideas. Today I’m digging deeper into Masterworks, an investment platform that…
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…