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…
Viewing category: Unusual
Investing vs. Gambling – What’s the Difference?
What’s the difference between investing vs. gambling? The simple answer is math, but there’s more to it than that. In my mid-teens, I went to Atlantic City with my family for an evening on the boardwalk. I was deeply interested in money for someone my age, so gambling intrigued me. You must be over the…
The Creation Mindset – Accelerate Your Wealth Trajectory
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…
Steak Dinner for Vegans
One of my new favorite podcasts is the Animal Spirits Podcast hosted by bloggers Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson of Ritholtz Wealth Management. These guys are prolific writers and tweeters who often poke fun at investment pundits and fund managers who try to predict future market returns. Turn on CNBC and there’s always someone who claims to know…
No Shortcuts For Bricklayers
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…
Liquor, Ladies, and Leverage: How Smart People Go Broke
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…
Does Growing Up Mean Outgrowing Your Dreams?
Last April on a long solo drive, I listened to the Mad Fientist’s interview with Vicki Robin on the Financial Independence Podcast. Vicki Robin is the co-author of , the book that popularized the term financial independence. The 2018 version includes a foreword by Mr. Money Mustache, who in 2012, wrote about the book causing a…
Build Income Streams. Explore The Unusual.
After choosing a domain name and starting my blog back in September of 2013, the software behind the scenes called WordPress asked me to declare a tagline. Unprepared, the first three words that came to mind were Invest. Retire. Travel. Those three words accurately presented the message I wanted to convey to my readers so I went…
Financial Pitfalls Of Suburban Life
Six years ago, we moved to the suburbs from a one-bedroom condo in a densely populated and walkable area. We wanted more space, risk-free parking, better schools, a yard for kids to play in, and a friendly neighborhood. We got all of those things. But moving to the suburbs came with a bunch of financial…
Will You Retire Before A Human Walks On Mars?
Elon Musk and his company SpaceX plan to put a human on Mars by the year 2024. If successful, it will be the most extraordinary accomplishment in the history of the known universe. It will take a team of thousands of scientists tackling complicated engineering tasks that most of us can’t fathom. Each piece of…
The Best Summer Job Ever (And Why Lifeguarding Is For Suckers)
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 Triforce Of Wealth
After two years of begging, I finally received a classic Nintendo NES Game Console from Santa in the sixth grade. One of the original video games for the system was the masterpiece, The Legend of Zelda. The Zelda franchise is an enduring global video game phenomenon enjoyed by gamers worldwide. To date, Nintendo has produced 18 titles…
The Lifelong Burden of Material Objects
I saw a tweet recently that read like a blunt kick in the butt. “The Vast Majority of Baseball Cards are Worthless” The tweet came from a Twitter handle and blog called Unusual Investments. The blog post was inspired by a recent Wall Street Journal article about a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card going up…
Put It On The Line: Advice From a 9-Time World Champion
A few months ago I was cleaning out my basement and uncovered a 25-year-old autograph. It’s from one of the most competitive and influential athletes to ever represent a sport. His words were inspirational to my 16-year-old self, and reading over his simple phrase today reminds me that we’re all capable of accomplishing extraordinary things…