My parents were born and raised in the south hills of Pittsburgh. They attended the same high school but didn’t start dating until five years after graduation when they were in a wedding party together. Dad was a high school teacher on the other side of town. He wanted a shorter commute, a big yard,…
Our perceptions of the value of time and money shift as we age. In early adulthood, time is abundant, while money is scarcer. We want more money and are willing to sacrifice our time to get it. By middle age, a thriving career helps us earn more, but job and family obligations consume our time….
Crises come around every so often — personal crises, family crises, national crises, political crises, market crises, and global. The events are often predictable, but their timing is not. Scientists predicted a virus such as COVID-19 could infect humans and cause severe health and economic consequences. But no one knew the specific date, where it…
This Sure Dividend review was updated on 01/01/2024. Sure Dividend is an investing website and paid newsletter service focusing on dividend stocks and income investing. When the Sure Dividend blog started in 2014, it built a significant audience by providing in-depth analyses of stocks on the Dividend Aristocrats list. The Aristocrats are S&P 500 index…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…