Personal finance strategies for managing your money. Learn more about the best ways to manage, save, invest, grow and preserve your wealth.
Do you remember G.I. Joe? If you were alive in the 1980’s, you’ve probably at least heard of him. G.I. Joe was an early comic book character and action figure, that was turned into an animated TV series in the 1980’s. As with most “wholesome” kids shows of the time, each episode had an important…
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) just released their latest Consumer Expenditure Survey which showed how the average American household racked up expenses of $61,334 in 2020. That’s roughly $5,111 per month. How does your household spending compare? Comparing your expenses to that of the average American household can help you determine if you are spending too…
We’re almost to our FIRE goal, but sometimes I still feel guilty or shameful when spending money. Even when doing so aligns with our value-based spending philosophy. Recently this feeling caused us to waste a lot of time trying to do a project ourselves that we should have just hired out from the start. Money…
This post is for all my fellow financial voyeurs out there … or anyone looking for another real-life example of how people successfully manage their money. There is clearly a public stigma when it comes to talking about money. I think the more we talk about this openly as a community, the more we can…
You may already know that doing a little tax planning can save you a lot of money on your taxes. However, are you aware you could be missing out on savings if you save your tax planning for year end? Here’s how doing our tax planning earlier in the year saved us an extra $5,800…
I love to read, and particularly enjoy reading nonfiction personal finance and health books. Every once in a while, I read a book that’s a bit different and worth sharing. Morgan Housel’s book, “The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness” is one of those books. Unlike most finance books, this one…
When the market dropped and interest rates went down, we went searching for yields… primarily in junk bonds. Our investment strategy for early retirement includes dedicating a portion of our portfolio to income-producing investments. These assets will provide a passive income stream that we’ll use to offset expenses in early retirement. We’re hoping this strategy…
Do you want to start investing in real estate? I’m a little bit obsessed with it, myself. I spend way too much time searching for homes in cities that I don’t yet and may never live in (just planning for our future retirement). I was house-hacking before I knew that was a thing, have watched…
I decided to write this post after seeing how many people across the personal finance community and social media are using an estimated market return of 10% in their illustrations and forecasts. If you’re one of those people; I promise that I’m not trying to pass judgment. However, I do want to make sure that…
So, you’re cruising down the path to financial independence and saving as much money as you can for early retirement. Congrats! Like most people, you may have a large portion of these savings in retirement accounts, such as an IRA or 401k. These plans have great tax benefits, but they also have age restrictions and penalties…
