Birthdays and year-end are great times to reassess and set goals for yourself. My birthday falls at the end of the year, so today is the perfect time to finalize my 40 goals for 2022. Why 40 goals? Well, it’s hard to believe, but I just completed my 40th trip around the sun! Time really…
“There’s no nuance on Personal Finance Twitter.” That’s the reply I received after responding to a personal finance question posed by someone on Twitter a while back. It’s been bugging me ever since. Why? Because it’s mostly true. There is a significant lack of nuance in advice provided by self-proclaimed experts on social media. In…
It’s a good practice to have a budget. How detailed and how strict you are with it is a personal decision which should be based on your financial situation and goals. We treat our budget the way we treat most of plans in life… as a “loose plan.” Our 2022 budget will serve as a…
Before we dive into our November 2021 financial results, here’s what the RFL Family was up to last month. November Goals and a 2-Week Challenge Thanksgiving is the official kick-off to the holiday season, one that’s typically filled with overeating, binge-watching holiday movies, and putting off healthy habits until the new year. After all, we…
The year is coming to an end, and you know what that means? It’s time to review your finances and do some year-end financial and tax planning! Yay! [Sarcasm] Our year-end tax planning and financial review process Every November (or early December if we’re slacking off), we perform our year-end financial and tax review. Being…
The holidays are supposed to be a joyful time of year, but sometimes they can be stressful and too expensive. Here are 14 ways to have yourself a merry (frugal) Christmas without blowing the budget. Gift Giving 1. Set a budget early Take some time before the holiday season to decide who you will buy gifts…
I’ve heard rumblings around the personal finance and FIRE community that the “4 percent rule,” a popular early retirement withdrawal strategy, might be outdated for a while now. But has the day finally come? Is the 4 percent rule officially dead!? With Inflation at levels we haven’t seen since the 1990’s, and future market returns…
If you want to build wealth, you have to be able to control your debt and maximize cash flow. And while I’m not of the mindset that all debt is bad, the truth is that many types are. If debt is holding you back from achieving your financial goals, it’s time to come up with…
Before we dive into our October 2021 financial results, let’s talk about the highlights. The RFL family goes on vacation! We finally went on a real vacation… a pack up the whole family, get on an airplane, and go somewhere far away vacation. Although I had some serious anxiety leading up to it, especially since…
What do you do in the days before and after taking time off work for vacation? If your answer is “work harder,” I’m not surprised at all. That was my answer for all but two years during my 15-year career in corporate America. As for the other two years? I lived in another country. Where…
Hi! I'm Mrs. RFL. We're a family of 3 trying to live a rich frugal life on our way to financial independence and early retirement ("FIRE"). I retired in early 2020, at age 38, to help our family achieve the balance we desperately needed. Even though we hadn't reached our end goal, making this change allowed us to take advantage of the financial freedom we'd already earned to begin building a happier, healthier and more meaningful life. This decision didn't slow down our journey as much as expected. We reached financial independence in January 2022! Rich Frugal Life follows our FIRE journey and shares everything we learn (or screw up) along the way.
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