Two or three years ago I stumbled across an article that changed my life. Maybe you’ve seen it or read the book; it’s called The Top Five Regrets of The Dying, by Bonnie Ware. Bonnie was a caregiver for many years, who looked after terminally ill patients. She spent a lot of one-on-one time with dying people and helped them deal with emotions, reflections, and making peace
The 6 Stages of Financial Freedom – Where you at!?
Greetings, friends! How was your weekend? Got any fun stories to share? My wife and I have been spending weekends at the beach. We’re trying to give our dog some “swim therapy,” which the vet recommended to help regain strength in his back legs. Meanwhile, I’m also trying something called “surf therapy,” which helps me maintain my overly happy disposition in
Net Worth Report #9 “Doctors Orders”
I am an idiot… 🤦♂️ I just realized I broke one of the cardinal rules of investing... Earlier this year I transferred $900 into my HSA account. But, I just logged in and realized I never *invested* the money. It’s just been sitting in a cash position. Grrrr. I’m not so much annoyed about the money (missed out on about 5.3% of market growth,
Volunteering Sucks. But It’s Also Kind of Awesome.
Happy Friday, lovely people! Today I’m going to talk to you about volunteering and how awesome it is. And by awesome, I really mean ... Inconvenient, thankless, frustrating, gritty, and a total pain in the ass! (But then somehow if you grit through all of this, that’s when the awesome and wickedly satisfying bits come in 😀.) I’ve been volunteering for
Sexy for All the Wrong Reasons
You’ve probably forgotten about this, but when you signed up for this Budgets newsletter, you were asked, “How did you come across this blog?” All the answers get emailed to me, and I read them to learn how people find the website. The most common replies are things like, “I was searching for free budget templates” or “I heard about your blog from xyz podcast.” Not
Dollar Cost Averaging vs Lump Sum Investing (What to Do With a Pile of Cash)
A friend of mine just admitted to me a big money problem… She has a little over $200,000 in CASH sitting in her checking account! 😳 Hot dang! That’s a lot of moolah!!! Some of you might be thinking, “What’s the problem? That’s awesome! I wish I had that much in savings!”... Well, the problem is, her money isn’t actually invested in anything. It has wicked
How Covid Is Changing Americans’ Retirement Plans
Happy Monday! Who’s ready for kick-ass week? 🙋🏼♀️🙋🏽🙋♂️ I’ve been reading a survey conducted by our friends over at Personal Capital that reveals some interesting info about how covid has affected people’s retirement plans. Some of the results are a little scary (like ~30% of people tapped
How Big Should an Emergency Fund for a Rental Property Be?
I got the following note from a reader the other day... “Joel, I noticed you keep a big emergency fund for your rental property. 2 questions for you... 1) It seems like you have too much cash because shouldn’t you only need 3-6 months of mortgage payments as a cash reserve? 2) Also why do you keep this emergency fund separate from your personal emergency fund?” Great
HM Bradley: A 3% Interest Checking Account Based on your Savings Rate
I just learned about a cool new bank that some of you nerds might like. It could be a great tool if you are currently building up an emergency fund, saving up a down payment for a house, OR, if you want to earn a decent interest rate on an existing pile of cash! This bank is called HMBradley, and they offer a 3% interest rate on regular checking accounts. Pretty dang
