I was thinking the other day that although my wife and I make all of our financial decisions together, I am usually the one pulling the trigger and moving the money around. I like to read boring terms and conditions, geek out on all our tax stuff, deal with real estate, etc. I have a passion for personal finance, which helps! She does not -- and I don’t blame her as most
My Solo 401(k) Is a $exy, Tax-Advantaged Retirement Account
Hey guys! I’ve got some nerdy news … I just set up a Solo 401(k) plan with TD Ameritrade. And it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be! In fact, I did most of the 57-page paperwork at 1 a.m while I was half-drunk and watching Beethoven on TV. (BTW - That movie is still just as good today as it was when I first saw it 30 years ago.) Anyway, I discovered some cool stuff
“My Mind Was Completely Blown. Is This FI Stuff Possible?!”
[Do you remember the exact moment you learned about FIRE? ... And how exciting it was? That’s what my friend Eileen is sharing with us today. Remember, the more you share your ah-ha! moments and uplifting experiences with others, the more people you might help get “unstuck” in their regular lives.😉] ***** I remember so clearly my first woke moment of FI. My
Money Lessons Learned While Traveling Around the World
I asked our tour guide, “What’s the difference between people in the South and people in the North?” My wife and I were traveling through Vietnam on a small boat somewhere in the Meekong Delta. Our tour guide was a young local guy, raised in Northern Vietnam but moved to the South because he liked the people and lifestyle there better. I’ll never forget his answer to my
2021 Money Goals: Mid-Year Review/Revise/Remove!
Hey there, happy people! How’re we all doing this morning? This year is FLYING by. I just stumbled across a list of money goals I wrote down at the start of the year (I say “stumbled across” because I literally found them buried within a stack of messy papers on my desk -- the WORST place to keep your goal list!). Anyway, despite my horrible organization skills, I’ve
Value Based Budgeting = More Happiness for Your Dollars
About 3 years ago, my wife and I sat down to create a new type of budget. We’d always been good about tracking our expenses and had a standard budgeting method for stuff, but since we discovered the FIRE movement we decided to change things up a bit. Actually, around that same time we also read the book Smart Couples Finish Rich. It included a bunch of worksheets and
12 Months of Net Worth Tracking! – “One Dozen”
Last year I began sharing my net worth reports. And today marks the 12th consecutive month of tracking. Woohoo! Happy…. “net-worth-iversary”? It’s been a wild year. Here’s a chart of the 12 monthly report totals... Assets as of 9/1/2021: $733,858 A few interesting notes and realizations when I look at this chart... Total growth since Oct 2020 was +$245k. But,
Robinhood’s “Free Stock” Offer Isn’t Really That Great
Mornin’, mornin’! There’s a bunch of hype around Robinhood these days and I’ve always been curious about their “free stock” sign-up incentive ... So, this month I signed up to see what the fuss is about. Spoiler alert: It’s a bit of a letdown. 😔 The app itself does what it’s supposed to do -- trade stocks and crypto in a quick/easy/free way -- but the “free stock”
30 Mini-Challenges for September to Improve Your Life and Money!
Happy Friday! It’s been an expensive summer for me and my wife … all the vacations, celebrations, gifts, and fancy foods have given our wallets a little hammering. I was trying to think of a no-spend challenge or something we could do for the month of September to try and save some $$... But then I thought maybe it would be more fun to try 30 x mini-challenges, instead of
20 Money Questions for Your Partner + My Wife’s Answers
Good morning, money nerds! I recently came across an old quiz from a post called 20 Money Questions to Ask Your Significant Other. These 20 questions are designed to bring couples financially closer together by understanding each other’s past, present, and future thoughts around money. It’s not just for new couples. Even though my wife and I have been together for 10+
