unsolicited advice on health, happiness and how to not be a dummy with finances
Ready to nerd out? I was recently playing with investment calculators, like you do, and I went down the rabbit hole of various ways to become a millionaire. We all know it’s better to start investing early, but how much of a difference does it really make? Spoiler alert: A shit ton.
This is a quick read, so let’s get to it.
Continue reading “How to Become a Millionaire for $44/month”
May I introduce to you a new concept? Beaches. Sand. Questionable water pressure. Coconuts. Loosely enforced electrical codes. Intrigued? I’m talking, of course, about the very fancy concept of Thailand Fi. Continue reading “Thailand FI- Bridging the Gap Between Zero and FIRE”
I’ve talked about the Rule of 72 before, but I’ve never devoted an entire article to it. If you’re unfamiliar, or even if you’re not, I guess, the Rule of 72 is a calculation to quickly see how many years it will take for your money to double at a given annual rate of return.
Wait, this is fun. Don’t go away. Continue reading “Rule of 72- Doubling Your Money with Math”
Theoretically, this is a blog about pursuing financial independence. I get distracted easily. At the heart of the blog I want to teach people about the power of getting your finances in order. I’ve talked about our philosophy on investing, how it’s super important to save your money, and even how the best vehicle for quickly building wealth is through your pretax accounts. We haven’t talked about how to access your pretax money, until today. Continue reading “How to Access all that Sweet Pretax Money Once You Retire”
It’s been a little over two months since I officially became a part-time stay-at-home dad. If you think nobody cares about reading an update on our situation, well, think again. More than one person HAS asked how it’s going. The people want answers. If you haven’t read Part I of this post you should do that first. If you don’t want to read it, the gist is I decided to cut back on work so that I could spend more time at home with my daughter. It’s really quite heroic, you know. You should read it.
If you don’t want to read either of these posts, here’s a great article about how Smart Phones are toys first, tools second from David over at Raptitude.com. It has nothing to do with this article, I just thought maybe you’d like the option to read a different blog.
Anyway.
Real people on Twitter have asked how it’s been going and if I’ve written an update article. Here’s the proof.
See? Real people need real answers. The answer is, no. There has not been an update article written. Luckily for you, you get to skip all that angst wondering whether or not an update article is ever going to happen. Since no one else is here to interview me, I’ll interview myself. Interview questions will be in italics, my answers in regular type.
Thank you. I love your work, btw. Your article on Seven Skin Tight Life Lessons Learned From Wrestling was a real breath of fresh air. To answer your question, it’s pretty good.
As far as home life goes, I love it. I absolutely love spending Monday-Wednesday with my daughter. We go on walks, we read books, we look at birds, we do it all. I know some people really value the work they do and feel like they would be ‘missing something’ if they stayed at home every day with their kids. Those people probably have weird kids. If I had my druthers I would happily stay home every day to be a full-time real-life stay-at-home dad and let Mrs. Burrito Bowl be our breadwinner/sugar mama. This, of course, would be a wonderfully ironic title for her to hold since she allows neither bread nor sugar into the house.
Don’t cry for us, we’re each allowed one lick of a real sugar lollipop each Christmas. Ha, I kid, she’s not that strict with our sugar consumption. (blinks “SEND HELP” in Morse Code)
She’s not. She’s really wonderful. Turns to camera Hi sweetheart! Love you. Turns back to the mirror We go on walks every day and I’m able to visit Mrs. Burrito Bowl at work whenever it’s slow enough for her to take a walk.
There have been a couple of times I’ve found myself scrambling to clean poop with my bare hands before Baby Burrito Bowl has a chance to eat it, but overall it’s been really relaxing. She has for sure, on multiple occasions, pooped during the diaper-free time, rolled over and kicked her legs with vigor getting poop everywhere.
Yeah, I guess. It’s weird though, nothing she does grosses me out. I can clean her spit-up off her cheek and go right back to eating cottage cheese. Even her poop doesn’t gross me out. She didn’t poop at all for over a week AND THEN she pooped on the floor. That’s not what this interview is about. She’s very cute.
Currently, her favorite trick she can do is to shove her finger up her nose. She has the dexterity of a frostbitten foot, yet somehow she maneuvers her pudgy little finger directly into her nostrils with the precision of a fancy surgeon. The thing that will get me is when she starts eating her own boogers. That’s when I’ll go back to work, I think.
We’re doing it. We’re hanging in there. As far as work-life goes, I don’t love it. It’s fine. It’s not great, or terrible, but it’s actually more stressful than just working every day. When I work every day I know what’s going on everywhere. When I’m not at work during business hours for three days per week, it’s hard to keep up. Because of this I always have low-grade anxiety that I’ll get a call from my boss asking why something isn’t done and if I remembered to schedule such and such.
Initially, the idea was to take a pay cut and go down to part-time only working Thursday and Friday. To my surprise, my boss offered to just keep paying me my full salary. “Sweet, I’ll take it,” I thought. The catch is I have to go into work in the evenings Monday-Wednesday, work longer days Thursday and Friday AND occasionally work one of the two weekend days. It’s not ideal. It’s not even really part-time. I mean it kind of is. It’s not as glamorous as it might seem from the surface.
Okay. Well, I’m going to sound complain-y for a minute. I don’t mean to sound all whiney, but I’m just being as honest as I can be. First, I’m essentially working from home Monday-Wednesday during the day. It’s not like I’m totally off, able to focus solely on home life. I’m expected to have my phone near me and answer any calls/texts that come my way. It’s not nearly as taxing as actually working, but it is kind of stressful. I never know when the phone is going to ring and I’m going to need to answer why grown men didn’t show up and do their jobs.
I’m not physically there to check until the evening so I never can be sure if the trades completed their job or not. Because of Murphy’s Law, these calls usually come when I’m elbow-deep in a diaper change.
Then, after I’ve been keeping a baby alive all day and stressing out about missing work phone calls, I have to go into work during the evenings for two to three hours. So, even though the total physical hours aren’t that many, mentally it feels like I’m kind of always at work.
Secondly, in order to go to work for even a few hours in the evenings, it means I basically have to slap hands with my wife when she gets home from work as I head out the door and fight traffic to get to wherever I need to be. By the time I get home, she’s often in bed. Not ideal.
On Thursdays and Fridays, I end up working longer days in order to catch up on everything I missed Monday-Wednesday.
Yeah, exactly. My total hours actually working during the week are probably 60% of what I was working before, but I’m still getting the same salary. So this is a huge win. But, the timing of my work hours isn’t perfect. I get way more time with my daughter than I would if I worked a normal schedule and it keeps her out of daycare; the downside is I get way less time with my wife. I also have a lot more time where I’m not working but I have to be thinking about work. Before, I could come home and not really worry about work until the next day. Now, work takes up a lot more mental headspace.
No, not exactly. I didn’t think it would be possible to keep the same salary AND keep my daughter out of daycare. Initially, when we made this plan, we had no idea if my boss would go for it or if he would just replace me entirely. We knew that going in and we decided it was worth it for me to work part-time (or not at all) in order to keep our daughter out of daycare and spend more time with her.
Our current schedule won’t work long-term, but we’re happy to keep doing it for the next few months. We plan on moving back to Montana in a year or two and we most likely won’t have the same earning potential once we leave Portland. In the fall, I will most likely only work two days per week, or I’ll quit entirely.
Overall, I enjoy my job (as far as jobs go) and my boss has been generous working with me. The fact that I’m able to walk away gives me the resolve to make sure the deal works for our family. We know we can always make more money, but we’ll never get this time back with our daughter. This gives me the power to be able to ask for what I want without fear.
Getting our finances in order has really opened the world up to us as far as options go. We have the ability to draw a hard line in the sand because we’ve been pursuing financial independence. We’ve lowered our expenses, built up a buffer, and saved our hard-earned money. Now we have the luxury to walk away from a job if it doesn’t fit with what we want our family life to look like. Even if you have no desire to stop working, you should strive to live below your means and invest the difference because someday your circumstance might change and you’ll want nothing more in the world than to clean up poop mid-morning on Monday.
Absolutely. She’s just so darn cute. Having an ugly less adorable baby would make being a stay-at-home dad a lot harder. Here’s what she looks like right now as I type this.
I would pay American dollars to hang out with a baby that fun and cute. The fact that she’s my baby and I’m required by law to provide for her basic needs is just icing on the cake. It’s a pretty good life.
Thanks, Mr. Burrito Bowl. Always a pleasure.
I’ll update again with a Part III if/when my work situation changes.
Hi, we’re in the future. Here’s Part III.
To the audience, thanks for reading the blog, by the way. That’s really nice of you. Here are a few more articles that you might enjoy if you just really want to read about our little family.
The Burrito Bowls Eating Burrito Bowls- Our 2018 Cost Per Meal Analysis
The Burrito Bowl Diaries Philosophy on Money and Investing
Elimination Communication- Potty Training Our Newborn
The Burrito Bowls Go To Walmart- The Untold True Story
The following is a true story: So there I was on vacation in an exotic locale. There was a timeshare convention in town. Everyone knows timeshares are one of the best investment vehicles known to man, so decided to check it out. I didn’t eat breakfast and it was now late afternoon, so I was hungry. Real hungry. It seemed like everywhere I looked someone wanted to sell me something to eat. “I’m chasing financial independence,” I stammered incoherently. I needed a sponsor, or just some free calories. I walked down an alley that led to some dingy steps. I followed them down as my delirium took over. Eventually, I saw a sign that read “Corporate Fat Cat Secret Meeting in Progress. Do Not Disturb.” I figured since the sign didn’t say anything about NOT having free samples it was probably my best bet.
The flyer pictured above was posted on the door. I opened the door and stumbled into the dimly lit room. As my eyes adjusted I saw a twenty or thirty people all facing a villain looking guy on stage. He was talking about gold bracelets and mind control. I tried to ignore him while my eyes searched for free samples. There weren’t any. A couple of big guys with pinky rings closed the door behind me so I was stuck listening to his entire spiel. Continue reading “Exclusive Gold Bracelet Company Rollout Program Secret Meeting”
For today’s article I’ll attempt to explain our investing philosophy- where we do it, how we do it, and why it doesn’t have to be this big scary thing.
If you’re in the financial independence community you’ve almost certainly peaked your head into the mysterious world of investing. If you’re not in the FI community, investing might still be this big scary thing. The point of this article- and kind of this blog in general- is to defog the whole saving and investing situation while trying to convince people it’s worth doing.
I think our overall money philosophy can be summed up to this:
Live below your means, avoid debt, invest as much as you can, and enjoy the journey. But, since you’re here anyway, I’ll dive a little deeper.
Continue reading “The Burrito Bowl Diaries Philosophy on Money and Investing”
What if you could fast forward the working portion of your day? Would you make that trade? – OR- Would you opt to physically live through the monotony of everyday existence, even the work parts?
Every day we trade our time for money. Most of us would prefer the time we’re working to go a little bit faster. What if you could fast forward the working portion of your day? Wait. Wait. I know you’re probably thinking me starting off an article with “What if…” is a sure fire way to know the article is going to be about some hypothetical nonsense. But, would you do it? Would you fast forward work? Continue reading “The Fast Forward Life- Skipping Work and Getting Paid”
If you’re reading this on April 29th it means two things: I published this post on time, and it’s my first day being a part-time stay at home dad. April 26th marked the official end of Mrs. Burrito Bowl’s maternity leave. Due to the fact that our baby routinely makes this face…
…or if she really gets going, this face…
…we decided we couldn’t bare to put her in daycare. Continue reading “Choosing Family Over Finances- Becoming a Part-Time Stay at Home Dad”
We ate food all last year. Just the whole time. We were routinely caught eating things. Many of you probably assume we ate burrito bowls for every meal. That’s not true, sometimes we ate oatmeal.
I wanted to clear the air just in case any of you were like, “Hey, that Burrito guy seems cool, but what’s his grocery situation?” I don’t know if any of you are questioning whether or not I deserve having burrito bowls as my moniker. That’s why we’re all here.
First off, how can we possibly know how much we’ve spent? Great question. We aren’t food price scholars. Instead, we use a free app called Personal Capital. The way it works is you link your credit cards, investment accounts, debts, checking accounts etc., and it gives you a snapshot of your entire financial life. All our grocery spending, restaurants, Amazon Prime purchases etc. are all categorized. Very powerful stuff.
This is not actually an article about you getting Personal Capital, even though you should download it. This is an article about how much we ate in 2018. Since Mrs. Burrito Bowl is on top of things, she’s already categorized all of our 2018 spending into various groups. This makes it theoretically possible to figure out how much money we spent per meal. I don’t really know if that’s how you’re supposed to use the word theoretical. Let’s not dwell on it.
Here’s how I’ll break it down:
There’s two of us who eat food that isn’t breast milk, and if you figure three meals per day for 365 days, that’s a total of 2190 possible meals for 2018.
Next we’ll look at how much our overall grocery bill was for the entire year. These numbers aren’t exact as it’s possible to buy things that aren’t food from grocery stores. Close enough, I always say.
That equates to 598.63 per month. The per month isn’t really important information other than it’s easier to visualize a monthly breakdown. So let’s take $7,120 divided by 2190 possible meals.
7120/2190= 3.25
We spent $3.25 per meal on groceries. Thanks for reading this article.
But WAIT! That’s just groceries. We’re frugal, but we didn’t eat in every meal. We went out. So $3.25 is artificially low. How much did we spend being social and fancy at restaurants?
That comes out to $229.85 per month. Wow. That seems like a lot. Maybe we really are fancy people. Does that feel like a little or a lot to you? Also, how cool is this blog now that we have screen shots? Can you believe how professional these circular graphs look? Me either.
I think we could have eaten out a little bit less, but we got great value when we chose to go out. Frugality is about life optimization, not deprivation. We ate out rarely enough that we really appreciated every time we paid someone else to make us food. It was never monotonous for us, it was always special.
Mrs. Burrito Bowl was pregnant for most of 2018, so I was going to blame our higher restaurant bill on that, but the chart above shows our biggest two months of the year were January and February, before she was pregnant.
So now to get our more accurate total we need to add $2,757 to our $7120 we spent on groceries.
2,757+7120= 9,877. Yikes. That seems like more money. So now to get our real cost per meal we take 9,877 and divide it by 2,190 total meals.
9,877/2,190= $4.51
We also spent, (ok I spent) $331 on alcohol for the year. If you add that into the mix that’s $10,208 total spent on eating and drinking, which equates to $4.66 per person per meal.
Just for fun we’ll do one more calculation. We spent $10,208 in order to shove things into our faces. What’s that per day?
10,208/365= 27.97
We spent $27.97 total per day on eating and drinking, about 14 bucks per person.
First, we spent a lot more than we wanted to, but probably a lot less than most people. For those $4.66 we ate really well. We buy the more expensive eggs, the more expensive grass fed meats, and we hardly ever eat cheap fillers like pasta and bread. We did eat a lot of burrito bowls. Like, a lot of burrito bowls. You can really bring the cost of a meal down with some bulk beans and rice.
Second, a lot of our food budget was taken up eating out, and we don’t eat out very often. Eating at home is so much less expensive than going out to dinner. I don’t think people realize how much getting takeout once per week, or getting a nice dinner in the city once a month, adds up.
We probably get takeout or go out to eat once or twice per month. Despite that, eating out ended up being a whopping 38.7% of our overall food budget! Plus, when you eat at restaurants you’re not getting nearly the quality of ingredients as you do when you eat at home.
Third, to calculate this we put all our groceries into the calculation. Sometimes people try to calculate each individual meal, but then they eat a bunch of snacks throughout the day that they don’t really count. Our price per meal is just an average of what we eat throughout the day, not necessarily our meals.
Fourth, eat your leftovers. We used to be really bad about making food then shoving it to the back of the fridge for several weeks until we were scared to eat it. It would hang out in the back for a couple more weeks until we were afraid to even open up the container to throw it away. Not an ideal situation.
We were much better last year at dating our leftovers and eating them all before they go bad. If you’re throwing food out because you just never get around to eating it, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.
How much did you spend eating and drinking in 2018? If you’d like to get a handle on your finances you should download Personal Capital so you can do fun things like figure out your net worth and how much you’re spending on groceries. It’s a free app and is well worth every penny.
If you want to try Personal Capital use this code, link your accounts, and we’ll both get $20! Hooray. Download Personal Capital and get $20 cause you’re real as real gets
This post may contain affiliate links if the above link counts as an affiliate link. I’m not really sure how technology works.
Here’s a few more articles you might enjoy regardless of how you felt about this one:
Mr. Burrito Bowl Goes to Jury Duty
11 Smart Ways to Lower Your Grocery Bill and Eat Healthier
