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”
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”
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”
The stock market is in free fall, the housing market is slowing down, and Dana White is threatening to make a welterweight title fight at UFC 235 with or without Tyron Woodley, despite Tyron being the four-time defending champ who defended the belt in September. Madness. Yes sir and/or ma’am, it looks like the world is ending.
In the grand scheme of things the stock market isn’t in free fall but has merely stepped off a small curb. That kind of level-headed approach won’t move any papers, so free-fall it is. How are we all feeling about the stock market’s recent decline? I feel great. At one point we had personally lost at least $50,000 from December 3rd-December 24th. Wait. Son of a… Continue reading “Oh, Man! The Stock Market is Going Down. Wait, Yeah it’s Going Down”
The other day my wife and I were talking about how it feels like we’ve discovered this secret that we just want to share with the world but nobody seems to care. It’s like we’re all wandering around aimlessly in the desert and we’ve stumbled upon this oasis.
We feel guilty keeping it to ourselves and we can’t figure out why everyone doesn’t at least want to hear us out. It feels like we’re evangelists trying to spread the gospel of this FIRE movement. I imagine this is similar to how the prophets of the Old Testament felt when they would rant and rail about God’s impending judgement but nobody gave a shit. I wonder what it would look like if one of those prophets was really hung up on personal finance, instead of God’s imminent wrath… Continue reading “The Gospel of Finance- Ranting Old Testament Prophet Edition”
Answer: You should invest in Vanguard VTSMX.
How to invest post over. Phew that was really easier than I thought.
For those of you more curious as to why you should invest in Vanguard VTSMX I will explain in further detail and also ask/answer a few more questions. Continue reading “Investing 101- How to Invest Your Money When You Don’t Know Where to Start”
So you decided that instead of sticking your tongue out and seeing if you can touch your nose again you’d be better off doing something productive.
You want to teach your kids a little about investing. Maybe you want to teach your wee lads and/or lassies about the power of saving their hard earned dollars or about the power of compounding interest. You want to teach them how to make it work for them instead of against them. Maybe you just want them to have a firm grasp on the world and their finances. Maybe is a strong word. Continue reading “5 Great Ways to Teach Your Kids About Money”
What is your financial goal? Is it to own a bigger house, fill your closet with nicer things, be able to not worry about each months bills, or to fully fund your retirement accounts? Whatever your financial goals are, the way you think about your expenses can make a huge difference on your success.
Think of your life as a 4×6 foot patch of dirt. It starts off bare, but as we get older, we start to add plants to it until one day we look up and we’ve made an entire garden. Continue reading “The Retirement Plant- Your Life is a Garden and Each Expense is a Plant”
In conversations with folks one thing I’ve noticed popping up is people dismissively saying “I won’t ever become a millionaire…” My follow up question is always “Why not?”
A million dollars certainly isn’t what it used to be but still people have this mental block about that number. It’s impossibly far off. Something to be achieved only by those who win the lottery or make it to the big leagues. It’s really not as hard as all of that. Continue reading “Save Pretax-Becoming a Millionaire and Achieving Financial Independence”
In a nutshell, financial independence is when you have enough passive income to cover your basic expenses. Being financially independent means working for money is optional.
We are pursuing financial independence because life is short. We both enjoy our jobs but we want the freedom to take time off, spend more time with our future children, and travel more.
Being financially independent also guards against having a financial emergency if something happens and one or both of us are no longer ABLE to work. Continue reading “Financial Independence- The Freedom to Choose”
