Tag: Savings

Traditional vs. Roth vs. India Red Ale- Which IRA is Right For You?

Literally no one has ever asked me what the difference is between a Roth IRA and a Traditional IRA.  I’m not great at the economics of supply and demand so I’m going to write an article about it.  Understanding the difference between these two accounts is like eating broccoli.  Only like three people in the continental United States like broccoli, but it’s important to eat it for reasons nobody is sure about.

It’s important to know the difference between the various IRAs because you’re supposed to be putting money into your retirement accounts.  If you were doing that, then you’d eventually want to know which retirement account you should put your money in.

So, what is an IRA?

IRA is short for India Red Ale.  It’s like an India Pale Ale except it’s less hoppy and it’s red.  IRA also stands for Individual Retirement Account, if you’re a nerd.  Continue reading “Traditional vs. Roth vs. India Red Ale- Which IRA is Right For You?”

If You Just Save a Little Bit, It’s Not Really Worth It. Ya Know?

“What? That doesn’t even make sense.  Who wrote that?  That’s not a real article title,” Mrs. Burrito Bowl.

“This is my article.  I’m reading you my article,”  Mr. Burrito Bowl.

“Oh…sounds great, honey.”

Such is life.

Listen, kids.  Saving money is hard no matter how you slice it.  I don’t really know what that saying is supposed to mean.  Sayings are weird.

It’s a mental drain to think of your hard earned dollars just being socked away for some day thirty years down the road. We live in a culture where we don’t even earn our paycheck before we spend it and we for sure don’t earn it and let it sit there for a few decades.

A few of us know that saving money is important, but it’s just so hard.  There’s a mental shift we need to make to motivate ourselves to save part of our paycheck.

Mrs. Burrito Bowl and I are about three years into this whole money saving cult of financial independence and there’s a counterintuitive idea that’s really helped us:  Saving half your paycheck is mentally easier than saving $100. Continue reading “If You Just Save a Little Bit, It’s Not Really Worth It. Ya Know?”

How to Make Your Own Kombucha…Wait, Come Back

You might erroneously think you don’t need to learn how to make your own kombucha.  You might also think the moon landing was faked.  Point is, it’s hard to know what things are important to learn.  Here’s a helpful scientific quiz we’ve developed to see if this article is for you.

Are you tired of ending the day with a nice microbrew that leaves you feeling satisfied and less irritable?  Does your wife and/or girlfriend continually harangue you for not spending more time making flavored beverages using bacteria and peaches?  Are you a person who gets thirsty from time to time?  If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of the above then this article is for you. Continue reading “How to Make Your Own Kombucha…Wait, Come Back”

Life is Short- Spend for Today vs. Save for Tomorrow

Life is Short- Spend for Today vs. Save for Tomorrow

Can you believe how much of your life has already passed?  F-word, man. Summer has for sure faded and we’re smack dab in the middle of fall.  This time of year always gets me thinking, usually about random stuff like the eternal expanse of space or wondering what the ancient Egyptians were really like but sometimes I think about money questions.  Questions like should we be in camp spend for today or camp save for tomorrow?  Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed and life passes us by at breakneck speeds, even if we are lucky enough to make it to this mythical tomorrow. Continue reading “Life is Short- Spend for Today vs. Save for Tomorrow”

Ten Years From Now You May as Well Be Ten Years Ahead

Welcome to 2028!  What Have You Been Up to These Last Ten Years?

The next ten years are going to pass at warp speed.  Remember ten years ago?  It was 2008.  Obama was preaching hope and change, Donald Trump was doing questionable things on a much smaller stage, all of America’s houses were drastically changing in pretend value.  The New York Giants were good at football. Life happens fast.

Ten years is a long time, long enough that you can accomplish just about anything.  If you decided to put in the work you could become a black belt in Jiu-jitsu in the next ten years.  A business you start this year would be celebrating it’s tenth anniversary.  You could be massively in debt from purchases you no longer enjoy.  You could be retired. Continue reading “Ten Years From Now You May as Well Be Ten Years Ahead”

The Work Hard Play Hard Mindset vs. Chasing FI

Work Hard Play Hard

I have a great friend who is really good at making money.  He’s not an overnight success or the inventor of some app that set him up for life. Instead, working hard and being willing to take risks is a calling card for him. He works long hours and is always looking for the next step to lead him to success.  Over the last few years I’ve watched him and his wife move companies and countries in order to climb the career ladder.  Each step has gotten them closer to where they want to be financially.

I see pictures of him and his wife eating out at nice restaurants, drinking fancy coffee, or having a cocktail in some seriously kick-ass locations around the world.  He’s living the life. Work hard.  Play hard. Continue reading “The Work Hard Play Hard Mindset vs. Chasing FI”

How Much are You Really Earning? Hourly Wage vs. Hourly Profit

How Much are You Really Earning Per Hour?

I think it’s valuable to spend some time thinking about life from a different angle than we’re used to. When deciding whether or not to buy something do you ever think about how many hours you’d have to work in order to pay for it? How would you even calculate this?  If you’re like me, you’d take the purchase price and divide it by your gross hourly wage, but this number is almost irrelevant.  Instead, we should be considering purchases based on our hourly profit.   Continue reading “How Much are You Really Earning? Hourly Wage vs. Hourly Profit”

How to Prepare for a Job Loss- Every Paycheck Could be Your Last

One day you will leave your job and you won’t return.  Maybe you don’t have 18 more years.  Maybe you have four.  Imagine in four years something happens and you don’t have your job anymore.

The year is 2022.  You show up to work Monday morning after a weekend of camping.  Your boss calls you into the office.  The company is downsizing and unfortunately your position is going away.  Don’t worry though, you’ll get a plaque and your boss will totally give you a great reference.

How do you feel? Now imagine that doesn’t happen in four years. Imagine that happened today. 

If You Lost Your Job Today, Would You Be OK?

We recently listened to a podcast called “The Daily” while driving my wife to work.  It’s a short podcast that comes out (drum roll please), every weekday.  They usually have one main story then do a couple minutes of news to wrap it up.  The story was about a single mother who was laid off from her factory job because the company moved the plant to Mexico.  It’s a sad story for the lady and her children. She’s the breadwinner and her son has a daughter with several medical issues.

The part of the podcast that really stuck with me was how much of this could have been avoided.  In the podcast she mentioned how she made about $1000/week by working every day to provide for her family.  She talked about how she bought a new house and a nice car so her daughter wouldn’t be embarrassed when she dropped her off at school.

Life wasn’t great but they were getting by.  I think a lot of people can relate to her story.  You struggle to make ends meet and when you finally get ahead in life you want to let the purse strings loose a little.  When she talked about her new car and new house I thought:

“No, no, noooo! Save your money! Don’t buy a nice car or a nice house when you’re teetering so close to the edge!!”

I hesitate because obviously her situation is so much different than mine. I feel a bit silly sitting here on my high horse wishing I could have given some financial advice to a 43-year-old single grandmother as though I have some secret answers. Admittedly, my life has just been much easier.  Mrs. Burrito bowl and I both work. We both have good jobs and if we lose our jobs we can get new ones.

This lady didn’t have that luxury.  She is 43 and has worked in the factory her entire adult life.  She lives and breathes her job at the factory but she also lives paycheck to paycheck.

What if someone had told her when she was 25 years old that she would work at the factory for 18 years but then her job would be gone. Would she have chosen to spend any differently?  Eighteen years is a long time to keep a job.  Once we put a time limit on it, it immediately becomes more urgent.

Would she still buy that new car?  Would she choose the house that she chose?  How many other small details would have been different if she knew her window for making that kind of money was closing so fast?

The truth is most people wouldn’t do things much different.

When is Your Last Day at Work?

One day you will leave your job and you won’t return.  Maybe you don’t have 18 more years.  Maybe you have four.  Imagine in four years something happens and you don’t have your job anymore.

The year is 2022.  You show up to work Monday morning after a weekend of camping.  Your boss calls you into the office.  The company is downsizing and unfortunately your position is going away.  Don’t worry though, you’ll get a plaque and your boss will totally give you a great reference.

How do you feel? Now imagine that doesn’t happen in four years. Imagine that happened today.  Right now, your finances are what they are.  You just lost your job.  Are you panicking? Would you have chosen to spend your last few paychecks any differently?

Do you have an emergency fund? A back-up plan?  Can your cat do any tricks that will make you internet famous?  Think damnit!

Old Dry Eyes Loses His Job, But Not His Cool

I’m not afraid to lose my job because I treat every paycheck like it’s my last one. Sometimes I imagine my boss telling me the bad news that they can’t keep me on board anymore.  He’d look into my eyes to see if they filled with the salty tears of panic.  Not today. My eyes are as dry as two day old rice that’s been left out on the counter without a lid.

In my fantasy I’m immediately interviewed by whatever the home builders equivalent to ESPN is.  The interview goes something like this:

Interviewer: So you just lost your job.  I bet you’re totally unprepared.  What would you do differently? Hey, how come you aren’t crying?

Me looking at the interviewer: Well, I treated every paycheck like it might be my last one.  I’m prepared for this.  I wouldn’t change a thing.

Then I’d turn to look directly into the camera and cut my best Chael Sonnen-esque promo: Not a damn thing.

The interviewer would be so impressed with my calm demeanor and general fortitude that she’d ask where she can find out more.  I’d tell her to check out Why Pursue Fi and Save Pretax because I’m a shameless self promotor.  In my defense I just lost my job in this fantasy so I need as many people reading the blog as I can get.

I’ll admit, it’s a weird fantasy.  I feel like that particular situation has a low likelihood of ever happening, but still, I like to be prepared.

We are America, It’s what We Do

I feel like this lady never had this savers fantasy.  It’s not just her.  We are America, this is what we do. We inflate our lives to match our income.  Often we inflate our lives to stretch past our income because we always think tomorrow will bring more money to make up the difference.  Her situation is different from the typical can’t-get-ahead-single-mom because she actually made good money.  She’s not working for $8.13/hr, she was making $25/hr give or take.  That’s pretty damn good.  But no matter how much you’re making, it can dry up fast.

She couldn’t have saved as much as some because she had more expenses than a lot of people, but she could have still saved some.  If you knew you only had 100 gallons of water to last the month you would ration the shit out of it.  If some bag of dicks who has 300 gallons per month stuck his nose in your business and said “You should probably use less water,” it would be tempting to kick him in the nuts.  However, he’s right, you should still use less water.

“Got a New Job! Thinking about immediately spending way more than I can ever hope to repay! #Fitfam #Baller”

When I see people post on Facebook that they’re debating between a Lexus or an Audi, or that they just bought some huge house I just want to scream at them.  “YOU COULD BE 43 AND JOBLESS!!!” Sure right now when you’re 30 the world looks bright; but what happens if you do lose your job in your mid-40s? Nobody wants to hire someone like you when they can hire a kid out of college and pay them half of your salary.

I fully realize that even the fact that I have the time to read financial articles and write a blog is a luxury most people don’t have.  A very lucky boy am I to have a savers mindset.  I hope I can gently sway others to join me in this savers mindset.  If that doesn’t work I hope I can grab people by the neck and drag them kicking and screaming towards a life of freedom and happiness.

Bad News: The Wheels Are Going to Fall Off

Your level of preparedness is irrelevant.  Life happens.   It really doesn’t matter how much money you make if you spend it all.  Treat every paycheck like it might be your last.

The irony is that people who are reading some obscure blog post about finances are not the ones who need to hear the message of saving.  The people who really could use the advice are driving to work right now in their fancy car, not knowing that in a few years the wheels are going to fall off.

You might like one of these articles too:

Life is Short- Spend for Today vs. Save for Tomorrow

Pay off Your Credit Card, Kid

The Work Hard Play Hard Mindset vs. Chasing FI

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11 Smart Ways to Lower Your Grocery Bill and Eat Healthier

We’ve all felt the pain of emptying our grocery cart onto the conveyer belt only to see the total creep way past our planned budget.  With a little planning you can lower your grocery cost without sacrificing quality.  Below are 11 smart ways to lower your grocery bill. Continue reading “11 Smart Ways to Lower Your Grocery Bill and Eat Healthier”

The 5 Most Important Life Lessons I’ve Learned Shooting Water Up My Nose

In early 2017 I had nasal surgery to remove a golf ball sized polyp from my sinuses.  From now on I have to irrigate my nasal passages once per day, everyday.  Being forced to be consistent in this routine has taught me many valuable life lessons.  Here are the 5 most important lessons I’ve learned shooting water up my nose. Continue reading “The 5 Most Important Life Lessons I’ve Learned Shooting Water Up My Nose”