About Us Archives - CLIPPING CHAINS

Hi, how are you?

My name is Chad Andrews and I like rock climbing and personal finance. Weird, right?

This “About Page” was once filled with text that eventually made me want to barf. Here are some quick facts that I’m often (or at least occasionally) asked:

Elder millennial and dog owner. No kids.
My wife and I did the school and more school thing.
We came out of school with student loans and began looking for jobs during and immediately after the 2008 financial crisis. That was fun.
We worked as geologists (or similar) in the environmental consulting and oil and gas industries for about 10-13 (ish) years.
We saved the majority of the money we made. We sometimes took saving money too seriously. But mostly it was pretty neat.
With those savings, we piled them into our really boring investment strategy. By our mid-30s, we became financially independent and sort of quit our jobs.
We were not workaholics who sacrificed a good life for money. We worked relatively normal hours, rarely exceeding 40 hours per week.
We sold a house, hit the road and traveled in a tiny A-frame camper for five months, then bought another house. I’m obsessed with road trip culture, but I love being a home owner. Plenty of thoughts there.
We don’t consider ourselves retired because that seems odd. By the time you read this, we might even be doing things that make money. That’s cool. Plus, there are many reasons not to retire early.
I spend a lot of time rock climbing. I might be thinking about rock climbing when I’m not rock climbing. Or at least sanding my finger skin. I host a podcast where I talk with climbers, adventurers, personal finance experts, and people like you to build the most meaningful and fruitful life.

I write or produce a podcast most weeks, but don’t hold me to it. If you’d like to keep up with all the latest, I’ll even throw in a FREE spending and net worth tracking spreadsheet. It’s a fan favorite, they say.

Also, I love hearing from you guys. I answer all (reasonable) emails, and most comments. Please check out my contact page if you have any specific questions, comments, or other interesting ramblings. I’m here for it.

Thank you for reading!

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Posts By Subject ( for popular):**

Life/Happiness/Emotions

Holier Than Thou: Why It’s Hard to Talk About Money

Dogs and Your Money: An Ode to Man’s Best Friend

Know Thyself: A Guide to Individuality

**Digital Minimalism: Give Me Back My Brain

Fear: Here’s How It’s Holding You Back

Walking the Walk and Other Tales by Foot

From Love: Why I Care About Your Money

**Charles Sheldon: FIRE Before It Was Cool

Wow! You Are So Lucky to Retire Early!

**BREAKING: I (Sort Of) Quit My Job

The Sky Is Falling: Lessons From the Coronavirus

**The Fallacy of Happiness and Meaningful Work

Do Tough Times Make Tough People?

Welcome to Your Emotions, Your Guide Today

Hi, How Are You? I’m Privileged.

**Contentment: The Greenest Grass of Them All

A Letter To You, Nana

**Fear and Limping (Alone) in Las Vegas

**Emotional Fragility: Is This the New Normal?

Lately: Is Hope Really in the Air?

The Shocking Truth About Sleep

**Six Important Reasons Not to Retire Early

The New Research on Income and Happiness

The Happiness Curve: Beware of Expectations

**The Anticipation Of The Thing Is Greater Than The Thing

**Eudaimonia: Key Pillars of the Meaningful Life

**The Blue Dot Effect: Pessimism in a Beautiful World

**The Problem with Bucket Lists and How to Be Happy with Less

Uncertainty Is Forever (And That’s Good News)

Facing the Rest of the World with a Nontraditional Lifestyle

Financial

Saving/Frugality/Tracking

**Five “Essentials” That Are Destroying Your Savings

**But I Don’t Want to Be Frugal

**Tracking Your Spending: The Ultimate Task

**Net Worth: It’s Really Going to Matter…Someday

Do You Deserve a Life You Can’t Afford?

But There’s No Time to Save Money!

When Being a One-Car Household Really Sucks

**How to Get a Fantastic Deal on a New Car

How to Destroy Your Finances in Your 20s and 30s

Help! My Significant Other is Terrible With Money!

**Your 2021 Guide to Actually Saving Real Money

Automation: The Dirty Little Secret to Spending Less

**Value Spending: How to Really Save Money

2021 Exciting Year-End Financial and Tax Checklist

**I Bonds: A Novel Way to Save Cash

A Quick Note for Those Struggling with Spending

Student Loan Forgiveness: Here’s What You Need to Know

**What Happened to Frugality?

Investing

**The CC Family Investing Strategy, Part 1: Philosophy and Asset Allocation

**The CC Family Investing Strategy, Part 2: Where Exactly Is Our Money?

We Lost Thousands of Dollars in the Stock Market, and That’s Okay

**You Know a Recession is Coming, Right?

Financial Advisor: Who Needs One?

I Have Cash! Is Now a Bad Time to Invest?!

**Shocking Headlines of the 2008 Financial Crisis (And Why They Are So Important Now)

Market Timing: Why It (Still) Doesn’t Work

Bitcoin and Other Things You Shouldn’t Own

The Simple Systems to Kicking Monetary Ass

**There’s No Way I’m Investing in this Economy!

**The Wondrous and Fantastic Power of Compound Growth (And Why It Doesn’t Pay to Wait)

The GameStop Saga: Hedge Funds, Reddit Investors, and Why They’re All Wrong

Expense Ratio & Fees: They’ll Hose You Big Time

The Long Approach to Being Scared of Investing (Also could be in “living off investments” section)

Mid-Year Financial Check & All the Latest

Sustainable Investing: Five Important Considerations

Wealth Inequality: Can We Solve This?

**War and Financial Markets: What You Need to Know

**This is the Wild Ride We Signed Up For

**The Great Comfort of Longevity in the Stock Market

But it’s not all about us! The Interview Series

We’re very happy to feature climbers who are living in a financially responsible way, building a business, or inspiring us in some other way beyond the headlines. You’ll find these posts in The Interview Series.