Financial Independence Archives - Page 17 of 18

November 12, 2018January 22, 2022

Part 2: The CC Family Investing Strategy

Investing Strategy: Where Exactly is Our Money?

This is Part 2 in a series. Check out Part 1 for our investing strategy and asset allocation.

Now you have a sense of our investing strategy in terms of asset allocation, but that’s not helping you get started. Let’s take a look at some common investment “buckets” and how we are dividing out our investments.

It’s easy to get lost in the details, so let’s break it down to the basics right up front. No more paralysis by analysis. Below are our top five pillars of a sound investing strategy.

November 5, 2018January 22, 2022

Part 1: The CC Family Investing Strategy:

Philosophy and Asset Allocation

We’ve spoken now in shades of vagueness about our investments and investing strategy. We’re focused first and foremost on simply getting folks to save more. Begin with allocating the majority of your effort to increasing the gap between money in and money out. Slowly chip away, with a goal of spending less than half of your income. If you can make step-changes in this area, you are light years ahead of most Americans, and frankly most humans. So yeah, start there.

…We’re focused first and foremost on simply getting folks to save more.

The next element of this game is getting your new-found savings to start making money for you. Your traditional savings and checking accounts are not your friend. With an average interest rate on a typical savings account at 0.08% APY (!), your money is losing value over time as your courageous dollar fights a valiant, but fruitless battle against the tyrant forces of inflation (current inflation rate is around 2%). Remember, goods and services today will cost more next year. You either need more income or higher interest rates on your savings, just to keep up!

October 29, 2018December 8, 2018

In Pursuit of Passion: Chuck and Maggie Odette

For those unfamiliar with the climbing world, climbers — perhaps more than any other sport participants — routinely restructure their lives in very unconventional ways to pursue the sport more fully. As we’ve discussed here and here, in the U.S. at least, this usually means taking on an increasingly mobile existence — sans house/apartment/permanent dwelling — and instead living in a van, pull camper, or some other makeshift shelter on wheels.

Today we want to highlight Chuck and Maggie Odette, one of many climber couples living this lifestyle. What’s different though is that they’re sort of doing it all in reverse. Instead of hitting the road and blowing off traditional life in their 20’s or maybe 30’s, Chuck and Maggie are now in their 60’s and 40’s, respectively, and are incredibly talented climbers who have retired early to live the climbing life.

October 22, 2018November 29, 2018

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

Discussing finances in America is about as appealing as using a rotary tool to cut your over-thickened and rotted toenails. I’ve never done that and my toenails are blue ribbon winners, but it sounds unappealing.

We’ve struggled over the past few years with sharing this major shift in our lives and what it means for our futures. One of the primary reasons for starting this site was to provide a platform to more deeply explain our philosophy and financial strategy, because frankly nobody wants to talk about money.

October 15, 2018October 24, 2019

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

The middle of October has been a wild ride for investors, with a drop of over 5% in the S&P 500 over two days, October 10th and 11th. Friday’s rally (October 12) offered a bit of a bounce-back, but much uncertainty remains regarding the near future of the United States economy. Our net worth took a hefty ding in just two days, so why bother with this stuff?

This week we’re going to step away from all that soft touchy-feely philosophical stuff and take a more technical look at investing and the psychology of betting your future on the stock market. Sound scary? It can be.

October 8, 2018May 6, 2020

On Deprivation: Food

The first response we usually get (or sense) when explaining the concepts behind financial independence – and in particular frugality – are that we must be depriving ourselves of “the lives we deserve” by being in a higher income bracket yet choosing to spend so little money. Instead of waxing poetic about the philosophy of simple living, let’s start with some examples of what we consider low-hanging fruit in the hierarchy of unnecessary spending.

“I love eating out, so I’m happy regularly spending money in restaurants.”

October 3, 2018February 21, 2021

How to Fly to Europe for Free

Well…almost free anyway. But more on that in a moment.

Hot off the heels of our trip to Germany in June, I had no plans for any big international trips in 2019, in line with our general “Big Trip Every Other Year” family policy.

All that changed over the course of the last few days, when Mrs. CC caught wind of an incredible deal from Delta offering low-point fare to select European and UK cities, including Zurich, Frankfurt, and London.

September 29, 2018September 28, 2018

Playing with FIRE

First off, don’t get accustomed to this sort of posting frequency!

I wanted to quickly announce the release of the Playing with FIRE documentary trailer that was uploaded yesterday. Simply put, this project has the potential to take this movement to the mainstream.

September 28, 2018March 17, 2019

Having Your Cake and Eating it Too: The Millionaire Dirtbag, Part 3:

When Am I Financially Independent?

This is Part 3 in the series. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 first!

Does this all sound intriguing but overwhelming? Perhaps you feel you haven’t set up your life to now embark on this journey. Let’s take a quick look at defining financial independence and a few first steps to get you on your way. Most important of all, let’s highlight the shockingly abbreviated timeframe for putting away serious amounts of money.

September 20, 2018August 8, 2021

Having Your Cake and Eating it Too: The Millionaire Dirtbag, Part 2.

Changing Focus

This is Part 2 in this series. Check out Part 1 here.

No matter your age (but especially if you are young), specific measures can be taken to drastically increase net worth. Generally speaking, in 10 years or less, you could be putting a traditional career in the rearview mirror, in a situation where your money now makes money for you. Your input is virtually no longer needed. The FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) community pursuing this movement is loaded with brilliant minds who have gamed this system. All you have to do is make some simple — yet profound — decisions on how you structure your life. For us, these are the basics: