Funding the Adventurous Life
We used to worry about every dollar spent. But then we learned to stop fretting and live well through value spending, putting our efforts where it matters most.
Here’s how we made major and repeatable changes to our spending habits without materially changing our enjoyment of life.
Continue reading “Value Spending: How to Really Save Money”
“Should I Quit My Job for Climbing?”
I get some form of this question from time to time.
“Hi Mr. CC. I really don’t like my job and I think I’ve saved enough for a road trip. What do you think about leaving this job and traveling for a year or more? Will an extended road trip hurt my finances?”
Well…let’s take a look.
Continue reading “Should I Quit My Job? I Want to Climb!”
We’ve all heard the phrase “money doesn’t buy happiness.” However, new research suggests a strong correlation between income and well-being, with no apparent ceiling. How can we interpret these results and reconcile what we’ve always been told about money and happiness?
Continue reading “The New Research on Income and Happiness”
We now find ourselves approaching the mid-year point of 2021. So, how about we check in on those simple, yet highly effective methods for actually saving real money? I’m taking a break from my typical long-form post while we travel, so hopefully you’ll find this one straight and to the point.
Continue reading “Mid-Year Financial Check & All the Latest”
When I first discovered financial independence, the thought to retire in my 30s warmed my soul like a batch of hot stew on a late February night. If I could rely on the wondrous and fantastic powers of compound growth to build a bitchin’ snowball of money, I’d never need to work again.
And it was never about the money. It was about the life. I yearned for a life spent in pursuit of passion, surrounded by a vibrant and meaningful community, with copious time to immerse in nature, climb, travel, and most importantly…sleep. The rigid and mechanical pipeline of school to work was cracked and beginning to leak.
So, what’s not to love?
Continue reading “Six Important Reasons Not to Retire Early”
Most strategies for spending less involve some degree of shaming or a fist-pounding and stoic stance of extreme willpower. But in absence of a complete mental overhaul, what other strategies do we have? The robots, of course. Welcome to the power of automation, our new best friend.
Continue reading “Automation: The Dirty Little Secret to Spending Less”
The long approach mentality is required to last as an investor. But first a story:
Everybodddy…! Yeahhh-ahhh! Rock your bodddyyy! Yeahhh-ahhh!
These were the lyrics absolutely shaking the walls of the Mercat de l’Olivar fish market in Palma, Mallorca as the mid-day closing time approached. The vendors were busy packing up product, mopping, and wiping down metal countertops in a cool and expansive room, rich with the briny, iodine smells of the sea and the thumping sounds of late-90s Backstreet Boys hits.
And oddly enough, hearing a 1997 boy band hit in 2019 left me thinking about staying power and the long approach. Tell em, boys.
Continue reading “The Long Approach to Being Scared of Investing”
Hi. Good morning. How are you? I’m excited this week to bring you a much more in-depth analysis of the Roth Conversion Ladder, a method used to spend retirement money early without penalty and with little to no tax burden. I’ve already talked about this method here, here, and here, but I decided this very important topic needed its own special post.
Changing subjects momentarily, I get a real kick out of directly translating ridiculous American expressions in other languages. For instance, when in a German grocery store in 2018, I suddenly wondered if German lovers addressed each other as honig, the German word for honey.
Honig! I’m home!
See, isn’t that fun?
This week we will investigate the intricate web of methods designed to spend the money you’ve saved. It’s not all milch und honig.
Continue reading “The Bold And Beautiful Roth Conversion Ladder”
I almost didn’t write this post. It’s been such a strange and bizarre year that I didn’t at first consider it representative of the typical “early retirement” experience. Upon further reflection, however, I realized that life—just like those “irregular” regular one-off expenses—is typically atypical. It’s still life, just without a job.
With so much information about self-care, wellness, early retirement, and a life-by-design, I’ve had a lot of time to sift through the noise. And shockingly, perhaps I don’t recommend retiring early.
Here are some lessons from one year without a job…
Continue reading “Six Lessons From a Year Without a Job”
This week we’re taking another look at your specific questions. Today we examine the thorny subject of income and how much is needed to pursue financial independence, how we fund our lives without a job, the best option for medium-term saving goals, some discussion of real estate investing, and a requested expansion on last week’s post about emotional fragility, plus plenty more.
Here’s what you wanted to know…
Continue reading “Your Questions Answered: Volume 2”