Saving money Archives - Page 7 of 7

May 28, 2019August 6, 2019

But I Don’t Want to Be Frugal

You’ve read a bit about financial independence, and perhaps your interest is piqued. But the more you read, the more you see a potential life of deprivation. People are saving 50-70% of their income, but they won’t buy a coffee! You know damn well that Sally enjoys eating out, but now she just stays at home with her spreadsheets and swears she’s happy. That doesn’t seem like much of a life, huh? Well, I agree. Let’s investigate whether being frugal is overhyped.

April 15, 2019August 9, 2021

Reader Case Study: Maximize Adventure or Career?

Full disclosure, I’m posting this week’s case study as an interview, but no one is being interviewed here. This post is the amalgamation of several email discussions I’ve had with readers in the last two to three months. The premise is this: folks out there know some form of career is necessary, but they’re overwhelmed by the idea of 40+ years of something that isn’t the dream job. Oh yeah, and they’re obsessed with rock climbing.

I’m going to outline below the basic way we’ve structured our lives to be career-focused for only a small portion of our adult lives. From there, we’re free to pursue whatever it is that gets us giddy (which can still be a career).

April 8, 2019May 8, 2020

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

I promised at the end of our post on spending tracking that we’d also be addressing and tracking one’s net worth. I’m a man of my word, so here we are.

Net worth is defined as total assets minus total liabilities (debt). Simple enough right, so why the post?

First, there’s some nuance involved in the categorization of assets and debt.

Second, and most importantly, despite the relative ease in calculating net worth, I speculate that very few have taken the time to calculate their own. Guys, forget early retirement. Failure to take note of the reality of your finances can leave you very much hosed by the fatty knot of life. Deliberate attention and a hard look at “normal,” however, can flip the script. There’s no better time than today, and we’re here to help.

March 11, 2019August 9, 2021

Tracking Your Spending: The Ultimate Task

I realize that only some small subset of the folks who end up on this website are likely to pursue financial independence. It’s not for everyone. But if we can make a single small impression on you, dear reader, it would be to invest time in tracking your spending. It doesn’t matter if you are clawing your way out of debt or nearing retirement in your late 20s, you must know exactly how much money is being spent. The more specific you can be in tracking your spending, the more power you have in making change.

March 4, 2019June 21, 2019

Personal Finance: Not Very Sexy, huh?

In terms of interests, I’ve always strived for simplicity. Drawn to the outdoors at a very young age in the dense Appalachian forests of western North Carolina, and later to rock climbing, I believed fully that a life in pursuit of simple pleasures was good enough. I didn’t need a big salary to buy nice things to impress others. Sadly, this is the rhythm and life of too many people. I never considered the utility of a personal finance strategy. So why should you?

January 21, 2019August 9, 2021

Traveling Abroad: You’re Paying Too Much

Traveling abroad is an adventure that everyone should experience at some point in their lives. And I’m not talking about an all-inclusive stay in Cabo, where you’re shuttled from the airport and kept within the confines of a protected resort. I mean going to a place and living amongst the locals for at least a couple of weeks, stumbling through a foreign language, and learning first-hand what it feels like to be a minority.

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: