2019 was a year of traveling, learning and taking action! It was a year where I took big steps toward achieving real independence. Not just financial independence, but the whole package. In thinking about a "2019 year in review post", I figured I would focus on the slightly crooked path I took to get to this point. I'm hoping that this will be more inspiring if not … [Read more...] about Ready for 2020!
Personal Finance
Four Types of Debt and How to Use Them (…or not!)
In my principles post I stated my stance on debt. This stance hasn’t changed but I thought I’d expand on it further. I also weave in some of (…actually a lot of) Ray Dalio’s ideas on debt. I think he articulates debt better than anyone else in the media. In short, I think debt is an advanced finance tool. It’s not for 18-year olds … [Read more...] about Four Types of Debt and How to Use Them (…or not!)
Saturday Morning Finance
I can’t remember when it happened but was several years ago. Every Saturday morning my wife and I make a big breakfast. Scrambled eggs, sausage, homemade bread or blueberry pancakes, and lots of coffee. We’ll eat this big breakfast and then sit on the couch and drink coffee. At some point, I began to break out my laptop and start updating our financial … [Read more...] about Saturday Morning Finance
Popular Financial Advice, with an FI Perspective
Save 10 percent of your pay Spend no more than 25 or 28 percent of your take home pay on housing Spend no more than 10 percent of your take home pay for a car lease, or 15 percent for a car loan These are some readily available tid bits of advice if you’re doing some Google research. I’d even go so far to say that they are ‘industry standard’. It’s as though … [Read more...] about Popular Financial Advice, with an FI Perspective
2019 FI Chautauqua
After years of reading J.L. Collins blog and reading all about Chautauqua, I finally got serious and signed up for the June 2019 Chautauqua in Stratford-upon-Avon. I wrote this post to describe my experience with this event. For anyone curious about attending Chautauqua, you can read up on it here. What is FI Chautauqua? FI Chautauqua is a seven day personal … [Read more...] about 2019 FI Chautauqua