I imagine you have heard the term “YOLO.” It is common to see articles or personal finance books that explore this concept. YOLO is an acronym for You Only Live Once. The basic premise of YOLO is we’d better live for today, since tomorrow may never come. “Memento mori” – A Latin phrase which translates […]
Retirement
Welcome new readers and subscribers
Welcome new readers and subscribers! My recent guest post on the 7 Phases of Retirement over at Retire by 40 last week piqued interest in our personal journey to financial independence. Many of Joe’s readers visited this site and subscribed to receive future posts. Thank you. We would like to extend a warm welcome to our new […]
On priorities: Our friend “Buck” stops here
A beautiful array of wildlife passes through our backyard. We’ve seen foxes, coyotes, skunks, quail and other birds, lynx, javelina and, of course, plenty of deer. A while back we had a lone deer visit us several times over a couple of days. He settled in for a few hours during each visit. I named […]
A Tale of Two Employees’ Finances – “Billy”
In another post I compared the difference between my situation and that of a co-worker. If you have not already read that post, check it out here. Over 30 years ago, I met a great friend of mine when we worked for a large wholesale bakery operation. Let’s call him “Mr. Billy” or “Billy” for short. […]
Are we there yet?
Today we have a treat with a post from my wife. I thought it might be interesting for people to see life in the household from my better half’s perspective. I hope you enjoy it, and please do leave feedback and ask questions. Do you find yourself focusing more on the future than living in […]
Celebrating Independence and Personal Freedom July 4th
Every summer, we have the opportunity to celebrate our country’s independence. For me, I am grateful that I was born in the United States, and for the independence we have obtained as a nation. We live in a wonderful time of innovation, technology, and new personal freedoms.Our forefathers spoke for us as a nation when […]
We have lived as a one car family for years
I have enjoyed riding a bike from the very first day I learned how to ride one, somewhere around the age of five. It is such a marvelous invention to use human-powered effort to propel a machine down the road, at greater speeds than you could possibly achieve by running. This is almost as exciting […]
How Does it Feel to Pay Off a Mortgage?
My goal—and one that my wife and I share—has always been to be mortgage-free. Although this has felt like a huge obstacle, it has been an important milestone in planning for our retirement. These days, the trend seems to be that more people are retiring with mortgage balances. To me, it appears fiscally irresponsible and […]
Part 2: Is Debt good, bad, or just something we can’t live without? (Like oxygen and water)
About a month ago I discussed “Bad debt” in part #1 of this two part series. If you missed that post, please take a moment to read that first. In Part #1 we defined what debt is and determined that several things could be detrimental to your finances. The basic ideas of incurring debt to […]
I have a case of “The Mondays”
It is one of those Monday’s again. Certainly you know what I must be talking about – having no motivation, energy, drive, or desire to go to work today. Perhaps I am just having a case of “The Mondays”? Or perhaps I am just having a vision problem? I can’t see myself going in! […]