A how-to conversation about strategies for tackling consumer debt, a review of Monday’s episode with Bonnie Traux, and a few updates about the ChooseFI community.     Brad’s wife no longer working as a CPA – although she was technically laid off, she’s excited for the extra time in her... Read more »

Bonnie Truax, a blogger and early retiree, shares her story of growing up below the poverty line, scraping her way out of inherited debt, reaching financial independence without knowing what it was, and understanding how to talk about money with your spouse. Bonnie grew up with family income that was... Read more »

Brian Eufinger returns to fill the gaps and address questions from the community about PSATs and National Merit Scholars, Brad and Jonathan discuss the benefits of creating a college-hacking strategy early, and the ChooseFI community responds to Monday’s episode. Financial independence is generally about knowing the rules and making decisions... Read more »

Brian Eufinger, co-founder of Edison Prep, dives deep into the college admissions process and explains how a student should approach grades and test scores to give themselves the best college options, and how to pay for college without collecting a huge student loan debt.   Most merit aid that students... Read more »

Tanja Hester retired early 15 months ago and joins the show to share her experience of being work optional, Brad makes a decision about solar panels, and a review of Monday’s episode with Grant Sabatier.   Brad shares some updates with his car malfunctions and follows up about his solar... Read more »

It was late May of 2015 when a wayward accountant from the backwoods of Nowhere, Wisconsin traveled to Cascadia. Tucked away in the Washington State foothills stood the Rainbow Lodge where a nondescript gathering of devoted followers of the emerging Mustachian movement were preparing for Camp Mustache II. This was... Read more »

When the Western economic world collapsed in 2008 there was only one beacon of light: China. For decades China has grown at nose-bleed speeds and looked like an unstoppable economic miracle. Now the foundations of that miracle are exposed and the house of cards is in peril. Shadow banks and... Read more »

The IRS released final regulations on 199A. The Kiplinger Tax Letter said it best: "Final regulations provide limited guidance, but IRS gives a safe harbor." In this post we will discuss the safe harbor as it relates to "trade or business" with special emphasis on application with rental properties. The... Read more »

Blogging is a business. Sometimes it's hard to believe, but it is true. Along with podcasting, speaking and every other form of training and education, blogging is a business. Sometimes a really big business. And businesses take work to manage and grow. It is easy to forget that those friendly... Read more »

Retirement, or at least the ability to to live a hedonistic lifestyle, appeals to many people. Age has nothing to do with it. Punching a clock working for the man get old real fast when you don't have perspective. Until you realize how useless life becomes when you spend each... Read more »

Today’s post is a guest post by my wonderful friend Mr. Waffles on Wednesday. We first met almost 2 years ago and hung out for a week in Ecuador at Chautauqua 2017. I also went to visit them in California last year. Mr. WoW and I have some pretty great... Read more »

Disclaimer: some links may be affiliate links. They help offset the cost of keeping this blog running! It’s baa-aackk! Now that I can stand facing my finances again, I can compile everything into a status report again. I got many emails, messages, comments and paper airplane notes asking me to... Read more »

In early 2018, I took a leap of faith into the unknown and quit my steady, fulfilling W2 corporate job for the turbulent waters of self-employment. I’d talked to countless entrepreneurs through the podcast and knew many successful entrepreneurs. How hard could it be if I were surrounded by people... Read more »

Hi all, I’m Financial Mechanic, and I write about tools that can help everyone in their pursuit of financial independence.  I found Fiery Millennials when I first learned about FI as a concept and have enjoyed following Gwen’s escapades. I am continually impressed by her aplomb, and thank her for... Read more »

To continue with my tradition of assigning a theme to each year, 2019 will be the Year of Focus. I really wanted to have my theme be consistency, but I realized I can’t be consistent without focus. I feel like a lack of both focus and consistency is why my... Read more »

It's official, friends! Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way is out in the world! To thank you for your support in making it happen, today I'm sharing loads of behind-the-scenes details about the book-writing process, and hosting a massive giveaway. Come join in!... Read more »

It seems that the period of stock market volatility we've been in the past few months is here to stay for a while. Does that have you feeling anxious? If so, you're normal, but you don't have to stay that way. Learning not to let the markets or their machinations... Read more »

As much as I encourage anyone pursuing financial independence to include charitable giving in their plan, the truth is that you don't have to shell out big bucks to do good in the world. There are quite a few great ways to make a difference that cost you nothing or... Read more »

This week's post is the third and final part in the wrap-up of our first full year of early retirement. Today we're talking about everything we're consciously changing in year 2, based on what we've learned about early retirement and learned about ourselves.... Read more »

The series on our first year of early retirement continues, this week recounting all the adventures we had in 2018, an enormous list by most any measure. No profound insights here, just a really long list of cool stuff that shows just how much you can do when you're financially... Read more »

Last summer in Stapleton Colorado three little boys decided to set up a lemonade stand.  Better still, they decided to give all proceeds to a five year old boy in Indonesia using a charity called Compassion International.  The kids running the stand... The post Can We Please Stop Squashing Entrepreneurship? appeared first... Read more »

Have you heard of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)?  It was created under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) and stood up in July of 2011.  The Dodd-Frank Act was passed in response to... The post Which Financial Institutions Get The Most Consumer Complaints... Read more »

I posted an info-graphic a little while back as a companion piece to my guest post on Get Rich Slowly.  I love it when readers comment, especially when they write something that makes me stop and think.  Steveark left me... The post Being A Functional Alcoholic Made Me Think About... Read more »

One of the core tenants of the financial independence movement is to avoid lifestyle inflation.  Investopedia defines lifestyle inflation as “increasing one’s spending when income goes up”.  I don’t think that’s the best definition since many people increase their spending even when... The post Never Underestimate Your Ability To Adapt appeared first... Read more »

PASADENA, CA – NASA scientists have discovered an online click funnel so powerful even light can’t escape.  Using the new Kepler telescope, precise gravitational measurements, and mass spectrometry, scientists have confirmed the existence of what they have labeled “click-funnel MPBM3”... The post Scientists Discover Mysterious Click Funnel So Powerful Even... Read more »

Welcome, everyone, to another installment of the Safe Withdrawal Rate Series! See here for Part 1, but make sure you also check out Part 26: Ten things the “Makers” of the 4% Rule don’t want you to know for a more high-level, less technical intro to my views on Safe Withdrawal... Read more »

I hope everybody checked out the ChooseFI Roundup episode in early January, where I talked with Jonathan and Brad about the recent stock market volatility. They invited me for a short appearance on their Friday show after reading my piece from two weeks ago. That post was on how the recent... Read more »

Happy New Year! Geez, are you all glad that 2018 is over? What a rough fourth quarter! It started quite harmlessly with Suze Orman poking fun at the FIRE movement. Not a big deal, we hit back and even had some fun with it. But the quarter ended with Mr.... Read more »

Right around the time when I wrote my options selling update a few weeks ago was when everyone in the option seller circles talked about the blowup of OptionSellers.com. Option Sellers, LLC was a Tampa, Florida based Registered Investment Adviser and CTA (Commodity Trading Adviser). They managed money for 290... Read more »

Homeless no more: We just bought a house last month! Over the internet! Well, not entirely over the internet because we actually toured houses in person the old-fashioned way. With a real estate agent, more on that below. But we eventually closed the transaction while we were on our epic... Read more »

Did You Catch What I Did There? I’ve invented a new term. Or maybe it’s a word. What do you call a word with parens in the middle of it? Do the grammar police allow such nonsense? Probably not. When I run this article through Grammarly, I bet it will... Read more »

New Year, Same Goal(s) Happy 2019 everyone! I read somewhere recently that we should make goals and not resolutions at New Year’s, which brings me to the inevitable question: What are your goals for 2019? Since we’ve officially entered the last calendar year that I’ll be a part of the... Read more »

Waffles and Chicken(shit) I’ve waffled in recent weeks on the need to write a post about Social Security for the Pension Series. On the one hand, since the American form of Social Security pays out in annuity form, it seems like a relevant topic for the Series. Plus, an overwhelming... Read more »

Happy Thanksgiving “What are you thankful for this year?” is a commonly asked Thanksgiving question. It’s usually asked around dinner tables, which is where we Americans typically celebrate this holiday designed to bring us together and reflect on the bounty in our lives. In fact, Mrs. Grumpus and I asked... Read more »

Anxiety Check How are your retirement anxiety levels at the moment? I must admit my levels were high earlier this week. As described in my previous post, I recently realized that I’m (probably) not going to make it to 21-years of military service. Thus, I’m (probably) going to retire after... Read more »

I’m not sure if you noticed but I made a pretty big claim in my last post: This brings us to one of the great taboos of personal finance which is that most people are self-sabotaging. This inconvenient truth gets swept under the carpet in the earnest and somewhat prissy... Read more »

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And if that’s true, then what’s a slick video with a banging tune and hilarious lyrics worth? Quite a lot, I reckon. There’s an unwritten rule that stuff about money has to be written so blandly that none of the children in... Read more »

One of the problems with Left vs Right politics is that both sides fall into the same trap of assuming that having more stuff is the answer to all problems. On The Left, communists / socialists want more government control over the economy so everyone can eat more beetroot, have... Read more »

So you’re expecting your first baby! As we all know from the adverts and the Disney films, this is the most wonderful thing in the world, a time of boundless joy and happiness where you bring life into the world, strengthening the bond with your soulmate and everyone living happily... Read more »

This is not a normal personal finance site, it’s a site about how to get rich. One problem with boring traditional personal finance advice is that it tells you what to do with what’s left over at the end of the month. The problem is that for most people there’s not much... Read more »

Greetings to all my Free Money! tax-planning brothers and sisters.  With 2018 almost over, it’s now time to take a look at our 2019 Free Money! amounts.  (This is by far my most anticipated post every year; it amazes me how many inquiries I get about the status of this... Read more »

If you live long enough, you’ll see many unimaginable and “impossible” things.  Over the course of my lifetime, I’ve seen:  the Patty film, the discovery of the giant squid, the Braves, Cubs, and Red Sox win the World Series, the Saints and Buccaneers win Super Bowls, and even my Davidson... Read more »

Long overdue greetings to all my loyal readers.  For the record, I missed you too.  In case you missed it, we’re now back in Georgia after our one-year adventure in Merida, Mexico.  We have a new house, new jobs, and a new school for our son.  We’re living in Statenville,... Read more »

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy 2018 Tax Planning to all my millionaire readers.  Well, it finally happened–on December 22rd, 2017 President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 setting off a number of changes to the U.S. tax code.  This means that we now have new tax... Read more »

In July of 2016, I noticed that my physical conditioning was not what it should have been.  I had just finished two years of teaching at Coffee High School in Douglas, Georgia, and I realized that I needed to start exercising seriously again.  Later that month, in an attempt to... Read more »

Have you ever had a hard time finding a good real estate investment deals? You're not alone. It's probably the toughest part of the real estate business. But there are some strategies and tricks that you can use to stay ahead of the competition. Coach Carson shares his advice on... Read more »

Suze Orman gave the FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) movement a Suze-smackdown on a recent interview. But she also got some BIG things wrong, which I expose in this episode. For a companion article & show links visit: https://www.coachcarson.com/suze-orman-fire-movement/. Suze Orman interview at: https://affordanything.com/154-youll-need-at-least-10-million-to-retire-early-says-suze-orman/. My rental Retirement Strategy: https://www.coachcarson.com/rental-retirement-strategy/ -------------------------- 🙂 If... Read more »

What if you already own multiple rental properties that have equity (i.e. they are worth more than you owe) and you want to refinance them, pull cash-out, and buy more rentals? What's the safest and smartest way to do that?  Coach Carson tackles that question and more in this edition... Read more »

For real estate investing beginners, analysis paralysis is the enemy of your success. This episodeepisod you get focused & moving forward confidently. For a companion article & show links visit: https://www.coachcarson.com/real-estate-investing-beginners/ ------------------------- 🙂 If you want to support the show, here are some easy ways: 1) Leave an iTunes review: https://coachcarson.com/itunes 2) Subscribe... Read more »

Have you ever thought to yourself "who am I to attempt these lofty financial or life goals? Do you think you can really do this?" In other words, have you ever been weighed down by self-limiting beliefs?  I sure have. And in this episode, I share what I've done (and... Read more »

Stacy Caprio from her.ceo was desperate – her words – to leave her day job. She ended up doing just that after acquiring – and improving – a portfolio of mini online businesses, websites that make money from advertising in her case, and now earns a few thousand dollars a... Read more »

“We are simultaneously gods and worms.”—Abraham Maslow Power plus humility, right? It’s a great combination and something to keep in mind as we try and build our businesses. We can accomplish amazing things, and yet, we’re gone in a flash. Mere blips on the historical radar. But let’s be the... Read more »

It's never been easier to make money on your own time and on your own terms. In fact, this post has over 250 legit money-making ideas for you to try -- and get paid. Read on to find the ones that will work for you!... Read more »

Question: When Seattleites comment, “the mountain is out,” to which mountain are they referring? Answer: Mount Rainier. How many of you that aren’t Seattle natives knew the answer to that one?... Read more »

As side hustles become more popular -- and perhaps necessary -- let's take a look at some of the common options ... and what you might consider doing instead.... Read more »

Where do you stash your cash? All of us should have an emergency fund in cash that we can easily access. I’ve used savings accounts like Capital One 360 for years and recently switched some to Ally Bank for an excellent $1,000 bonus they offered last year. Capital One’s money... Read more »

Six months ago my family moved from Oakland, in the Bay Area, to Salt Lake City, Utah. We did it for a variety of reasons: Financial. By selling a house that had greatly appreciated in the six years we owned it, we knew we could lower our monthly expenses significantly.... Read more »

Things have been quiet in the Satisfied Ghost online world lately, because things in IRL have been crazy! Over the last few months we decided to employ domestic arbitrage and moved from our home in the HCOL Bay Area to another state. I’ll detail the decision, process and details later.... Read more »

Those in the Financial Independence Retirement Early community work hard. That statement on its own is not much of a surprise for those familiar with the community. Yet it’s counter-intuitive—why do insanely productive and industrious people want to retire young? I think it has something to do with two things:... Read more »

We’re officially in a stock market correction, with  major indices down 10% from their all-time high. This isn’t surprising. I’ve been waiting for a stock market correction for a few years. We’ve been climbing since the financial crisis, and an inevitability of markets is movement. What comes up, must eventually... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA178.mp3" title="How to Make Work Optional, with Tanja Hester" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ] Tanja Hester retired at age 38. She had a negative net worth until her late 20's, thanks to a combination of student loans, buying expensive cocktails and clothes, living... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA177.mp3" title="Ask Paula and Joe - Should I Buy a House or Catch Up on Retirement Savings?" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ] Imagine that your job is extremely well-paying, but you don’t enjoy it. You’d like to switch employers, even though this will... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA176.mp3" title="Digital Minimalism - with Dr. Cal Newport" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ] Cal Newport created a philosophy called digital minimalism, which is idea of reducing your digital life down to only the most important core essentials. Remove the apps from your phone,... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA175.mp3" title="Three Percent is the New Four Percent - with Larry Swedroe, Retirement Planning Expert" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ] Larry Swedroe is one of the most respected investment thinkers and writers of our time. He's published 8 books on investing, including one... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA174.mp3" title="Ask Paula  - What Do You Think About For Sale By Owner?" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ] Should a 48-year-old New Yorker who’s retiring next year buy more rental properties? Should a Michigan-based first-time homebuyer use an FHA loan to buy a... Read more »

A few days ago, I realized my two year FIRE anniversary was coming up. We were renting a parking spot near Seattle for the RV from a couple we met through the FIRE community. I had just come back from another trip to Germany, where I went to help my... Read more »

This is not a political blog, it never was intended as one. Humanism, however, is one of the core subjects of this blog and there comes a time when humanist values cannot be discussed without touching on political subjects. The time for me to write about humanist values, even though... Read more »

When we started out full time RVing, we did ask ourselves if we REALLY needed RV roadside assistance, as many full timers probably do. I had carried car roadside assistance for several years without ever needing it, but in my mind driving around in an RV all over the country,... Read more »

After all the fun we had at last year’s Rubber Tramp Rendevous (RTR) in Quartzsite, it was an easy decision for us to attend the 2018 RTR as well. This year’s event was another huge success, despite the many challenges for the organizers that go along with the growing popularity... Read more »

After a busy year of travelling (most of which remains undocumented on this blog, as my friends have aptly pointed out on numerous occasions) we rolled back into my beloved Phoenix right in time for the 2017 holiday season. Spending November and December in Phoenix gives me the opportunity to... Read more »

The purpose of doing an experiment is to learn something about yourself, and to see if there is an opportunity for growth or positive change. I started the Buy Nothing 2018 experiment with this in mind. It started with a no clothes challenge, but since I had plenty of clothes... Read more »

I was sitting on a bench just enjoying the beautiful fall day. It was sunny and warm, or perhaps I was warm due to the semi-vigorous bike ride. Every now and then a cloud would briefly cover the sun or a gentle breeze would throw a slight chill in the... Read more »

  Today’s guest post is written by EJ, a physician blogger who writes at Dads Dollars Debts. I reached out to him shortly after I read this post, and asked him to share his story with all of you. Enjoy! THP   So how does one lose all of their... Read more »

One day, back when I was relatively young and naïve, I was watching an episode of 60 minutes. I’m sure you have probably seen this show at least once, but in case you haven’t it is a news program that does relatively in depth stories on various topics. I used... Read more »

I am 5/12th of the way through my buy nothing experiment I started at the beginning of the year. In short, I have decided to be more deliberate about my consumption and buy things only when they meet certain criteria as I described in this blog post.   As I... Read more »

“Is he dead?” The small child looks fearfully at the figure of a man that lays lifeless on the side of the trail. Her eyes [...] The post I’m 33 Years Old, and My Net Worth Is… appeared first on Retire29.... Read more »

The 1994 family comedy Blank Check teaches us a valuable lesson about money and the tendency to underestimate what a modern lifestyle really costs. Acclaimed actor [...] The post Trust Me, $1 Million is Enough Money to Retire appeared first on Retire29.... Read more »

Gather ‘round my friends, I’ve a story to tell. I need your full attention, I’d rather not yell.   This story’s about money, It don’t [...] The post Seuss Says: Spend Less Than You Make appeared first on Retire29.... Read more »

I am about to do some depraved, awful things to the extended warranty industry. I’m sure you can handle it, but in the event Retire29 [...] The post Screw You, and Your Extended Warranty appeared first on Retire29.... Read more »

Thanks to it getting picked up by Lifehacker, one of my previous articles titled “Before You Step, First Look Where You’re Standing” has been one [...] The post How to Make a Half-Million Dollar Sausage appeared first on Retire29.... Read more »

Health insurance seems to be quite geography specific in the USA. Different states have different plans. How does health insurance work for those...... Read more »

My elderly parents will soon need some assistance at home. Ideally, I'd like to start with a part-time caregiver who works a couple of hours a...... Read more »

...okay, it was bad enough when I was getting junk mail for hearing aids starting a bit over ten years ago. ...now I'm getting junk mail for...... Read more »

I would appreciate any advice on what you think would be my best option to invest long term (10 years plus) assets in a taxable account. Tax...... Read more »

Researchers looking at the appreciation of unopened Lego sets on the secondary market have found that they have done pretty well...... Read more »

In the fall of 2017, after reading the book The Hole in Our Gospel, I started volunteering at a local homeless shelter as a way to give back and help people in need within my own community. I had served meals at a different homeless shelter during my freshman year of... Read more »

Everyone sees how big bloggers are earning close to $10K/month from blog sponsorships, and yet many people wonder where this income is coming from exactly. Most small bloggers don’t even consider this monetization method and instead focus solely on affiliate marketing, ad revenue and creating and selling their own products.... Read more »

When it comes to different types of investments, real estate is one of the most popular choices aside from stocks and mutual funds. There are a lot of different ways to invest in real estate. Some of the options involve owning and managing the property yourself. Others, like REITs and... Read more »

One of the great things about side hustles is the endless possibilities. It doesn’t matter what skills of experience you have, what your schedule looks like, or where you live, there are plenty of opportunities available. Most of my experience with side hustles involves my hobbies (see my article How... Read more »

If you like saving money, I’m sure you love coupons. But if you haven’t been using coupons, it’s probably because you don’t want to spend hours finding coupons that will save you a few dollars. I have good news. There are a number of websites and apps that make it... Read more »