Voicemails from the ChooseFI community about saving on grocery bills, making life changes to optimize your circumstances, and a travel suggestion, as well as a review of Monday’s episode and updates from Brad and Jonathan about bills, travel, solar panels and more. For more information, visit the show notes at... Read more »

Rocky Lalvani, blogger at Richer Soul, shares his story of growing up as an immigrant’s child, learning how to save money in his early years, and how he’s teaching his own children about finances now.   Rocky’s parents came to the U.S. in 1968, when Rocky was 2 years old.... Read more »

Big ERN from Early Retirement Now joins the show to talk about the current market climate: How is it impacting investors, who could benefit, and what markers he uses to evaluate its actual condition? We also share a voicemail from Abby, who provides a few more helpful hints for teaching... Read more »

Scott, a math teacher in Santiago, Chile, and Rob, a blogger at Getting Canned, share their experiences teaching abroad, including the financial and lifestyle benefits, and the how-to for making it happen. For more information, visit the show notes at https://ChooseFI.com/109 ... Read more »

Brad and Jonathan talk through the various methods of calculating a yearly savings rate and the numbers necessary to do so, and review Monday’s episode about setting up special needs accounts.   Jonathan is back from 20 days with family in Zimbabwe, and Brad recaps his Christmas vacation. Brad and... Read more »

"Start a side hustle or small business" is a common refrain when working to reduce debt or retirement planning is involved. It all sounds easy on paper until you realize most businesses fail within a year or so. The problems with starting a business are myriad. Most businesses fail because... Read more »

My grandfather always had a saying that has stuck with me: Never take off the pile. Granddad was an old farm boy living the dream in the backwoods of Nowhere, Wisconsin. He lost the farm in the farm crisis of the early 1980s and then rebuilt his fortune doing nothing... Read more »

There are many forms of communication; none are as vital as the written word. It is the edited word which conveys more information than any other media. Sure, video is superior when showing majestic vistas, but words, when edited well, are the most powerful learning tool we have. There is... Read more »

When you become a parent, another person's life is in your hands. It's scary and exciting all at once, and you only start to feel confident in your new role once you have a few years of experience under your belt. However, there's one big step you can take now... Read more »

The Tax Code doesn't treat casual gamblers very well. On the one hand the odds are stacked against you winning (those fancy casinos were built on losers, not winners). And on the other hand winning can be worse than losing when the taxman gets a hold on you. Recent tax... 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 »

My 2018 was a.…… roller coaster, that’s for sure. This time last year, I had no idea my life would turn out the way it did but I am a firm believer in everything happening for a reason. I got to go on a ton of fun trips, I read... Read more »

I am now officially a full-time employee again! In the last episode, I was struggling to figure out if I wanted to go with Entity A or B. Entity B had me back for an all-day interview, but I didn’t hear back from them fast enough to turn down the... Read more »

What if I told you there was one simple thing you could do every day that would save you thousands of dollars a year in expenses and even have the potential to make thousands more a year? It’s so easy, little kids can do it! I’m not referring to pooping... Read more »

I feel a small point of clarification is needed from me before we dive into the meat of the post today after appearing in a MarketWatch article yesterday. Most people walked away with the impression I tried to retire on $200,000 at the age of 27 and I just wanted... 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 »

Happy new year, friends! After a bit of a blogging break, I'm back today with a big rundown on all the lessons we learned in the first year of early retirement. The series continues next week with everywhere we went last year, and the week after with everything we're going... Read more »

Traveling when very few others travel has loads of benefits, most notably lower prices, sometimes dramatically so. But it's not without its downsides, as we experienced on our recent trip to France. So let's talk about those downsides. The post The Downsides of Off-Peak Travel appeared first on Our Next... Read more »

It’s easy to assume that the whole point of early retirement is to be able finally to stop striving. To stop working toward that next promotion, and to stop letting money be a big motivator in your decision-making. And while those two instances in particular are true, early retirement doesn’t... Read more »

We're supposed to save 2 times our salary by age 35, or is it 25 times our expenses to retire early? We're supposed to ignore Social Security, but also claim it at 62 to hedge against market risk. We should try to get out of debt as quickly as possible,... Read more »

Martin Luther King Day will be celebrated this coming Monday in America.  It’s a federal government holiday, so I’ll be off.  As a semi-retired and semi-quasi-professional blogger and graphic artist, I wasn’t planning on working anyway. Sadly, many companies in... The post Money Lessons From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.... Read more »

Did you make a new year’s resolution to get in shape in 2019?  Maybe get a new gym membership and really start taking your health seriously?  Well, we’re two weeks into the new year, how’s it going so far? The... The post Like Financial Independence There’s More Than One Way... Read more »

The unemployment rate in America hit 3.7% in September 2018, the lowest since 1969.  The economy is strong.  Sure, it’s easy to cherry pick articles that claim it’s meaningless since so many people are “out of the labor force”, but... The post Unemployment Is All Over The Map appeared first... Read more »

I was over my buddy Nathan’s house years ago, a massive modern “McMansion style” house in the suburbs of Baltimore.  He and his wife Cindy had bought it the previous fall, and this was their first summer in the house. ... The post Have We Reached Peak Home Bloat? appeared first... Read more »

Subscribe To New Posts Here! The post Why You’re 53, Have Had A Six-Figure Income For 20 Years, And Have A Negative Net Worth appeared first on Accidental Fire.... 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 »

October was a scary month for stocks: the worst monthly S&P 500 return in seven years! And November is off to a volatile start as well! We haven’t even seen a real correction yet but apparently, the drop was bad enough for me to got inquiries from friends and former... Read more »

Wow, did you see the big stock market move in October? The worst monthly S&P 500 performance since 2011! When you’re still working and contributing to your retirement savings it’s easy to lean back and relax: you can buy equities at discount prices and you buy more shares for the... 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 »

Time For a Rethink I recently started ramping down my anti-depression and anxiety medication that I take for my PTS linked issues. I didn’t make this mental health decision lightly. You see, based on my doctor’s recommendation, I tried to ramp down before. I wasn’t successful. My mood swings were... 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 your 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 »

Are savers missing out on fun? As I may have mentioned before, I don’t think of buying less stuff as deprivation. It’s more money for you to buy your freedom with. So I don’t buy the idea that you’ll be “missing out” if you pursue financial independence. I will however agree... Read more »

This Christmas sermon post is a short extract from Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art, which I’ll be adding to my list of recommended books. The book is about overcoming procrastination and self-sabotage (or what Pressfield calls “Resistance”). The aim is to become a more productive person who gets... Read more »

When you grow up in the ‘hood, you do what it takes to stay alive. And when you grow up in East Anglia you do what it takes not to get bored. So it may or may not surprise you that, back in the day, The Escape Artist was a... 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 »

This episode will make you more a more confident real estate investor by sharing the 5 steps of buying an investment property from contract to closing. For a companion article & show links visit:  https://www.coachcarson.com/how-buy-investment-property/ To get my closing checklist & more, get my Real Estate Investor Toolkit at https://www.coachcarson.com/newsletter/ -------------------------- 🙂 If... Read more »

Is health insurance keeping you at a job for security? As a real estate entrepreneur, I've been self-employed for 16+ years, and here's what my family and I do for health insurance. UPDATE AS OF 1/2019: Since recording this video, our family also considered lower-cost alternatives to the ACA ("Obamacare")... Read more »

The one percent rule in real estate is a tool to quickly filter and evaluate potential rental properties so that you make more cash flow. This article explains what it is, when to use it, and why it's helpful. For a written companion article & show links visit:  https://www.coachcarson.com/one-percent-rule/ --------------------------... Read more »

Bigger and faster is better in real estate investing, right? Maybe not. In this episode, you'll learn how a simpler, smaller real estate investing business can accomplish everything you want in life.  A companion article can be found on Bigger Pockets at: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/go-small-or-go-home/ -------------------------- 🙂 If you want to support the show,... Read more »

What is your financial independence number? Answering this question can help you achieve financial success & more options and freedom in life. For a written companion article & show links visit: https://www.coachcarson.com/financial-independence-number/ -------------------------- 🙂 If you want to support the show, here are some easy ways: 1) Leave an iTunes review:... Read more »

With 250 million active users Pinterest is a social media platform every blogger and business owner should be spending some time on. I’ve been using the Pinterest tactics shared on this podcast in late 2015 by Rosemarie Groner and they’ve proven to be extremely effective ... for a while.... Read more »

Progress report time! Why go through this exercise? It’s time to evaluate what happened over the last 3 months (and in this case to look at the year as a whole), to see if you achieved your goals, and to ask if you’re happier or otherwise better off than you... Read more »

A few weeks ago I asked Side Hustle Nation subscribers to share the books, podcasts, videos, articles, or resources that had the biggest impact on their business over the last 12 months. This post is a collection of those responses.... Read more »

“It’s a business with training wheels,” Timika told me. Timika Downes is a school nurse by day but was looking for ways to add income after hours, and ended up licensing someone else’s business idea.... Read more »

Meredith Marsh is a “Total introvert with over 3 million views on YouTube.” When Meredith started VidProMom.com she didn’t set out to be a “YouTuber”. She started a blog and YouTube channel because she wanted to help families better capture those classic, picture-perfect family moments.... 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 »

As 2017 comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting and also making lists of what I want to accomplish next year.  I love to make lists: lists of goals, accomplishments, dreams and groceries. I have paper and Evernote notebooks filled with these lists. While these goals are useful, focus is an... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA172.mp3" title="Ask Paula - Should I Buy a Nice Car or Save My Money?" 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 25-year-old homeowner with healthy savings and no debt (other than his mortgage) upgrade his car? Should he make this choice if his... Read more »

My readers and podcast listeners regularly reach out to me to say that they're afraid to invest in rental properties because they don't want to put their life savings at risk on a deal. I get that - but, if you approach real estate investing the right way (with risk... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA171.mp3" title="The biggest study of everyday millionaires in 25 years - with Chris Hogan" 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" ] Chris Hogan is a former football player and Georgetown alum who became the Vice President of a well-respected company. By all accounts, he seemed... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA170.mp3" title="Ask Paula - When Should I NOT Use the One Percent Rule for a Rental Property?" 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" ] When should you NOT use the one percent rule for rental property investing? In today’s episode, I encourage two callers to... Read more »

Here are a handful of lessons from 2018 (although many of these ideas originated during a lifetime preceding that). I've shared most, but not all, of these lessons on Instagram in the past year. 1: Your net worth is not your self worth. That’s true regardless of whether your net... 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 »

So, after reading about robocall blockers here I signed up with Nomorobo. Free but only works on VOIP phones. The way it works is that you 'teach'...... Read more »

hi, all. new member here. name is rich, retired early @55 13-yrs ago and loving it. got a question about new thread notifications. i've...... Read more »

Greetings from rural north Iowa. I have been visiting this site for quite some time, picking up valuable advice and living vicariously through the...... Read more »

Government down, Market up. ?... Read more »

Saw this today in Kiplinger magazine: How Much Umbrella Insurance Do You Need?...... Read more »

How Do We Follow the Guidelines from The Richest Man in Babylon? I've Reached F.I. Now How Can I Help Children Do the Same? And much more! The post 583 – Mega Friday Q&A: (two days early) Richest Man in Babylon, Children and F.I., Invest All at Once, Preparing for... Read more »

Getting Health Insurance after Divorce. Opportunities When Moving Cross-Country. Should I Keep My House in New Orleans as a Rental House? And more! The post 582 – Friday Q&A: Getting Health Insurance after Divorce, Opportunities When Moving Cross-Country, Should I Keep My House in New Orleans as a Rental House,... Read more »

Audio was from: https://www.intherabbithole.com/e257/ The post 581 – Understanding Why Money Doesn’t Work Sometimes (OR, Understanding Just-In-Time Inventory Management) appeared first on The Radical Personal Finance Podcast.... Read more »

The app is called "Soulver." The post 580 – Useful Tools to Track Your Shopping Cart Totals When You’re In The Store appeared first on The Radical Personal Finance Podcast.... Read more »

Articles referenced: https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-1616-rubbish.html-2 https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/some-towns-are-videotaping-residents-garbage?redirect=blog/free-future/some-towns-are-videotaping-residents-garbage-streams The post 579 – Why and How to Protect Your Garbage from Snoopers and Thieves appeared first on The Radical Personal Finance Podcast.... Read more »