The Marine Security Guard Chronicles #2 – First Post Introduction
I remember being in MSG school back in 2002 and thinking about what post I would ask for. I knew that if you asked for something nice, you would get something horrible. And if you asked for something horrible, you would get it. That’s life, right? I always wanted to go to Africa. Matter of…
The Marine Security Guard Chronicles Vol #1 – Introduction
When I was young in the Corps, there was a saying. “Everyone wants to be a Marine, and every Marine wants to be a Marine Security Guard”. I find that to be completely true. It truly is the best duty in the Marine Corps. Over the course of this series, I will talk about as…
What is a Soulmate?
This is a question where the answers can vary wildly. Recently, my wife and I were talking about soulmates. It got me to thinking of what I believe a soulmate truly is. Is it a surface level thing? Or does it go deeper into the connection of the souls? How long does it take to…
6 way to prepare for your future life
If I had a time machine, I would track myself down at age 25. By age 25, most of the “random fun” had been purged from my system and I was ready for something “more”. Here are 6 things I would say to the 25-year-old version of myself to help fast track the learning process.…
Can you become rich by only using earned income?
There are three types of income; earned, business, and investment. I want to take a look at how I can become rich from having only earned income. Earned income is the income we receive from a working job. We have been taught that working hard at our jobs will eventually pay off in the form…
My $35,000 a month retirement plan
Over the last 15 months, my wife and I have been optimizing our lifestyle and finances to prepare for our future lives. We have cut down on household and entertainment expenses. We have begun to generate income outside of our standard jobs. And finally, we have began to invest in a balanced investment portfolio. Now,…
3 ways to push your life forward
Life can be difficult sometimes. It can be even more difficult when you don’t even understand why it is difficult. There can be an invisible wall that we can each reach some point or another. The wall does not tell you that it is coming, it just hits you in the face randomly. I hit…
5 ways couples can invest in experiences
Building experiences together is a hallmark of a great relationship. As much as I love to hang out at the house and relax, going out and creating experiences is vital to building a lifelong, weather-proof relationship. By keeping things exciting and a little spontaneous, it allows us to re-kindle that “puppy-love” that we all had…
5 ways that teamwork can lead to success in America
America is a tough place to be alone. Not only are there raising housing, education, healthcare, and child care costs, but we are increasingly trying to cover these expenses alone. When we do not work as a team, it works out in corporate America’s best interests. The more isolated individuals and families, the more products…
What is your rich life?
I want you to do an exercise with me. I want you to imagine your best case life at 50 years old. Do not limit yourself with money, status, or relationships. This is your dream world. Who are you with? What do you have? Where are you at? Now, most importantly, how do you achieve…
I will use dividends to supplement my retirement
As a Marine of over 21 years, I know that my military pension will be substantial. In fact, my wife and I can easily live off of this retirement alone. On top of our military pension, we will also have rental income from our properties. To be honest, we are pretty much set for retirement.…
Running a household is akin to running a business
When I first got married in 2006, I had no idea what I was doing. I was a young E5 (25 years old) who only knew what my parents taught me about marriage. Which wasn’t much. So my wife and I jumped into “playing house”. We did pretty well. We didn’t set the world ablaze,…
Generating income needs to become second nature
Over the last 20 years, I believed that if I continued to get promoted everything would be okay, financially. And to some extent, that is the case. My family and I can live a nice, middle-class life on my military salary. However, to become truly financially independent, we have to do more. What is financial…
What portfolio are we building for our children?
Believe it or not, this seems to always be a polarizing topic. One side claims that for children to grow into adults, they will need to be thrust out into the world, alone. This trial by fire will help them discover who they are and where they are going. I can see this argument. This…
Why I have 5 different brokerage accounts
The number one reason is that it is really fun. It is hard to believe that only 14 months ago (June 2019) I did not even have one brokerage account. It goes to show that once you jump into something, anything is possible. If you are reading this and don’t have a brokerage account, I…
My military retirement should be worth $5.5 million
Every once in awhile I like to look at the military retirement calculator. It has been a sort of hobby on mine since I hit my 8-year mark of military service. I would calculate what an E8 would retire with at 20 years and what an E9 would retire with at 30 years. Lo and…
August over August update 2020
In the investing world, it is always good to take a look back at where you were some time ago. As we slowly grind towards our goals, we sometimes do not realize how big of strides we are actually taking. That is why I am starting a monthly series to look back at where we…
The 3 Stages of Wealth
Wealth is something that evades most people. The funny part is, tons of people spend most of their time chasing money. This includes me and Kris as well. I worked very hard to earn every promotion the Marine Corps threw my way. I got promoted until there were no further promotions. I did this for…
Marriage Year in Review: 2006
The Story: 2006 was one of the craziest years of our life. This is the year that we got married. But our marriage wasn’t a typical American wedding. Oh no. It was never that simple for us. I left Ashgabat, Turkmenistan (where I met Kris) in July 2005. Kris and I were not able to…
I give myself $60 a week for my personal budget
Wow! I remember when this amount was $200 a week. It has been a long road to being able to understand the value of money. I grew up without much money, so I always thought that I knew the value of money. I never bought brand new or expensive cars. I never was into expensive…