Category: Retirement Planning
Military Success 105: Financial Fitness
Now, for the moment I have been waiting for—I am writing the article that I wish I read before I joined the military. When I joined the Marine Corps in 1999, I had no concept of money. I didn’t know the value of reinvesting your money to make more money. In fact, it took me…
Military Success 104: Family Fitness
Thus far, we have covered many diverse topics throughout the military success series; physical fitness in 101, mental fitness in 102, and educational fitness in 103. Now, I want to talk about something we rarely discuss before joining the military, family fitness. That’s right; family is one of the most important aspects of having a…
Should You Consolidate Debt?
Most of us gather debt during our younger days—cars, credit cards, student loans, etc. So the question becomes, should we consolidate debt to assist in the repayment process? There are a few positives to consolidating debt and one giant negative. Let’s jump into this significant decision. A huge reason why Kris and I could get…
Hustle in Your 20s and 30s, Enjoy Your 40s and 50s
This topic is going to be a tough sell to most people, especially young people. Somewhere along the lines, we started convincing young people that they shouldn’t even attempt to get their act together until age 25. By my calculations, that leaves seven years of wasted time between ages 18-25. I chose this topic specifically…
Good Debt vs. Bad Debt
Being debt-free is one of the best feelings in the world, especially as a family of four. Any family person knows that running a household, especially in America, can be super expensive. It is a blessing to be able to manage our home on cash flow alone. By the way, we have $800,000 of real…
How We Plan to Retire on Dividends part 1
Retiring on dividends is a dream come true for many people. On the other hand, many have never heard of dividends. I never heard of dividends until I was the age of 38 years old. I became fascinated with the words passive income when I was overseas, and the idea of living off investments was…
From -$77,000 to +$150,000 in 22 Months
The following is a tale that I hope will inspire you to make changes in your life. As I wrote in “Living a Middle-Class Life is Stressful,” trying to keep up with life in America can be one of the worst choices you can make. Why is living middle class so draining? One word: Debt.…
Military Success 103: Educational Fitness
The military is perhaps the best place to become an educated young person in America. Not only are there too many educational opportunities to list here, but most of the things I list will be free. Moreover, some of the classes you will travel to will make you money. How cool is that? First things…
20 (more) Books That Will Make You Rich
Read 20 Books That Will Make You Rich part 1 (This is Part 2) Reading in of itself will not make you rich. However, reading and creating actionable tasks WILL make you rich. I wanted to keep this page as simple as possible. I have attached my personal review of each of these books. These…
My Retirement 4-50 Update #6
My retirement 4-50 plan is our goal to be work-optional by age 50. It consists of 4 retirement income blocks. Retirement 4-50 is based on cash flow. My goal is to have a total of $6,000 a month cash flowing from each block (total $24,000). The blocks are retirement income, investment income, rental income, and…
Happy Cash Flow Retirement
What an exciting title- to a fantastic proposition. A cash flow retirement is entirely different from what mainstream media would like us to have. Conventional wisdom would have us save an arbitrary amount of money, say $1 million, and then live off this money by withdrawing cash. In this scenario, you SAVE $1 million by…
Military Success 102: Mental Fitness
Read My Books for Free: Free Kindle Books Schedule In Military Success 101, we learned how vital it was to stay in top physical shape for a long, successful career. Equally important, if not more so, is to stay in top mental shape. Keeping your mind in the game will take training because there will…
Military Success 101: Physical Fitness
Introduction. The military has been good to me, and it might be a great starting point for you as well. I started my military career, and I went over 20 years- it was my wealth generator. However, the military is not for everyone as there are plenty of reasons that can make it difficult. Before…
Use the Military as Your Wealth Generator
I have talked a lot recently about wealth generators. It started with “Use Real Estate as Your Wealth Generator” and then “Cash Flow 103: Choose Your Wealth Generator.” As I reflect on why I am still in the military after 22 years, I realized that the Marine Corps was my wealth generator. Also, check out…
The Invisible Budget
Dang! Where did all my money go? Have you ever wondered this before? I call this the phenomenon of the invisible budget. Today, I will review the invisible budget and how to lessen its effect on your lifestyle. That’s right; you will not be able to defeat it. The invisible budget is also called “the…
Cash Flow 104: Create Your Long-Term Strategy
Throughout the Cash Flow Series (101, 102, 103), we have explored how to turn our dream retirement into a cash flow reality. Now, it is time to take our first real steps into creating and starting our plan. It is through these small steps that we will walk along the path of financial freedom. The…
Scenario 2: $30,000/month Cash Flow Retirement
Wow, it’s been almost three months since my last cash flow retirement article. I have probably written 200 articles since then- time flies when you are writing. For this installment, we are going for big money, over $30,000 a month. Back Story. Alex and Claire have been married for over 25 years. They are retiring…
Remote Worker: Beware of a Pay Trap
It was too good to be true. The idea that someone could be hired in San Fransico, accept the job, and then move to Iowa. A technique like this could generate a lot of wealth. You essentially would be receiving top pay from San Francisco and living in a low cost of living area. It’s…
My Retirement 4-50 Update #5
My retirement 4-50 plan is our goal to be work-optional by age 50. It consists of 4 retirement income blocks. Retirement 4-50 is based on cash flow. My goal is to have a total of $6,000 a month cash flowing from each block (total $24,000). The blocks are retirement income, investment income, rental income, and…
Cash Flow 103: Choose Your Wealth Generator
Now it is time to make serious money! Do I have your attention? In Cash Flow 101, we talked about how much your dream retirement would cost. In Cash Flow 102, we talked about creating passive income from four pillars- retirement income, investment income, business income, and rental income. In Cash Flow 103, we are…
