Category: Retirement Planning
How to Become Financially Independent in Your 20s
Being young grants you the gift of youth. Youth allows you to work as hard as possible and recover easily by the next morning—you are almost invincible. However, with youth comes hormones and pride. Indeed, fighting through your own mindset will be the biggest challenge of all. If you can get it together, you can…
The Magic of Having (Budgeted) Fun: Be Creative Within a Daily Budget
Yesterday was a great day. My mom is in town, and all five of us (wife, mom, and two boys) went to Ruby Tuesdays. We ate whatever we wanted and walked out the door, spending $150. That’s not bad for a family of five, especially during an inflationary and recessionary timeframe. But the best part…
Inflation Ate My Paycheck 110: Get Past the Middle Class
Life is interesting because there is no such thing as slowing down. Things start to fall apart when you take your eye off the prize. To have long-term success, whether financial, career, or relationships, you must constantly learn, grow, and build. Nowhere is this more evident than with the class system in America. Inflation will…
The American Dream is Passive Income
Can you begin life in the poor or working class and finish in the wealthy elite? You absolutely can achieve incredible wealth in one lifetime in America. Are you going to get there working hard at a job? Will you get there by directing your blood, sweat, and tears toward someone else’s ventures? The answer…
Wiping the Debt of Christmas Past
Christmas is when we overindulge, over-travel, and, worst of all, overspend. However, racking up credit card debt during the holidays can leave us in a challenging situation for years. We live in a consumer-focused nation that thrives on spending in the economy. I love the holidays as much as everyone else, but we have to…
Saving & Investing with $400 a Month Available
Wow, you should be proud of yourself because having $400/month available to save and invest in a massive achievement. Don’t be fooled by the fancy cars around you; most people are broke. $400/month allows you to do some cool things with your money, including saving, investing, and investing for income. Welcome back to the Saving…
Are You a Spender or a Saver? How to Become a Saver
Today, I want to turn my focus to you. That’s right; you get all of my attention for today’s article. I want to determine why you are not becoming wealthier each day. Like most people, your spending habits prevent you from building wealth. They trained us from a young age to consume without thinking. However,…
Over-Employment: Can You Work Two Remote Jobs at Once?
Times are getting tough, and people are becoming desperate. I read an article on Business Insider explaining how people simultaneously hold two remote jobs. I first thought they were working 8-12 hours a day with a job in the morning and night. However, I was wrong because they worked overlapping hours—what a disgrace. However, we…
The Bear Market is Your Friend
Can a bear market be your friend and help you grow your wealth? It sure can if you know how to thrive during a downturn. A stock market drop of 30% or more often leads to a recession. Many people will continue to live as normal and suffer long-term consequences. Others will panic and be…
Saving & Investing with $200 a Month Available
Congratulations on having $200/month to save and invest—it’s a big deal. Yes, I am being serious. I remember a time (not too long ago) when I finished each month in the red. I created this series to give you ideas on how and where to save and invest your money as you build your financial…
Credit Card Users Beware: Companies Are Becoming Sneakier Than Ever
Wow, I never thought credit card companies could become sneakier than before. I had two credit card “issues” within the same month that were eye-opening. Today, I want to review these two incidents and give you a fair warning about the current situation. The incoming recession will see consumers cutting back on spending, but credit…
Quiet Quitting vs. The Great Resignation
Your job is not supposed to fulfill you; I don’t know when this theory became a thing. Yes, you can enter a career field that interests you, but eventually, you’ll have to deal with politics. I joined the Marines in 1999 and loved life as a younger military person. I got to work on the…
Using Credit Cards 104: Experts Using Leverage
Today we will get to the fun part of using credit cards. You only become an expert credit card user after you have mastered the game of money and finances. We will review what mastering the game means and how we can all get on track to reach this fantastic accomplishment. Welcome back to the…
Vacation Dividends: Use Dividends to Pay for the Rest of Your Vacations
If you are like most people, you save for your vacations every year. The money you earn is the money you save. You can afford to pay for more elaborate vacations as you make more money from your job. What if I told you someone else could pay for the rest of your vacation? Yes,…
Using Credit Cards 103: Advanced Cleaning Up Their Debt
To be honest, most people will never reach the advanced stage of using credit cards. This is the point where you absolutely hate credit card debt. People who reach this stage usually have had to crawl their way out from under debt. It’s not fun giving up your short-term future and fun to pay for…
Living on $3,000/month in San Diego, California
The military can assign you any place it has a base. For my current duty station, they placed me back in my hometown, San Diego, California. During the 20 years I was away from San Diego, I fell in love with small towns. My wife and I have built extraordinary lives in cities like Yuma,…
Using Credit Cards 102: Intermediates Growing Their Lives
You are about to enter the most expensive time of your life. Between the age of 25-45, you will be responsible for buying a home, having children, and saving for retirement. It is a near-impossible task to make it out of this timeframe without debt. However, if we set a high enough goal, we will…
Using Credit Cards 101: Beginners Building Credit
I remember getting my first credit card at age 22. I knew nothing of credit cards, but they were an excellent way to purchase things online. The year was 2005, and Amazon was becoming a big deal for online shopping. I stayed on top of my credit card for many years until I got married…
Inflation Ate My Paycheck 109: How to Beat Insane Gas Prices
I just paid $6.30 per gallon to fill up my car in California. That’s almost $7 per gallon just for the luxury of driving to work. I’ve been warning of a new financial crisis, and we are seeing evidence of it now. Welcome back to the Inflaton Ate My Paycheck series (101, 102, 103, 104,…
My Recession Investing Plan
Halloween (and October) is a great time to re-access our spending. It’s good to have a crystal clear picture of our finances going into the New Year. I recently moved from Japan to San Diego, which means that my budget, spending, and saving habits had to change. The impending recession and bear (stock) market add…
