Category: Retirement Planning
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…
What is Your Dream Retirement?
Times are getting tough, so it’s the season for some daydreaming. The only way to stay motivated through this impending recession is to focus on the outcomes. Your dream retirement is a vital part of keeping you on the path. Now, more than ever, people will attempt to get you off your purpose. So let’s…
Your 401K is NOT Enough
This article will hit some people hard. They led us to believe that our 401Ks were the end-all-be-all for retirement. If we just saved enough in our 401K, plus maybe a small pension and social security, we would be alright until the end of life. Unfortunately, the world changes faster than we do as humans.…
Trade School vs. College vs. The Military
This article brings me back many years to when I was in high school. I graduated high school in 1999 and went directly into the military. I am still in the Marines Corps, and now my son is in high school. The roles of these different education opportunities have changed considerably. Before, a college education…
Just Rewards: Credit Cards vs. Debit Cards
Today I am going to discuss the ultimate grudge match between credit cards and debit cards. Many people are out to get the best rewards; however, this is a comparison between two mindsets at its core. The credit card camp likes to talk about points for travel and cashback rewards. There are truly some great…
Inflation Ate My Paycheck 108: What is Your Recession Budget?
The Federal Reserve needs to send America into a recession. Why? Because a recession is the best way to combat high inflation quickly. What does a recession mean for the average person? It means we will struggle with our livelihoods if we do not adjust our mindsets. Today, I want to review our budgets to…
Happy Cash Flow Retirement 8
Today is a great day. I woke up understanding my purpose, my goal, and my mission. I also wake up every day richer than the day before. Welcome back to the Happy Cash Flow Retirement Series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 6, Part 7) My life consists of the magic of cash flow. I understand…
Is Budget a Bad Word?
Looking through social media, I always wonder how people budget. I make a decent amount of money (over $150,000/year), as does my wife (over $50,000), but we live on a budget. I see people going to Mexico, Hawaii, and the Dominican Republic and putting kids through private school. I see friends driving monster trucks and…
Passive Income Road Trip #2: Retirement Planning
I woke up today in San Antonio, Texas. I decided to split Texas into three days and two nights of driving. If you didn’t know, Texas is a massive piece of Earth. My friend called me and said I should have driven the 900 miles of Texas in one day. To that, I replied that…
Debt Snowball vs. Debt Avalanche
Over the last two years, I have consistently talked about paying off debt. Living a debt-free life is perhaps the greatest gift to your financial well-being. I wrote an entire series about Staying Debt-Free at Any Age (20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s), and you can download all the books for free on my website.…
Inflation Ate My Paycheck 107: Cellphone Upgrade vs. Dividends
I’ve had the same cellphone for five years, and I will probably attempt to keep it one more year. Why? It still works fine. I bought my Samsung Galaxy S8+ in July 2017 when my family and I left mainland Japan. I kept it through my tour in Pensacola, FL, and then for two years…
Your Retirement Planning Guide 3
It’s your retirement, so you’ll have to make it great yourself. No one is going to prepare for your retirement better than you. This dynamic is a good and bad thing. On the one hand, you’re in complete control. You can either accept your fate and take it seriously or depend on your employer or…
