Category: Retirement Planning
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…
Debt-Free Society: Beat Wedding Debt
Your wedding day is a time to celebrate with the love of your life. Hopefully, both of your families can party together and send you off to a great marriage. The problem with weddings is that they start you off with tons of consumer debt. When you get married, there are many new expenses you…
Retirement Planning for the Average Person 4
The average person needs to have a plan for retirement. Yes, this means that you actually need to formulate a path towards getting older and surviving. Retirement is coming for all of us, and no one is coming to save us. Social security is NOT a retirement plan. It’s a questionable backup resource—at best. I…
5 Takeaways from “Wedding Hacks”
“Wedding Hacks” by Maddie Eisenhart gives us 540 wedding tips to reduce our costs and prevent drama. Everyone preparing for a wedding should read this book because there is solid guidance inside. I am doing a deep dive into why Americans are broke. Weddings are a massive part of the equation, so reducing these expenses…
The Bait Resignation: Should You Quit Your Job?
Since the 2020 pandemic, we have heard the chatter about “The Great Resignation.” This is a movement where people quit their jobs because they are unfulfilled. I have never, never, never thought about quitting my job because of my satisfaction level. I have no idea when people started to believe that their job should make…
Join Up! Time to Sign Up for the Military
The military is a great place to beat a recession. I have been in the military during the recessions of 2000, 2008, 2020, and now 2022. But, the military offers so much more. I joined the United States Marine Corps in June 1999 and haven’t looked back. I am currently at 23 years and will…
Inflation Ate My Paycheck 106: Time to Start Couponing.. Or Not
How do we successfully navigate a recession? Well, I guess we are about to find it here shortly. The days of easy money in the financial and housing markets will slowly come to a close. We will have to tighten our belts and start living below our means, saving, and investing. I usually focus on…
Your 401K vs. A Recession
This article will go against most conventional wisdom floating in the financial world. When you start as an adult, the 401K is a sacred cow we must protect at all costs. However, savings into your 401K can damage your finances for the foreseeable future because of “life.” Today, I want to explore some alternative ways…
Emergency Cash: How Much Do You Need in an Emergency Fund?
Building an emergency fund is one of the best ways to create a feeling of financial security. But how much do you need in an emergency fund? The short answer is that every situation is different. Your emergency fund is a function of your belief system, job, and financial literacy. Let’s cover each of these…
Debt-Free Society: Beat Student Loan Debt
Someone lied to us all about going to college and taking on student loan debt. In a few cases, getting a degree leads to massive wins in the civilian sector or military. However, taking on the debt associated with these degrees can put you into a form of slavery called indentured servitude (Read “In-debt-ured Servant”).…
5 Takeaways from “Couponing for Beginners Guide”
“Couponing for Beginners Guide” by T.M. Crump is a short book on how to start couponing. Every penny counts as we enter a recession and a period of high inflation. Couponing is a lifestyle—not something you do casually. There is a lot of work to use coupons effectively, so you must take it seriously. 1)…
Debt-Free Society: Beat Automobile Debt
There has been some debate about whether your home is an asset or a liability. I agree with Robert Kiyosaki, who says that your primary residence is a liability. However, there is no doubt that your car is a massive liability. Yes, it gets you to work, but it drains resources daily. With the increased…
5 Takeaways from “Destroy Your Student Loan Debt”
“Destroy Your Student Loan Debt” by Anothony ONeil takes us step-by-step on how to get rid of large amounts of student loan debt. I never took any student loans, but I know it affects many young professionals. You need to attack student loans aggressively and quickly. If you don’t, they can grow faster than you…
Staying Debt-Free in Your 70s
In our 20s, the biggest threat to our wealth was striking out into the world. Conversely, in our 70s, the most significant threat to our fortunes is us leaving the world unprepared. That’s right; our 70s is all about ensuring we have everything in place for us to leave the world with our fortunes intact.…
Staying Debt-Free in Your 60s
I’ll be honest with you; our 60s should be a time to relax and reflect—we should be on the easy street with our finances. If we haven’t figured it out by now, we may never unlock our potential. That’s not to say that there won’t be dangers associated with this timeframe. We worked so hard…
Staying Debt-Free in Your 50s
Our 50s is the time we’ve all been waiting for—time to celebrate. We were brilliant in our 20s, chose a good partner in our 30s, and avoided debt in our 40s—now it’s time to party. Am I right? Not really. Welcome back to the Staying Debt-Free in At Any Age series (20s, 30s, 40s), where…
