As promised when I gave my 30-day retirement update, I'll post what I'm up to in retirement every so often. It's meant to both keep you in the loop with the retirement life as well as keep myself accountable. If all I have to share is "sat around and watched TV", I'll need to shake things up a bit. :) Anyway, here's what's happened the past 100 days: I'm busy!!! You … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2016
Playing Financial Chess, Part 2 (Three Phases of Wealth)
Yes, I'm a chess nerd. But in the worst sort of way. I love chess but am terrible at it. At least compared to most people who consider it a hobby. That's because I usually only play blitz chess, a quick version where the time allowed to move is severely limited. The long version just takes too much time for me. Which makes me not a great player as I'm not a deep, strategic … [Read more...]
Advice on Top-Tier Versus Local MBA Schools
A reader recently sent me an email as follows: I had a question for you following up to the post on whether or not to get your MBA. A little background for you: I was an elementary education major, taught for two years, did not like it, networked my way into an entry level position at a large corporation, worked my way up to a marketing analyst position in a little over a … [Read more...]
What is the Definition of Financial Independence?
Summary: This post answers the question "what is financial independence?" by providing a workable definition for the phrase. This post was going to be about the key factors people need to consider/manage to achieve financial independence (FI). But we're going to have to save that for another time. The reason we're going to have to wait is because I'm not sure what … [Read more...]
Save $1 Million by Not Smoking
Summary: Between the cost of cigarettes and health-care-related costs, smoking can cost you over $1 million over the course of a lifetime. Today we're continuing our series on how being healthy can grow your net worth. So far we've talked about how working out can grow your income and how you can save money by being the right weight. Today we're going to cover how you … [Read more...]
How to Select a College
Summary: There is one key factor that goes into selecting a college. Many prospective attendees and their parents completely ignore it. It happened to me again recently. A friend and I were chatting over coffee. He has one child in college and another going in a few years. He also knows that I am working through the "kids going to college" phase of life. My friend … [Read more...]
Things I Used to Think that I No Longer Think
They say that as you get older, you get wiser as well. I hope that's true of me, but I'll let you be the judge of that after this post. :) Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to list things I used to think about money but no longer do -- just to see how I've hopefully improved over the years. Or how foolish I used to be. Pick which you like better. With that … [Read more...]