A couple months ago a friend on Facebook asked what books people recommended on various money topics. Without batting an eye or even pausing a moment to reflect I immediately responded: For retirement, How Much Money Do I Need to Retire? by Todd R. Tresidder can't be beat. Absolutely amazing! For investing, The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. For general finance, The … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2017
My 2016 Peer-to-Peer Lending Results and Next Moves
This post is an update on my peer-to-peer (P2P) lending results through 2016. I use P2P investing as part of my retirement income strategy. For background on how we got to this point, see My Entry into Peer-to-Peer Lending and An Update on My Peer-to-Peer Lending Investments. In addition to results I'll cover my thoughts on the two platforms I use as well as give some … [Read more...]
2016 Credit Card Rewards Review: Over $1,500 in Cash Back
This post summarizes of my credit card rewards for 2016. In case you can't tell from the headline, it's good news. :) As a review, I've made over $12k in the past decade using cash back credit cards. It's not a fortune but it's extra money I wouldn't have had otherwise -- and who doesn't like extra money? I usually try to pay for as much as I can with a credit card … [Read more...]
2017 Financial Resolutions
As promised last week when I reviewed my 2016 money resolutions, today I'll be sharing my 2017 financial resolutions. I'll track these throughout the year and likely give you an update sometime in July. For now, let's get to what I want to accomplish financially in 2017. Here's the list as of today: Get daughter established in college. This includes EVERYTHING -- … [Read more...]
2016 Net Worth and Retirement Budget Update
Here's an update on how our net worth performed in 2016. For background on my net worth status and results, see 2015 Net Worth Review and The First Million is the Hardest. In addition to the net worth update, I'll detail how our retirement budget has performed so far (five months into retirement) so you will be all caught up. :) 2016 Net Worth Summary Here are my net … [Read more...]
Working the ESI Scale to Financial Independence
As you know, this site is about three easy steps toward financial independence (FI): earning, saving, and investing. In case you want more specifics see What Does ESI Money Mean? and The Essentials of Building Wealth. Separately I've been thinking about the various ways to reach financial independence. In How to Become Financially Independent I mentioned a whole host of … [Read more...]
2016 Financial Resolutions Results
At the beginning of last year I posted my 2016 financial resolutions. Today I'll review how I did. Next week I'll share my 2017 money resolutions. Before we begin, let's quickly list what the 2106 resolutions included. They were: Meet net worth goal Review/manage investments Earn extra money Complete death file Update will/estate plan Review credit … [Read more...]
Millionaire Interview 4
Here's our latest interview with a millionaire as we seek to learn from those who have grown their wealth to high heights. If you'd like to be considered for an interview, drop me a note and we can chat about specifics. My questions are in bold italics and their responses follow in black. Let's get started... How old are you (and spouse if applicable, plus how long … [Read more...]
My Savings Rate and Other Insights into My Financials
In my post titled How to Become Financially Independent a reader made the following comment: I’d love to see a yearly breakout [of your savings rate] sometime to see how it changed over the years. I’m guessing you were at a higher savings rate at the end in your largest earning years and as you had the mortgage paid off. I thought this sounded like an interesting proposition, … [Read more...]
Health and Wealth
I've posted several times about the relationship between being healthy and being wealthy. We've discussed the financial benefits of overall good health, being the right weight, not smoking, and lowering stress/sleeping well. I've also shared my physical fitness results since starting with a trainer just over a year ago. So as many people are making health-related … [Read more...]
