There's some interesting and unique stuff in this post...don't skip through it or you might miss something. ;) Wow. Four years. I've been retired for four years now. In some ways, it seems like I left work yesterday. In others, it feels like I've been retired for a decade. Must be those retirement reverse dog years making me feel that way. ;) I can say that at this … [Read more...]
Retirement Update: 3.75 Years
Here we are again -- time for another retirement update where I share what's going on in my life! For the record here's the last one. You may want to read it as some of the items mentioned in this post will assume you know what's in the former post. The past three months have been full of excitement, so let's get to the details! Life My son was supposed to spend … [Read more...]
The Financial Implications of Owning a Cat
One of my favorite songs of all time is "The Long and Winding Road" by the Beatles. This post is likely to resemble that song and could be named "The Long and Winding Post". So if you're not into the backstory of my history with pets/cats, you can jump to the money stuff below where I "get to the point." On the other hand, if you're interested in how we came to own a … [Read more...]
How I Added Dividend Stocks to My Portfolio, Part 2
Today I'll continue telling you how I ended up buying almost $200k in dividend stocks recently. In case you missed part 1 and want to catch up, see How I Added Dividend Stocks to My Portfolio, Part 1. In that post I set up the background (my interest in dividend investing), how I educated myself on dividend investing, and how I developed a set of criteria I wanted to see … [Read more...]
How I Added Dividend Stocks to My Portfolio, Part 1
Warning: I need to put this upfront just to be 100% clear to all readers. This post is about what I've done investing-wise. It's not about what you should do investing-wise. I do not know your goals, financial situation, or any one of a hundred other details that would even slightly qualify me to offer any investing advice to you. As such, this post is not meant as … [Read more...]
How I Picked My Properties and a Rental Income Update
It's been over four years since I shared the Financial Details of My Real Estate Investments. I've been wanting to give an update for some time and since I've just completed the process of getting all my numbers together for tax purposes, I thought this would be the year to do so. In addition, I thought I'd share the highlights of the process I used to select my … [Read more...]
The Gift of the Struggle
I was surprised at the small but vocal minority who felt my kids should get more from our estate plan. I'm not going to feed the trolls by responding to their comments, but today I do want to discuss a related topic. I'm calling it "the gift of the struggle." Before we get in too deep, let's begin by defining the phrase. What is the Gift of the Struggle? When I say … [Read more...]
Retirement Update: 3.5 Years
Here we are again -- time for another retirement update where I share what's going on in my life! For the record here's the last one. You may want to read it as some of the items mentioned in this post will assume you know what's in the former post. The past three months have been full of excitement, so let's get to the details! Life I spent a lot of time with my … [Read more...]
Our Meeting with Two Financial Planners
As noted in My Third Experience at a Direct Mail Retirement Seminar, my wife and I accepted an invitation to meet with Dustin (financial planner) and Gregg (Chief Investment Officer) from Accelerated Wealth. They had done an impressive enough job at the presentation to convince us it was worth an hour, plus I had a few questions I wanted to run by them, so why not? In … [Read more...]
My Third Experience at a Direct Mail Retirement Seminar
I know, I know. I'm starting to get hooked on these things! Ha! In case you haven't been following along, I've written about the first and second direct mail retirement seminars my wife and I have attended. After the second one, I didn't know if we'd go to another one, but turns out we did! I'm glad we did since this was a good one for a few different reasons. But … [Read more...]
