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...]
Top 10 Ways to Become Wealthy While Earning a Pittance
Well, it's that time again. Time to address the "it's easy to be wealthy if you make a lot of money, what about becoming wealthy if you earn little?" crowd. But this time it's going to be a bit different. You see, I think I've made a mistake. Here I've been writing about growing your career, creating a side hustle, investing in real estate, and the like so you could … [Read more...]
Top 10 Posts from 2019
Each year I look over the previous year and do a bit of celebrating. I look for the posts I liked best, then narrow those down to the top 10. Since I know there are many new readers here (or even long-time readers) who may have missed these gems, I want to give one last shot at reading them before we move into a new year. (FYI, here's the list from last year.) With … [Read more...]
Merry Christmas
No new post today. Like many of you, I'm celebrating with family. For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!! I hope you all have a great day with loved ones!! To my other readers, happy holidays! I wish you a very joyous holiday season!! I hope 2019 has been kind to you all and I wish you the best for an awesome 2020! … [Read more...]
Great Holiday Gifts, 2019 Edition
For the past two years I've posted holiday gift ideas and the response has been very positive. It seems we all have those hard-to-buy-for people and a few extra suggestions are always welcome. So I once again went into my Amazon order history and picked out some ideas based on what I liked (based on orders the past year). I also threw in some oldies but goodies that I … [Read more...]
Beware of Fake Money Experts with No Accomplishments
It's been a while since I've had a good rant about people posing as experts. I've gone off on the subject in the past and try not to repeat myself that often....but... ...sometimes it just builds up and I have to let off a bit of steam. ;) So here we go... An MLM Expert Quite regularly I see a message on my Facebook feed from a person connected to some of my … [Read more...]
How Much Economic Outpatient Care is Too Much?
As most of you know, my favorite personal finance book of all time is The Millionaire Next Door. It's not because I think it's "the best" personal finance book (I don't know if there is one that I'd label the best, though I have named my top five) or because millionaires read it more than any other money book. No, it's more personal than that. I love the book because it … [Read more...]
The ESI (Earn, Save, and Invest) Manifesto
It still happens on a regular basis -- even after three years of retirement. I meet someone new, they ask what I do for a living, I say I'm retired, and they look at me like I just stepped off a ship from Mars. I can see in their faces that their minds are trying to compute what they just heard. They are seeing a guy (who looks like he's forty -- or so I've been told) who … [Read more...]
The Sad State of Wealth in America
For being the richest country in the world, we have some sad financial numbers. I recently stumbled upon the 2019 Modern Wealth Survey from Schwab. It was quite interesting to say the least. Here's the full survey if you'd like to check it out, but I'll be covering the highlights. Or should I say lowlights. I have been writing about money for over 20 years (first in … [Read more...]
What I Love and Hate About Costco
I am a big fan of Costco. It's one of the brands I love. We have shopped there for years, first in Michigan and now in Colorado. Of all the stores where we shop, it's probably my favorite. That said, Costco does have its faults like any other store. So I thought I'd post what I love and hate about Costco and let you chime in with your opinions as … [Read more...]
