I am a firm believer in spending the right amount of money. I focus on price per use to determine the right amount of money to spend on something. My style on the journey to Financial Independence Retire Early is not to be frugal or minimalist. Instead my style is to identify what something is…
No one wants to be told no. Of course that’s true. But parents forget it. Little kids spend the first few decades constantly told no. Why? It’s easy for parents to say no. We have a rule in our house. If you can not justify the no, then you should say no. This started when…
When my wife was pregnant with our first child, I put a lot of thought into what life lessons to teach our kid. I was in my late 30s and stewing over how old I would be as they grew up. I kept thinking, if I die while they are young what do I want…
How to screen tenants? This is one of the most frequent things people ask me. Finding a tenant and then screening them scares people. It shouldn’t. I’ll write a post and share my application in the future. For now just know I screen people before meeting with them and walking them through. This gives them…
Oh no, not another fake guru talking about FIRE. I have never really paid attention to all the websites and YouTube videos around Financial Independence Retire Early. This journey is one I started before most people were regulars on the internet. Before Google. Before YouTube. I’m only 42. I never researched FIRE on the internet…
I want to be a good dad and I try hard to be one. It’s not easy but I try to be present. I love my kids and my wife very much. Nearly my entire motivation for wanting to retire early is to have time to spend with them, and to just be present. That’s…
How do you find tenants? I’ve been asked this question so many times. But mostly from the angle of people being afraid to get into land-lording because of fear of finding a good tenant. I never thought this was a challenge. My perspective was different. There is this misconception that renters are a lessor class…
Do you wonder how to retire early? Twenty years ago i asked the COO of the large company that I worked at what book I should read. He said “7 Habits of Highly Effective People“. He even gave me a copy. Several days later I went to read it. I opened it to the table…
There are many paths to FIRE. I was just reading a blog called A Purple Life. In mostly her words with slight editing by me: “She developed a plan to retire in 10 years at 35. With the help of decreased spending, increased wages, and geoarbitrage she reached her goal in half the time and retired…
Satisfice is such a great word. I had never heard of satisfice until I was studying for the Chartered Financial Analyst (aka CFA). Satisfice is about “good enough” and not needing more. Satisfice is a great word in finance, and even better word for the real life. Are you a maximizer vs satisficer? If you…
In 2001, I was 21 The phrase “financial independence retire early” did not exist. But I knew I wanted it. Have you wondered how to get started in real estate without knowing much of anything or having much money? Well here’s my story. I walked into a real estate agency a couple miles from the…