Key Money Lessons From My Childhood
One of the reasons I started this blog, was to help people become better at managing their own money. Most people don’t receive any formal education on personal finance and just tend to follow what...
View ArticleThe Millionaire Janitor
This past February, the story of Ronald Read, “The Millionaire Janitor”, started making headlines in mainstream media channels including CNBC. Mr. Read passed away in June 2014 at the age of 92. Most...
View ArticleFinancial Independence: Our 10-year Plan
Every time financial independence comes up in a conversation with somebody who is new to this idea, it is often received with skepticism. This is understandable. When I first heard about it, I was...
View ArticleTracking Expenses – Lessons Learned From 2015
Management guru Peter Drucker said “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it“. So in order to take control of your finances, you first need to know where your money goes. I know a guy who thought...
View ArticleCars Part 1 – How We Saved $26,200
About 4 years ago, Elisa purchased her first (and so far only) car. I thought it would be interesting to look at how much this car has cost us and see how it compares to what the average American...
View ArticleCamp Mustache 2016
Back in January, I stumbled upon the possibility of getting tickets for Camp Mustache 2016. After about 15 minutes of thinking, I decided to go. I’m lucky I did because tickets sold out within a day or...
View ArticleNet Worth – What Is It and Why Should You Track It?
As we enter the second half of the year, I thought it would be a good time to check up on our net worth and show you how I track it. What is Your Net Worth? In simple words, your net worth is...
View ArticleIt’s Not About the Money
Financial independence… That wonderful thing that happens when your passive income equals or exceeds your expenses. It takes a sizable amount of money to get there. How much exactly? 25 times your...
View ArticleA Random Walk Down Wall Street – Book Review
Saving and investing are two key elements to reach financial independence. In this post I review one of the best books about investing I have read so far: A Random Walk Down Wall Street – The...
View ArticleExpenses Revealed – Q1 2016
Over the last few weeks I have been buried studying for the CPA exam. I finally seem to be slightly ahead of schedule, so I thought I would take some time to write an update on this year’s spending so...
View ArticleThe Millionaire Next Door – Book Review
Who are the rich in this country? What do they do? How did they get rich? Can I become one of them? The Millionaire Next Door provides some very interesting and, perhaps, surprising answers to these...
View ArticleBuy or Rent? – All the Numbers Behind Our Recent Home Purchase
One of the most common misconceptions out there is the notion that buying a home is always a better financial decision than renting one. This is nonsense. “Always” is rarely a good answer in the world...
View ArticleCars Part 2 – How We Saved Another $32,400
About a year ago I wrote about how Elisa’s car has saved us $26,200 over 4 years. Today, we’ll explore the numbers behind my own car. As I am writing this sentence, I have not yet run the numbers so I...
View ArticleThe Tax Benefits of Home Ownership – Myth or Reality?
A number of questions have come up from the post I wrote a few weeks ago about buying our new home. One of the most frequent ones goes something like this: “Great job outlining the costs of...
View Article2016 Expenses Revealed!
2016 was a really exiting year for us! We kicked off the year by traveling back to the U.S. after our wedding. A few months later I finished grad school, and attended Camp Mustache to kick off the...
View ArticleThe Simple Path to Wealth – Book Review
At this point in my life, I have read about a dozen books on money management and investing. I have found most of them to be fairly interesting and have learned a lot from them. But unfortunately, the...
View ArticleExpenses Revealed! – Q1 2017
The first three months of 2017 were relatively uneventful compared to our action-packed 2016. We spent a lot of time at home with our little one, and I kept myself pretty busy with work, and studying...
View ArticleHow to Get Your Partner on Board with Financial Independence
You get it, financial independence that is. You can’t wait to start building some serious wealth to buy your freedom. You understand that being financially independent will allow you to spend ALL of...
View ArticleExpenses Revealed! – Q2 2017
The second quarter of 2017 flew by as the days got warmer and longer. I must say, spring is one of my favorite times of the year as I’m not a big fan of cold and short days (see Q1 expenses here). It...
View ArticleHow to Replace a Car Without Breaking the Bank
If you track your expenses, you probably already know that cars are pretty expensive things to own. After you account for depreciation, gas, maintenance and repairs, property taxes, and everything...
View Article