Living for today - Planning for Tomorrow
I have to confess something. More and more these days I’m finding myself thinking about what it would take to check out of the rat race. I don’t care about having the fanciest stuff, or the latest and greatest tech gadget. I really want to have the option to just do absolutely nothing as much as I want. I think it stems from a few
It’s been no secret that our household has been hemorrhaging money over the last 1.5 years as we built a second home out at our favorite lake. Now that we have been in it for a few months and have stopped buying both construction materials and basic furnishings etc, our budget is slowly getting back to normal. How have things changed? -We have increased our
Lately I’ve been looking at all the various gimmicks out there to get me to spend money in specific stores. Frankly, it would be pretty easy to sign up for saver cards and gift cards in lots of stores but I choose to only sign up for things like this in stores I already frequent. Here are a couple of the cards we are using,
Today I went to lunch with a couple friends of mine. One is someone that I currently work with and the other is someone that I worked with for a few years until he retired last year. I’m only 36 but by talking to my friend, I could just tell I’m going to really love retirement. My goal is to get there at 50. My
From the If you don’t ask, you won’t get department: When we bought the lake house property and structure we used some money from a home equity line of credit that we’d set up months before. We didn’t borrow a ton of money but at the time we locked in the interest rate. I’ve read too many horror stories about payments adjusting up as the
Prostitutes aren’t exactly known for their good money management skills or financial knowledge. Most of them are in a vicious earn, give to pimps and spend cycle. In India, a group of over 900 prostitutes has started their own bank so that they can start saving and, hopefully, pull themselves out of the vicious world of prostitution. Many of them have the same dreams as
Everyone likes an instantly wealthy person. I have a special fondness for the newly rich. No, I don’t have a business proposition for you. Nope, don’t need a loan either. I just care about you and your pile of cash. I want you to be successful like my good friend Brad Duke. (okay, he’s not my good friend and he doesn’t even know me, but
If you are a long time reader of ELYM you know that I tend to make some rather “out of character” moves now and then. Usually these out of character moves have to do with automobiles. If I was smart, I think I’d just sell everything and head on over to become an Amish man or a Mennonite. At least in their culture, there is
So, one million isn’t enough for you, right? I know it’s not enough for me. I know I need much more than that. Will $2 million cover you in retirement? If so, are you on the right path to meet that goal? About how much money should you have at your age? Age 21: $0 Age 32: $77989 Age 43: $279236 Age 54: $798538
I always like to know if I’m on the right path and on schedule with my investing and saving. I normally keep a spreadsheet of what my net worth needs to be at various points along my journey. I use this as one of many tools to see if I’m making good decisions about saving, investing and avoiding purchases. We each have a unique number
