People come to me for advice, or simply to have money conversations, because they say I’m good with money. The truth is, I’m actually good without money, and dangerous with money. Over the past decade or so I’ve trained myself to stop being the guy who picks up the tab saying “I’ll pay for it… Continue reading I Would Have No Idea What to do with the Money
Tag: retire early
Renovations Suck!
I am in the third year of renovating my house, and frankly I’m sick of it. So what business does a blog about financial independence have writing about renovations? Hear me out. Until about four years ago, my quest for financial independence was a fairly typical slow burn. I was paying off debts as fast… Continue reading Renovations Suck!
“It was the only way…”
In the past I’ve talked about what wonderfully bad financial role models my parents have been. This is something I’ve tried for years to make peace with. Unfortunately every time I think things have settled down and cant get any worse, they find a new way to surprise me. For the record, whatever my parents… Continue reading “It was the only way…”
“Final” Refi Complete
In my Goals for 2021 post I mentioned that I would consider refinancing again if the conditions were right. I looked at this from a lot of different angles, including riding out the mortgage I’d signed in 2019, sending one or more lump sum payments, overpaying the existing mortgage monthly, and refinancing. In the end,… Continue reading “Final” Refi Complete
Why I Decided to Refinance Again
As a homeowner, 2020 provided some interesting opportunities. Home prices in the suburbs surrounding major metro areas have gone up considerably, while interest rates have plummeted. This has fueled a wave of refinancing (both for good and bad reasons). At the end of 2019, before anyone even knew what COVID-19 was, I refinanced my mortgage,… Continue reading Why I Decided to Refinance Again
Such is Life
My every day from 5:30 AM until my wife and kids get up at 8 AM: Me from 8:01 AM until I go to bed at 10:30:
My Financial Goals for 2021
On the heels of a surprisingly successful 2020, I find myself firmly in what’s referred to as “the boring middle.” Strange as it sounds to say, I’m running out of things to do! Or at least, I’ve put everything that I can on autopilot, I’ve taken care of all the baby steps and some of… Continue reading My Financial Goals for 2021
2020 Year in Review
Is it over? Can we call 2020 complete now? Every month, right after I get paid on the 15th, I enter all of my account information into my net worth spreadsheet. I’ve been doing this for about a year and a half despite my belief that net worth isn’t a great indicator of financial shape.… Continue reading 2020 Year in Review
I Get Access to a Mega Backdoor Roth
Earlier this year I updated my goals for 2020 and described how I’d investigated the possibility of doing a backdoor Roth to move my IRA into a Roth IRA. In the end, I found that my current tax rate is far too high for this to make sense for me. My current tax bracket is… Continue reading I Get Access to a Mega Backdoor Roth
Demotivated
Maybe it’s just the change from hot sunny days to…hot overcast days (no one told the NY weather that Fall is supposed to be cold), but I’ve been struggling with motivation lately. At the end of each quarter I get a few weeks of excitement. I have multiple RSU vesting dates, and in August I… Continue reading Demotivated
Freed by 50 