Why would I spend my time learning about HSAs? It’s certainly not something I thought about in any detail prior to a couple of weeks ago. But, you may remember my last harrowing article on insurance. Well, my new health insurance plan sent me a flyer in the mail reminding me that my health plan includes… Read More »
I pick on stuff, things, consumer goods, junk, as a personal finance geek because I know that much of a person’s budget (and debt) comes from these items and because these expenses are usually not recurring, necessary or fixed and thus easier to cut. The average American easily owns more consumer goods than any society in the history of the… Read More »
This may surprise you, but I really dislike budgets. The word budget, to me, reeks of deprivation and drudgery. I know that some people can benefit from tracking how they spend every single penny, but I could never get myself to do it. I prefer an overall money management strategy and not a specific budget. Spend less than you… Read More »
I check one of my credit reports every four months to make sure my financial avatar hasn’t developed walking pneumonia. I worry about someone stealing my identity and since it happens to almost ten million people a year and data breaches are pretty much constant, I consider this anxiety justified. Happily, I can ease the unease FREE! The… Read More »
My single greatest fear when I waded into early retirement was what I would do about health insurance. I want to consider myself a generally healthy person. Except for my “horrifyingly low” levels of Vitamin D, my yearly physicals turn up nothing worrisome. I easily walk 4 kilometers a day just to get to and from… Read More »
At what point would you consider yourself rich? I think we can all agree that a billionaire is “rich”. What about a millionaire? What about someone who has $702,664.97? Which final penny makes someone rich? How much is enough? I know I’m not the first person to ponder this question. This is the ancient sorites paradox or the… Read More »
When I was reviewing my life bucket list and contemplating what item to tackle next and how, I found myself thinking more and more of this quote I ran across in a college ethics class. I remembered the words in bold and Google helped me find the rest. “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation: we… Read More »
***I’m not working on this project anymore, but I’ll let you know if I decide to pick it up again. The idea for this blog started as most truly great ideas start – binge-watching television on my parent’s couch one weekend. I discovered the television show “Til Debt Do Us Part”, a truly delightful personal… Read More »
I realized recently that I hate this blog. I see “Write a blog post” on my to-do list and I just feel annoyed. Part of the annoyance stems from my hypocrisy. The last few months I have certainly not been practicing what I am preaching. I started a project I call “Operation Enjoy the Crap… Read More »
I’m updating my visual aid for my goal of financial independence. I plot my monthly expenses against my theoretical passive income. As soon as my average monthly expenses are less than my projected passive income, I could theoretically live off my savings. I started this website so I could point to something when people question… Read More »