It’s all in how you see it Ok….so I’m not “poor poor”, but I’ve been feeling poor lately. That is largely because of my wife’s furloughed job, with small prospects of coming back, and the increased competition in the job market, should either of us want to earn a salary again. These kind of changes […]
Favorite app as a non-app person
What is a non-app person? “Favorite app” is really an elusive term. Even as an “IT guy” for more than 20+ years, I am often wary of technology and forever concerned about the security of my data and devices. When everyone started saying “there’s an app for that!” I kind of felt like I was […]
The emotional roller coaster of deciding to withdraw from your retirement accounts
Filling a gap Since I’ve been taking some extended time off of employment, I’ve had a need to supplement our income with early withdraws from my retirement money. I know it’s not the best plan and it’s never a good idea for young people, but when you need the money…you need the money. Plus, I’m […]
How do childhood money lessons affect us?
Long time ago I remember it like it was yesterday. I was about 7 years old and was sitting there on our large oval living room rug watching Saturday baseball with my Dad. We were probably the last people in our neighborhood to upgrade to a color TV and I was loving it. Those were […]
Give Before You Go: Create a Living Legacy Today
I’ve always been ambivalent about my own wealth. You might even say that I’m obsessed with implementing a plan to give it all away (after we’re gone, of course). To that end, I wrote a post about a year ago on finding a financial “steward in the age of blended families.” The gist is that […]
Finance after 50
Money and FIRE (Financial Independence / Retire Early) are the name of the game, right? I was drawn to the FIRE community because I’ve pretty much been living my life this way for quite a while now. Probably since I was 15 and had a 5am paper route. Our networth, all in, is over $1M […]
What song best captures your finance journey?
Bon Vivant I originally had this link at the end of the post, but if you’re not familiar with the song, you probably want to take a quick listen first. A good “live” version of the song resides here on Youtube, which is the version I’m most familiar with. Ah, the “good life”! Who doesn’t […]
Anatomy of a frugal purchase
Unexpected expenses The other day my computer hard drive decided to “give up the ghost”. Ugh… even as a seasoned IT guy, I always dread when I have computer problems. They’re just too disruptive to my “work flow”. However, this needed to be handled promptly. Sometimes I can be a bit cynical about “upgrade paths”. […]
Evaluating your collectibles as an investment
Will Mickey Mantle pay your rent? One of my favorite lines in any movie is one from the movie “A Bronx tale”. Chazz Palminteri makes a comment to a young kid, who idol worship’s Mickey Mantle in the 1950s. He tells the kid to “..ask your Father if Mickey Mantle will pay his rent?”. He […]
The growing value of your time
When I wrote my post a few months ago about the benefits and savings I could extract from “Moviepass”, I was overlooking an important part of this as an investment. My own time. I’ve been guilty of this before, in estimating the true cost of shared office space. But, with movies, we’ve probably always heard […]