Every month I reconcile my accounts, update my tracking spreadsheets, and post an update detailing my spending in a monthly expense report and net worth progress graph. This month is no different! May was an emotional roller coaster. The first week brought a huge production issue at work. Tagging along were long office hours and immense pressure to fix it ASAP. In addition, I developed an issue with my eye during this time which required a doctor visit plus a…
Every month I reconcile my accounts, update my tracking spreadsheets, and post an update detailing my spending in a monthly expense report and net worth progress graph. This month is no different! Spring is finally happening and with all of those beautiful, blooming flowers comes winter cleanup and weekends full of yard work. I am definitely not complaining. I love getting outdoors – especially before the heat and humidity of summer. I’ve likely spent too much time lounging on our…
The secret sauce of achieving financial independence boils down to two things: minimizing your expenses and maximizing your income. By continually working on these two goals you will speed up your timeline to financial independence. My goal with this post is to walk you through how I evaluate job offers while keeping my financial independence timeline in mind. For those of us pursuing FI, the majority will earn their primary income from a corporate 9-5 career. To maximize that income…
Okay, okay, this is coming months into 2018, but I still owe it to myself to review my 2017 personal goals. In addition, it’s high time I lay out my plans for 2018 because I expect some bigger changes this year. Looking back over 2017 I can see a handful of top-shelf highs, a whole lot of middling middles, but also some unexpected lows. On the whole, last year was a resounding success in catapulting my life forward. I look…
March was a tough month. The whole region was without power, but at least no work for a few days. Stock markets posted another negative month, but at least I posted a narrow net worth gain. My monthly expenses bloomed, but at least I got a new phone? It’s not always easy to see the positives in the everyday, but when life gives you a rough patch, the good makes itself known. From a financial perspective March is a success….
Last year one of my goals was to triple my charitable giving. During 2016 I donated an embarrassingly low $125, so my goal last year was $375 or greater. To help motivate myself even further I proposed scheduling a new organization every month and asking for reader support. I tracked this in my year long post called A Year of Giving (More!). What I didn’t realize is how time-consuming sticking to schedule, promoting each cause, and updating the post would…