Okay, here’s what I want you to spend the next 3 minutes doing. Grab a sheet of paper and list all of the things that are monthly or annual expenses for you. I’m not talking about a grocery bill, but instead I’m talking about subscriptions, energy bills, car payments, and so on. For me, this includes all of the following: water electric gas mortgage escrow and home insurance car insurance cell phone Internet and cable tv Netflix YMCA pass for swimming You’ll probably find that it’s a pretty long list. Make sure that you don’t forgot things like student loan payments, credit card minimum payments, car loans, the Cloud, digital…
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Lessons From My Father
I read an article the other day called “Eulogy to a Great Dad“. The author’s dad just passed away and he was writing about some of the lessons that he had learned from his father. Fortunately for me, my dad is still alive and doing great, but reading this article caused me to reflect on some of the lessons that he taught me. This article also helped me to reflect on my life as a dad of three young kids and to think about the big lessons that I want to teach them. Lesson #1: Go on an Adventure When I was about 12, my dad took my brother and…
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5 Great Ways to Get in Shape
I may be in the minority, but I absolutely love working out. Even better than coffee, a good workout provides a buzz that lasts for many hours afterwards. It can help me to feel more awake and alert, be more confident during interactions with others, and generally feel better about myself. Working out also allows me to play with my kids and to avoid “Feats of Middle Age,” as are depicted in these hilarious advertisements. The bottom line is that being in shape helps me to live a long, full, and happy life. Since working out and being in shape are so beneficial to everything that we do in life, I…
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3 Huge Mistakes I Made With Money
Currently, I feel that my wife and I do a pretty good job with our money. We invest in index funds for our retirement, we are close to paying off our house, and we have paid off all of our non-mortgage debt. We are even working together with our money to budget for our goals, values, and dreams. Aren’t we just perfect with our money? Of course not! Although we do a great job with many financial things, there are many things that we can do better. Sometimes we blow through our budget or argue about how money should be spent. Other times, we don’t even talk about money and try…
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Envy is Not a Tool For Happiness
Every single one of us owns something that we don’t feel too great about. Whether it’s a house that we feel is ugly, a treadmill that barely works, kitchen cabinets from the 1970s, or a watch that is only right twice per day, we all own something that we are not too fond of. For me, it’s a Chevy Malibu that has 180,000 miles on it. This car has a cracked windshield, a gap in the passenger door that lets water in when it rains, and a sound coming from the engine that is getting louder every month. I don’t love this car. However, I am not in a rush to…
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Become Wealthy By: Using the Library and Your Own Coffee Pot
I know that it is really fun and easy to go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble to buy books. Both of these retailers have millions of books that can allow us to get lost in a fantasy world with Harry Potter, walk on the Appalachian Trail with Bill Bryson, or learn about the workings of the universe with Stephen Hawking. And, like so many people, I love reading: from huge fiction collections like Game of Thrones to non-fiction thrillers like Into Thin Air. Books, blogs, and magazines can both help us escape from reality or figure out how things work. I absolutely love books! Over the past few months,…
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The Easiest Money Saving Challenge Ever!
My wife and I always seem to make a lot of big life changes at the same time. For instance, in the span of 40 long hours, we each started new jobs, sold a house, bought another house, and moved. That was probably 40 of the most difficult and exciting hours of my life. Even when we first got married, we waited only two weeks after our wedding to buy our first house. Just like any young, newly married couple, we did not have a lot of money saved (we had not participated in the easiest saving challenge ever). We also were not extremely experienced at fixing things around the…
