It’s time to make some changes to my investment portfolio! I wrote a post last month called We Have a Lot of Cash in Hand Now… Too Much! that discussed how too much of our portfolio is sitting in cash. Apparently, that’s not uncommon right now as I received a lot of feedback in the comments and replies back from my mailing list (which I recommend you sign up for on the sidebar!). So I decided to write a post …
I recently wrote a post called Teaching Kids About Money – Valuable Lessons Instilled. As I was in the process of writing it, I got motivated to open a custodial Roth IRA for my daughter, Faith. If you’re new to this blog, Faith is 10 years old (11 in a few months). When you hear that, you might be thinking, “What the @#$% does a 10-year-old need with a retirement account?” or “Um, Jim, don’t you need to have earned …
How and Why To Open a Custodial Roth IRA at Vanguard Read More »
I was very excited to be asked to appear on a special episode of the Stacking Benjamins Show recently. There aren’t many podcasts that I still listen to anymore, but I love listening to Joe, Paula, and Len on this show. It just seems like they’re having a lot of fun but with some good info presented along the way. In case you’re wondering, the other podcasts I still regularly listen to are: Afford Anything with Paula Pant ChooseFI with …
Stacking Benjamins Show Appearance – Retiring Abroad Read More »
Relying on schools to educate your kids about personal finance is generally not going to be a smart move… most schools don’t even have a curriculum to teach them the basics. When it comes to teaching kids about money, the onus falls on you. That’s good news because you have an opportunity to ensure that your children are learning the right information. Just as many parents haven’t been educated about personal finance, many teachers themselves haven’t been either. If you …
Teaching Kids About Money – Valuable Lessons Instilled Read More »
I’m very excited to say that my in-laws have officially booked flights to visit us next month. But traveling to Panama isn’t for the faint of heart. If you’re not an avid traveler, you’re probably going to run into some stumbling blocks along the way. Heck, even if you are a regular traveler, you’ll probably run into your share of quirky issues. The difference is that it might be a little easier for the regular traveler to know what to …
Traveling to Panama? The Ultimate Guide in Going from the U.S. to Boquete Read More »
Having cash in hand is a good thing. Whether it’s for an emergency fund or money you’re saving up for something short-term like a car, having money at your disposal is a good thing. But there’s a limit to that goodness and having too much cash in hand can absolutely be a problem. When you have money sitting in the bank, it’s earning a little bit of interest (a real little bit in this day and age!). However, that interest …
As I was looking at some of the pictures we’ve taken during our time so far in Panama, I realized that I haven’t shared enough of them with you. So today, I’m happy to present Boquete, Panama in photos for your enjoyment! We’ve been lucky enough to be living in Boquete since 2019 and get to experience this beautiful place. But then, we also have the privilege of reliving it at night because all our photos show up as a …
Ah, the allure of tons of money… who hasn’t had the dream of being rich?! The things you could afford, the places you could go, the luxurious good times you could have. It’s fun to imagine all the cool things you could do with boatloads of money. Wait a minute, Jim – aren’t you already rich? You retired a couple of years ago at 43 for Pete’s sake! We’re definitely in a position that I’m more than elated for – …
The past decade has substantially transformed how we watch movies and TV and listen to music. Streaming movies, TV, and music is a great avenue of entertainment and the technology continues to mature and become better and better. All this cord-cutting has made the cable companies cringe, but I’m happy to see it. They’ve been gouging customers for years now as what I’d say are essentially monopolies across the U.S. Right now, they can still crush you on Internet prices, …
How We’re Streaming Movies, TV, and Music for Free Read More »
I started writing this post just one day before we started traveling to Ohio from Panama. By the time you read this, we’ll be in the dead of winter in Northeast Ohio. We’ve left the 75°F daily temps of Boquete to head toward the Akron/Cleveland area where the high has been hovering in the teens lately. It’s snowing off and on as well, but that’s par for the course in February in Ohio. We might be the worst snowbirds ever …
