Investments

Is It a Smart Idea to Pay Off the Rental Property?

Is It a Smart Idea to Pay Off the Rental Property?

36 Comments / Real Estate, Debt, Investments / /

I’ve been salivating over these insanely low mortgage rates out there right now. But I never even thought that another option might be to just pay off the rental property. Today I want to tell you about how I went from unsuccessfully trying to refinance to considering that maybe I just pay off the rental property. It even involves a discussion with the one and only Clark Howard! There’s always discussion in the real estate world about whether it makes […]

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How I Got Over $181,000 of Free Money for Retirement

How I Got Over $181,000 of Free Money for Retirement

24 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Saving / /

I had a thought recently that made me wonder how much free money for retirement was given to me during my last job. My former employer was always generous in taking care of employees through the 401(k) plan offered. So just how much of our net worth could be attributed to that facet of saving? I dug up my old 401(k) statements and expected the need to spend a lot of time breaking things down and then adding up all

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The Recession - The Ultimate Test for Early Retirees

The Recession – The Ultimate Test for Early Retirees

30 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments / /

Well boys and girls, like it or not, we’re soon to be in a recession – if we’re not there already. The COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic appears to be the black swan event that became the catalyst for the downfall of one heckuva long bull market. To try to contain the virus and flatten the curve, many businesses were ordered to shut down temporarily.  In many places, bars, wineries, breweries, and restaurants (sometimes with the exception of takeout or delivery) were forced

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My 2¢ on the Coronavirus, Stock Market, and Other Fun

22 Comments / General Thoughts, Investments / /

Well, folks, between the fear of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the roller coaster of a stock market, life has really changed for us all in the blink of an eye.  For some, it may be some minor inconveniences and for others, it could be a real punch in the face. I initially wasn’t going to write a post on this because I figured that everyone and their brother are already on it.  However, sometimes it’s good to hear different perspectives. 

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Net Income on Our Duplex Last Year… Negative $7,400!!

18 Comments / Real Estate, Investments, Self-Employment, Taxes and Financial Planning / /

I might not be the smartest businessman, but I keep thinking that a negative net income in regards to your rental property for the year is not good. And just over $7,400 in the red makes it so much worse! Ouch, what the hell happened?! This duplex was supposed to be another stream of income that would help level out the bumps from rockiness in the stock market over the coming years.  Last year though, proved to be a particularly

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Portfolio Rebalancing - Get Your Asset Allocation in Line

Portfolio Rebalancing: Get Your Asset Allocation in Line

8 Comments / Investments / /

I’ve never done a portfolio rebalancing on my resting investments.  As I’ve made money moves over the last few years to get prepared for early retirement, that’s helped me to rebalance accordingly at those times. However, this was my first shot at actively doing a portfolio rebalancing just because it was time. All the smart financial folks out there will tell you that rebalancing is an important part of maintaining your investments.  The problem is that those folks don’t usually

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FI and Early Retirement… Could It All Come Crashing Down?

22 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Spending / /

I’m not going to lie – being FI (financially independent) is a truly awesome feeling.  To realize that you don’t need to work again if you don’t want to takes such a massive weight off of your shoulders. But if you take it to the next level and throw in early retirement, you’re now solely depending on whatever you’ve put in place to sustain that financial independence. That’s scary.  No, I mean, that’s really scary. If you continue to work, you

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Make Your Money Work for You Instead of Vice Versa

14 Comments / Investments, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Saving / /

I think I first heard the mantra of “make your money work for you” when I was a kid.  I’d also guess that it was my grandfather who preached it.  He was able to retire in his mid-40’s before the term FIRE (financial independence / retire early) was even coined. But it took me years to really understand what that meant.  And even once I thought I got it, I still assumed it was just some pipe dream that only

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The Roth Conversion Strategy Guide for Early Retirees

The Roth Conversion Strategy Guide for Early Retirees

25 Comments / Taxes and Financial Planning, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments / /

Doing a Roth conversion can be the key to a successful FIRE (financial independence, retire early) strategy.  That’s definitely the case for us. By doing some financial planning, this one move is allowing us to access money in our pre-tax retirement accounts with no penalty and the ability to pay little to no tax when it happens. Today, I’m going to take you through some more details on what a Roth conversion is and why it’s so valuable.  I’ll also

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How and Why We Changed Our State of Domicile

16 Comments / Taxes and Financial Planning, Estate Planning, Investments, Panama, Real Estate / /

One of the things we did before we headed to Panama was to change our state of domicile. If you’re not familiar with the term, your state of domicile refers to your principal place of residence.  If you leave for a while, it’s what can be thought of as the place you would return to afterward. In other words, it might be considered your “home base” in the U.S. – your permanent place of residence. For snowbirds that head from

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