Investments

My Experience with a Certified Financial Planner

My Experience with a Certified Financial Planner

Recently, I decided that I wanted a second opinion on my game plan.  Although I’m pretty confident on how to make things work, I decided that this is important enough to warrant bringing in someone else to look everything over and give some unbiased input.  So I recently hired a certified financial planner. I thought this would be a great opportunity to take you through the process from start to finish to give you a better idea if this is something that you […]

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Do I Cut Back on my Roth to Reach FI Sooner?

Do I Cut Back on My Roth to Reach FI Sooner?

As some of you know, I’ve been a little bummed lately with my countdown to financial independence (FI) and early retirement being a ways out.  Although I have a plan to retire before my 50th birthday, I just feel like this is too far out. Every day that I spend at work is one less day that I get to spend with my daughter.  Granted, this is the summer when she’s not in school, but it’s tough regardless (which I’m sure it

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It's Time to Step-Up Your Game for Retirement!

It’s Time to Step-Up Your Game!

Hey everyone, it’s time to talk about something that most of us out there know, but not enough of us are talking about.  And with that, I’m referring to retirement savings.  Although this is a site focused on financial freedom and early retirement, the fact is that most of us out there have a slim shot at either one of these. I almost threw up when I learned on The Motley Fool that the average American’s 401(k) balance is $72,383.  And even worse,

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Using a HELOC for Smart Reasons

Using a HELOC for Smart Reasons

A home equity line of credit (HELOC) is an interesting entity.  In essence, it’s a line of credit that a lender gives you using the equity in your home as collateral.  A HELOC is similar to a home equity loan and this sometimes causes confusion with borrowers.  There are a few differences between the two though… Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) Does not necessarily advance you all the money at once – you are given a line of credit you can draw from as needed

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The Steps to Wealth

The Steps to Wealth

I just finished reading The Richest Man in Babylon.  I had a lot of recommendations to read this and I’ll tell you that, for as old as this book is (originally published in 1926!!), the content still holds strong.  Great book if you’re trying to find your way to wealth.  There is some very sound advice that stands the test of time, such as saving at least 10% of what you make and that you can live off your income, but you

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It's All About the Geese, Not the Eggs

It’s All About the Geese, Not the Eggs

I was listening to another podcast from the BiggerPockets guys and their guest this time around was Natali Morris.  The podcast was called Limiting Beliefs That Hold You Back From Incredible Wealth.  Although the podcast was interesting, that’s not really the point of this post. It was something that she mentioned in the middle of it that for some reason really jumped out at me and that’s what I wanted to share.  Natali said that when her father was in the midst of his divorce, he was referring

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Just One Thing...

Just One Thing…

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably someone interested in or already on the way to the world of financial independence.  Regardless of why you’re here, I think we all know some of the basics of reaching that goal: Get out of debt ASAP – This is the #1 step that needs to be done… and this refers to bad debt like credit cards, car payments, etc.  This does not necessarily mean good debt like mortgages on rental property that serve as assets helping to provide you with cash

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Tying Up Loose Ends...

Tying Up Loose Ends…

I recently realized that I have a number of loose ends out there from previous posts that my regular readers might be wondering about.  So I thought I would take an opportunity to put out a post following up to hopefully tie up those loose ends a bit… Switching to an Accountant This was the first year I decided not to use TurboTax and go to an accountant.  If you remember, I had three goals with this: Check over my work Get

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Increase contributions to my HSA - 2017 Personal and Financial Goals

Are HSA Plans the Best Bang for Your Buck?

I used to have a common guy problem (no not that one!) – it’s the one where I wouldn’t go to the doctor because “things will just work themselves out.”  Bad idea in general and, as I’ve grown a little older, I at least now do the annual checkup (something I never used to do).  Although never going was a bad idea, it did help me get ahead on something.  About 6 years ago, my company offered something called a Health Savings Account or, it’s

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Do You Own Cash-Flowing Assets?

Since I was a kid, I had it set in my mind that I was going to be rich.  And for years, I thought that the only way to become rich was to accumulate as much money as possible.  And while that is one way to get rich, it’s probably not the most efficient – especially because inflation loves to work against the money that you’ve saved.  It took me a long time, but I’ve learned that the accumulation of

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