Motivation

It’s Not How Much You Make, It’s How Much You Keep

As I was going through college, I had my mind set on getting rich.  I envisioned a good job that paid a ton of dough.  After all, the more money you make, the richer you are, right?  Fresh out of college though, I wasn’t building savings, I was chasing the money to have and to spend in the present day. And I did alright.  While I was still in school, I was working at Walmart.  I started out with it being […]

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If You Need Money, You'll Always Work for Less...

If You Need Money, You’ll Always Work for Less…

I’m a big fan of satellite radio.  I’m also a big Howard Stern fan.  Years ago, when Howard went to satellite radio, I bought the lifetime package for Sirius satellite radio for about $400. I definitely got a number of good years out that deal.  Eventually though, Sirius made my life difficult. Back in 2009, I bought a new Chevy Malibu which had XM radio.  As some of you may know, there was a Sirius XM merger years ago so that should be all good, right?

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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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Think About Working for Yourself

Think About Working for Yourself

When I was coming back from vacation last week, our seating got a little screwed up.  Long story short, I ended up sitting next to a lady in her mid-fifties from Alberta, Canada instead of sitting by my wife and daughter.  We got to talking and had some really good conversation throughout the flight.  At one point, I mentioned something about my 9 to 5 job and she chuckled.  It turns out she’s a consultant and speaker on business efficiency.  And she talked about

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

Early Retirement vs Financial Freedom

When I first started this site, I went in with the intention of this being all about my journey toward quitting my job – hence the “Route to Retire” site name.  I was all about having enough money to never having to work again… my quest for financial freedom. But is early retirement the same as financial freedom?  Spoiler alert… it’s not. Financial freedom can definitely be the catalyst that gives you the power to retire early, but it doesn’t need to be the sit-on-the-beach

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Savings Account - Saving for Kids - Thoughts to Consider

Showing Kids the Path to Financial Freedom

Most of us could probably say that if we knew then what we know now, we’d be in a much better place financially.  So why is it that kids don’t learn the right things from their elders, generation after generation? I think that part of the answer is that a lot of parents never really had that drive to get out the rat race and just consider the day-to-day work-until-you-die part of the circle of life.  Most of the children of these parents will probably

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You Don’t Need to be Rich to be Financially Independent!!

When I was in my twenties, I had this vision that I would be very rich.  Rich, rich, rich!!  I thought I needed to have all the money in the world if I was ever going to be done working. I mean, how else can you retire if you aren’t rich and sipping champagne on a yacht near your own private island in the Caribbean somewhere??!! Now, although that vision coming to fruition would be great, it took me until the past

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