What’s the old saying … “The rich get richer …” There is a lot of truth in that, methinks. Hey, I’m generally a person of more libertarian bent; the less the government is involved in my life, the better. I would rather not have their “help.” I’m not a big fan of politics either; life is too short to waste your time on such nonsense.

Once you’ve been on this earth for at least a few decades, you start to realize that you’ve lived through every political party and cultural revolution the earth has experienced since time began. The secret sauce to success?

I know, amazing, right? People should worry less about the idiots in Washington and more about the decisions they make personally on a daily basis, both short- and long-term, that lead to the best possible outcomes given their circumstances.

Share

Introducing the new “Trump Accounts” - 530A.

So, I’m not sure if you’ve heard of the new investment accounts that were created under the Big Beautiful Bill (those words in the mouth of the government give me the shakes); it depends on how closely you watch the news, or are involved in or interested in financial things, probably.

Anywho, today, I wanted to give you an overview of the new 530A accounts that were created for childern/kids/narduwells, and since I set them up for my two children (aged 7 and 10), I thought I could give you an overview of the process, and my thoughts generally on these new investment vehicles for kids.

Heck, there is even a website and App for these new buggers.

So, let’s just review the very basics of these new “child investment accounts.” I will try to keep it super low-key and simple.

• retirement account for children

• pretty much any American child with a SSN under 18 right now.

• any child born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028 gets a free $1000

• parent is the sole custodian of the account until the child reaches 18.

• after 18, it “acts like” any other retirement account as far as contributions, withdrawal rules, etc.

• you can add up to $5000 per year to this account.

No earned income from the child is required; you just need the foresight and willpower to jump through the hoops to get the account set up and money into it.

Subscribe now

How do I get me one?

Well, there is an App, and I tried it, but you will get blocked if you don’t first fill out Form 4547. If you want to pass Go, you must do this step. Of course, you could do it by paper, because our government is a bunch of morons and probably has whole buildings of people reviewing and filing paper forms.

• If you don’t want to print, fill out, and mail in the form, then you can do it online, but only by first giving your identity to the Illuminati and Deep State so they have more information on where to find you and who you are.

But if you actually click “Create an account,” you will immediately be told you cannot do that, because again, our government is run by monkeys incapable of fixing potholes and such things, so working websites aren’t exactly their thing. That would require brain cells.

Anyway, we can work around those morons, and you can of course find another way to sell your soul and data to Id.me , so we can get on with this business of setting up the future of our children, if we make it that far, before the low-brain-cell-count government tattoos the sign of the beast on our foreheads after setting this all up.

Ok, so after you’ve sold your soul to the Devil under the old oak tree at midnight, signed with a mixture of blood, saliva, and river water, you can get to the point of actually setting up one of these accounts for your children(s) who don’t deserve it and are probably trashing your house as you read this.

You have to complete a short form for the children to be eligible for these accounts. It pretty much consists of just full name, SSN, and birthday. Fill it out and click submit.

Well, I guess we will see what the rest of the process is once these get approved. Either way, seems like the process wasn’t horrible or anything. Sorta suprising.

Why should you care about 530A accounts?

I’ve personally known about the new Trump Accounts, hearing just small rumblings here and there, for some time now, for the most part I didn’t really give them much thought. For some reason I’ve always been torn about handing my kids way to much money someday in the future, part of me would prefer they learn hard work and go get some themselves.

But, something inside me says that the future is uncertain, the cost of living is out of control, and being able to invest for a child when are 10 or younger could change the trajectory of their lives.

Up until this point, if you were that crazy about turning your kids into Daddy Warbucks, then you could in theory open a Roth for them and “pay” them for their work, say yard work, baby sitting, etc, and then use that money to invest into a Roth. Sounds like a lot of work.

• Now you just need a pulse and SSN, and you can invest up to $5000 a year for a kid, who may, or may not turnout some day.

Time Matters.

What happens if you put $5000 a year from birth to 18?

That’s a lot of money for a 18 year old, can you image what that would turn into by the time the were 40? Say you stopped putting money into at the age of 18, and then just let it sit and compound for the next 22 years until they were 40.

Over a million bucks. You know how many people will do this? Probably like 1 or 2. Humans aren’t known for our ability to think ahead and make smart finanical decisions.

I guess it comes down to if you have extra money laying around you need an outlet for transfering some of your wealth to your children in a tax advantaged way, then, this is something you would probably do. But, most likely, it’s going to be a small part of the wealth you actually leave in one way or another to your children. A good thing to do? Yes. Going to be THEE thing that changes their life? Probably not.

Am I going to do it? Of course, why wouldn’t I?

Once my child is 18 they are out of my hands so to speak. If I haven’t taught them good finanical habits by that time, there is a possability they might find the light themselves, but that’s not certain.

They should be working hard and investing their own money at that point, or shorly thereafter. But hey, I don’t want to be a total bummer on these accounts, espeically when I set them up for my children and will be partaking in this new goverement scheme.

Hopefully this is just another way for me to put my best finanical foot forward for my children, the rest is unknown and who knows what the future holds? Not I.

I say this a little tongue-in-cheek, sorta true, sorta not, but kinda true. I guess it depends on your pre-programming and how you view life and money, which is as varied a subject as one can come upon these days. The 401 (k) is as much a part of American life as apple pie, methinks.

Even for those unbaptized into anything financial, when you get your first job out of that party time they call college, for most people, clicking a few boxes on a form mentioning a 401 (k) and a company match is par for the course. Sadly, that is the last time many folk even think about it, besides in passing, until a few decades have slipped by and it’s far too late.

Still, even with the 401 being a true miracle worker for retirement for most of society, a panacea to the live now, think later masses, the older I get, the less I like mine.

• How can this be?

How can one love such a wonderful financial vehicle of investment and retirement, a true balm of Gilad, yet come to bear such ill will towards it, sneering in vain at its locked-away riches, as far as the other dark side of the moon? I will tell you.

The American Dream - feat 401k.

There is nothing more classically corporate cubicle-vibe than a bunch of angry, old, bitter lifelong workers standing around a water cooler, discussing 401 (k) strategies and dreaming of leaving the rat race after 30 or 40 years. Depressing.

Don’t get me wrong, I think humans are wired to work; sitting on a beach staring at your toes for decades probably isn’t what you were made to do.

But, work can mean a lot of different things. It’s work to travel, do yard or garden work, raise children, volunteer, backpack, explore the outdoors, etc. By work I mean do something meaningful that is also hard at certain times.

You might disagree with me; that’s fine, but the 401K has been both the best thing for the average person and the worst thing … all at the same time. Why?

It’s hard to feel bad for folk who’ve worked for the last few decades and arrive at that magic retirement age with nothing to show for it. The 401K has provided an amazing investing vehicle to ensure anyone can be ready for “what comes next.” Get the added benefit of a Roth 401K, and there is pretty much zero excuse to end up broke and eating asparagus out of a ditch before kicking the bucket.

Getting locked into that mindset.

Before you put all your eggs into that one 401K basket, you should ask yourself a few pointed questions. At the very least, just sit back in a chair with a hot cup of coffee, stare at the ceiling, and ask yourself what you want out of your life and where you see yourself in 10 years. Have you even thought about it?

• Maybe it’s the millennial in me, that desire to fight against the system that’s been sold to us since childhood.

The same old wars, same old company store, same old job with mediocore pay that gives you a few weeks of vacation a year, they toss you a few bones to chew on, medical coverage, 401k, pizza parties.

All you have to do is trade your entire life, your time on this spinning rock, in exchange for that 401K match.

Like most things in life, the 401 (k) can be too much of a good thing. What it is at its core, what it provides us, is exactly what we need. It’s good to have it. But it can lull us into a mindset and a sense of complacency that will steal our best years from us. Blind you to the simple fact that there are other possibilities and ways to approach saving money, retirement, and what that second half of life could look like.

For example, I highly recommend checking out of Unmapped; his unique perspective on life, work, and money can give you an alternative approach to retirement and investing.

• One that flips the script of working in a cubicle for 30 years, only to end up unhappy with your best years behind you … I’m sure you’ll be happy fawning over your 401K when you're 60 years old, like Gollum and his precious.

Leave a comment

Is the 401K a lie? What do you think?

Have we all been hoodwinked into just slogging away from decade to decade, looking forward to the weekends and dreading those Mondays? All because you’ve been told, or heard, that the only way to “make it” is to buy a bigger house, car, and wait until that 401K balance reaches epic proportions, at which time you can grab your walker or cane and hobble out the door into eternity.

You should, by all means, put gobs of money in your 401K, take all the match you can get, ya know, the same old thing. But you should also ask yourself: is the way I’m investing my money best suited to meet my long-term needs and the vision I have for myself in the future?

I’m not here to tell you exactly what to do.

I just want to jog and shake you out of the 401K slumber you probably find yourself in after way too many years giving daily standup reports and attending yet another mandatory team-building exercise.

You should work; it’s good for you. But what kinda of work do you want to do? Where do you want to do it? How? Are there alternative investment strategies with different focuses that could at least give you more options over the next 10 years?

Or will you wake up in the exact same spot?

Recently, while driving my winding way up the North Shore of Lake Superior, I was struck by the change that seemed to be taking hold of that forlorn and windswept shoreline. Having driven through those forest-crowded and once mostly abandoned towns, if one could call them that, things have been changing … and it got me thinking about the macro-economics of boom and bust.

Having spent most of my life in the hard-bitten Midwest, where the economy and people thrive from the fat of the land and the sweat of the brow …

… and being an avid reader of history … it’s clear to me that we mostly have two major types of “areas” and their corresponding economies.

• Tourism

• Manufacturing/Agriculture

This might be an over-simplification, but after traveling over, around, and through these great States … at least in its current state, pun intended, I see these lines of economic demarcation clearly, like black and white.

If I’m traveling through the Midwest, let’s say for argument's sake, between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, maybe west out to the Platte River, you experience the Middle-Upper class belt that feeds America. It’s not ultra-wealthy, or ultra-poor, just classic Middle Class folk living a good quiet life with an exceptional quality of life.

Of course, we have our thin lines of tech hubs dotted on the coasts and here and there. Let’s throw them out the window for a moment; we all know we want to anyway.

I mean, I’m not an economist. Econ 101 in freshman year of college was boring as crap. But it’s much harder to have boom-bust cycles when you’re a primary contributor to agriculture, somehow, propped up by the Federal Government, like it or not.

Sure, the Ag world can have its cycles, like everything and everyone else, they are just more steady overall and less prone to the classic whiplash of tourist-driven areas. Just the slow pace of life with that constant injection of cash.

Just noticing stuff.

People don't stop eating during a recession, also they don't stop buying electricity. They don't stop needing fertilizer, steel, tractors, plumbing, or diesel fuel. They may delay replacing the pickup another year, but eventually it has to happen. Agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and construction all produce things society requires. Tourism produces something different.

• It produces experiences. Experiences are wonderful, but they are discretionary. They exist only after the mortgage has been paid, the groceries have been bought, and people feel optimistic enough to spend what is left over.

That single distinction makes tourism economies fundamentally different from economies built around production. When confidence falls, vacations are among the first expenses families eliminate. Nobody cancels corn.

Research over the last few years has started to show something interesting. Tourism declines tend to hurt economies far more than tourism booms help them. In other words, the downside is asymmetric. A good season brings prosperity, but a bad season leaves empty storefronts, layoffs, declining property values, and local governments scrambling to fill budget holes. The elevator down is much faster than the escalator up.

Studies analyzing the tourism-growth nexus highlight this dramatic imbalance. Research from institutions like the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management found that a decline in tourism has a negative impact on economic output that is nearly seven times greater than the positive effect of an equivalent tourism boom.

Contrast that with the Midwest. Nobody drives across Iowa because it has the trendiest coffee shops or the newest boutique hotel. They drive through endless fields of corn and soybeans because those fields are quietly feeding a significant portion of the world. Manufacturing plants continue stamping out parts whether TikTok finds them interesting or not. Grain elevators are not dependent on influencer marketing. Railroads continue moving freight because the economy literally cannot function without them.

The quiet powerhouse.

I think this also explains why Midwestern communities often feel strangely immune to the emotional extremes that characterize so many coastal economies. They rarely experience the euphoric highs of a technology boom or a tourism explosion, but they also rarely suffer the spectacular crashes that inevitably follow speculative periods. Growth tends to be slow.

Wealth tends to accumulate over generations instead of funding rounds. Homes remain affordable because they are places to live instead of investment vehicles. Main Streets survive because they primarily serve residents instead of visitors. It is not glamorous, but it is remarkably durable.

Maybe that is why I found myself thinking so much about those little towns along Lake Superior. They are beautiful places, and I genuinely hope they continue to prosper. In many ways they already are.

But I also wonder whether every new brewery, boutique hotel, souvenir shop, and vacation rental slowly shifts the center of gravity away from permanent residents and toward seasonal visitors. The economy becomes healthier right up until the moment something changes. A recession. A pandemic. Wildfires. Expensive fuel. Bad weather.

• Changing travel habits. Suddenly an entire community discovers that it built itself around people who can simply choose not to show up next summer.

There is probably a lesson buried in there somewhere, and it extends far beyond tourism. We seem to live in an age where everyone wants to participate in the next boom. The next AI startup. The next crypto rally. The next housing surge. The next tourist destination. The next whatever.

Yet history keeps reminding us that civilizations, communities, and families are usually built on the boring things. Growing food. Building machines. Moving freight. Producing energy. Manufacturing goods. Solving real problems for people who still need those problems solved whether the stock market is up or down.

Maybe boring is underrated.

Just noticing stuff.

Subscribe now

It was a quiet Sunday evening, kids playing in the front yard, living the dream in Suburbia. I was doing two antithetical things. I would hope I’m not the only one, but who knows.

1. Watching some dude live in a tent on his 80 acres in Alaska.

2. Reading r/HENRYfinance

It struck me that you couldn't have two more polar opposite types of lives. On one hand, you have someone making 250k per year and broke, on the other, someone pooping in the woods, feeding wood to a stove inside a tent, living their best life.

Oh, third-world problems.

Personally, I can relate to both of them. Many times, I find myself torn between two worlds. The classic high-paid tech golden handcuffs, keeping up the lifestyle, and that burning desire to let it all rip and raise alpacas in a quiet valley.

Truth is, the Internet is an echo chamber. Not everyone is independently wealthy and able to galavant around the country doing as they please. Nor is it advisable to leave it all for a life on the run with nothing to fund it by.

So, it still begs the question. What enabled all playing fields to be equal, for one dude to happily wander the woods of Alaska, and another to be broke on 250k a year?

The number.

Ok, you might want to throw yourself on the ground and writh in anger, there is but one number that matters, that can solve such issues as we've been discussing.

Your monthly burn rate.

Sure, you might be working at a coffee shop making 30k a year, or a software engineer making 250k a year, in raw dollars that's very different, but what does it matter if the engineer is paycheck to paycheck with nothing to show, while the barista has been putting away 40% of their paycheck for 5 years and has a minuscule burn rate?

It doesn't matter. What matters if what you do with what you got.

Spend the rest of your life wishing for more or less, and waste it. Or grab the bull by the horns and get to it with what you've got.

• What is your monthly number?

Yeah, yeah, yeah… I can already hear the naysayers in the background screaming, “That number means nothing without context!”

• How much do you save and invest

• How much don't you save and invest

• Your exposure and risk to bad things

• Your values and beliefs

I'm talking about the average person. Not the CEO or director at a tech company. Just your everyday person living in an average town. For us, we are all more alike than people think.

It's safe to say that if you can't tell me your monthly burn rate within 3 seconds, then you're not running as tight a ship as you think you are. If you're doing well in that scenario, it's only because you're outearning your sloppiness by chance.

What should your number be?

Of course, the next obvious question is, what should my number be? Well, that depends, duh. But if you're asking me, I will give you an answer.

You probably won't like my answer; in fact, I know you won't.

%40 max.

Your monthly burn rate should be no more than %40 of whatever your monthly income is. What, you say that's impossible?

No, no, it's not. It's just that you made choices, whether you knew it or not, that reflected your priorities and beliefs at that point in time. Or your refusal to take a deep, hard look at your plan, or lack thereof.

• People like to play the victim. I had to have a car payment. I had to get that house. I had to go on that vacation. No, you didn't. You choose to.

• If you are paying more than %40-50% of your income in a month just to “keep the household running,” then you have chosen the slow route.

That's perfectly fine if that's what you choose. You want to go work for The Man in a cubicle for 30 years, then have at it. Who am I to get in your way? I'm sure the watch you get at the end, before you retire for 5 years, and then off to the nursing home, will be worth it.

On the other hand, if you want to be radical in our consumption culture of workaholics, then you have to do radical things to extract yourself.

Putting away %15 percent of your income into a 401k will make you rich … after 30 years. Is that what you want?

Is that the pinnacle of existence?

Look, there is meaning in work. We all should put our hands to the plow and do something hard every day. Who told you that hard work had to be done in a cube three stories up, for three weeks of vacation a year?

Maybe hard work is tending a garden in the hot summer sun. Fixing your house. Helping a friend, running your own business. That's work too.

To get something different, do something different.

The dumbest and smartest thing you might hear today. Why does someone making 250k a year, broke and stressed, think it would be any different? They are just being normal.

• Get the biggest house you can, do as many vacations as you can, send the kids to every activity possible, the best car in the neighborhood, and subscriptions to everything.

If you dream of being financially independent, whatever that means to you, that is NOT how 99% of those around you operate.

Therefore, common sense would indicate you might have to do something radically different than %99 or people.

You might just have to find a way to save and invest more than you spend on the average month. How else can you achieve your dreams?

Magic?

The reason why the Internet 🛜 is filled with influencers and advertising aimed directly at the heart of most people's desire to “be rich and free” is that most people would rather watch them do it.

Deep down, they know they won't make the hard decisions or sacrifices required in our culture to maintain a low monthly burn rate.

Don't look away.

Again, I ask you, what is your monthly number? Do you know it? If not, why?

If you know it, and know it doesn't bode well for your dreams, you lie in bed wondering what you are waiting for?

Throw some dynamite in the log jam, get some movement. I tell you, there are very few who have the gumption to do it, to go against the steam of the culture.

A smaller house somewhere far from the hustle. Vacations that don't require plane tickets. No Starbucks. A used car that doesn't turn heads.

Math is math.

No amount of wishing will change that. Big numbers begat big results. Small numbers will get you something in 30 years. If you make it.

Share

Even the classically blind and un-self-aware Reddit rabble in their echo chambers seem to be catching onto the fact that there is a slight possibility we might be entering a strange and uncertain time.

Parts of the economy are flying along seemingly unaffected by the larger hoopla in the world, while others, like tech, can’t seem to lay off enough people … fast enough. We live in a whiplash world, one minute we are at war, the next we worried about ending up in the unemployment line.

Just today, Meta (Facebook) decided to give the boot to more than a few thousand employees, in the name of AI, and simply trimming the fat. Sadly, they are only one in a long list, that gets longer weekly, of a new distopian world where white collar workers are the new peasant, liable to be cast to the dogs at a moments’s notice.

I suppose this sort of topsy-turvy world makes a lot of suburbanites squirm and lie awake a night, sweating and worrying if it will be their head next on the chopping block.

One can image going from worrying about the next weekends socoor and dance schedule, to how they will make the next mortgage payment is enough to give the cold sweats to even the most emotionally disconnected Starbucks drinking and phone scrolling, middle-class American.

Why?

Because they have no (life) margin.

The Truth is …

The truth is that the world has always been an unstable place full of the coming and goings of disasters visited upon the unsuspecting, for no apparent reason and without warning. That’s kinda what it means to be human, here on this spinning rock.

Sure, based on the decaded and zip code you were brought screaming into this world, you may, or may not, have experienced anything truly difficult.

That, or maybe like the rest of your compatriots, you’ve just become numb, the endless stream of Amazon packages delivered to your door so you can live a life of luxury and ease. Netflix shows, weekends with friends and family, where you strive to show your stability and success.

The truth is … life in the western world built on capitalism, can turn bad lickety-split, and you better be ready.

Yeah, like other wise one’s have said, you can’t really prepare for the bad things that might come. But, you can plan to be prepared for the possibility of something not positive, aka … Murphy, showing up on your doorstep with a pink slip.

Find Margin

Pretty much the only way, if there is even one, to prepare for the unknown future is to plan your life around having margin, both personally and financially. If we think back to our frontier forebears, who hacked out a living on the edge of the world, maybe we need to imbibe some of that spirit that has been lost.

There are two types of margin …

• financial

• personal

The first one is obvious, which is exactly why people never find it, or live by it in any meaningful way, for long periods of time. It requires discipline that isn’t easy to cultivate and is not celebrated by our culture.

We are told to get school loans, car loans, credit card payments, and mortgage payments that are way above our means … and that is just the starter. Most people live to the end of their paycheck(s) every month. The future is some far-off thing that will never come; unfortunate circumstances are things that happen to other people, not to us.

Share

It doesn’t take much financial margin to build a buffer up.

Just a little bit over the long term builds discipline and a healthy financial picture that is at least in part impervious to the rains of life when they come. Nothing puts Murphy in his place like a 6-month+ emergency fund.

Financial margins gives you choices and options when the bitter times come.

Personal margin is just as important.

This is more esoteric, but still very important: living in a way that enables you to create a financial margin and personal resilience required to weather life’s storms.

• In short, a life worth living should have some personal margin built in. You should have the bandwidth to read a book, go for coffee with a friend, take a vacation, or go for a bike ride with the family on the weekend.

Personal margin breeds positivity and resilience because you are recharged, not always running on empty.

Subscribe now

Control the controlables.

Look, all I’m saying is that you can approach life in two sorts of ways. Stick the ol’ head in the sand and hope nothing goes wrong … sometimes that works. Most likely, something could go wrong at some point.

We can’t control what, or who, or how. We can control what we do right now, today, tomorrow, for some unknown future … good or bad.

Margin provides stability both financially and personally. Being a healthy person with good habits, going to bed at a reasonable time, and working on Monday without hating your life are good things.

Put a little money away, however small, every paycheck, and pay your future self some dividends by building in a margin every month. Live on less than you make. Be able to say no to yourself, to understand what your budget looks like, what money comes in, and what goes out.

Here we are again with the third and final part of this man’s story… Coffee refilled, we talked for the remainder of my break…

As I mentioned in my last article, this man and his wife determined at the beginning of their marriage to…

• Create a plan together, of their life goals and how they want their lives to reflect those goals.

• How they hoped to achieve their goals.

• Work on supporting and encouraging each other to be content with their choices.

In this article, I’ll explain in more detail how, along with being content with their goals, consistency in implementing them was, in his opinion, key.

They didn’t start with the thought they would save $1 million, retire early, or have a luxurious life… As he put it, “they just wanted to love God, each other, and their children, they hoped to have one day”,..

He was quick to point out that although being content was a big part, without consistency in carrying out those goals, he may never have needed to make that phone call to his attorney…

As they embarked on their journey through life, they wanted to find a home where they could raise their children, create memories, and one day could retire in… and honor God and each other in the process… and consistently carrying out these plans day by day, year after year… was the key…

Share

The Rest of the Story

Eager to learn more, moving my chair closer, I leaned in with anticipation, inviting him to continue…

Smiling, he began, explaining how consistently working together, coming back to their goals, and putting those in motion every day, week, and month for thirty-some years paid off in unexpected ways…

He then concluded that, in their opinion, recognizing the importance of doing their part, being content and consistent, God had blessed them in it.

They applied this thinking to several major areas of their lives, as well as to smaller daily thoughts and decisions, but I will focus here on the major ones and how consistency was the determining factor…

Career Choices

After high school, enjoying his job as a janitor at the school, knowing he didn’t desire college and preferring to keep stress low, he decided the job at the school was perfect for him, and that’s where he wanted to stay… and he did…

When he and his wife met and decided to marry, they determined that their mutual desire was for her to be a homemaker, help raise their children, and homeschool them…

As for his job, they both felt it was important that he enjoy what he did; they could reasonably afford to live on his income alone, leave work at the exit, and devote his attention to home and the family.

So every day they consistently performed their jobs with these goals in mind.

Subscribe now

Living Choices

They purchased their “forever” home by carefully selecting a house that,

• was within their budget,

• would meet their goals of raising children in,

• creating memories,

• and someday retiring in.

Consistently, they began paying extra on the principal every month, regardless of whether it was a few dollars or extra from unexpected income… the key was every month…

Managing Money and Debt

As soon as he was eligible, he started deducting as much as he could from each paycheck into his company’s investment plan.

• After they were married, they decided to continue doing so… consistently…

Chuckling again, he admitted that at the time he wasn’t sure which stock to invest in… to get the most bang for his buck, he chose P&G stock because it was cheap, so he put it there and forgot about it… sincerely…

Common sense and consistency were key again…

Living Within Their Means

I asked him, surely there were moments that they couldn’t pay extra on the mortgage, thought about selling and buying a slightly bigger house, needed to take out a loan for unexpected expenses…

Pausing for a moment, he replied thoughtfully, as if reliving the memories… “Yes, he replied, of course, all those things were true, but they had planned ahead for that, and used emergency savings when needed…”

He continued, “At those times, we agreed together to use the extra principal payment to pay cash for the expenses it would cover, then the next month, or as soon as they could, resumed the extra principal payments… consistently…”

Having paid off the home loan in about 8 years, they agreed on an amount to increase his monthly paycheck deduction, and with each raise, they increased it by 1%.

• Silent for a moment, he then quietly shared that at one point in their lives, his wife was diagnosed with cancer… admittedly, it was a time that challenged both their faith and their financial goals and decisions…

As they prayed together and discussed the current situation and the uncertainty of the future, they decided that they would stay the financial course they desired, trust that God had their wife’s life and their outcomes completely under control… they would continue to be consistent, both in their faith and finances…

“I accumulated small but consistent habits that ultimately led to results that were unimaginable when I started.”
— James Clear

Conclusion

I am a bit embarrassed that I got busy with my life after that conversation, and honestly… forgot about it… I did jump in with my company's matching 401(k) plan and halfheartedly attempted to budget…

I could go on with a list of excuses why I forgot, justify their significance reasonably, and be pretty convincing… but I’d only be lying to myself… and to you…

The honest truth is, I was lazy… reflecting back, I believe God had placed this man in my path to help me… however, in my youthful ignorance assumed I had more important matters and could figure it out as I paddled upstream…

All of that to say, young or older, learn from this man’s example… develop your own financial plan and stick to it with contentment and consistency… and enjoy the rewards…

Thankfully, I realized this a few years ago, and with the personal help and advice of this host's Substack, am on my way… You can too…

Summary

• Find a job you enjoy, regardless of the pay, and consider staying there, as much as it depends on you

• If you are married, communicate about these things and determine to be in agreement on all major decisions

• Consider your first home carefully, and, if possible, buy one you can pay off early and make your forever home…

• As much as it depends on you, commit to no debt, other than initially a mortgage… then pay off asap

• “Be Content” with what you have, live within your means, and enjoy the life and family you have.

• Whatever your plan, faithfully and consistently carry it out every month, and you will reap the rewards…

“Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievement gained slowly over time.”
— John C. Maxwell

Until next time, my friends,

Subscribe now

Sometimes I wonder if it’s because I’m getting old and grouchy at the ripe old age of 41, it’s possible. Driving my kids to school on an average Tuesday, maybe going out for ice cream on a Saturday, and stopping by the mall to grab some shoes for a kid.

It’s possible it's the endless new housing developments, with crappy construction, Teslas and Audis parked in the driveway, kids zooming by on electric scooters, and iPhones in their hands.

Ok, that’s it. I’ve turned into my parents.

In my defense, it’s hard to keep one’s mouth shut when you read about the average car payment, when you know those same pay-check-to-pay-check folk have maxed out credit cards, eat out every night, and spend their weekends at the mall.

I also want to note that I consider myself and pretty much everyone I know solid middle-class. Sure, there are probably actual numbers here and there that define limits, but whatever.

We are all paying the same gas prices and grocery bills.

There was a time in America when making a solid middle-class income actually felt like progress. You bought a reasonable house, drove reliable cars, took a vacation now and then, raised your kids, saved for retirement, and slowly built wealth over decades.

It was not glamorous, but it was stable. The entire social contract of the middle class was built on the idea that if you worked hard, stayed employed, and avoided catastrophic mistakes, your financial situation would gradually become more secure.

What changed?

Did anything change? Are we just victims of our times? Is this the same struggle and cycles that our forefathers battled against? Did social media ruin us all? Are we all just addicted to the marketing cycles and Amazon delivery schedules?

• Today, many households making objectively good money feel like they are barely keeping their heads above water.

Not poor or destitute, just that slow burn of waking up one day and feeling like it’s never enough, with not enough margin to make real progress against debt or saving up.

And while inflation certainly plays a role, I increasingly think a large portion of this pressure comes from something else entirely. What I call the Middle Class Tax.

It’s mostly a mind game; it’s a mix of our choices, the high cost of living, keeping up with the Joneses, and how our educational system fails to teach the basics of budgeting and managing money.

The modern lifestyle taxes that quietly became normalized over the last twenty years.

The giant mortgage. The two car payments. The subscriptions. The constant eating out. The financing plans. The endless recurring monthly obligations that slowly transformed middle-class life into one giant auto-draft system.

• Your money is slowly being drained from your bank account, not all at once, but in “little” or one-time charges, day after day after day.

The Middle Class Tax.

None of these expenses, individually, seems catastrophic. In fact, most of them feel completely normal. That is exactly why they are so dangerous. You are taught that having a car payment is normal, even good, “to build credit,” they say. Except you keep one around from age 23 till 55.

The Middle Class Tax does not usually destroy people all at once. It slowly suffocates flexibility over time.

A slightly bigger house, because why not? A slightly nicer SUV or car, maybe one for the kid. A few convenience upgrades that come on every single year like clockwork. A dozen recurring subscriptions. A few more dinners out because everyone is exhausted. Some travel sports for the kids. A phone upgrade spread across thirty-six months because “it’s only forty dollars more per month.”

Then one day, a household making $180,000 per year looks around and wonders why they somehow still feel trapped and broke.

• The first and probably biggest version of the Middle Class Tax is becoming house poor.

Share

Don’t be house poor.

Banks will happily tell people what they technically qualify for, but almost nobody stops to ask what level of housing actually creates a good life and what they can afford, given the breathing room that leaves them.

• Those are two completely different questions. A family buys the larger home because it feels like the responsible next step, because they want the better school district, because everyone around them appears to be upgrading too, and because the monthly payment still technically fits into the spreadsheet, if they even have a spreadsheet.

But larger homes do not just increase mortgage payments. They create entire ecosystems of spending around them. Yard work, furniture upgrades, bathroom renos, stuff for the garage. Don’t tell me it ain’t true.

• A bigger home rarely remains a single expense. It becomes a financial gravity well.

And the truly dangerous part is that housing costs become fixed obligations. You cannot casually scale them back during a rough year. Once the mortgage exists, it exists every month regardless of layoffs, burnout, economic downturns, or changing priorities.

Subscribe now

Car payments are the devil.

The same thing has happened with cars.

Modern car payments have quietly become one of the most normalized forms of financial insanity in the country. Somewhere along the way, people started casually accepting $700, $900, even $1,200 monthly vehicle payments as a standard part of middle-class life. Two-car households can easily spend the equivalent of a second mortgage just moving themselves around town.

• And unlike assets that actually appreciate over time, cars aggressively lose value almost immediately.

The craziest part is how invisible it has all become. Most dealerships no longer even discuss the vehicle's total price. They discuss the monthly payment. Consumer culture has largely shifted from selling products to selling monthly obligations.

• Can you afford an extra $143 per month?

• Can you afford another $89 per month?

• Can you afford $47 more per month for the upgraded package?

This framing completely disconnects people from the actual cost of things. A household that would never willingly spend $80,000 on vehicles suddenly finds itself doing exactly that because the financing stretches across enough years to dull the pain.

A shocking number of middle-class families are driving around carrying mortgage-sized transportation costs while simultaneously wondering why they cannot build wealth.

Death by a thousand subscription cuts.

Then there is the subscription economy, which might be the most psychologically effective money extraction machine ever created. A true genius idea that has been replicated into every business model under the sun.

Including my Substacks. :)

The brilliance of subscriptions is that, individually, they feel harmless. Nobody panics over $11.99. Nobody loses sleep over $19 per month. Nobody thinks twice about another streaming platform, another cloud storage plan, another premium membership, another fitness app, another family subscription, another convenience service.

• But companies figured out something incredibly important about human psychology. People barely notice recurring charges once they become routine.

The modern household often has dozens of these tiny financial leaks running simultaneously. Streaming services. Music subscriptions. Delivery memberships. Software. Kids apps. Cloud storage. Security systems. Smart home services. Meal kits. Gaming subscriptions. Premium upgrades for things nobody even remembers signing up for.

None of these businesses is really competing for your attention anymore. They are competing to become permanent line items in your monthly expenses.

Subscribe now

Eat your heart out, babe.

The same dynamic holds for eating out and convenience spending, which have absolutely exploded over the last decade. You can’t get a one-dollar burger anymore; those days are left with our Grandmother.

To be fair, this is not entirely irrational. Modern life genuinely is exhausting. Many households have two working parents, long commutes, overloaded schedules, childcare stress, and very little remaining energy at the end of the day. Convenience spending often fills the gap left by time and energy.

• But the financial impact is enormous.

I don’t care if you make $35,000 a year or $235,000 a year, if you spend $500 a month eating out, or more, that’s just not cool, man.

It’s not good for your body, soul, or mind.

Delivery apps are especially brutal because they stack multiple layers of cost invisibly on top of each other. Marked-up menu prices. Delivery fees. Service fees. Tips. Taxes. Suddenly, an ordinary dinner that should have cost thirty dollars quietly becomes seventy-five.

Again, none of this destroys people immediately. That is the theme of the Middle Class Tax. It works slowly.

Share

That’s just life.

And perhaps the most dangerous aspect of all is lifestyle inflation itself. Most people do not experience meaningful income growth over time because every raise is immediately absorbed by upgraded recurring obligations.

The nicer neighborhood. The larger home. The better daycare. The upgraded SUV. The annual vacation that slowly became expected instead of occasional. The endless pressure to make life look more successful as income rises.

That is an incredibly dangerous trap because it creates dependence on a continuous high income forever. The margin disappears. Flexibility disappears. Optionality disappears. People making six figures start feeling terrified of layoffs because their lifestyle has become structurally expensive to maintain.

This is where the FIRE movement gets something fundamentally correct, even if parts of the internet version of FIRE can become overly obsessive and unrealistic.

• The true goal is not extreme frugality.

• The goal is to reduce dependency.

A household with modest recurring expenses has options: they can survive layoffs more easily and tolerate career changes. They can handle burnout. They can take risks. They can work less aggressively. They can save aggressively during good years because their baseline cost of living remains manageable.

The danger comes when every aspect of modern life quietly transforms into another permanent monthly obligation. Because the real threat of the Middle Class Tax is not that it makes people poor.

It is what keeps people permanently dependent on staying on the treadmill. And the less your life costs to maintain, the more actual freedom you have.

The last time I wrote, I told you a true story about a man whom I met while working at one of my part-time jobs… After a brief exchange while ringing up his purchase, I asked if he would be willing to tell me more of his story…

Sacrificing a half hour of his time, he explained in more detail, his family’s beginnings, what guided their decisions, and how a little over halfway through his career, they were blessed in ways they had never planned or could have imagined…

In this article, I want to begin unfolding his story in more detail by sharing a principle that I believe is key not only in finances but for life in general… “contentment.”

Contentment is something this man and his wife understood, desired, and lived consistently… unbeknownst to him when he began, this practice of contentment in work and life in general would create financial and spiritual blessings for them, they could never have imagined.

Yet as I’ll explain, he approached it in what today would be considered very unconventional… I’ll pick up the story beginning there…

“Comparison is the thief of Contentment” 
- Charlie Munger“

As I settled into the chair in the coffee shop, I asked him what his secret was… after a moment of silent reflection, he then thoughtfully responded…

“contentment Raj”… “I don’t know that it’s a secret, just something people don’t either understand, or do, and/or just don’t put into practice”…

I nodded, asking him what contentment in his world had looked like…and in the next few minutes he explained… I’ll highlight a few of the items, then explain in a bit more detail their thinking…

• He found a job he enjoyed and stayed there

• Their first house was their forever home

• They decided to live within their means

• They decided together as much as was in their control- no debt

Share

A Job He Enjoyed

He explained that he really didn’t have any interest in going to college and decided to apply for the janitor position being offered at the school. Figured I would work there and see how I liked it… as it turned out, I thoroughly enjoyed it and was content to stay put…

Buying the First House

About a year later, he met his wife, and they married shortly afterward. After talking it over, they decided that they;

• Wanted to buy a house

• Buy one they could afford

• Raise their family in and,

• Retire in someday… as long as it was up to them… and they were content to do just that…

Live Within Their Means

We had talked about it, and we both wanted my wife to be the homemaker, to have children, knew there would be unexpected expenses, and that we wanted to save for retirement…

So we decided together to continue contributing monthly to the school's savings plan, pay off the mortgage as soon as possible, and put as much money as we could into our bank savings for unexpected expenses…

I asked him, how did you do that on a janitorial wage… He admitted that it wasn’t easy, but working at it together, they were content with their decisions, and lived within their means… and God had blessed them…

No Additional Debt

It wasn’t easy, but together they decided, as much as was in their control, that they wouldn’t have any other loans or later credit card debt…

He said, they learned early on to be content in everything, and thankful for their blessings… If they couldn’t get what they wanted with cash that was available, they waited until they did…

Contentment…

He wrapped up that part by saying, Raj, there really is a lot to contentment… I thoroughly enjoyed working at the school and interacting with the children and staff. I worked hard but was content, and when I went home, I could be present for my wife and, later, my own two children…

There were times we considered a bigger house, but we stuck to our plan and were diligent about paying extra on the principal when we could…

He chuckled as he relayed a story… my wife and I were sitting together on the couch one night after putting the kids down, and after a pause, they both began to speak… turns out, they were both thinking the same thing… They decided that night not to bring up the idea of selling the house anymore, to be content with what they had, and maintain their focus on the things they had agreed on in the beginning of their lives together…

They both had realized that even that little thought in the back of their minds about a bigger house was causing discontentment and distraction from what was important to them…

• I said to him, there had to have been difficulties along the way… at least some “thistles among the roses”….?

Yes, he replied, there were Raj, and plenty of them… both thistles and roses… but you know, that was another key not only to our finances, but again, to our lives… Consistency….

Share

I’ll cover consistency in the next post… but for now I’ll leave you with this…

For myself, I would have said I was content early on before marriage, when married, and now looking back… life after marriage…

Approaching the repurposing years of my journey, I’ve reflected a lot on this man’s story and him taking a half hour…. Uhmm… 45 minutes of his time on Christmas Eve to share these things with me… and realized a few things…

• I wasn’t content with my job, I worked hard always and gave my employer my best effort… but in the back of my mind, I was always looking, watching for a bigger opportunity… and paycheck…

• Therefore, we moved a lot… early on I didn’t have much choice, I went where the military sent me, but afterwards, I wasn’t content with the home I had… always in the back of my mind… watching, looking for that better house, location… interest rate… I never got ahead…

• As a result and from poor financial planning on my part, we incurred a lot of debt… and stress… I didn’t live within my means… and I didn’t have a plan…

I say all of this, not to be gloomy, but to give you a picture of what I did wrong, so hopefully, from my mistakes and lessons from this man’s story, we can start preparing wisely…

Thankfully, from some great financial advice from this Fire Substack a couple years ago, personal guidance from my friend who writes it, and God’s shared wisdom… bit by bit, what was a pretty bleak financial outlook, now has blossomed and is looking like it will produce pretty good fruit…

• And recently, as I remembered this man’s story, it has been a source of encouragement to me…

Pausing as another thought occurred to me, I worked another two years at that place and don’t recall seeing him again during that time…

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have 
entertained angels without knowing it.

— Hebrews 13:2

Until next time, my friends,

Raj

If you spend any amount of time in personal finance circles, you will quickly notice that people love to turn the 15-year versus 30-year mortgage decision into some kind of spreadsheet competition.

They run amortization tables, compare interest rates down to the decimal, and proudly declare that one option is objectively superior. It all sounds very intelligent until you realize most of those same people are not actually building meaningful wealth.

The truth is that this decision is far less about math than it is about how you behave over long periods of time, especially when life gets unpredictable, and your motivation fades.

What makes this decision tricky is that both options can be correct depending on the type of person you are and how disciplined you are willing to be. Unfortunately, most people overestimate their discipline when things are going well and underestimate how messy life can get over a decade or two. That gap between expectation and reality is where financial plans quietly fall apart.

Share

The 15-Year Mortgage Looks Amazing Until You Actually Have to Live With It

On paper, the 15-year mortgage is extremely appealing, and it's easy to see why so many people gravitate toward it. The interest rate is usually lower, the total interest paid over the life of the loan is dramatically reduced, and you build equity at a much faster pace.

When you look at the numbers side by side, the difference can easily reach into the six figures, which is enough to make anyone feel like choosing the 30-year option is financially irresponsible.

The problem is that those numbers assume your life remains stable and predictable, which is almost never the case over a 15-year period. A higher monthly payment sounds manageable when you first lock it in, especially if your income is high at the time, but it reduces your margin for error in a way that people rarely appreciate upfront.

• When something inevitably changes, whether that is a job loss, a desire to switch careers, unexpected expenses, or simply burnout from pushing too hard, that fixed obligation does not adjust with you.

• It just sits there, waiting to be paid, regardless of what else is happening in your life.

From a FIRE perspective, the 15-year mortgage can also create a subtle but significant problem. By forcing a larger portion of your income into your home each month, you may end up limiting your ability to invest in assets that actually generate returns.

Over time, that tradeoff can slow down your path to financial independence, even though it feels like you are making the more responsible choice. You are effectively choosing accelerated home equity over a diversified investment portfolio, and while that might reduce your debt faster, it does not necessarily increase your financial flexibility.

The 30-Year Mortgage Is a Tool, Not a Trap

The 30-year mortgage tends to get a bad reputation because people focus almost exclusively on the total interest paid, which is admittedly higher. That framing makes it seem like a long-term financial mistake, but it completely ignores the value of flexibility, which is one of the most important components of any successful FIRE strategy.

• Lower required monthly payments give you control over your cash flow, which allows you to adapt, invest, and make better decisions over time.

With a 30-year mortgage, you are not locked into a high, fixed payment that dictates your entire financial life. Instead, you have options. You can choose to invest more aggressively when opportunities arise, whether that is in the stock market, a business, or even your own skill set.

You can build a larger emergency fund, which reduces your dependence on any single source of income. You can also handle disruptions without immediately feeling financial pressure, which is something most people do not fully appreciate until they need it.

However, this flexibility comes with a responsibility that many people fail to meet. The lower payment only creates an advantage if you actually use the difference productively.

If that extra cash simply gets absorbed into lifestyle inflation, then the 30-year mortgage becomes exactly what critics claim it is, which is a slower and more expensive path to owning your home. The tool itself is not the problem; the way it is often used is.

Share

FIRE Is About Optionality, Not Just Efficiency

Read more

Many people today have a job… or jobs… still, they struggle to make ends meet… couples, families, and singles alike…

For some, it’s partly due to a lack of financial discipline or lack of financial education…for others, they have the financial discipline and education, but struggle to pay the absolute basics and put food on the table…

A balance left over at the end of the month seems unimaginable, and a savings account, let alone one that has a $1000 dollars in it, seems like a pipe dream…

What can this couple, family, or individual do…? They are already both working one or more jobs… so they can’t “buckle up buttercup”… there are only so many hours in a day, and their kids already call the daycare worker mommy…

“It’s hard to imagine, but it’s true… I see it most every time I go to the grocery store… I see people of all ages and walks of life, standing in the isles, staring at an item, seemingly calculating in their heads if they can afford it or not…”

I understand, I’ve been there many times over the years, and in some ways still am, but sincerely, there is hope, and with either some basic knowledge of finances or some simple guidance, it can be achieved… Consider the following story…

Share

One Man and a Broom

What seems like at times a hundred years ago, was actually about 26 … I know, you’re thinking wow, I wasn’t even born yet… well, I’m older and… working on the wiser part…I was working at my third job (1 of 3) at the time, a major book retailer…

It was Christmas Eve, and an older man approached, purchasing a $100 gift card with a crisp $100 bill… I smiled, saying someone was lucky, and asked him who the gift card was for…

He said, “For my wife. I’m retired, she loves reading, so this is what I buy her every year.” My curiosity got the best of me… although he was older, he didn’t look old enough to be retired…I asked him what his secret was to retiring early.

Smiling, he proceeded to tell me that his wife had never worked outside their home, he had never attended college, and worked his whole career as a janitor at an elementary school…

• He continued… As soon as he was able to contribute to the school’s investment plan, he systematically put ten dollars per month into the plan. The employer matched it dollar-for-dollar…

When he got a raise, he would increase the amount as much as he could and continued to put that into the plan… every month for 30+ years…

One day, when he was at work, his supervisor said HR wanted to speak with him. Wondering what they wanted, he set his mop down and headed that way….

Share

HR handed him a letter from the company managing the school’s investments, asking him to call them. Calling, they informed him that the balance in his account had become so large that he should consider keeping some of the monthly dividends instead of reinvesting…

I don’t remember the totals he told me, but after consulting with an attorney, he decided to retire early, and live off the monthly dividends, until he started receiving social security benefits… of course, I asked him what he had invested in over the years…

• A smile formed at the corners of his mouth as he looked at me and said, “One company, Raj, there was one little company whose stock was cheap called Procter & Gamble, so I just put it there…”

He explained, “he had HR deposit his determined amount in there every month before he received his check, and honestly, he said, I forgot all about it… until I called them that day…”

I personally went to the HR department at my full time job on Monday, opened a 401k, and had deducted from my account the percentage they would match…

He told me he had thoroughly enjoyed his job and what he did. He and his wife had purchased a small house they could afford, paid it off as soon as they could, and purposely avoided any other debt… always paying cash…

His wife had remained in the home as a wife and mother, homeschooling their two children, and they both still lived there… he said we have been very blessed…

So What?

Nice story, but it won’t get me out of debt, you say… It’s the 21st century now… yes, you're correct, and that was the end of the 20th century… but some of the lessons and principles are still the same…

Like a tank of bad gas running through your car’s engine, I sputtered and stalled getting into a smooth rhythm of applying them, but the following is some of what I learned…

• Automatic deductions from your paycheck, you never see it, and will never miss it…

• Start with something… anything, honestly. You can start with as little as $5.00/mo on most employer sponsored 401k plans…

• Each time you get a raise, add 1% or a certain dollar amount to your deduction…

• When you get a raise, keep your budget, and spend the same… and invest the rest… an online high-yield savings account is a great place to start…

These thoughts cover the beginning stages, and in the coming weeks, I want to expand on this man’s story, my mistakes, and how you can hopefully gain some financial wisdom, insight, and hope that you won’t be in the “grind” forever… or at least you do have options…

I was so fascinated by this man’s story, I asked him if he had time to tell me more on my break… smiling, he agreed… and for the next thirty minutes he shared more of his simple life, and the joy it brought him and his family…

I will tell you, it’s not the rags to riches story you might anticipate, it’s a story of common sense, simplicity, consistency, love, devotion, and hard work that got him there.

At some point, personal finance went completely off the rails. What should be a simple system of earning money, saving a portion of it, and investing consistently somehow turned into a bloated mess of apps, accounts, strategies, and advice from people who make money selling complexity to confused readers.

You do not have a money problem. You have a system problem, and it’s probably a disaster.

You have a checking account, maybe two, because you read a thread about separating expenses. If you’re in the top 1%, maybe you have a savings account that you move money in and out of depending on how motivated you feel that week, and if you decide to splurge on something you know you shouldn’t.

You have a brokerage account you check when the market is up and avoid when it is down. You probably signed up for a budgeting app, used it for five days, and then quietly stopped opening it because it felt like doing taxes every night.

This is not discipline. This is friction, and friction is why people fail.

The Data Is Not On Your Side

Let’s get something out of the way: most people are not winning financially. How can we live in the most affluent society in history, yet be surrounded by so much financial disaster waiting to happen? We are blessed beyond measure, “our cup runneth over,” yet instead of being thankful and wise stewards, we worship at the altar of more, more, more.

According to the Federal Reserve, nearly 40 percent of Americans would struggle to cover a $400 emergency expense without borrowing or selling something. That is not a knowledge problem. That is a behavior and system problem.

At the same time, research from Morningstar shows that the average investor underperforms the funds they invest in, often by over 1 percent annually, largely due to poor timing decisions such as buying high and selling low.

Think about that for a second. The investment itself is fine. The problem is the human operating it.

Then you have budgeting apps like Mint, which millions of people sign up for every year, yet most users abandon them within months because the process is tedious and requires constant attention.

So no, the issue is not that people do not know what to do. The issue is that the system they are trying to follow is too complicated to sustain. Internal behavior must change before any sort of grand “system.”

Share

Complexity Feels Smart. It Is Not.

There is this weird belief in personal finance that the more complex your setup is, the more serious you are about money. Multiple accounts. Detailed budgets. Advanced investment strategies. Constant optimization.

How many times have I listened to someone explain to me the finer details of some obscure bond fund, or double back-flip tax loss harvesting thingy-ma-bob? This is not the way my friends.

Such complexity makes you feel productive. It feels like progress and that you have to do something no one else is doing, or discover some mystic secret to become rich overnight.

That is the opposite of how you win personal finance.

You are just making it harder to be consistent; this is the real problem. Meanwhile, the people quietly building wealth are not doing any of this.

They are doing the same boring things over and over again for years. Quietly taking a portion of their income and putting it in one of three places.

• 401K

• Roths

• Brokerage Accounts

Why does it need to be any more complicated than this? I don’t think it does, but what do I know? The truth is, you can consume Reddit posts, YouTube videos, blogs, and the list goes on. Always searching for that one trick that will shortcut your way to financial security.

I’m a dream killer, it ain’t going to happen.

Subscribe now

Do This Instead

If your financial life feels complicated, you do not need to optimize it. You need to strip it down until it is almost impossible to mess up. Not elegant or clever, just effective.

You need to accept the reality that, historically, simple investing over the long term is the best way to achieve financial independence. Not crypto, not bonds, not get-rich-quick real estate. Not picking the next IPO stock that is going to go to the moon.

A simple fact, 10% returns historically, you know what? That is called a beautiful compounding effect.

What you really need to do is take simple steps that most people can’t or are unwilling to take. You don’t need more complexity, you need more simplicity! You are no hedge-fund manager, so don’t try to act like one.

• Collapse Your Accounts

  • You do not need a financial ecosystem that looks like a corporate org chart.

  • Pick one primary checking account where your income lands. Pick one savings account for your emergency fund. Pick one brokerage account for investing. Keep your retirement account where it is.

• Automate Everything

  • Automation is what turns good intentions into actual results. Set up your direct deposit so money flows into your checking account. Set up automatic transfers into savings. Set up automatic investments that happen every single paycheck.

• Track One Number

  • Track your net worth. That is it. Your net worth is the only number that captures the full picture of your financial life. Income, savings, investments, and debt all roll up into that single metric. If your net worth is trending upward over time, your system is working.

Share

If You Take One Thing From This

Stop trying to build the perfect financial system made up of a myriad of bells and whistles. Build one that you can actually follow when you are tired, busy, or not paying attention. Make it simple enough that it feels almost boring. Ignore the noise out there.

Because boring systems are the ones that stick, the ones that stick are the ones that work.

Simplicity > Complicated.

I’m sorry I couldn't bring you any “cool finance advice” that would make you rich and famous by Monday morning, so you can quit that corporate job you hate. No pain, no gain, baby. Just like your high-school track coach used to tell you.

Anyone who’s been close to the tech world recently, or maybe any other world, has probably seen and heard about the never-ending wave of layoffs that have been coming fast and strong.

Just last week, both Meta and Oracle laid off a ton of people, and that is only a small drop in the bucket for the last few years.

Who knows whether AI is really eating all the jobs? It’s hard to say; it's probably just an excuse for cost savings in a world that is full of uncertainty. That’s neither here nor there; we are where we are, and some of us are simply not ready.

Are you?

Subscribe now

The sad side effects of mass layoffs.

I was recently scrolling through that much-hated and much-loved LinkedIn, which is very much depressing these days. My eyes were met with a long list of sad tales of unsuspecting layoffs hitting someone when they least expected it. It’s hard to be mad or down on people caught off guard; much of the fault lies at the feet of the corporate overlords who see people as little widgets, not humans.

• The stories are all over the board: some people have been working somewhere for 30+ years, while others have been there for a month or less.

It’s clear you also have folk who are ready for it, and some who aren't, which is all the more heartbreaking. Once it’s too late, it’s too late.

The one that caught my eye on a Monday morning was a Meta contractor who got the old boot, had just moved into a new house, and was basically begging for help right away because they were “out of options and will be homeless.”

It’s hard not to want to help everyone who finds themselves in hard situations like these. You want to help everyone and hope for the best, but that simply isn’t possible.

Share

Take notes, don’t get caught.

If we can’t help every person who loses their job and finds themselves in a hard spot, the best we can do is help spread the word about being fiscally responsible and prepared for the bumps in life that eventually happen.

Firstly, a few facts.

• Fiscal responsibility (budgeting, investing, etc) is not tied directly to income

• Folks of all income ranges live paycheck to paycheck

• “It’s” never going to happen to me

• We live in uncertain times

• The costs of living are very high

• Digital culture and lifestyle have a negative impact on society at large

One, if being honest, has to ask the same question I did when I read that sad post about the Meta software engineer losing their job and immediately being without money …

Unfortunately, too many people want to spin and weave a complicated tale of corporate greed, out-of-control housing costs, and other spider webs of reasoning to explain how such a thing can happen.

I don’t deny that any singular piece of information given above is untrue.

Levels.fyi provides comprehensive salary information for many tech companies, including Meta. Even if someone is a contractor, it’s not hard to deduce that anyone with the title “software” in their name, anywhere in this entire country, is making “good money.”

So again, it begs the question: how does someone end up broke?

I think the answer is less complicated and more obvious than most people would think. It’s simply death by a thousand cuts. It’s simply never being taught from elementary school age, through college … with all those classes … personal finance 101.

If no one ever tells you, even though it might be obvious now to personal finance fanatics, that you should spend less than you earn. Then you will do what the average American does. Spend it. Every last dime.

Yeah, it doesn’t help that …

• Student loans are through the roof

• Housing costs are insane

• Everything from gas to groceries is exploding in cost

• Instagram and TikTok are designed to make you believe the lifestyle of the rich and famous is for the average Joe.

• Car loans and credit cards are marketed as totally normal things

Share

Well, if you actually step back and look at the big picture, it’s actually a surprise that more people aren’t on the street about 2 minutes after a layoff or job loss. People get caught with “their pants down” because not a single person, or at any point in our culture, has bothered to tell them the obvious.

In fact, their entire life from music, movies, friend, and social media have reinforced the idea that you should spend it, and flaunt it.

The results are predictable. Painfully so.

Whatever the true numbers are, or are not, it’s not the place to be when the creek rises.

The simple answer.

The truth is, we can never really be ready for what we don’t know is coming, even if we might suspect it, or try as much as we can to battened the hatches. The only way to “not be that guy” is to do the simple work that most people are not willing to do.

Spend less than you earn.

And then do something with the difference. If you need some ideas …

At the end of the day, you have to do a few boring things consistently over a long period of time to put yourself in a position to weather a little storm. With the way the storm clouds seem to threaten these days, it’s probably a good time to start.

• Do a budget

• Live a conservative lifestyle financially

• Invest every month automatically (auto-pilot)

• Get out of debt and stay out of debt

That’s it. No three back-flips and meeting under the old oak tree at midnight. Nothing. Fancy.

It’s math and numbers, combined with a little hustle. It requires you to go against the grain a little bit. To not care what your broke friends and family think about your house, car, or vacations.

It will lead to a more peaceful life as a pleasant side effect. Who doesn’t want more peace and calm?

Most people think they have a spending problem, but what they actually have is something far more subtle and far more dangerous, because it hides behind good intentions, reasonable decisions, and the comforting illusion that if they just tightened things up a bit, downloaded a better budgeting app, or tried a little harder next month, everything would magically fall into place.

But it doesn’t, and it won’t.

Because the problem was never really spending. At least not in the way you think, it’s something more personal. It’s about you.

Share

The Budget Lie

Budgets are one of those things that sound good in theory and feel productive in the moment, but quietly fail in practice because they try to solve a behavioral problem with a mathematical tool, like trying to fix a broken engine by repainting the car.

Look, I do a budget every month, so it seems a little tongue-in-cheek to say that. The thing is, I have proved my ability to live within my means, automate investing, and do all the rest, to the point that if I didn’t do a budget, nothing would change.

• Research in behavioral economics has been pointing this out for years, even if the personal finance industry continues to push budgeting as the primary solution, because human beings are not rational calculators walking around making optimized financial decisions, but instead are deeply influenced by emotion, bias, and habit loops that override logic in the moment. (Wikipedia)

Even when budgets do have some effect, the real-world impact is inconsistent and often weaker than people expect, because behavior tends to revert unless something bigger changes underneath the surface. (Centre for Responsible Banking & Finance)

So people do what they always do.

• They set a budget.

• They break it.

• They feel bad.

• They try again next month.

Because sacrifice at that level, physical and financial, takes a more personal twist. It’s about an identity, fundamentally, what you believe in and who you are.

You need a big enough reason to actually change your habits.

Share

The Real Problem: Identity

If you strip everything down, spending is not primarily about numbers; it is about identity, and more specifically, how you see yourself and how you behave when nobody is watching.

You don’t overspend because you lack a spreadsheet. You overspend because your habits, environment, and internal narratives align with a version of you who spends. That might sound abstract, but it shows up in very real ways.

• You see yourself as someone who “deserves a treat” after a long day.

• You see yourself as someone who “doesn’t want to miss out.”

• You simply live in the moment… for every moment of your life.

You see yourself as someone who lives a certain lifestyle, even if it's on shaky ground. And once that identity is in place, your behavior follows it automatically, without much conscious effort.

The Psychology Nobody Talks About

There is an entire field dedicated to this called behavioral finance, and its core idea is simple but uncomfortable: people consistently make financial decisions that feel good in the moment but are objectively bad in the long term.

This is not a personal failure; it is human nature.

We are wired for short-term rewards, a phenomenon often called present bias, in which a smaller reward today feels more valuable than a larger reward later. (Wikipedia)

We are influenced by emotional triggers, social pressure, and marketing designed to bypass logic and tap into impulse. (Rocket Federal Credit Union)

We mentally categorize money in strange ways, treating a tax refund differently from a paycheck, even though it's the same dollar. (Booth School of Business)

• And perhaps most importantly, we act in alignment with habits that have been reinforced over the years, not decisions we made five minutes ago.

One study found that financial well-being is strongly tied not just to knowledge, but to self-control and behavioral patterns, reinforcing the idea that knowing what to do is far less important than consistently doing it. (PMC)

Subscribe now

Change your identity, change your finances.

Just like making any other serious change in life, job, fitness, financial, emotional, etc, it all boils down to us. You. Me. At the end of the day, we look in the mirror and find the reason that our bank account balance is what it is.

You think you just need to budget harder, save more, try harder, go out to eat less, or get a better-paying job?

Those things are well and good, but at the end of the day, you are still with you at the end of the day. You’re the one making the decisions in the moment, based on your worldview.

Personal finance is about personal responsibility.

Every once in a blue moon, my wife and I reminisce about the old days. Back before kids, before life was crazy … being DINKs and doing whatever we wanted, although we always cut against the grain of the culture around us. The truth is, we were blessed by running into a few books and people who taught us some important lessons about living life before we stepped into “adulthood.”

Sure, we made our fair share of mistakes, but I really could title this article “3 Things I Never Did That Made Me Richer.”

These are lessons I watched others make mistakes around; friends, family, the entire culture beating and drumming these mistakes into our collective heads as “normal.” Who wants to be normal? Not me.

I distinctly remember someone once saying to me, when discussing car buying and car problems … “Why don’t you just get a car payment? Everyone has one, it’s just a normal part of life.” I remember feeling bad for others around me, for all of us.

3 Sins of Personal Finance.

So, let’s just get to it. These 3 deadly sins of personal finance are not all-inclusive, but just the big ones that do the most damage to your average person pumping around your town in their Tahoe today. Humans are fickle indeed, and prone to repeat the sins of our forebears ad infinitum.

Sins that include personal finance and money habits that get passed down to us, imbibbed from our friends and neighbors, slipped into our eyes by those burning blue screens that hold our attention.

The TikTok rabble think there are 3 Real-Estate Secrets to Make Your Rich.

Real riches, and easy riches, lay down the path of boring and obvious common sense, stuff that isn’t easy to do, probably the hardest, but conceptually and emotionally is like climbing Mount Everest in this culture.

Here are 3 things to stop buying that will make you rich.

1. New Cars

2. Bigger Houses

3. Bigger Vacations

1. New Cars

There is nothing like a new car and cool air through your hair to make you feel on top of the world. That is, until the car payment comes due. Few things in this world can steal your future wealth and earning potential like a big-!@#$ car payment. It drags on forever, never ends, is large, and the money invested over time would turn into millions.

That sort of money invested monthly into a retirement account or brokerage account literally turns into millions of dollars over a lifetime. People just hate hearing that because it shoves an uncomfortable truth in their face.

Their lack of self-control and foresight is the main driver of their inability to handle money, and have any. Decisions. Decisions about what kind of car you drive is the difference bewteen no money when you need it, and more money than you know what to do with.

I don’t care if you drive a new car, but pay cash for it. I like shiny new cars when you can afford them.

Having a car payment means you can’t afford it, whatever that it is.

Car payments keep people solidly in the middle class without enough pennies to rub together over a lifetime. From one car payment to the next, forever, as long as they draw breath. Sad.

Subscribe now

2. Bigger Houses

Yeah, yeah, I get it, the ultimate status symbol. Don’t you just want to prove to your friends and family that you turned out alright, that you did BETTER than them? Big House means big success, right?

You can stare down your long nose at all those filthy peasants who live in squaller.

The single biggest line item in almost every budget is always housing. Always. Today, real estate prices seem to be out of control; their price increases have far outstripped wage increases.

Hey, I’m all about home ownership; it’s a great way to build long-term wealth and net worth gains if done correctly. Problem is, we like to eat tater-chips on the couch … and buy big houses we can’t afford.

The worse part of an over-extending mortgage payment is that it simply gobbles up every last drop of cash flow we have, destroying a persons ability to invest and save money for the future.

If you want to build sustainability into your lifestyle, you simply must go against the grain of the culture and be ok with not having to upgrade houses every decade like clockwork.

If you consistently spend large amounts of your income, as a percentage, on a house payment, it will be virtually impossible to live well in a financial sense. You can’t save and invest, you still go on vacations and spend other money, which again eats into your cash flow.

Buy a modest house and reap a lifetime of financial rewards.

Share

3. Bigger Vacations

What, you don’t think even I look with envy upon my compatriots who fly off to far-flung lands, posting tales of glory and repose? The never-ending scroll of Instagram life, vacation upon vacation. Mountains, beaches, flights, hotels, adventure … ahh, the life.

The problem is that sorta “chase the high” of the next beach vacation will drain every last bit of cash, if you even have the cash that you’ve managed to save. For most Americans, it simply means larger credit card balances.

According to the stats, most Americans don’t have that much cash, which tells you where the average vacation's balance ends up. The truth is that most people have been duped into believing that unless you sit your butt on a plane seat, you’re not really “going on vacation.”

People have generally become lazy and far-sighted.

For most, if you drew a 3 or 4-hour circle around their hometown, you would find tons of …

• bike trails

• a zoo

• state parks

• local nightlife and shopping

• amusment park

• etc.

The idea that you have to travel on a plane to get somewhere worth being, well, that’s just silly and not true. There used to be a thing called “The Great American Roadtrip.” It included camping, spending time outdoors, hiking, biking, and all sorts of activities that actually created real, lasting memories.

Nothing says middle-class like a credit card full of vacation charges that hangs all year long like that third-cousin at the family reunion.

If you have X amount of money left after all expenses, some of that money needs to be put aside for investing, maintenance on the house and car, future repairs and upgrades … you know … life.

If you take all the extra money and blow it on some airline tickets, AirBnB, food, fun … and the rest, you will make it to the end of the year with a bank account size that is smaller than when you started, or maybe hasn’t moved an inch.

Over-sized vacations are the perfect way to keep being poor.

Subscribe now

The end of the matter.

Yeah, personal finance is hard. Reaching for financial independence is even harder, especially in the culture we live in. Very affluent, big cars, houses, and vacations. We’ve been boiled in the capitalist stew of consumerism. More, more, more. Your entire life, you have seen it on TV, in the movies, on the internet, and all around you.

If you don’t have a nice car and a big house, you haven’t made it, according to the culture.

That same culture is drowning in debt, stressed out, and enduring as servants in corporate jobs they hate. Hanging on by a thread.

They couldn’t dream of balancing a budget, if they know what that is, let alone grasping for true wealth. It doesn’t matter how much money you make, little or big, lots or little.

It’s what you do with the money you have.

Be happy and be content. Spend less than you make. Save up an emergency fund, pay cash for cars and vacations, and don’t have a mortgage payment more than 25% of your take-home pay.

Be at peace.

There are a lot of financial folk, of all shapes and sizes, who pooh-pooh the old “Get a side hustle” advice that’s been around since the beginning of time. You know, tight on money, deliver pizzas. Need some extra cash? Work on the weekends. Not too surprising that such sayings are looked down upon and hissed at by the average Joe.

I get it.

We live in an American culture where people simply don’t want to work that hard anymore. Living high on the hog has its upsides and downsides, one of those being the unwillingness to do uncomfortable things.

I want to explore the positive aspects of a side hustle, some from my own journey, and why I think it’s a great idea and a “short cut” on the way to a FIRE future.

Why you should get a side hustle.

The arguments against a side hustle are usually the same, or mostly the same. I see them as too pessimistic and with not enough grit and determination. Where does money come from? Work. That will never change, even though the type of work might.

What are the arguments against side hustles, and how can we push back?

• Full-time jobs pay more; just focus on yours.

• Don’t get burnt out.

• You don’t make enough to make the side hustles worth it.

• etc.

Yes, and no. Most people have a poor image of a side hustle, which makes them react negatively or look down on it as a valid way to accelerate a FIRE plan. That’s short-sighted. One shouldn’t discount a valid and good idea simply because some people suck at implementing it.

Some people cearly can make decent money on a side hustle.

The thing is, most of the broke suburbanites with their car payments, large mortgages, credit cards … and no money left after travel sports … look down on such “small sums.” I would argue one doesn’t need to double your income for a side hustle to be worth it.

Who doesn’t like gravy?

Most people struggle to put anything away for retirement. It’s not exactly a well-kept secret that people sacrifice their future selves on the altar of pleasure now.

Those are the types of things side hustles can solve, or even if you are on a good FIRE path and doing well, can accelerate. Who would turn their nose up at an extra 20K a year to shove into a brokerage account or fill out some Roth IRAs? If you’re already a good saver, such gravy would seriously accelerate your FIRE goals.

• I agree that sewing cat sweaters and selling them at the local farmers’ market might not be the way to go.

Hobbies are not necessarily good side hustles. You actually need to make money, not spend it. In the digital age we live in, it’s not that hard to find something that makes money. Most people are just not creative enough, and simply won’t put their hand to the plow.

Yeah, you can deliver pizzas, that’s fine and dandy, but we live in a time and place, in global digital world, where you have to think about ideas like it’s NOT 1999.

I personally, you’re truly, write Substacks from the comfort of my home, in my big chair with my feet up on a table and a coffee in my hand, and depending on how hard I try, make anywhere from 35K-50K a year on my “writing side hustle.”

Is it a ton of money?

Yes, and no. Depends on your viewpoint. When it’s gravy, it’s tasty gravy that can accelerate a brokerage account like you wouldn’t believe.

Is it “easy” to make this sort of money on a side hustle? I would argue, yes, it is. One simply has to do what everyone else is not willing to do. Work hard. But, if you find something you love to do, is it work? Not really.

• An idea you love

• Digital is better

• Treat it like a business

• Be consistent and show up

In the grand scheme of things, I’m just trying to show you that in this high-cost-of-living time we find ourselves in, and it is high cost, from housing to groceries, a well-thought-out side hustle is often the answer to give that breathing room or accelerate a FIRE plan and send it to the moon.

Subscribe now

Well, you can’t say you didn’t see it coming, eh? Any astute reader of history knows that we humans are born to trouble as sparks fly upward. Wars and rumors of wars. You can depend on it; no decade will slip by without a few bombs falling somewhere.

I’m not here for the politics, that’s for the birds.

I’m here for War Time Economics. What an interesting topic, fraught with mines (pun intended), both real and imagined.

If you are an astute student of history, you will know that war can have a variety of interesting effects on our economy. One could argue that there are different types and sizes of wars, each accompanied by its own economic booms and busts. It’s truly hard to know, at any particular point, if we are victims of macro-economics at large or the wartime jitters.

Wars and Economies of the Past, and Future?

I read a lot of history, like probably too much, mostly American History … because it’s the best history, duh. I’ve pumped through a fair share of Revolutionary War, 1812, Civil War, WWI, The Great Depression, and WWII material to make a history teacher blush.

While wars indeed have a terrible human and societal cost, the economic side might not be as bad as you think. As long as you are on the winning side, that is. It does make one wonder the connections between Captiliam as its finest, and the war mongers, past, present, and future … who are always in the dark hallways of power, whispering words.

Smarter people than I have written volumes on this topic, but who’s going to stop me from throwing my hat in the ring?

Contrary to popular belief, ALL wars are typically won by the size and ability of the supply side of the equation.

The industrial complex of the North done whopped the South back when brother was fighting brother up and down the Mississippi Valley and far out through the valleys of the East. You can’t fight a war without agriculture, mining, manufacturing, workers, banks … and the list goes on.

The infamous Great Depression was ended by the drumbeats of war. It takes a lot of work to make a tank, from ore to someone stitching leather, and everything in between. It’s a curious and strange thing, isn't it? Yet the world has changed; we live in a global economy where it’s uncommon for something to be built end-to-end in these most glorious United States.

For instance, what has happened to Russia and Ukraine during this long, drawn-out battle?

One also has to know that these macroeconomic factors related to war play out over long periods; sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.

Russia-Ukraine conflict.

I mean, by the end of World War II, much of Europe was in a strange place, starving without the bread they needed to make it through the week. Yet the United States, in all its glory, as a new World Order, was overflowing with resources, enough to ship it all over seas to keep everyone else growing and fed.

I mean, who knows what will happen in the future, but strange things can be seen happening, although the future will write the complete history, it’s hard to have 20/20 vision in the midst of the dolldrums.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it probably depends a lot on what the macro-economic climate looked like before any “conflict” kicked off. If times were hard, there is a good chance War Time Economics might give ‘em the ole’ shot in the arm, little booster. The only way to wage war is to produce things, which usually leads to an outflow of money and resources.

But, if someone drops a bomb on your oil pipeline or highway, well … that’s a problem isn’t it.

Share

What should you do?

Well, the war hounds have been unleashed again, and here we are, already in unsteady times. Layoffs for years, political unrest, AI taking over the world, wars, it never ends, does it? Silver and gold through the roof, crypto bros buying airplanes. What a time to be alive in.

So, should we be stuffing cash under our bed, burying gold in the backyard?

My Wartime Economic approach is probably a little rough-and-tumble to some. I figure if one lives within one's means, saves and invests meaningful amounts on a regular basis, then we should simply sit back and put our feet up.

Truth be told, the economy on the jitters usually means one thing for the average investor like you and me. Keep your finger on the trigger (pun intended). From an economic point of view, it doesn’t really matter to us what sort of saber-rattling is going on around the world.

Let oil prices spike if they want.

We just need to do what we’ve always done, and buy through the good times and the bad. So what if the sky is falling? That means we buy our Vanguard funds rain or shine. In fact, the more we can manage to scoop up when it’s raining outside, and everyone has the War Time Blues, the better we will probably come out in the end.

When was the last time you walked past a wad of cash lying in the grass?

That’s essentially what can happen during War Time Economics. Things go bump in the night, or bang, and the markets do a little dive. Sure, we don’t time anything; we just bide our time and recognize an obvious opportunity when we see one. History tells us we will be ok, and things will return to normal at some point.

Subscribe now

So what do U-Haul, thrift stores, insurance plans, gym memberships, and garages have in common …

You work hard at your job, whatever that may be. You have worked diligently to pay yourself first each month by putting a budgeted amount into a high-yield savings account.

You pay off those credit cards each month with steely determination… you have no debt, other than possibly your mortgage… you have, in addition to your employer’s 401 (k) match, a personal brokerage account in which you immediately stash any extra money you earn… your level of diligence in sticking to your monthly budget is awe-inspiring…

Share

Although the government does a spectacular job in any administration of steady increases of taxes and inflation that hits us like an unexpected kick to the back of our knees… it isn’t that… unfortunately, we know that’s coming…

Well, I digress… back to the original question…

• “What do all of those services listed in the first paragraph have in common?

U-Haul:

Recently, in my town, the typical U-Haul rental lot moved to a new location and took on a new look. Not far from my house, in addition to the usual vehicle rental services, they erected a large drive-through storage facility with at least 3 levels.

After it went up, I started noticing most of the U-Haul facilities in my area had followed suit, or were in the process of changing their locations to this setup….

Thrift Stores

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy “thrifting”, my nieces informed me that’s what it’s referred to these days… All I know is that, generally, I can find pretty much anything I need there and save major shekels on it.

I mean, who doesn’t enjoy buying name-brand items, gently used but in good condition, for a tenth of the price… I’m raising my hand…

Insurance Plans

Oh, the insurance… used to be you insured your home and your car, and around the time I was born you started offering “opportunity” for health insurance. These days… well you name the product or service and there is an “opportunity” to insure it… ya know, just in case.

That way you don’t have to pay the full “completely inflated prices” we have on repairing it… to name a few… house, vehicles of any type, heck you can probably put your kids trike on your plan, you’ll save even more on your bloated policy… dental, vision, health… your pets health, and just about any item you buy in the store or online unless it’s clothing will offer extended repair coverage…

Gym Memberships

You have great intentions, it sounds like a great idea… you can just imagine the excess weight coming off, muscles bulging and you signing up for the next 5 or 10k… maybe even a marathon… why not… You can do this. So you pay for that gym membership… you know, the one that occasionally, you remember that you have…

Garages?

So you may be wondering, what in the world does my garage have to do with, or have in common with all the above… your garages contain all of the stuff you purchase (that you may or may not need), all the “toys” you purchased that you have that insurance or extended warranty on, for the equipment you bought for either your home gym or to accessorize when you do go to the gym and all the stuff you have boxed to go out for donation… Yeah, soooo…

Subscribe now

The Deadly Cycles That Steal Your Wealth…

UHAUL

It is reported that at the end of the fiscal year, March 31, 2025, UHAUL’s (UHAL) net earnings were 365.1 million. This is just a fact, not a judgment or complaint. They are a business, and just taking advantage of the need they see. The downside, seen or unseen, is that people are paying them a lot of money to move and store their stuff.

• I get it on the moving end, you need to get things from point A to B, and moving trucks, and now the PODS they offer are necessary at times.

However the massive three story drive through, heated storage warehouses people are paying monthly fees to rent, to store stuff they may or may not see or ever use for years… unimaginable… but hey, you do you…

Another part of this story is the fact that sometimes you forget what’s in storage, or that you are paying for a storage unit, and go buy a new version of what you already have.

Thrift Stores

Along the same thread, a person will shop at thrift stores to save money. This is a good thing, and can save a lot. I use them myself. The deadly cycle of wasting money happen when you one, buy way more than you need… after all, the deals were phenomenal… but then after a couple months, you have made a pile of some you never wore or used, and some you wore but were tired of the same look, and some of the stuff you now decided you didn’t need. Then secondly, you find yourself back at the thrift store buying more… and the cycle continues…

Insurance Plans

Don’t misunderstand, insurance is a good thing in moderation and for some things. However in today’s world it is a money maker…

It is estimated that in 2025, it earned between 128 and 172 billion USD worldwide. Some retailers reported profits ranging from 50% to 70%. It is forecast to grow by 7-11.8% over the next few years. The reason… rising repair costs of electronics, vehicles and increased demand for used car coverage, and and AI driven maintenance…

Have you ever purchased an extended warranty on a particular electronic item, and when it breaks you breathe a sigh of relief, thankful that you have the warranty… only to discover that it just expired… or that’s the one item it wouldn’t cover.

No doubt, costs have skyrocketed for repairs on autos, electronics, and pretty much every other consumer good out there, but often it’s about the same cost to discard it and buy another than to repair it.

So, before you absentmindedly, or after serious consideration, say yes to that extended coverage, whether in-store or online, stop to consider if either you could repair the item yourself, or how much more you could earn by stashing the savings in a high-yield savings account or brokerage account.

Share

Gym Memberships

There isn’t any harm in having a gym membership and/or buying equipment for a home gym if you can afford it and realize the benefits. Most companies, especially around the end of the year, will offer some pretty sweet deals to sign up, knowing that as the monthly fee is automatically deducted from your account, you probably will forget about it, and more than likely will never or rarely use it.

You will no doubt score a really good deal on that home gym equipment during that Black Friday sale, smiling as you admire all that gleaming chrome and hi-tech elliptical setup in your basement, while the retailer enjoys their huge profit, knowing, more than likely, you will be having a garage sale next fall.

Approximately 67% of gym memberships go unused. Active members visit an average of 1.5 times per week. For the average person, a daily walk is better for long-term health and the reduction of chronic diseases than a gym membership. If you add daily stretching and bodyweight exercises, you can maintain great health into your old age and save a lot more of that green stuff you work so hard for.

Share

Garages

When I grew up, the garage was for parking your car(s) in, and the center of the barn was for parking the tractor. There were some basic tools hanging in the garage, and all of them were used, repaired, and duct taped until we literally had to buy a new or used one at a farm sale. Neighboring farmers would look at you in disbelief if you hadn’t used or repaired a tool for at least 10 years and were buying a new one.

Now, many garages are like independent “Goodwill Sorting Warehouses” for the neighborhoods. As the cold wind blows outside, and people are cursing under their breath scraping the ice and snow from their shiny new toy that sets in the driveway, that pile of stuff that you bought last year sets all boxed up and cozy in your garage awaiting you to finish cleaning your vehicle to take it to be recycled, and waiting for you to bring more home.

Conclusion

I was having a little fun with the writing… My hope is that this highlights for you the often-overlooked things many, including myself at times, do without considering how we are spending and wasting money needlessly.

I hope this article draws your attention to how you can restructure and simplify your spending habits. In doing so, you can save yourself some of those hard-earned shekels, watch it multiply in those High-yield savings accounts and brokerage accounts, and help you reach your F.I.R.E. goals sooner.

Until next time, my friends,

Raj

I suppose some might call it hard, but a little dose of reality is the order of the day. It’s a brave new world we live in, war, unrest, politics, crazy people, a world raised on TikTok. Maybe I am turning into my mother or grandmother, maybe we are doomed to say the same things they said to us years ago. Maybe that’s why those sayings are still with us: they're repeated generation after generation.

Act your (w)age.

Personal finance and financial freedom simply don’t drop out of the sky like manna from above and into our laps. Depsite what you may be led to believe on YouTube, movies, and other social media … it’s possible your estranged great aunt might not die and leave you 5 million dollars.

It’s possible your next big idea and daydream about some new thing you will create, with people lining up at the door and pelt you with money … is a farce.

Sure, to be creative is to be human, to dream and hope, to look forward to a bright future and “… an expected end.” I suppose those very ideals are what make America unique, the land of opportunity where one can still start at the bottom and end up at the top.

Everyone loves a good underdog story.

Share

Be reasonable

It’s a fine line to walk: being sensitive to cultural and economic pressures while understanding that many of these factors are simply out of our control, and we must do the best we can in the situations we find ourselves in.

At the end of the day, a desire to have financial independence, large savings, options, “lots of money” or whatever you want to call it … comes down to acting our “(w)age.”

You have no choice but to follow basic personal finance maxims if you want to get on the right track financially, be the boss of your money, and not stress about making ends meet or the next emergency.

The data says that this isn’t trending in the right direction.

In a world that has gone crazy, in more ways than one, you must embrace simplicity in your finances. No crypto bros, no late-night stock trading based on a tip from a blog or Twitter. This is not the way.

Yes, everyone around you might be buying Tahoes, going on big vacations, seemingly living the high life, and spending money like The Great Gatsby on Friday night. It’s hard to live in the rat race and not be another rat.

You want a big truck. You want a big house. You want to fly somewhere nice for spring break. You want to buy a new TV. You want the best stuff for your kids. You want the new electronic. You want to go out to eat 3 nights a week.

Act your (w)age.

Most folk live in a made-up world, a world where you can do what you want without consequences. Ignore the future you, do what feels good right now.

Since when has this worked out for anyone?

Subscribe now

There are a thousand excuses.

You might as well hold your tongue. Don’t you think I live in the same world as you? I know housing costs are through the roof, inflation, and wages are not keeping up. You think this is the first time in world history this has happened? You think you are the first people to experience this?

Complaints don’t change the reality, things are what they are, you simply have to act your (w)age in spite of all the circumstances you find yourself fighting against.

You’ve got to pull your pants up tight and get to the job of making hard decisions and sacrifices. You have no choice. The other choice is to be broke. What would you rather be?

Greatness doesn’t appear out of thin air. A bank account that is healthy and helps you sleep at night, knowing the wolf isn’t at the door, isn’t magic. It’s a lifetime of making the next right choice, day after day, year after year … forever.

The problems are real and hard; the solution is easy and equally as hard.

• Live below your means.

• Say no to consistant life style inflation

• Pay yourself first every single month, no matter how small the amount

• Invest your money in something that compounds interest

• Pay off debt

There is a double-dutch backflip that will solve your problems. Don’t wait for next year’s big bonus or tax refund that may never appear. That’s what the broke people do.

Find the margin in your budget, be ruthless. Find that extra $150 you can stick into savings. Consistency matters; it will get easier over time. Cooking at home instead of ordering out will become a routine. Hiking in the woods instead of going out and spending money on Saturday will bring true and lasting happiness.

Share

Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can be a defense and a tool used for good.

I was recently poking around in my employer-sponsored 401(k) plan. I don’t do it much; I sorta do the whole “set it, and forget it.” You would think that the conventional wisdom is that a person should be me, watching and fiddling with investments constantly. I’ve had many a conversation with persons who do just that.

Not me.

To tell the truth, I feel a little vindicated … luck or wisdom; does it matter?

Share

I’ve been investing since back in the olden days of Sharebuilder, which will date me. It was right before the 2007/2008 crash … I has learned from someone wiser and older than me about personal finances and investing. Being told to pay down debt and invest every penny I could, as often as I could … looking back now I’m grateful for that advice, and that I actually took it.

I would just set it and forget it. 401ks, Roths, Brokerage accounts … I had fun picking stocks back in the day. Looking for dividend payers, undervalued (in my view) companies. Sometimes I lost, sometimes I won.

• When the financial crash of 2008 hit, it didn’t really bother me. I figured it was “stocks on sale” time, which indeed it was.

Today’s market.

It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve had a major correction, maybe I shouldn’t even care. If I learned one thing over the decades, it’s that I can’t foresee the future, and things go up, and things go down.

Timing the market is simply impossible and pure luck. I always find it amusing that some uncle of mine thinks he’s smarter than those billion-dollar hedge funds. Sometimes you just gotta smile and nod.

Anywho, back to the matter at hand.

When looking at my 401K for the first time in a while, the first thing that stuck out to me was the rate of return. 28.14%.

• What a number.

What does that make me? An investing savant? Not at all. I suppose one could argue that, based on when you’re buying, it’s a roll of the dice and could just as well be the opposite. Not really, but you get it right?

I simply chalk it up to two very obvious things, generally accepted in the sane part of the investing world.

• Vanguard

• Consistency with ignorance

Whenever I see big gains like that, it does make a guy pause and wonder a little. What comes next? All that goes up must come down. Onward and forward, I guess.

Subscribe now

You can time the market by simply doing the unthinkable. Set it, and forget it. Every month, without fail, ups and downs, just let’er roll. The last few years have been good to us, haven't they?

Will the good times come to an end? Yeah, at some point. Will things recover after that? Yeah, at some point. That is the way of the world, my friend.

The reason people don’t have any money now, or in the future when they retire or want to retire or scale back work … is usually not because of some market timing or distaster, although this is possible.

Rather, it’s the very basic fact that they didn’t set it, and forget it.

Most people fall prey to …

• Not investing at all, or consistently.

• Pulling in and out of the market

You won’t have any money if you don’t save money or invest money. If you insist on timing the market, changing investments a few times a year, get cold feet, or hot feet … than yeah, you gonna pay the price.

Don’t be a crypto bro.

Be a boring bro.

While recently writing about the glories and untold riches of brokerage accounts vs classic retirement accounts, I was reminded by someone that for those FIRE-minded folk, the Roth IRA comes with a pleasant financial twist, depending on your viewpoint. It’s a strange enough topic to ponder upon, so I figured it might be worth some words and pontification.

As with most personal finance questions, I find that many answers are “It depends.” Why? Because context matters, humans matter, goals matter … what your current and future work life matters. I think a lot of personal finance and FIRE dreams are more about progression, learning, growing, and doing what works for you.

Alright. Let’s talk about one of the more interesting little “quirks” in the financial independence world.

The Roth IRA.

Specifically: the fact that you can pull out your contributions at any time, tax- and penalty-free.

First, The Rule (What You’re Actually Allowed To Do)

We should start with what you can and can’t do with Roth IRAs and how to access your money. When most people think of putting money into some retirement account, it’s almost like it’s “gone” for years, never to be seen or touched again without being smacked and penalized. Sometimes that is true, sometimes not.

Here’s the key distinction:

• Contributions (the money you directly put in)

• Earnings (the growth, dividends, gains inside the account)

Under IRS rules, you can withdraw your Roth IRA contributions at any time, for any reason, tax- and penalty-free. This is not a loophole. It’s not a gray area. It’s how the account is designed.

The IRS explicitly states that regular Roth IRA contributions can be withdrawn without taxes or penalties because you already paid taxes on that money before contributing it.

However:

• Earnings are a different story.

• If you withdraw earnings before age 59½ and before the account has been open five years, you may owe income tax and a 10% penalty (with some exceptions).

So, mechanically speaking, you can always take back what you put in. You generally cannot take growth at face value. That distinction is where things get interesting for early retirees.

Why This Matters for FIRE

If you’re pursuing Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), you face a structural problem: Most retirement accounts are designed around age 59½. But FIRE folks often aim to stop working in their 40s, maybe even 30s.

How do you access funds without triggering penalties? Enter the Roth IRA contribution rule. Let’s say over 15 years, you’ve contributed $100,000 to your Roth IRA. Even if the account is now worth $250,000, you can withdraw that $100,000 in contributions without taxes or penalties.

For early retirees, this can function as:

• A bridge account

• A supplemental income source

• A psychological safety valve

• Or a core part of their drawdown strategy

It essentially makes the Roth IRA partially liquid before traditional retirement age. That’s powerful and a great option to leverage. Ultimately, especially for those focused on financial freedom, we want options and choices. Spreading money around, taking advantage of tax-free growth, while at the same time at least having the option of not LOCKING up ALL of our money … hey, it’s like the best of both worlds!

The Benefits

1. Flexibility Without Penalty

The biggest benefit is optionality. You are not “locked out” of your Roth contributions. If something goes wrong, job loss, medical issue, opportunity, or early retirement, you have access.

For risk-averse planners, this reduces the fear of “overfunding” retirement accounts. It allows you to contribute aggressively while knowing you’re not completely illiquid.

2. Early Retirement Bridge Strategy

Some FIRE strategies look like this:

• Max Roth IRA annually.

• Invest in taxable brokerage as well.

• In early retirement, withdraw:

  • Taxable brokerage first

  • Roth contributions as needed

  • Allow Roth earnings to keep compounding

This can create a multi-decade tax-efficient withdrawal strategy. In fact, some planners combine Roth contributions with Roth conversion ladders (another strategy governed by IRS five-year rules) to create a structured early-access cash flow.

3. Psychological Advantage

Let’s be honest.

A lot of people hesitate to max out retirement accounts because they’re scared of “locking money away forever.” Knowing you can access contributions often increases confidence to invest more aggressively. It reframes the Roth IRA from “retirement jail” to “retirement with a side door.”

Share

But… Let’s Slow Down a Bit

This is where nuance matters. Just because you can pull contributions out doesn’t mean you should treat the Roth like a checking account. There are real downsides. We have to be honest about both sides of the financial equation. Pulling money from retirement accounts early is not always advisable; in fact, it can be very risky and a poor path to follow.

Are you human after all, aren’t you?

We are not always known for making the best long-term decisions.

1. You Destroy Tax-Free Growth

The highest cost is invisible; every dollar removed from a Roth IRA stops compounding tax-free. And tax-free growth is the Roth structure's superpower. Pulling $20,000 at age 40 might cost you six figures in tax-free compounding by age 70.

That’s not hypothetical. That’s math.

Once withdrawn, that contribution space is permanently gone (subject to annual contribution limits). You can’t just “put it back” beyond the yearly limit.

2. Behavioral Risk

Liquidity invites temptation. If you mentally categorize your Roth contributions as “accessible,” you may be more likely to dip into them for:

• A bigger house

• A truck upgrade

• A random business idea

• “Temporary” spending

The FIRE path is built on discipline. Liquidity can quietly erode that. At the end of the day, it’s just a very risky move to make. Why do you need the money? Can that situation really be solved by just grabbing those Roth IRA contributions? There are really long-term downsides.

3. Sequence Risk in Early Retirement

If you’re retiring early and relying heavily on Roth contributions, market volatility becomes more impactful. If you withdraw contributions during a downturn:

• You may be pulling money out after losses.

• You shrink your tax-free compounding base.

• You increase long-term fragility.

This becomes especially important if your Roth represents a large share of your net worth.

4. It’s Not Infinite Access

Let’s be clear: this is access to contributions only. If your strategy assumes large withdrawals, you will quickly bump into the earnings portion — and that’s where penalties may apply unless you meet qualified distribution rules (age 59½ and five-year rule).

This isn’t a magic ATM, it’s a limited early-access pool.

So… Is It a Feature or a Trap?

Like most things in personal finance, it’s a feature for disciplined people. It’s a trap for impulsive ones. The Roth IRA contribution rule is one of the most FIRE-friendly aspects of U.S. retirement law.

• It allows flexibility.

• It reduces fear.

• It increases optionality.

But it also tempts you to cannibalize your future tax-free compounding. And in the FIRE world, compounding is the whole game. The ability to withdraw Roth IRA contributions tax-free isn’t meant to fund lifestyle creep. It’s meant to create resilience.

Used wisely, it provides strategic flexibility for early retirees navigating the long gap between “financially independent” and “official retirement age.” Used carelessly, it quietly undermines the most powerful tax-advantaged account many Americans have.

As always, just because the IRS allows it doesn’t mean your long-term compounding will forgive it.