It’s been a few months since I truly launched the blog. I think it’s finally time for me to spill some of the frugal secrets that I’ve been keeping. These are some of most powerful frugal techniques that I use to keep lifestyle inflation down. These are not beginner techniques. I wouldn’t even recommend trying some of these until you’re two years or more into a frugal lifestyle. These tips will change the way you…
One of the earlier episodes of the Choose FI podcast is titled The Why of FI. In it, the hosts discuss why someone would choose a lifestyle focused on aggressive saving, which seems to some like deprivation. From my time in the FI community, I haven’t seen much deprivation. Instead, I see a group of people pursuing their life goals while the rejecting rampant consumerism that adds to lifestyle inflation. The FI mindset is one focused…
The stock market went into a correction this week, meaning that the market fell 10%. I really didn’t notice until I saw people over on the Choose FI Facebook page asking about what to do when the market goes down. That Facebook group is really diverse in terms of financial knowledge and attitude. Many don’t even listen to the Choose FI podcast, which is why there end up being a lot of questions about situations…
My main college job during the summers was at an ice cream shop. My boss was very generous to the employees and allowed us to have an ice cream for free while on the clock. Unless it was too busy, I would typically enjoy a nice soft serve coffee ice cream cone with chocolate jimmies during my shift. So while I was still earning money while customers came to the window, I got a little…
I like to talk about value instead of cost. My financial aim is to live below my means and aggressively save/invest. However, this does not prevent me from spending money on things that I find a lot of value in. There are some things that I enjoy that are not the most frugal choices in the world, but are a good example of enjoying the road to financial independence. I’m not interested in saving every…
In part 1, I talked about lifestyle inflation and how to avoid it. Building a life of Enough takes more than avoiding lifestyle inflation. It requires a lot of introspective to figure out what is truly valuable to you. This is no easy task. There are two ways to figure this out. The first is to be swept along with the current of consumerism until you wake up one day and realize that you don’t…
After years of faithful service, my iPhone 6s is finally being replaced. This phone got me through the latter half of undergrad and through grad school. Four+ years is pretty good for a smart phone that’s actively made to slow down over time. For the past 6 months or so, the phone has been randomly dying and the battery lasted as long as an Atlanta Falcons’ 4th quarter lead. So when I found out that…
The stock market has been all over the news in the past week or so because of the craziness surrounding GameStop stock. For a new investor, events like this do nothing except provide extra stress. The volatility of the market is already a stressful thing for new investors, without mentioning confusing market forces. Even worse, most explanations include so much technical jargon that it only adds to the confusion. So what can us regular investors…
Primarily, I invest in index funds. I was fascinated and scared of investing when I started learning about personal finance. I didn’t want to lose the money that I worked hard to save. My first experience with stocks went poorly and so I didn’t do any more investing for a great while. But then my aunt (who is very close to retiring early) gave me a copy of The Simple Path to Wealth and my investing…
This post goes out to my friend, who knows who he is, since I failed to convince him to fund his Roth IRA recently. For young people early in their career like him, the compound interest from time in the market is the most powerful investment tool at their disposal. So I’ve decided to write an entire post just for him, to convince him to fully fund his Roth IRA for 2020 and 2021 instead…