The world of personal finance is filled with all sorts of terms and definitions with the holy grail being financial independence, that magical point where you are not bound to your daily grind. Over the last 30 years, there has been a movement around financial independence called FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), which essentially comes down to being well off enough that you don’t need to work to be able to live a comfortable life (AKA retiring). This is where the FI or Financial Independence number comes in. What is an FI number? The net worth at which the annual growth of that net worth by itself covers your annual expenses. Simply put, when you hit a magic number in your net worth, it will allow you to live off what you have saved up for the remainder of your life. Calculating this number can get complicated if you want Continue Reading
Financial Independence
Living within your means
One of the basic tenets of personal finance is that you need to do one thing and one thing only if you really want to get ahead. Surprisingly this one thing is both simple and, in some ways, very challenging. All of the tips and tactics are great, but if you only manage to achieve this one thing, you succeed. What is this magical, mystical unicorn, you may ask? It’s simply living within your means. If you’ve been around the personal finance space or read a few blogs, you’ve probably heard this fantastic term. I think instinctively, we all get it, but I want to step back and define this, so we’re all on the same page. This is partially because everyone’s circumstances are different, and when I say living within your means, pardon the pun, it means different things to different people. Taking a very simple view, ‘Living within Continue Reading
Balance – I’ll take that with a dash of normal!
Last weekend we did something we haven’t been able to for a couple of months, we got out of town to go camping. For us, they just opened up the campgrounds with restrictions and since we already had a booking, we took advantage of it. Now I have to add a little context, our ‘camping’ is taking the RV which has not only a bathroom, but a stove, a shower, and most importantly air conditioning! I should adjust my earlier statement, we went glamping! It was a very nice change from being locked down in the house, we went hiking, cycling, and swimming. It was great! There was a distinct feeling of normal on our trip which was much needed. With everything that has been going on in the world a little bit of normal and balance were just what we needed. It got me thinking more about balance and Continue Reading