The snow was coming down harder, 12 inches so far and no sign of stopping.
The storm had come in ahead of schedule, and my coworkers and I were stuck at the office. News footage showed a never ending stream of cars stuck in ditches and horrific looking accidents
A friend had tried to leave earlier in the day and decided to turn around before even leaving the parking lot. It looked like we might be stuck here awhile
By 9 pm the snow had slowed, a total of 18 inches dumped on the region. Although the plows would continue to operate through the night, the main roadways were cleared and salted
Fueled by a late dinner of soda and vending machine snacks, I braved the drive home
My “normal” 30-40 minute drive took 90 minutes. The snow plow had done a wonderful job cleaning off the street, by depositing 4 feet of hard packed ice at the end of my driveway. 3 hours of chipping and shoveling and freezing and swearing later, I finally broke through enough to get my car off the street
It was then and there that I swore I would never again live in a snowy climate. Sadly, this was the only long lasting impression
I woke up around sunrise to find myself lying in the doorway, the door of my apartment wide open and my legs half way outside. My neck was stiff and my back hurt
Some time later I glanced at my watch and jerked wide awake. It was Friday and my last final exam was in less than an hour! I shuffled into the bathroom for a quick shower, threw on some dirty clothes and tossed my suit over my shoulder as I rushed out the door
Big clumps of dirt and grass were sticking out of the grill and wheel wells of my car… and it all came rushing back. I had finally finished my Senior Design project in the wee hours of the morning, but no amount of Mountain Dew and chocolate covered espresso beans could compete with 72 sleepless hours. I had passed out driving home and gone in the ditch at 50+ MPH. Apparently the adrenalin surge carried me only as far as my front door. Fortunately nobody else was on the road at 4 am
I was young and fit, but working 20-30 hours a week, taking 18 Credits in an Engineering program, and spending another 20+ hours working in the lab would kill nearly anybody.
Over the next 72 hours I somehow got an A on my last final, presented my Senior Design project to the review board, attended the Graduation ceremony, loaded up the moving truck, drove it 100 miles to my new apartment, unloaded it, and made it to Day 1 of my first real job at 8 am on Monday morning.
Beautiful Ecuador (photo from Above the Clouds Retreats)
“You look like a 13-year old girl who has just been invited to Justin Bieber’s birthday party!” said my loving and supportive wife
It’s true, I did. Fueled by the emotional equivalent of excessive cake, ice cream, and teenage hormones, I was running about excitedly and dancing around the room. “This is going to be so much fun!”
“Think of all of the cool people that are going to be there! Nobody talks about this stuff in the real world, but this time there will be a whole group of wealth and happiness minded people sharing and communing”
“And, wow! The Captains of the personal finance world will be there. Jim Collins! The Mad Fientist! Mr. Money Mustache! Paula Pant! And happiness guru Cheryl Reed is going to weave it all together with her empowering talk about passion and happiness. I’ve read their stuff for so long, it is going to be incredibly cool to meet them in person. ”
“And all of this is going to happen in the foothills of the Andes Mountains of Ecuador, where all of our new friends will zipline through a Cloud Forest, tour a bean to bar chocolate factory, and share our abundance with the local community in a day of service. With all of the great conversation, presentations, and one-on-one sessions, this is truly going to be an epic week!”
My brain sputtered, nearly exploding in the process of taking it all in
When I recovered, I replied to Jim Collins’ email asking if I would be willing to speak at this year’s Chautauqua
Oops, I did it again. Another year of nearly $100k in investment income, but with a very budget friendly income tax bill of $0
The same as last year, income was primarily from index fund and individual stock dividends, interest from a seller-financed mortgage on a property we sold a few years ago, and interest from our cash reserves and a municipal bond fund.
This year’s tax situation was a little more complex, since I violated Rule #1: Choose Leisure over Labor. The blog made a small income, so I learned a thing or two about self employment taxes in the process
Let’s go through our actual 2014 tax return, to see how we kept taxes low this year, and took action to minimize taxes in the future
Asset Allocation is a fundamental part of investing. Which investments should we own? What percentage of total investments should we allocate to equities, bonds, Real Estate, or alternatives? As an American, should I purchase International assets, or focus solely on US assets?
There is an incredible amount of research on this topic, considering factors from expected duration of retirement to personal temperament. Perhaps you’ve heard some of the sound bite versions of this research, such as “Hold a percentage of stocks equal to 100 minus your Age.” So if, for example, you were 40 years old, you would hold 60% stock and 40% bonds
Like most mainstream investment advice, it is targeted at people that plan to retire at 65 and live until they are 80. Which is why as an early retiree, this advice (and most mainstream advice) is harmful at best
Tossing conventional wisdom to the side, over the past several years I’ve been moving our asset allocation towards 100% equities. Let’s explore why
