Search results

Frugality without sacrifice is the basic guiding principle of my personal finances. It is what has made it possible for me to have a very comfortable basic lifestyle on less than $20,000 a year. But how one actually practices frugality without sacrifice -- as opposed to frugality as sacrifice --...

If the weather is decent, I like to spend my free time hiking, biking, fishing or driving country roads. But on rainy, wet or snowy days that’s not an option for me. At such times, I like watching DVD movies and I love reading history books. But my real rainy day passion is playing computer...

65-Year Old Digs Ditches for $20/hr?! The 65-year old was me. The ditch was a 100-foot long, 15-inch deep, 2-foot wide trench for a French drain to be installed along the back of my wife's house*. The $20 an hour is what it would have cost to have a handyman do the digging. And the “?!” is...

My $18K Annual Basic Expense Budget A lot of people have a hard time accepting that I can actually have a basic living expense budget of $18,000 a year. They read “18,000” and they think I must be living in a hovel or in government-subsidized housing. I must be eating beans and rice 7 days a...

Sharing My Retirement Journey I want to share my financial independence (retirement?) journey through posts on this forum. How I got to financial independence. What I do with it. What I have learned (and continue to learn) that could help others reach and enjoy their financial independence...

Hello, everyone... I've decided to invest in preferred shares, but I've never done it before and I don't have a good understanding of that investment class. I understand how investing in common stocks works and I understand how investing in bonds works. But not preferred shares. So I would...

Making Over My Cash & Emergency Reserves Plan Two years of living expenses in a savings account: that’s what my cash reserves plan amounted to as recently as 2 weeks ago. Then I started planning to write a blog post on the how and why of that plan. And in so doing, completely changed my...

Playing the Frugal Game Is Fun! A couple of days ago, I was about two thirds through my errands run when I realized I was really enjoying myself. What’s this, I said to myself. How can I be having such fun just buying groceries or picking up a ream of copy paper? And then it came to me. I...

I searched but could not find an answer. So... What do I need to do to upload and insert into a post reply a photo residing in my computer -- and not a website? Thanks for the pointer! Alex in Virginia

My #1 Key to Financial Independence: Recognizing the Difference Between My Wants and My Needs When I started planning in 2009 for a financially independent retirement, I was very clear about one thing. For me, this was all about time. About shortening as much as possible the time I would have...

How I Tamed My Health Care Cost Monster As I was coming close to turning 65, I knew I had to make some important decisions regarding my health care coverage. For the previous 20 years, I had been riding the coattails of my wife’s employment, and paying sometimes nothing and sometimes a token...

My Financial Independence Ducks Are All in a Row! This is really great. I finally have got my spending, income and investing ducks all set up for financial independence. Hey, folks! I am FREE!. The last piece of the puzzle just fell into place. With the help of cash I just got from selling...

Hey, folks... John Hancock just dropped the other shoe on me. They got their long-awaited rate increase for long term care policies issued in Maryland. :facepalm: They told me I'll be getting my "options package" in June ahead of my August renewal, but they also told me that lifetime policies...

I just "woke up" to the fact -- according to Kiplinger -- that an HSA (Health Savings Account) is an option for me as a retiree. :facepalm: And that I can even use it to pay Medicare Part B premiums, etc with tax-deductible dollars. I couldn't find a thread on HSAs earlier than 2011 in this...

Hello, alll... Can we agree that cashing out stocks at a loss in a bear market (or anytime?) to fund living expenses is not the best way to go? If we can agree, then how much cushion is enough cushion to get by a bear market without cashing in stocks? I have set aside 3 years of living...

Over the years, I have asked 6 so-called financial advisors to poke holes in my high-yield investment approach. No poked holes, but every one has rolled his/her eyes and told me I don't really want to do what I do. What do you say? I'm going to take the socratic approach on this thread. I'll...

Overcoming Alex in Virginia's Resistance to Spend - Post #1 I am starting this thread to monitor my progress on a plan to overcome my resistance to spend, and to benefit from the support that you all may give me as I go along. I am setting up the thread, as you can see above, with a personal...

Some may think this is a strange problem to have, but it is real and it is getting in my way. I've got an annual retirement income surplus of $25,000 AFTER taking into account every expense and every contingency I can think of. IMO I have more than ample reserves as well. Although I don't have...

Hi, everyone! Starting next winter, I plan to do the snowbird thing in Central/North Florida, renting for 3 months between January and March (possibly 4, adding December). I'm just starting my research and would super-appreciate any input on what I should budget for such a rental. What I...

Hello, everybody... Due to my absolute distaste for snow shoveling, slippy-slide driving, ice storm power outages and so on (not to mention the stress and anxiety of it all) I am planning to become a December-to-March Florida snowbird. I'm looking for and would appreciate pro and con input...