The Gift Of Light On Kilimanjaro
“Wake up, it is time!” a voice shouted in broken English, breaking the metronomic sound of the tent flapping in the wind. It was 12:30am, and I didn’t have anything to wake up from. I was up. I put my...
Category: life experience
How High Crime In Baltimore Launched Me To Financial Independence
My first job out of college earned me $20,000 per year, which is about $35,000 in today’s dollars. Not exactly a high income start to my career, but I was just happy to land a job. When I got out...
Take Ownership, And Have Understanding
My Mom and Dad were in the front seat of the car, we were in a hospital parking lot. My mom was sobbing. They just found out my brother had diabetes, type-1. He was 3 years old. It’s my earliest...
I Did It Mom!
Dear Mom, Can you believe this? I’ve done it. I think I’m kind of set for life. Yep, I kind of can’t believe it either. I know, we didn’t have too much when I was growing up, but you and...
The Blinking Cursor Of Your Youth
Take yourself back to the age of 8 or 9. If you’re like most, life and the world were wide open. Everything was awesome, and meant to be explored. You didn’t know what was behind that tree in the woods,...
Do You Have A Resilience Fund?
One of the core tenants of good personal finance is having an emergency fund. Basically an emergency fund is an account set aside to deal with unexpected expenses. It’s generally recommended that you keep an emergency fund in a very...
My Health Insurance Company Wants Me To Be Unhealthy
It was New Year’s Eve 2016, and I had 394 running miles for the year. I’ve always been a little bit of a numbers guy, so it bugged me that I might end the year that close to 400 and...
Choose Courage, Get Uncomfortable
“Turtles are slow.” I was staring at the sentence in fear. I tried to read it out loud but just couldn’t get the first word out. Sweat started forming on my forehead and I started to panic. “Just start reading...
What Is Your Alterna?
In 2017 I rode 6350 miles on my bicycles. Los Angeles to New York is about 2800 miles, so that comes out to about 2.3 trips from L.A. to NYC. Or, about the distance from Washington D.C to Tehran, Iran....
How The Great Depression Still Affects Me Today
My Father was born on October 18th, 1929. Both of his parents died before I was born, so I can’t exactly picture what the scene might have looked like when, 6 days later on Oct. 24th the stock market crashed...
Invest Like A Grandmother
My Grandmother, or “Nonnie” as we called her, was born the same year the Wright Brothers first achieved flight. She passed in 1994 at the ripe age of 91, and having experienced the 1900’s almost in their entirety, she saw...
That Time I Spent $44,000 On A Two Week Vacation
Getting to financial independence is difficult, especially in a luxury-demanding, spendy culture. If you’re budgeting, living frugally, investing, and trying to increase your earnings, then you’re checking the major boxes and are on a path to FI. But are you...
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