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Yes, you read the title correctly. I decided to become *yet another* curation site. Okay, not really. Instead of being a dedicated curation site or running weekly round-ups, I wanted to post the best articles I've read and podcasts I listened to during the month. September included FinCon 2019 allowing me to meet many of these people in person. Politics in Personal Finance Speaking of Fincon, there was a trash fire of an article not even worthy of linking demanding…
I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Mamula at FinCon and received an advance copy of the newly released ChooseFI book. I've been an early fan of ChooseFI, finding the podcast in March of 2017 and still listen to every episode within a few days of being released. Even though I'm already financially independent, I enjoyed getting a copy of the ChooseFI book and read it while thinking about the books that set us on our path to financial independence.…
We recently sold our house and moved as part of our early retirement plan. The place we moved from was considered one of the hotter housing markets in the country (Dallas-Fort Worth) and we sold our home for nearly $50,000 more than we purchased it for after owning it for only 43 months. That sounds like a victory, but when we finalized the numbers we *lost* nearly $60,000 compared to renting over that same time period. The property was a…
Well this was an exciting quarter - I officially left my job after turning in my retirement notice, turned the ripe old age of 37, and have been working tirelessly on selling a house and pulling off geographic arbitrage. Moving isn't easy, but thank goodness I'm not dealing with moving and holding down a full time job. Most importantly I'm fortunate to have a supportive spouse who's helped us both keep our sanity managing the move. I sat down and…
The stock market has experienced a tough fourth quarter of 2018 and there are numerous talking heads bringing up the possibility of a recession. I've lived through one during college and a second that started five years into my working career. A recent question came up on twitter and it made me realize most people under the age of 30 haven't really experienced a recession. A twitter exchange led Olivia to ask this question: https://twitter.com/birdsofafire/status/1071115153561796608?s=20 I had the unique…
How did our net worth grow from zero in early 2009 to more than $1,600,000 today? Part two of our "By 35" story is continued below: Related Link: By 35: Part 1 [caption id="attachment_692" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Fortunate to find this book right out of college[/caption] 2009 (27): We had a number of positive changes start happening for us in the latter half of 2009. Mrs. Shirts reached two years of experience as a practicing veterinarian and she was able to…
Net Worth and Asset Allocation Update We are already halfway through 2018! It has been a much wilder ride in the market if you're listening to the financial news than the 2.85% YTD return on the S&P 500 would suggest. Our household net worth crossed $1,600,000 this quarter and we will stop updating this numbers going forward. Why? We've already "won" the first stage of our working career. This is more than enough to execute on an early retirement plan…
There's a lot of excitement on the internet courtesy of the infamous "By 35" article that Ali Malito wrote going viral on Twitter. Tons of people lost it on the idea that by 35, a person or couple should have a net worth equal to twice their salary. The laundry list of excuses came pouring in, including student loan debt, great recession, housing bust, lack of income growth, and lack of access to good retirement plans. We're now technically a…
I want to send a special thanks to Jace Matthison and Clark Sheffield of the Millionaire's Unveiled Podcast for indulging me in my first podcast interview. There's a lot of value in both their audio interview series and with what ESI Money is doing in his Millionaire Interview series. Jace and Clark specifically dig into my portfolio (and issue of tinkering with it) along with some details of our investment portfolio, income history, and biggest financial mistakes. I'll unpack…