Caroline

How Boomerang Kids Can Derail Your Financial Plan

– Posted in: Finance
hand taking $100 bill out of wallet

What is the right amount of support to give your adult kids? That's a question we think about a lot, and related to another topic we recently wrote about: how we have approached financial fairness with our own kids. Let us know what family-related expenses are testing your financial plans, in the poll at the bottom of the post. A majority of young adults in the U.S. live with their [...]

Should Climate Change Dictate Where You Invest In Real Estate?

– Posted in: Real Estate
heavy rain and mud flowing down the street

About five years ago, a finance friend of mine mentioned that his much wealthier colleague was buying property on a high elevation in Singapore as a climate change hedge. (This same climate change hedger was also stockpiling gold – not just shares of a gold ETF, but actual gold – and this was well before the pandemic.) I filed that factoid about the Singapore purchase away, but it certainly planted [...]

The Pros And Cons Of Turnkey Real Estate Investing

– Posted in: Real Estate
hand holding out a model of a house in one hand and keys in the other hand

When we got serious about real estate investing starting in 2013 as a way to propel our FIRE journey, we turned to turnkey real estate companies to accelerate our growth. Scott was working a big corporate job, and my business was in growth mode. We felt maxed out on how many cash-flowing rental properties we could find ourselves, and so turnkey was alluring because turnkey providers do a lot of [...]

Happy Labor Day (Or Not) – Bad News For Workers

– Posted in: Career
Man talking on phone and working on laptop over breakfast

Most people I know think of Labor Day mainly as an excuse for a long weekend or the unofficial end of summer. But the history of Labor Day is that it was born out of the labor movement as a tribute to workers. This pandemic and the demands it has placed on frontline workers should make this Labor Day particularly meaningful. I’m a cynic and assume that people will be [...]

Yet Another Reason To Pursue The FIRE Journey – Overcoming AI

– Posted in: Book Review

An important concept that makes achieving financial independence even more urgent is artificial intelligence. The keyword here is urgent….many times we procrastinate the notion of saving money because we think we have many years to build up our mountain of assets – from Overcoming AI by Scott Gamm But you might have fewer earning years than you think, so that quote sums up the thesis of Scott Gamm’s upcoming book, [...]

Product v. Service, Which Business Is Better? What We Decided For Our Small Business

– Posted in: small business
x's and o's with arrows on a soccer field

Is it better to have a product or service to offer as a small business? There are pros and cons to each. Frankly, being a small business owner is difficult enough, regardless of the business you choose, that the best answer to the product v. service debate is whichever offering you care most about. There are so many times when you’re in the thick of your business that you’ll want [...]

Real Estate Updates From The 2020 IMN Single Family Rental (SFR) Virtual Forum

– Posted in: Real Estate
hand holding up a key to a house

The 2020 IMN Single Family Rental (SFR) Virtual Forum was a two-day event that featured 2,000 attendees and 80 speakers in keynotes and breakout sessions. I was only able to attend Day One, since the next day we were en-route to dropping off our youngest at college. There were many sessions to choose from. I elected to listen to: the keynote, which gave a state of the SFR industry;a financing [...]

My Favorite Stress Management Technique – Courtesy Of Acting Class

– Posted in: Wellness
rainbow over a field of flowers

Related product in our Etsy shop: 40 motivational journal prompts for your FI journey Continuing our focus on good health (since August is National Wellness Month), I wanted to share one of my favorite stress management techniques. Managing stress feels good, and it’s also one of the five key factors in maintaining brain health. Being calm and collected, after properly taming your stress, is also helpful for negotiating – e.g., [...]

FIRE Is Going To Help My Brain Health – And Other Takeaways From ‘Keep Sharp’ by Sanjay Gupta

– Posted in: Wellness
sunrise over the ocean

I scored an advance copy of Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s new book, Keep Sharp: Build A Better Brain At Any Age, which aims to be a science-driven guide to protecting your mind from decline. (If you’re an avid reader, look into building a profile on NetGalley, which is where I get many of my free review copies.) As August is National Wellness Month, it is timely to cover a health-related book, [...]

Celebrating Financial Independence Wins Along The Way

– Posted in: FIRE
2 hands holding and clinking wine glasses

When we signed the closing paperwork last year to sell our entire Indy rental portfolio, I happened to be speaking at a business conference. When my colleagues figured out that I was dashing in and out from my presenting duties to take care of a closing, I was met with several high-fives and other forms of congratulations, since for many people, a real estate transaction is a major milestone. Unfortunately, [...]

Not sure FIRE is possible for you? Our report might surprise you: Four Strategies To Make FIRE Possible
Download the report