In 2008, Dr. Regina Lark was laid off from her role as Director of the extension program at UCLA. A PhD in women’s history, Lark had worked in the university system since she graduated and was 50 years old when she was laid off. Yet, instead of finding another role in academia, Lark founded A Clear Path, a professional organizing firm based in Los Angeles, which now has 13 employees, [...]
Becoming a digital nomad can be a shortcut to achieving financial independence because of geo-arbitrage – earning in a high-paying geography, while living in a lower-cost base. We bought a property in Costa Rica to secure that lower-cost base (see our budget for a month-long stay), while retaining predominately US clients paying US rates. Our move to Jacksonville, FL is less extreme geo-arbitrage, but still a good example given the [...]
One of the fun perks of writing for a well-known publication like Forbes is that I wind up on PR lists and hear about leading-edge developments early. Recently, I was invited to a webinar with a LinkedIn product director to promote the new Career Breaks feature. With this feature, instead of just posting an employment gap of months or years (and employers don’t like gaps), you can choose the Career [...]
If you work for a company that has an official review process, take advantage of it! I wouldn’t dread it as too many people seem to do. Embrace the chance to get some candid feedback, better understand your manager’s priorities and come up with a gameplan for next year. Preparing for a performance review also gives you an opportunity to advocate for yourself. If you had a breakout year on [...]
Four million US workers quit their job in July 2021 alone. So many employees are quitting that the phenomenon has been dubbed the Great Resignation all over the media (Harvard Business Review, NPR, the BBC and more). The dearth of employees makes this a great time to earn more money and jumpstart your FIRE goals. Here are four ways to make the Great Resignation work for you, whether you are [...]
Our oldest turned 25 recently – yikes, we have a kid old enough to have a quarter-life crisis! That milestone, as well as Mother’s Day just around the corner, put the work and family juggle back on my radar. (Speaking of yikes, our youngest turns 20 in a few months, so soon both kids will be in their 20’s!) The pandemic has made things particularly challenging for working moms – [...]
If you have a job at a high enough salary that you can save a high percentage of it each year, you can calculate how long it takes for that savings pool to eventually grow large enough that it equals years of take-home pay. For example, if your net salary is $100,000, and you frugally live off of $30,000, you can bank $70,000 each year. Say that your salary just [...]
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 [...]
Our business income (mainly income from my HR consulting activities) is the first money we tap to fund our day-to-day living expenses. Other streams include our long-term rentals in the US, vacation rentals in Costa Rica and our paper assets. However, with the stock market volatility, Costa Rica border closures and a slowing economy potentially impacting our tenants, we see the business income as our most reliable income stream right [...]
I love my flexible consulting work and don’t plan on changing careers any time soon. That said, there are advantages to a traditional, full-time job, such as easier mortgage approval, subsidized healthcare and the camaraderie of an ongoing community. Now that we have moved to Florida, a traditional job would help us integrate. Healthcare off the Florida state exchange is cheaper than in New York, but health insurance is still [...]
