Myth: Wealth comes from living below your means. Fact: Frugality is the first step, not the last. I’d like to tell you about one of the most interesting couples I know. They were apartment-dwellers when we met, and I don’t mean the New York City variety. Their dark, musty apartment festered in an area where land is plentiful and square footage is cheap, where apartments are…
Five years ago, a Canadian woman named Sarah embarked on a series of life-changing steps. She moved 215 miles away from her hometown. She returned to college (after initially failing a few courses) to finish her degree. After graduation, she landed a cushy job with a pension and plenty of benefits. She got engaged. They bought a house….
This recent reader email struck a chord: I’m a software engineer trying to plan my plunge [into freedom]. I’m young, so I figured I would grind it out, save a lot, and retire early. But after a health scare, I realize mini-retirements might trump early retirements, and I want to achieve a lifestyle similar to yours. …
There are Conformists, and there are Rebels. The Conformist Majority says: “I have a 30-year mortgage, a 20-year second mortgage, a 10-year student loan and a 5-year car loan.” “I’ll pay the minimum, and hold those debts for 30, 20, 10, and 5 years. After all, why deprive myself while I’m young?” Worse, they’ll ask: “How…
“I’m scrounging dollars to fill my gas tank. I don’t make enough money to save. At the end of the month, there’s nothing left.” If this feels like you, gear up for a radical shift that will change your life. Last month I announced the One Percent Challenge, a quest for Afford Anything Rebels that can turbocharge…
Last year I blindfolded myself, threw darts at a list of stocks, and bought the first 10 that I hit. I let them ride for a year and showed you the results. This year I’m embarking on a ploy that’s a tad less crazy, but far more heated: I’m competing against 19 financial writers in a…
“A blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper’s financial pages could beat most experts.” Princeton professor Burton Malkiel uttered that slam against Wall Street stock traders back in 1973. He claimed that despite their fancy-pants degrees, professional traders can’t predict the future any better than … well … a blindfolded monkey. His book around that topic became a…
Pop quiz: You’re buying airline tickets to visit grandma for the holidays. She lives on the other side of the nation, too far away to drive. You’ve budgeted $400 for holiday travel, but you can’t find airfare for less than $575. What do you do? a) Tell grandma she’ll have to spend Christmas alone. b)…
Lately I’ve been getting emails from readers with the following situation: “I’ve pinched every penny and slashed every expense. But I still can’t pay my bills. Help!” If I accept your premise — if you’ve slaughtered your expenses to the brink of extinction — then you don’t have a spending problem. You have an income problem.
This article is Part 3 of The Airbnb Series. Before you read this, check out Part 1 and Part 2, and when you’re done, visit Part 4. Well, it’s happened. Eight crazy months, 42 guests, one police incident, and $19,000 in gross income. I’ve packaged the adventures, ideas and full disclosure of the numbers into…