Moderation is not my strong suit. I don’t just eat one chocolate-chip cookie — I either eat zero, or I eat the whole batch. I don’t just travel for a weekend — I either stay at home, or I hit the road for weeks/months/years. And apparently, I can’t just buy one or two houses. Afford…
A few months ago, a startup videography team from Florida came knocking on my door. Mike and Lauren are a young married couple living in Sarasota, and in their spare time, they’ve started hustling: They’re under contract for their first rental property, devised a plan to retire by 2018, and they’ve launched an awesome YouTube…
I’ve been in Costa Rica for a week now; a few more days until I fly out. Believe it or not, I came here for work. I spoke at a blogging workshop for the first five days, at the invitation of a publishing company. About a dozen attendees came to learn about blog writing and…
If I’ve been conspicuously quiet on this blog lately, there’s a solid reason: I’ve been traveling nearly nonstop. One of the benefits of no longer Working for the Man is the ability to do whatever the heck I want, and “what I want” usually involves airfare. Life hasn’t always been this way. There are three…
Bob Lotich was stranded. He was 20 years old, living alone in a strange city. He didn’t know anyone. He was broke. His checking account was empty. His savings account was nonexistent. His credit card was only $264 shy of hitting its limit. He had a glimmer of hope, a faint light on the horizon:…
You’re trapped by debt. You want to quit your suffocating job. You feel stuck. Or not? Maybe you love your job. You’re debt-free. And you’re just trying to figure out how stay awesome. Regardless of your situation, there’s a basic formula for taking control of your money. This is a simple, three-step formula, ideal for people who want to keep it…
After I graduated from college and accepted an entry-level job, I received a starting salary of $21,000 per year. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $24,100 in today’s dollars. I was a diligent saver, even then. I directed 15 percent of my pre-tax income into my 401k and another 5 percent into a Health Savings Account. I…
This article is Part 2 of The Airbnb Series. Start by reading Part 1 here, and when you’re done, visit Part 3 and Part 4. Three months ago, I launched The AirBnb Experiment. I’m trying to satisfy a long-held curiosity: How much more (or less) could I earn by running an Airbnb vacation rental, as compared with…
One Afford Anything reader recently asked: “How do you stay motivated? I feel like all I ever do is work. “I don’t know how many hours exactly, but between my job and my real estate investments, I wouldn’t be surprised if I am pushing over 60 hours a week. “It sucks to see all of my friends…
Shortly after Martin and Sierra Black married, they bought a beautiful 2,200-square-foot Victorian home near Boston. From the outside, the couple looked like they had it all. But something was wrong. They were drowning in bills. They forked over $2,200 each month on mortgage payments, and another $600 per month on gasoline for their long…