Today, I’m going to tell you about my favorite purchase of 2024. But to do that, I have to tell a little story. Most of my posts have stories weaved into them, because I love using storytelling in my writing. Today is really no different, but this post is perhaps even more story forward than usual. If that sounds ok to you, I hope you’ll read on.
Continue reading “The Best Money I Spent In 2024”Category: Financial Journey
Finding Purpose on the Journey to Financial Independence
As some of you know, I was a speaker at the 2024 Slow FI Retreat, hosted by the Fioneers in early October. I had such an amazing time, for so many reasons. For starters, it was my first in-person FI event, something I had looked forward to for a long time. Meeting other like-minded folks with similar values when it comes to money is completely underrated. Even though I knew it would be wonderful, the impact of this still exceeded my expectations.
But what I want to talk about today is a topic that came up a lot at the Slow FI retreat: purpose. I finally got to meet Jordan Grumet (Doc G) at this retreat. Jordan is someone I have been following for quite some time now and whose ideas and beliefs around the topic of purpose have really resonated with me throughout my financial independence journey. He has a new book out on the topic as well, and I can’t wait to read it. Today on the blog, I’ll tell you more about some of Jordan’s thoughts around purpose, as well as share some of my own. I hope you’ll read on!
Continue reading “Finding Purpose on the Journey to Financial Independence”It’s Time To Rock The Boat
Alright, friends. It’s big announcement time! Long-time readers may know that, since starting this blog, my big financial goal has been to eventually go down to part-time work. Well, it’s finally official. It’s finally time for me to rock the boat of the traditional 40-hour, 9-5 work week. I’m now officially on an 80% work schedule at my job, with Fridays off!
Read on to hear all about how I made the decision, the process of making it happen at work, and what I’m thinking about the decision now.
Continue reading “It’s Time To Rock The Boat”Finally Spending On Me For My Birthday
Hello, friends! Last week marked my 37th birthday. For the last several years now, since 2017 in fact, my birthday tradition has been to go camping. And camping is what I did again this year, but with a twist that I’m excited to share with my financially attuned readership! I hope you enjoy this short tale that feels like a huge step for me on my personal finance journey.
Continue reading “Finally Spending On Me For My Birthday”I’ve Reached Flamingo FI! Now What?
I can’t believe it, but it’s happened! My biggest financial independence (FI) goal since starting this blog, Flamingo FI (in other words, half of the traditional FI number, or one-half of 25x yearly expenses), has been achieved! Read on to hear more about what this means to me and what I’m planning to do now that I’ve unlocked this milestone.
Continue reading “I’ve Reached Flamingo FI! Now What?”The Best (Financial) Decisions I’ve Ever Made
As the end of another year draws near, I find myself doing what I always do around this time: reflecting. Reflecting on all that I’ve learned this year. Reflecting on the goals I’ve achieved, the places I’ve fallen short, all the activities I did or didn’t do.
In this spirit of reflection, I’ve been thinking about how grateful I am for where I find myself right now, happily living a slow FI lifestyle, and all the financial decisions I’ve made that have led me to this very place. So today, I’m here to share some of those decisions I’m most proud of and hopefully inspire you to reflect on some of the best financial decisions you’ve made on your path.
Continue reading “The Best (Financial) Decisions I’ve Ever Made”Why I Changed My Money Check-In Strategy
Here we are, already half-way through November. We are getting close to the end of 2023, my friends! Pretty soon, it will be time to do some year-end reflection and goal-setting for 2024.
Before that though, we still have to close out 2023.
At the beginning of this year, I decided to switch up the way I do my money check-ins with myself. Throughout 2023, I’ve experimented with going from checking in on my money and my financial independence (FI) numbers on a monthly basis to a quarterly one. Today on the blog, I’m sharing why I made the change, how it’s been going this year, and what I want to do differently next year. Hopefully it will inspire you to start thinking about your own money check-in process and see if there’s anything you want to switch up in 2024!
Continue reading “Why I Changed My Money Check-In Strategy”How Comfortable Are You With Change?
For the longest time, change scared the crap out of me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a work in progress. I still have to actively talk myself down sometimes from freaking out when change is looming or imminent. But over time, I’ve gotten better at accepting change. In fact, I’ve even found embracing change to be quite life altering. Today on the blog, I’m diving into why I believe we could all benefit from getting more comfortable with change.
Continue reading “How Comfortable Are You With Change?”Why I Still Struggle With Choosing Me (And What We Spent To Attend A Recent Wedding)
Hello, friends! Happy Friday! Mr. Dink and I are just getting back from attending the wedding of 2 of our very close friends. We had an absolutely fantastic time!
As we were getting ready for this wedding, and as I prepared to keep track of all my expenses so I could, of course, let my wonderful readers know all the juicy details of what we spent (this is a personal finance blog at its core, after all), I realized that I had never actually had to fly to a wedding on my own dime, as an adult. I’d always been able to drive. Or, if I flew, it was to attend a family member’s wedding and as such, the costs were much lower (ability to stay with friends and family, for example).
I promise I will get into all the nitty gritty of what we spent to attend this wedding in the second half of the post (you can skip ahead if you’d like). But first, I want to write a few quick words on how leading up to this wedding made me realize why I still struggle with choosing me.
Continue reading “Why I Still Struggle With Choosing Me (And What We Spent To Attend A Recent Wedding)”Can Meditating Make You A Better Investor?
For those of us on the path to FI, or financial independence, and especially for those of us who have pretty much automated all our savings, we are tasked with the tough to-do item of just sitting and waiting for compounding to do its thing. Perhaps patiently, or perhaps not so patiently.
We should be focusing on living our lives, living our best lives now, and letting our investments grow in the background. But as we all know, it can sometimes be difficult to watch our money go up and down on the roller coaster ride of the stock market.
Continue reading “Can Meditating Make You A Better Investor?”