The US Treasury will auction off 5 year TIPS bond this week on April 18th and I already put my order to in acquire some for my bond portfolio. The bond is expected to have a real yield above 2 percent and will be inflation protected so it’s a good time to buy especially since…
Category: Financial Odyssey
$1.5 Million To Retire Comfortably?
The Wall Street Journal has an article (paywalled) out stating that the new number to retire comfortably in the United States is $1.46 million. The article didn’t state if that is per individual or couple but do you think that is correct? It Depends Many of these articles are often fairly useless because there are…
Update On Retirement Planning Spreadsheet
A while ago, I wrote a five step retirement plan that culminated in putting all the steps together here. The net result of all of that work was the creation of a spreadsheet to show us how our retirement money flows might pan out. I am still working on tweaking the spreadsheet and there are…
Cancun, Timeshare Salesman, and the Diver
I wrote this story in my original blog but since I rebooted it, the archives got zapped so I’m writing it again because it was an experience that changed my life. Cancun In early 2000’s, as I recall, my wife and I took our kids down to Cancun, Mexico for a family vacation. We stayed…
What They Don’t Tell You About Retiring Overseas
My wife and I have been thinking about retiring overseas. We both have traveled to at least 30 or more countries over the years and we are always thrilled when we meet new people and learn from others. Our favorite things to do is immerse ourselves in the local culture and we usually start that…
The Three Personal Finance People You Need In Life
Did you know you need at least three personal finance people in your life? If not, then perhaps that’s why you might be struggling financially. Let me walk you through my personal finance people. Personal Finance Mentor A personal finance mentor provides financial guidance, advice, feedback on skills, and coaching. This type of mentor can…
Personal Finance Is A House Built One Brick At A Time
I have a friend who is a really great project manager. His go to phrase when dealing with a large complicated project is always, “you eat an elephant one bite at a time.” I thought about titling this post with that phrase but eating an elephant would probably offend some people so I switched it…
How A Lazy Blogger Made A Grown Man Cry
I’ve been reading stuff on the internet since the day it was invented. In the mid 2000’s I started this blog and ran it for a few years but then life happened. My kids were born between ’99 and ’02 so when I started the blog it was very manageable to watch over my kids…
Money Perspectives: Islamic Finance
After getting the Jewish perspective on money, I searched YouTube for a video on Islam and money and came across this interesting video. I understood some basic principles of Islam and money such that interest was generally forbidden in Islamic customs but I never knew the level of intricacy of the rules and processes for…
What’s Your Plan For Inflation?
I have been doing some spring cleaning and came across an old credit card year end statement from 2001. It was a bit of a ‘blast from the past’ but what really struck me is how much the cost of stuff has gone up. For example, there was a fast food place named ‘Whataburger’ that…