Have a great Memorial Day weekend! We are going to visit the Thai Temple, drink some wine at the Willamette Valley Vineyard, power wash and stain the front deck, go to RB40Jr’s Ultimate game, and BBQ. Whew, it’s going to be a packed weekend. I hope you’ll have a fun weekend as well. Drive safe. Recently, a reader asked if I have any advice for a young guy or gal. I get a question like this occasionally when I meet someone new. My standard answer is to save and invest as much as you can. This is a pretty good answer because it’s a simple message. However, is it really the best advice for early ..read more

If you haven’t heard, I said goodbye to SAHD FIRE and Hello to Gig FIRE. I have 2 reasons for doing this. One, I want to spend my time a little more productively. My son is getting older and he is more independent now. He’s at school from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. That’s a lot of idle time for me. This is the most free time I have had since I became a SAHD. Two, I want to raise $30,000 to build a beach cabin in Thailand. My mom has a small piece of land at Hua Hin Beach. The beach is just okay, but the seafood is delicious and very affordable. My dad wants to live there during the bu ..read more

Members of Gen X are getting closer to retirement age, but a lot of us aren’t ready for it. A majority of Gen Xers (56%) have less than $100,000 saved for retirement and not a lot of time left to add to it. Only a third of us think we can retire by 65. Things are only getting worse with high inflation and the changing economy. Retirement looks bleak for Gen X. For those of us who want a traditional retirement, the solution is easy. We just need to save more. Save 50% of your income and you’ll probably be able to retire by 65. That’s easy to say, but almost impossible to do. If you haven ..read more

How much do you need to save for retirement? The consensus from the financial industry is around 10-15% of your income. Personally, I think this saving rate is way too low. This standard advice is a disservice to young people. A new graduate who is starting a full-time job will look at this recommendation and try to save 15%. Once it becomes a habit, it can be very difficult to increase your saving rate unless you make a huge effort. Okay, saving 15% will probably be enough to fund a comfortable retirement, but is that all you want? Do you really want to work for 40 years and then retire when ..read more

Recently, a reader asked what kind of activities our son does and how much they cost. That’s a great question. We try to limit RB40Jr to 2 activities. This year, he is doing Ultimate (Frisbee) and Wushu. The Wushu class costs about $200 per month. Ultimate costs $100 per season. He used to be in soccer, but the rec team was full and we had to find an alternative. Ultimate is a lot of fun. Kids get plenty of exercise and there are fewer injuries. It’s a no-contact sport. There are 2 seasons per year. Cleats, jerseys, and a Frisbee cost about $100 per year. So $300 for Ultimate and about $2,500 ..read more

Do you have an ultimate goal? My ultimate goal is to acquire a piece of land in a nice tropical location where I can build the RB40 villa. We’ll build several small and environmental friendly huts for vacation rentals. It will be like a luxurious campground where family and friends can have a reunion or conduct a yoga camp. Readers will get the discount rate, of course. I’ve had this dream for about 5 years and I think Mrs. RB40 is slowly coming around to it. We are city people so this would be a big adjustment for us. Mrs. RB40 is getting tired of the craziness, though. I might convinc ..read more

Hey everyone! How was April? Did you have a good month? It was a pretty normal month for us. We didn’t do much. RB40Jr went to school and his activities. Mrs. RB40 worked from home. Oh, I started delivering food for Doordash and Uber. I made a little money, but also put a lot of miles on our car. We’ll have to wait and see if I can make it work. On the financial side, we had a pretty good month. Our spending is back to normal. Finally, we have a positive cash flow month! The extra income from delivering food was helpful. However, I spent a lot more money than usual on gas. I’ll take the win a ..read more

If you haven’t heard, I said goodbye to SAHD FIRE and Hello to Oddjob FIRE. I have 2 reasons for doing this. One, I want to spend my time a little more productively. My son is getting older and he is more independent now. He’s at school from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. That’s a lot of idle time for me. This is the most free time I have had since I became a SAHD. Two, I want to raise $30,000 to build a beach cabin in Thailand. My mom has a small piece of land near Hua Hin beach. The beach is just okay, but the seafood is delicious and very affordable. My dad wants to live there during the bu ..read more

Millions of Americans aren’t ready for retirement. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 50% of adults ages 55 to 66 have no personal retirement savings. That’s not good. With no retirement savings, many of them will have to keep working. Even people with Social Security benefits probably will have to work or downgrade their lifestyle significantly. Social Security benefits won’t be enough to replace your income. I’m sure you aren’t in that position. People who read personal finance blogs are much more financially savvy than the average American. We know it is crucial to save and invest ..read more

Will life be harder for the next generation? I think so. Everything was so much simpler when I was young. All we had to do was graduate from college and find a good job. After that, you just needed to save and invest to build wealth. It’s a simple formula for success. Even a penniless guy like me can become a millionaire and retire early. Life is a lot more difficult today. RB40Jr’s higher education will cost more than 10 times what I paid. It’ll also be more challenging to get a good job. Everybody has a degree now and there is a ton more competition than in the 90s. Work and school aren’t t ..read more