I’ve always been attracted to the allure of international stocks and bonds. They get a bad rap these days, and for good reason if we look back over the past decade and compare them to the S&P 500. What draws me towards international markets is as easy as one word: diversification. Boiled down, proper investing is all about solid diversification. Why not invest in economies of other countries that are on their way up or matured with lower valuations? Why…
I recently returned from a voyage to the apex of American consumer culture. The place is about as opposite to FIRE as one can get. A place where money flows like a smooth yet powerful river in one direction. A place where fanatics roam around freely displaying their allegiance to “the” corporation with tattoos, branded clothing (including custom homemade shirts), and accessories of all sorts. It’s Disneyland of course, the happiest place on earth. So here it is. Here’s my…
It started with the lawn mower this summer. It wouldn’t start. I changed the spark plug and filter and it still wouldn’t start. So then I tore apart the carburetor and cleaned the injectors. The mower started, albeit reluctantly. Over the holiday weekend the lawn mower died again. After dozens of pulls on the starter, I gave up and rolled the old red workhorse into the garage. I sat there for a while, staring at the machine. Debating internally whether…
The two minute walk from my job site office to my construction site is along a leafy well known downtown street in the East Bay. Restaurants and bookstores line the road on each side. A popular university is nearby. My walk is like crossing through another dimension where in the span of moments I encounter the entire social economic spectrum of our country. Street people. Drug addicts. High school students. Graduate students. Immigrants. Blue collar workers. Foreign students. Millionaires. Babies….
While the 2022 bear market viciously mauls my portfolio, I’ve made a pretty conscious effort not to look at my net worth during the last few weeks. I handled the 2020 bear market pretty well, though back then FIRE seemed so far away and the Bear attack so fast—over before I knew it. And the other bear market, 2008, was brutal, but my net worth was the last thing on my 25 year old mind back then. Now that I’m…
From the time I get up each and every morning, I’m inundated with choices. The most important choice happens to be my very first choice: Do I get up thirty minutes early to make lunch and coffee at home? Or sleep for a few more wonderful minutes and eat out for lunch? What’s the difficult decision here? Forcing myself out of bed at 4:30 AM to make lunch is the harder choice for me. Will $15 bucks for lunch and…
It’s summer and my favorite time of year in the Happily Disengaged household. Summer is an easier time to do things outdoors while spending less money, and in general, is the most frugal time of year for us. Backyard grilling is cheap. Biking and hiking don’t cost much (except for the gasoline consumption). Next weekend we’re going camping. Yesterday I went rafting down the American River. I’m intermittently fixing things around my house, last week for example a toilet began…
Wow. Been a while. To give a brief update on my life in the last few months since my last post: Biggest change is I switched companies at work. My new company gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and well, in the name of FI, I had to take the money. I’m much busier now that I’m back to building things, on a job site around people again, and to be honest, I welcome the change. The job is…
After nearly twenty-one years of being an official adult, I’ve lost sight and forgotten many times the feeling one has when finally deciding upon (or settling on) a profession, be it a job, career, or calling. I didn’t go to college, so I never had the sort of free-range buffer of growing into adulthood that many who attend four-year universities experience, but I did join the Navy, which parallels the teen to adult buffer college affords. Joining the military bought…
It’s January, so now’s a good time to look back over the year 2021 and post about our total expenditures. There was a time when I did monthly expense blogs, but alas I’ve fallen off these types of posts as my blog bandwidth has narrowed and my blog posts have slowed down. Pursuing FIRE isn’t the easiest in an ultra high cost of living area like San Francisco, but it’s not impossible. This is the land of the $8 dollar…