Category Archives: Lessons

Why We’re Finally Maximizing our 401k Contributions in 2018

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Fresh off of a record-setting December in terms of dividend income, I’m ready to hit the ground running in 2018 and make some serious moves.  Now that we are comfortably moved into our house and our cash outflows to make repairs and upgrades are shrinking drastically, we should have a lot of additional cash flow available for use in 2018.   After brainstorming what the most efficient use of the capital would be, I realized there is an easy change that I need to make with my finances.   Like Lanny over the past few years, my wife and I are finally taking the steps necessary to maximize our 401k contributions during the year!

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5 Benefits of Getting Rid of your “Stuff”

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Hello everyone!  I hope that this article finds you well, as you navigate to create a simpler life.  We all have so much “stuff” and it’s amazing the amount of resources owning/collecting this “stuff” takes from our lives.  I wanted to share my viewpoints on the benefits I have been receiving while getting rid of my belongings, one day at a time.  This article hopefully can add value to your life, by seeing the value of having less can do for you emotionally, financially and (for lack of better word) resourcefully.

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Nothing Matters More Than Your Savings Rate

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Nothing Matters More than your Savings rate. Now that I’ve been deep on the journey to financial freedom, one learns quite a bit. From investing, making every dollar and hour count, to maximizing your investments to the highest level with tax efficient accounts.  Additionally, I’ve learned the utmost importance of having an extremely high savings rate.  One cannot do any of the items above if you spend all of your money!  Here is why in personal finance, nothing matters more than YOUR savings rate.

save money, personal finance, budget

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A Call to Action: It is Time to Pay Off My Debt!

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Lanny and I are constantly writing about our pursuit of financial freedom.  We invest every dollar and spend every extra minute we can side-hustling to allow us to break the shackles of the 9-5 (or in our case 7 – 6) jobs to pursue our dreams and focus on what makes us happiest in life.  The dividend and side hustle income will allow us to cover our regular living expenses, take the pressures of working to cover these expenses, and unlock those shackles that are holding us back.  That’s how you take back the control of your life.   Today, I’m going to take a deep dive into one of the largest areas of my personal balance sheet.  No, I’m not focusing on the assets for once.  Rather, I am going to pull back the layers of our debt and discuss my plan for reducing my outstanding obligations taking back control of my personal balance sheet.

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Goodbye Auto Loan!

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Time to bust my hands out of one set of shackles.  After 48 months of owning my car, with “strings” attached to them, I decided to snip that little thread to be free and clear.  I remember every so often, I would look back and think, “I should have never bought my car and taken a loan out to do so”.  Well, at least now I have decided to at least take out the last part of that statement there.  Goodbye Auto Loan!

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My Recent Stress & Finding New Ways to Combat It

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The last month or so for me has been, oh how do I say it…crazy.  And I’m not going to lie, a lot of the craziness and stress has been self-induced.  Through all of this, I’ve learned that a lot of my typical de-stressing activities were suddenly not doing the trick anymore.  It has slowly trickled through to a lot of different aspects of my life and it sucks.  At times, my typical upbeat self has felt anything but that.  With typical methods not working, I have been searching for other means to de-stress.

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Dividend Investing to Take Back Control

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All, I’ve been very intense lately talking to friends, peers and co-workers about dividend investing.  Not purely because of this, but I come home from work in a haste, not happy and very mentally drained.  Even writing articles, which I love to do, ends up being very difficult and even connecting with loves ones results in stress.  It would be one thing if I was drained from doing something I love so much that it wears me out, but that is not the case.  I’m exhausted in a prison-like manner and that is why I am even more energized at the same time to continue my build up of forward dividend income.

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