Life today is stressful for all of us at times. Some of the things that may stress us out are things that we can’t control, such as political conflicts, natural disasters or the pandemic. These things affect everyone and it’s only natural to feel some anxiety about these things.  There are also things that may be stressed about that we have a little more control over. Our health for instance. We can’t guarantee perfect health, but we can improve our health to varying degrees through diet, exercise and lifestyle changes. Health is something that is partially in our control.  Finances… Read more: Save Today – Sleep Better Tomorrow

What if I told you there was a magical machine that could create money. Every year, on a specific day, this machine will spit out $1. Once you buy it, there is literally nothing you have to do. You stick it in a closet and forget about it and BOOM, once a year your dollar pops out. The machine doesn’t need any maintenance. You don’t have to plug it in. It doesn’t break. It just spits out dollars every year.  It gets better. Every year, the machine gets just a little bit more efficient and actually INCREASES the amount of… Read more: Dividend Stocks – A Magic Money Machine

For most people (myself included) the path to financial independence is a journey that can take many years (or decades). Very few people achieve financial independence overnight. Sure these things do happen occasionally, but planning to win the lottery or get in on the ground floor of the next Tesla may not be the best way to hit your FIRE number. For me, one of the top tools for building wealth is index funds.  I like easy. I remember when I was growing up there used to be these infomercials on TV all the time. One that I clearly recall… Read more: Index Funds – Set It and Forget It!

A “windfall” is generally a chunk of money that lands in your lap unexpectedly. Perhaps you win a prize/contest. Maybe you receive an inheritance. Your company does very well and gives out unplanned bonuses. You pick a stock that goes to the moon. All these count as a windfall.  A windfall can be relatively small, perhaps a few hundred dollars or it can be a life changing amount that sets you up for financial independence immediately. Either way, a sum of money that shows up in your life out of the blue is a great opportunity to build wealth. It’s a… Read more: Invest a Windfall to Accelerate Financial Independence

I have experienced work from home (WFH) since the very start of COVID-19. I work in the tech industry and much of the work that I do can be done from home. I am going to be returning to the office this coming Monday after 17 months of WFH! For me, it was an incredible experience plenty of learnings along the way!  I will never forget March 2020. I was told that we would be working from home for the next month, and my son (11 at the time) would be home from school for the next 2 weeks. COVID-19… Read more: Work From Home (WFH) – Right for You?

Retiring early is a desire many people have. Maybe this is also your goal and this is why you came to this blog! However, getting to actual FIRE can be a lengthy process. You may not want to wait until you are 100% FIRE to get a taste of what early retirement will be like. How can you try out early retirement in the near term, even if you are not yet in a position to permanently retire early? Well, just like you would test drive a vehicle before making a purchase, there are ways to get an early “taste”… Read more: Try Out Retirement Now with “Trial FIRE”

Buidling wealth on the road to financial independence can be hard. One of the keys to success is to manage your expenses and avoid wasting money on things that don’t really add value to your life so you can invest as much of your cash as possible to build for the future.  Let me tell you about how I used to get $200 haircuts…  No, I didn’t actually go to some upscale salon and pay $200 for a haircut. However, what was INTENDED to be a quick run out for an average priced haircut regularly turned into a much more pricey affair. Let me… Read more: Slippery Slope Spending & the $200 Haircut

Ever see the movie “Rush Hour 2?” There is a part where Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan go to see Don Cheadle to see if the bad guy in the movie had spent any counterfeit money in his restaurant. Don Cheadle says yeah, and then Jackie asks if he still has the bills. Don Cheadle’s response is classic.   “Still got my lunch money from the 3rd grade.”  I love that line. The character respected money, saved and obviously had something to show for his work, going back all the way to the 3rd grade. He had successfully converted past earnings into actual… Read more: Convert Earnings to Wealth for Financial Independence

As I shared in our intro post, I really started to get a handle on my finances and actively start working towards financial independence about six years ago. When I sat down and actually took inventory of my net worth, not only was I disappointed with the total, but I learned that how my money was invested was not yet optimized for maximum growth. The breakdown of my net worth was as follows:  40% – Equity in Primary Residence  40% – Non-401K “retirement fund” from previous employer (Tax Qualified)  20% – Cash Value in Variable Whole Life Insurance Policy  Ok,… Read more: Our Investments For Financial Independence

During the early part of the spring, my son (13) started to get into playing basketball. Since we didn’t have a hoop at home, we would hop into my car and drive to a county park that is less than 5 minutes away and play together. Good times, good exercise and a fun shared activity. After a few weeks of this, my wife found an ad for a home basketball hoop from Target on sale for $225.99. We figured that was a good deal and decided to go and make the purchase, especially since with the weather being good, we… Read more: Money Lessons From a Basketball Hoop

My name is Glasses Guy and I am 41 years old and a full time professional working in the tech industry. I am very happily married to Glasses Girl with a 13 year old son, a 4 year old daughter and a baby on the way! We live a very happy and contented middle class life in a suburb in Pittsburgh, PA. Family, building memories together, hard work and togetherness is what we are all about. We feel very fortunate to live in a place where we can afford a reasonable lifestyle on a single income from my salary in… Read more: Intro: How Did I Get Here?