I am approaching the anniversary of my birth. I will soon transition from being a 36 year old to a 37 year old. I am a big fan of ShePicksUpPennies and really enjoyed the piece she wrote for her own birthday which was a time capsule of her finances as she turned 33. Before I kind of dropped off the face of the blog this summer, I was fully intending to write a money time capsule for myself. And hell, I still might. But my life is so much more than my finances. What if I opened my time capsule as an old man and saw it was just a bunch of random thoughts about how much money I had in my health savings account? I’d probably think 36.99 year old me was a giant douche. So here’s what I want old man me to remember about the past year.
Continue reading “Reflections on my 36th orbit of the sun”Understanding OCONUS employment and compensation
I have worked outside of the US (OCONUS) for several longer stints during my federal government career. Unfortunately (for me), these weren’t official OCONUS assignments. Instead, I had convinced my boss that it was in the government’s best interest to let me work remotely at these locations. (It’s hard to explain without giving away too many personal details- but I was able to set up some high impact collaborations). Furthermore, working abroad was something I’ve always wanted to do. I love traveling and exploring new cultures. While my previous experiences were super fun and rewarding, they were at best revenue neutral propositions, or in some cases, revenue negative. For others in the federal government, taking an international position is super lucrative— there are a whole bunch of different pay incentives that are offered to employees who are officially assigned to OCONUS posts. Also, while there are only so many international collaborations I can leverage while keeping my state-side job, taking an official OCONUS job could allow my family to travel and explore new cultures while still working. In many ways, taking an OCONUS job has been like a fantasy in the back of my head with great pay, exotic location, no loss in benefits, and still working towards a federal pension. It seemed like a far off fantasy until I got a comment on my blog from FederalFIRE who is doing this exact thing right now! I was lucky enough to get to interview them for this post. (Which is as much me dying to know every secret tip as it is for helping other readers). So without further ado- here is FederalFIRE talking about using how to use OCONUS assignments to get rich.
Continue reading “Understanding OCONUS employment and compensation”Money well spent- June 2019
Hi all! Here’s what we did in the month of June. I started writing these “Money Well Spent” posts as a way to reflect on the previous month and talk about our spending in some key areas. It’s also a way for me to reflect on the current state of affairs in our family For a larger explanation of why I write these posts, check out March 2019’s post.
So without further ado, here is my money well spent post for June, 2019.
Continue reading “Money well spent- June 2019”Public Service Loan Forgiveness for Student Loan Borrowers
By Nate Matherson, Co-founder of LendEDU, a blogger who is obsessed with everything student loan debt. Nate is working to repay his own mountain of student loan debt. Nate graduated from the University of Delaware in ’16 with a B.S. in Finance and over $55k in student loan debt.
Continue reading “Public Service Loan Forgiveness for Student Loan Borrowers”How I’m using my 2019 Federal Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)
Each year federal employees get to experience a tug-of-war about whether or not they will get a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). The tug-of-war happens because the cost-of-living adjustment can be determined either through legislation or through an executive order. Because we frequently have a divided government, there is often a back-and-forth over this topic. This post describes the COLA process and how I’m utilizing my 2019 federal cost of living adjustment to boost my savings rate.
Continue reading “How I’m using my 2019 Federal Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)”Why I don’t have a timeline to financial independence
Most FI(RE) bloggers I know have either a timeline to financial independence or an early retirement age listed prominently on their website. While my wife and I definitely want to retire early, I have never felt comfortable creating a timeline to financial independence. The closest I get is listing our “percentage FI” in our monthly spending reports. However, I’m always a little lukewarm about how significant those are as well. I thought I should write a post describing why I don’t have a timelines to financial independence. The post is as much for me to work through some of the mental issues I have about FI(RE) as it is to explain why we don’t have a timeline to financial independence.
Continue reading “Why I don’t have a timeline to financial independence”Money well spent- May 2019
Hi all! Here’s what we did in the month of May. I started writing these “Money Well Spent” posts as a way to reflect on the previous month and talk about our spending in some key areas. It’s also a way for me to reflect on the current state of affairs in our family For a larger explanation of why I write these posts, check out March 2019’s post.
So without further ado, here is my money well spent post for May, 2019.
Continue reading “Money well spent- May 2019”Lessons from my daughter: A Father’s Day card to myself
This Father’s Day, I wanted to give myself a present. I wanted to write a blog post reflecting about how the best Father’s Day present is taking a minute to appreciate the incredible gift that fatherhood really is. I wanted to share some lessons that I learned from my oldest daughter this past week.
There are times I like to complain a lot about my kids. There are times when I feel like have 3 feral children running around the house is hampering my ability to have abstract, adult thoughts. They always seem to interrupt my wife or I just as we are about to say something really important. And let’s not even bother to mention how expensive they are.
Continue reading “Lessons from my daughter: A Father’s Day card to myself”What to wear as a researcher- how I optimized my closet
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My wife and I have been fans of Marie Kondo long before her Netflix show. We’ve also read and reread “The gentle art of Swedish death cleaning” multiple times. Through those processes, we’ve focused on decluttering the house for years. However, I’ve never given much thought to what I wear as a researcher.
Continue reading “What to wear as a researcher- how I optimized my closet”Digital Minimalism and the Financial Independence Movement
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One of my goals for the “staycation” was to read 2 books. I had heard several podcasters I’ve listen to interview Cal Newport about his new book, Digital Minimalism and it seemed like something I wanted to know more about. Because there is a giant queue to get it at the library, and this was my special “week”, I decided to buy myself a copy. As soon as I started reading the book, I saw a bunch of parallels between Digital Minimalism and the financial independence movement. Therefore, I felt like I needed to write a post detailing how being conscious about spending time on smartphones is similar to being conscious about spending money.
Continue reading “Digital Minimalism and the Financial Independence Movement”