Empower yourself through goal-orientation
Whether you’d like to believe it or not, I think that most people are generally pretty good about setting and completing goals. However, these “goals” that people are so good at don’t really deal with...
View ArticleEstablishing a new American Dream
I don’t really understand the American Dream. At one point or another I guess it made sense, and I was convinced that it’s what I wanted with my life as well. The house, the family, the white picket...
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How to fly for free on Southwest.
Over the past few years my wife and I (and occasionally our kids) have flown at least 10 domestic flights for free. At first we didn’t have much of a strategy. We would just utilize the bonus points...
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Beating the addiction to unhappiness.
When I was 23 I joined the Marine Corps. Since most people join the Marines straight out of high school, at either 17 or 18, I seemed pretty old to a lot of people. I had already had a full-time job,...
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Battle of the ecommerce platforms.
Most people realize that blogging is a stepping stone to other things. Those things normally include writing a book, becoming a public speaker, or opening some sort of online business (consulting or...
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Republic Wireless wants to buy you Chipotle burritos.
One year ago this month I made the switch to Republic Wireless. They were offering these ridiculously cheap cell phone plans that Verizon (my at-the-time current carrier) couldn’t match. They were...
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I never thought I’d be an entrepreneur.
I never thought I’d be an entrepreneur. My goal was to quit working when I built up enough money to sustain my family for the rest of our lives. How the hell did I convince myself that starting a...
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Financial Independence 2.0
If you asked me one year ago what my definition of financial independence was, I would have replied with something along the lines of “it’s when you have enough money where you don’t have to work ever...
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Drive your life Forward
Why do we spend the better portion of our lives obsessing over the trivial, while neglecting objects of true significance? Most people have life goals that mean an incredible amount to them, but they...
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Zero your cerebral inbox.
Our brains are capable of amazing things. They’re responsible for every single advance in human civilization, and after thousands of years of evolution our brains have grown in size and complexity. We...
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Get your ass outside this Spring!
After a ridiculously long and cold winter the temperature has started to climb above the 70 degree mark, and spring has officially begun. I don’t care what the calendar says. Spring doesn’t officially...
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A Kick-in-the-teeth Guide to Investing
Most people aren’t rocket scientists when it comes to investing. I’m not either, but I know enough about it that hopefully I can teach you something about it in the next five minutes. You need to know...
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Quit your job and do something you love.
When I created this site my goal was simple: to retire by age 35 and to document the 7 year journey. During these past 15 months I’ve gone through many life changes. We downsized to a smaller house,...
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Overcoming Mistakes.
Fifth grade was a big year for me. It was the year that my age was finally in the double digits. It was also the first time that I realized that I liked girls. One girl in particular caught my interest...
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Budgeting, Maxing out, and Avoiding Impulse
Set up a budget. The idea of budgeting makes most people cringe, but I think that’s because most people only half understand this concept. It isn’t about deprivation. It’s about TRACKING your spending....
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Finding happiness
During the fall of 2013 Mrs. M and I attended a workshop in Ecuador which covered the basic topics of Happiness, Freedom and Wealth. One of the presenters (who also happened to be the host), Cheryl...
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Retiring with $650k less in 7 steps
Over the past two weeks I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with a reader through email who desperately wants to retire by 55. He’s currently 43 and has $600k saved in his 401k. With 12 more years...
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The Rule of 300
There are countless articles and calculators that will attempt to give you the best possible retirement advice and a projection of how long your money will last. But if you’re looking for the quickest...
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Six ways to increase personal productivity and get shit done.
I used to give in to being a lazy sack of shit. I would spend afternoons doing nothing. I would sit on the couch in sweatpants eating ice cream while participating in the the laziest type of marathon...
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There’s more than one path to a First Class life
Your life and my life are completely different. Even though we’re both living (or striving to live) the First Class lifestyle powered by frugality and optimization, it doesn’t mean that we’re...
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