Whew, last week was back to school and it was quite busy for us. RB40 Junior moved to a co-op preschool this year and it will be a lot more involving than last year. Actually, it was a tough decision for us to change schools. He liked his old preschool and his best friend is still there. I hate to separate the buddies, but they’ll be going to different elementa
[…] Read more:  Co-op Preschool Can Be Pretty Involving

You know, I think collecting things is very instinctual. That’s why we buy so much useless stuff and clutter up our homes. It’s so difficult to throw things out and many people would rather rent a storage unit to store the stuff they don’t even use anymore. It’s just human nature to collect things. Here is our subject today – RB40 Jr. He has been collec
[…] Read more:  Are you a Minimalist or a Pack Rat?

The first step to financial independence is to live within your means. To me, that automatically means living frugally, but that’s just how I think. My family struggled financially when I was growing up so I default to saving first. When I first started working, I lived modestly and saved what I could. I lived within my means, but I think I probably could have
[…] Read more:  8 Tips to Help You Live Within Your Means

As some readers may know, we sold our rental home and 4plex earlier this year. Of course, I’m addicted to investing so I couldn’t leave well enough alone and invested in a duplex soon after. I’m a bit reluctant to talk about the duplex investment because it’s definitely not the best investment we could have made. First let’s go over why I decided to in
[…] Read more:  Our Suboptimal Duplex Investment

Oh man, I am worn out. This summer has been hectic for the RB40 household. We traveled to Hawaii, camped at the beach, and took a road trip to Boise. We also kept getting sick for some reason. It seems like we’ve been sick for over a month now. We all had a cold and it went round and round. Mrs. RB40 just got diagnosed with shingles and won’t recover complete
[…] Read more:  Early Retirement Myths Busted

Can you believe that 2014 is half over? As usual, it’s amazing how fast time flies. That’s the main reason why I want to retire early. Life is really short, so why spend every weekday doing something I don’t like. Not that I’m just goofing off all day now that I’m semi-retired. This stay at home dad/blogger gig keeps me busier than I ever imagined.
[…] Read more:  2014 Goals Midyear Review

This is a guest post by Mike, aka The Dividend Guy. He authors The Dividend Guy Blog since 2010 and manages portfolios at Dividend Stocks Rock. He is a passionate investor. I’ve been following Joe’s blog since 2011 because I was amazed by his goal to retire so young and his method used to achieve it. The funny thing is that he has been commenting on my blog s
[…] Read more:  What Makes for a Good Dividend Portfolio?

Summer is here! I hope everyone had a nice Summer solstice. It’s one of my favorite days of the year. The weather is perfect in Portland and it’s still light out at 9 pm. Anyway, this is the perfect time to recap RB40 Jr.’s preschool experience and talk about the plan for next school year. I’m sure many of you’ve heard that it will cost nearly $300,
[…] Read more:  Is A Cooperative Preschool More Affordable?

I know it’s not quite Independence Day yet, but we’ll be out of town camping, so it’s better to get this one out earlier rather than later. I’m really looking forward to camping at the beach for a few days. As the 4th of July approaches, it’s a good time to contemplate the state of your financial independence. Heck, I’ll make it a tradition to talk ab
[…] Read more:  3 Ways To Define Financial Independence

Yes! We will be closing on our rental home sale at the end of this week and I’ll have a short break from being a landlord. Actually, we have one condo left, but it’s very close by and mostly maintenance free so it’s not a big deal. The break won’t be that long, though. We’re planning to do a 1031 exchange to defer the $40,000+ tax (federal and state.)
[…] Read more:  Our Next Adventure – Short Term Rental