Just southwest of Rapid City, South Dakota, lies a unique combination of outdoor splendor. Looking for massive herds of bison? Active prairie dog colonies? Rock-studded lakes? Jagged hills reaching toward the heavens? We experienced all this and more during our trip to Custer State Park.…
Before this week, we'd barely done any autumn traveling at all. With Steven's history as a high school teacher and private tutor, fall semester has always been a time that we've focused on buckling down, working hard, and banking money. But all that past saving…
When looking for the cheapest place to book a hotel room, the commonsense approach is just to compare prices on different sites. Go to Expedia, Trivago, Kayak, Priceline, etc., and pick whichever one has the best deal. If you try this obvious strategy, you’ll run…
I recently saw a pretty sneaky TV commercial for an insurance product that I’d never heard of before. It’s called "return of premium life insurance." It’s a form of term life insurance, and here’s how it works: You pay a monthly premium for a fixed…
I'm happy to share a nugget of success with you today: This little blog is now getting enough traffic that credit card companies have started to take an interest in us. We recently had a call with one, and the prospects of turning this site…
A few months ago, we got really addicted to driving out to the beach. There was no rhyme or reason to the days or times we would go. We'd just head out whenever the mood struck us and take a long walk. Consistently, we had…
It’s a beautiful day — perfect weather, ready to enjoy. You decide to go on a hike, and as you approach the trailhead, you spot that familiar brown sign. "Falls Overlook, 6.5 miles one way." Your heart sinks a little. A thirteen-mile trip? Seems like…
We kinda hate tracking our spending. I know it’s a sin among personal finance bloggers, but on the 8-year path to accumulating our savings, we never tracked our expenses much at all. Once we learned that money can buy freedom rather than material things, our…
By writing a series of blog posts about personal finance and stock market investing intended for his daughter, JL Collins (somewhat by accident) reached an international audience of millions. Now, in the world of financial independence and early retirement (FIRE), few authors are as well-respected…
While we were living on the Big Island of Hawai’i, some family came to visit us. They flew to O’ahu for a week, and we met them there for part of their stay. (They also ended up island-hopping to the Big Island to check out…
Your 20s can feel like an either-or proposition: You either buckle down and be responsible, or you embrace your fleeting youth and enjoy every day while you still can. Today is the very last day of my 20s, and when I look back, I feel…
We were warned not to write this article by well-meaning friends in the world of personal finance. “Banks won’t touch you if you talk about that,” they said. See, the most lucrative way for a personal finance website like ours to make money is by…
No matter where you’re at on your financial journey, you’ve probably heard some stuff about credit cards. Unfortunately, a lot of popular advice about them is complete nonsense. Credit cards aren’t evil, scary, or complex, but using them correctly does require you to know a…
It’s the 2020s. Your stock broker isn’t some guy you call on the phone and ask to place trades for you. When you want to invest money, you click a mouse or tap a screen a few times, and it’s done inside your brokerage account…
My bicycle is one of the best investments I’ve ever made. It’s allowed me to breathe more fresh air and experience more sunshine while I explore my own backyard. It’s made my heart stronger, kept me from gaining weight, and given me a weekend activity…
Tucked away off of Florida’s A1A highway on the quiet outskirts of Palm Coast is a hidden gem: Washington Oaks Gardens State Park. We discovered it recently as part of our quest to see more of our own backyard. Less than two hours from our…
Expense tracking, budget making, checkbook balancing, bill paying, stock trading — all of this stuff requires an endless input of time and brain power. That’s why, for the last eight years or so, Lauren and I haven’t done any of those things. Being good with…
We’ve had lots of experience working remotely -- from that time we vacationed in Hawaii for six months, to the time we spent seven months driving cross country to visit every National Park, to the quiet times in between when we’ve settled into our home…
When I'm sitting at home completely bored, I usually just turn to Lauren and say, "Wanna go on a walk?" It's not exactly “productive” in the sense of getting work done, but it burns calories and gives us a chance to connect. To me, that…
As we were shutting the door on one chapter of our lives — college — we were opening another without fully realizing it. Our graduation ceremonies were held the first weekend in May of 2012. The following Monday, we buckled into our 2005 Honda Civic…
After sleeping in the leaned-back front seats of our Nissan Versa Note rental car for several days, it was time to get a car of our own (and an apartment too — but that’s another story). Our 6-month honeymoon in Hawaii in 2015 was one…
“Early retirement?! In this economy? You must be insane! Interest rates are near 0%. The stock market has seen some of the quickest drops ever recently. Unemployment is through the roof. People are living longer than ever. Social Security is doomed. And you think your…
We’ve gone without live television for the last 11 years or so, but I recently installed a fancy antenna in our attic, and now we get a bunch of crystal clear local stations in high definition for $0 a month. Normally, I’d say that’s an…
Yes, you read that headline correctly. You can find class III whitewater rapids in Florida. Most rivers in the Sunshine State are calm enough to float casually down them in an inner tube (beverage of choice in hand). But when the water levels of the…
