How do money, freedom, happiness, and travel fit together? Read some of our personal thoughts on the ingredients for a good life and how we try to make the most of them.
Every time we scream from the rooftops that you can retire several decades early by working a middle-class job, living frugally, and investing in passive index funds, we get a few common objections yelled back at us. One of those complaints is actually super reasonable:…
A somewhat literal summary of Walden by Henry David Thoreau might call it a recollection of one man’s peaceful (and inexpensive) life in the woods of Massachusetts during the late 1840s — documentation of an uncomplicated world that’s long since past. But a book review…
At age 29, we quit our jobs with a paid-off home, a reasonably well-stocked investment portfolio, and no plans to work full-time ever again. As financially independent early retirees, we’ve been praised for our prowess with money. But in truth, the decision to retire early…
On day 45 of our road trip to some of the National Parks in Canada, we suddenly changed our plans. A fellow traveler suggested we load our camper van onto a ferry and enjoy the ride along the Inside Passage from Skagway to Haines, Alaska,…
The unfamiliar Taco Bell was out of Diet Pepsi, ice, and several varieties of Border Sauce. I placed my crippled order and handed over my Citi DoubleCash card. “Our machine’s broken.” After fishing a five-dollar bill out of my wallet, I paid 19th century style…
I started college during the Great Recession, and I admittedly wasn’t very tuned in to politics or financial markets at the time. In the years leading up to that crisis and the recovery afterward, I was mostly focused on paying my bills and trying to…
At the beginning of 2015, I was a public school teacher, Lauren was doing marketing for a small financial company near Orlando, and we were both getting a little bored with working 8+ hours a day for ~$40k/yr. Luckily, we had a plan to fix…
Sometimes saving money feels completely incompatible with dating. But it’s not. When going out, what you do isn't nearly as important as how and why you do it. The same is true of all your choices — the car you drive, the house you live…
Today marks the two-year anniversary of our first blog post here, and it’s been both a lot of fun and a lot of work. Our goal in starting this website was simple: to share the knowledge that changed our lives for the better — for…
Whenever we travel, we’re always meeting lots of cool new people we can learn from and make friends with. They all have unique perspectives and different things to share. But usually, the start of each conversation is the same: Them: Where are you two from?Us:…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
When a major decision needs to be made, and you’re no expert on the issue at hand, you probably do the same thing most people do: ask around. Like, if you don’t know the first thing about what investments to pick in your 401(k), it’s…
It was late. Really late. Like, well-after-midnight late. But the summer sun was just starting to set in the northern latitudes of Watson Lake, Yukon. After driving for hours, we were happy to see civilization again. The only problem was our timing. In this small…
When we moved back to Florida following our honeymoon in 2015, I felt rejuvenated and ready to get back into the workforce. I spent about two months interviewing for different positions around town before landing a pretty good gig at a local web marketing startup.…
We’re a bit extreme about saving money around here. In fact, we recommend saving so much money that you never have to work a job again if you don’t want to, preferably as early in life as possible. This is usually achieved by optimizing your…
As you know, we’re not really fans of short, expensive vacations. Our preferred method of recharging is to disappear from home into fantastic, faraway places for months at a time, exercising our minds and keeping our wallets full with an enjoyable amount of freelance work…
We're in the process of moving back into our home after a long time on the road, and it's proving to be one of our most tedious moves ever. All of our stuff was stored in our friends’ loft, which shielded us from the financial…
If you want to be a happier person overall, setting and achieving personal goals is one of the best ways to do it. When you set a goal for yourself, you immediately give yourself a reason to take action (also known as purpose). This alone…
The typical way to recharge your batteries after months of hard work is to take a vacation — a week (or, if you’re lucky, two weeks) off to take a breath of someplace new. This can be a lot of fun, but ultimately, these “week-short”…
