April 30, 2015

Financial Freedom Plan - 2015 Update

I finally sat down to get an updated view of our progress towards our financial freedom plan that I laid out a few years go in terms of asset allocation. Some notes: Our asset allocation to fixed income (interest) will...
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August 25, 2013

Financial Freedom Plan

Almost two years ago I laid out a plan for the net asset allocation I thought we needed for our financial freedom plan. It was a rough guide for asset allocation that I believe could generate enough income to cover...
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January 27, 2013

2012 Passive Income: Dividends

Here is a summary of our 2012 dividend income. All this income comes from our taxable stock portfolio that is included in our monthly investment review. All retirement investment holdings are excluded from this dividend income summary. This passive income...
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November 12, 2012

Can We Coast to Our Financial Goals?

As I continue to reflect on getting closeer to reaching our millionaire net worth milestone, I am becoming more optimistic and excited about what the future holds. I've pondered whether we could just tread water at this point and still...
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October 10, 2012

Cost of The Wealth Effect

With Quantitative Easing Round 3, the Federal Reserve has said it will continue to indefinitely buy mortgage securities to drive down interest rates. The intent is to accelerate our economic recovery by making cash cheaper and more readily available for...
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June 20, 2012

Planning For What Is Next

I was reminded today of the value of thinking and preparing for what happens if your corporate career gets yanked out from under you without much warning. I have a peer at work who I stumbled upon working at his...
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April 9, 2012

Whats Working Well in our Path to Financial Freedom

I've been slammed at work here recently and unfortunately not been able to make regular updates on the site. I've been eating, sleeping, and living for work. A bit unplanned, but peak periods every once and a while aren't...
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February 20, 2012

Financial Priorities

I have been reading Your Money or Your Life recently. I'm only part way through the book but the big takeaway for me so far is a short mental checklist for expenditures: 1) How much fulfillment, satisfaction, and value do...
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February 10, 2012

A Better Financial Freedom Yardstick?

A key theme from the popular book The Millionaire Next Door is the simple formula to benchmark your expected net worth. Multiply your age times your realized pretax annual household income from all sources except inheritances. Divide by ten. This...
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January 16, 2012

Time Is Money

While on our transatlantic cruise our dinner table companions were 2 couples in their late twenties/early thirties that had quit their jobs and were trekking around the world. We had some great discussions about life and I gained a lot...
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November 11, 2011

Mid-Way Point in Our Journey to Financial Freedom

I recently celebrated my 10yr anniversary at my employer and I realized we are roughly halfway through our journey to financial freedom (10 years into a 20 year plan). With our $2 million net worth goal as a guidepost and...
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October 5, 2011

Financial Freedom Plan and our Net Worth Goal

I recently laid out our rough plan for how we plan to generate income once we become financially free. This plan suggests we'd be able to generate between $40k-$76k+ per year which should cover our annual expenses. Next I want...
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August 31, 2011

Pieces of our Financial Freedom Plan Falling Into Place

One thing I have been pretty vague so far is how we are going to fund our financial freedom. Just because we have a goal to reach a net worth of $2million doesn't automatically mean we will be anywhere close...
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May 25, 2011

Just Hit 200,000 Miles on My Car

We hit a personal milestone this week as the 1998 Nissan Sentra I purchased (with my parents help) in graduate school hit 200,000 miles. I've owned the car for 12 years and overall it has been a very reliable form...
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April 29, 2011

Are We Plateauing in Our Financial Freedom Journey?

For the past 2 years I have felt a bit like we are plateauing in our pursuit of financial freedom. Our journey has been on autopilot: busy with life, family, work and with what seems like less time dedicated to...
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April 20, 2011

Financial Freedom

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words: You can learn more about our net worth goal and our net worth benchmark that we use to make sure we are on track....
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January 19, 2011

How We Became 3/4 Millionaires

My wife and I recently hit another financial milestone by passing the $750,000 net worth mark. While we still have a ways to go to get to our goal of $2 million, I am getting more confident that the hardest...
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May 27, 2010

Success is a Journey, Not a Destination

I was really struck today by a passage in an audiobook I'm currently listening to from the library titled Three Feet from Gold by Sharon Lechter. "You might wake up one day and discover your have accumulated a million dollars...
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April 2, 2010

Should Debt Reduction Be Our Focus?

I recently posted on focusing our efforts on debt reduction. The uncertainty of my job plus our constrained cash flow has me focused on paying down debt to improve our monthly free cash. The reality is that interest rates are...
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January 5, 2010

Where Are We In Our Journey To Financial Freedom?

This blog was started back in 2005 to track my journey to financial freedom. I set out with a very specific goal and a measuring stick to track my/our progress. Given the the major recession we look to be recovering...
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April 6, 2009

Current Income Streams Snapshot

Ok a lot has changed since I last talked about my multiple income streams so its time for an update. Diversifying our income is a key planning tool for the unexpected. If we were solely relying on my income and...
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February 19, 2009

Downshifting from DINKS to Average Single Family Income Status

What a terrible time to be downshifting, but somethings just happen when they happen. Fresh off our international assignment, we have come back to the US, bought a family friendly house, have a baby on the way, and are now...
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August 20, 2008

July Status of 2008 Financial Goals

I have started to report on a monthly basis the status of our 2008 financial goals. I have noticed confusion on my part about how much progress we are making on our goals (especially on our house savings goal) so...
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June 30, 2008

June Status of 2008 Financial Goals

I am thinking of reporting on a monthly basis the status of our 2008 financial goals. I have noticed confusion on my part about how much progress we are making on our goals (especially on our house savings goal) so...
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May 30, 2008

Crossing the Half-Millionaire Mark

This month my wife and I crossed the Half-Millionaire mark on our journey to financial freedom. Half-Millionaire has a nice ring to it. To celebrate my wife and I are staying in tonight, heating up some soup for dinner, and...
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May 2, 2008

Want To Replicate Our Net Worth Results?

In the last 6 years, I have taken my (now our) net worth from $18k to nearly $500k. I am pretty satisfied with the results - we are making good progress on our financial freedom goals. I think there a...
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January 30, 2008

Housing Costs are our Biggest Obstacle to Financial Freedom

Maybe Im over simplifying, but over the past month my wife and I have started to recognize that the primary thing that stands in our way to financial freedom is housing costs. If we step back, the single biggest expense...
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January 23, 2008

2008 Financial Goals

My wife and I had a quick conversation to establish our 2008 Financial Goals. 1) Primary House Down payment Goal ($80,000) We have $36,500 currently earmarked for the house downpayment so we still have a challenge ahead of us to...
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September 12, 2007

Monthly Net Worth Growth Rates

I have been pushing myself pretty hard recently, trying to make sure I stay ahead of the life changes coming my way to reach my financial goals. I know there will be reduction in our ability to save a large...
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August 13, 2007

5 Year Plan to Financial Freedom

Depsite all the chaos that’s going on in my life currently with the upcoming wedding, china assignment, saving for a home, etc., I have been spending a lot of time recently dwelling on the need for a 5 year plan....
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June 11, 2007

I'm Ready To Buy My Retirement Home?

My family already knows this; I have an itch to buy some waterfront property. Part of it may be fear of no longer being able to afford this type of property later in life. Another part is the ability to...
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May 25, 2007

Support the Five Day Weekend!

In the spirit of the upcoming long weekend I thought I would share a local grass roots campaign, the Five Day Weekend to reverse the work week so that Americans clock in for two good days of work, followed...
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April 6, 2007

Minilink Continuous Glucose Sensor Investment

If you didn't know, I have been a type 1 diabetic since the age of 10. I use a Minimed Paradigm insulin pump which basically pumps small amounts of insulin into your system throughout the day helping you keep...
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April 4, 2007

Time vs Money

If its not obvious, my time is being over consumed with my new job at work, fixing up my house, wedding planning, relationship nurturing, China assignment preparations, and everything else that normally goes on. I am not able to give...
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March 14, 2007

What Will I Do When I Get $2 Million?

To me it seems obvious, to others its a total mystery. What will you do when you become financially free? I believe my goal of a $2 million net worth will allow me to continue to live a moderate...
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February 27, 2007

Financial Net Worth Goal for 2007

Every year it seems like it’s harder and harder to forecast the major changes coming in my life and set challenging financial goals. In 2006, I was faced with the uncertainty of taking a temporary assignment and not knowing how...
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January 3, 2007

Major Life Changes Coming in 2007

Wow - I can't believe its really 2007. Time flies. I love this time at the beginning of the year as I now have a whole year's worth of financial data to process, assess, and contemplate what I can accomplish...
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October 30, 2006

Smashing Through My 2006 Net Worth Goal

Back in December 2005, I set a 2006 net worth goal of $262,000. I was a bit conservative on setting my net worth goal as I knew I would be making big purchases such as a new home, engagement ring,...
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October 10, 2006

Merging Finances

As soon as we got engaged I wanted to dive right into our finances. I immediate saw it as an opportunity to cut costs and get both our balance sheets moving in the same direction towards financial freedom. My...
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October 9, 2006

Whats My Action Plan to Financial Freedom?

A recent comment really got me thinking. The comment was straight to the point - what am I doing to reach my goals? On the surface I am doing what everyone else is doing - working, saving money, and investing....
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December 12, 2005

Setting a 2006 Net Worth Goal

Its about time for me to start setting a 2006 net worth goal. It looks like I will end this year with a net worth of $206,000-$208,000, above my target of $205,000 for 2005.So how do a pick a target...
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September 6, 2005

Why 2 million?

I could try to give a long insightful breakdown of why I think $2 million is the amount I need to be financially free, but I won't. I'll give you a quick breakdown instead.If I assume a conservative rate of...
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About 2millionblog.com

A personal finance weblog of my journey to reach my goal of $2 million + the value of my primary residence.
Current Net Worth: $1,938,393

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