Removing Grass - The Best Investment Ever?

Here at Fiscally Free, we've made a lot of investments over the years. Most have performed well, but there's one recent investment that may just be our best--removing the grass in our front yard.

How We Saved $27,000 Selling Our House

As we've previously reported, we moved several months ago. That involved buying a new house and selling our old one. For the purchase of our new house, we used a realtor. We didn't necessarily want to, but as the buyer, there's not much incentive not to use one*. However, for the sale of our home, there was potentially lots to gain (or save, really) by not using a realtor, so we decided to go it alone and sell the house ourselves. Read on to learn how that went.

How We Invested Two Lump Sums

After selling our first home in southern California, we ended up with a pretty large lump sum of cash, and after quitting my job, I rolled a couple 401(k)s into an IRA which became another large lump sum. Deciding what to do with that money took some serious consideration, especially with markets at record highs as they currently are. This post will discuss how we invested all that cash.

We Finally Moved (and Finally Wrote About It)!

Photo courtesy of Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance

You may have noticed the posts have been pretty few and far between recently. As usual, I have a good excuse--we have been super busy the last couple months, and the blog has been pushed down the priority list. Read on to learn about our big move and what's coming up.

Why We are Selling our Old House

After purchasing our retirement home, we had to decide what to do with our current home. That decision was much more difficult than it would seem. The obvious solution would be to sell it, but that means dealing with an annoying real estate transaction and potentially paying realtors $40,000-50,000, which I can’t imagine doing. The other option, which a lot of people have been recommending, is to keep the house and rent it out. We finally decided to sell, and in this post I’ll explain why that is.

The Obsessive's Guide to Rooftop Solar

We recently installed a solar photovoltaic (PV) system on our house.* As usual, I did an inordinate amount of research before committing to anything and I discovered a few things I think are worth sharing with anyone else considering going solar.

We Bought a House – “Retirement” Imminent

The funky house we almost bought.

I’m not sure we were really ready for this step, but we stumbled upon the right property and now we own it. That means my retirement date is all but set for the end of this year (although my boss doesn't know that yet, so let's keep this just between you and me). Happily, that coincides with my 30^th birthday. Here’s the story of how we ended up with a house long before we planned.

Our Hunt for Affordable Housing

A huge part of our early retirement plan involved selling our expensive home in the Los Angeles area, which has appreciated significantly since we purchased it four years ago, and finding something significantly less expensive. This has proved much more challenging than I anticipated.

Our Perfect Portfolio

I admit, there probably isn't a perfect, one-size-fits-all portfolio out there, but I've created a portfolio that's perfect for us. Today I'm sharing our perfect portfolio, and if it sounds right for you, feel free to copy it.