New York on a Budget with a Baby; Part 1--Planning

Without much prior notice, I was told by my boss that I would be taking a business trip to New Jersey in mid-December. This was not my idea of a good time. However, it was some of the best news Chrissy ever received. You see, Chrissy had been bugging me to take her to New York for years, but I had no interest in going. This was her shot; with my travel being covered by the company, this was the best chance she had to convince me to see New York together. Of course, she had her way and I was able to extend my trip and spend a surprisingly fun long weekend in frigid Manhattan. Read on to learn about the planning of our frugal adventures in the Big Apple with our Little Nugget.

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.

Andy's Goals for 2017

One of my (random) goals for the year.

I know it's a little late, but I'm finally posting my goals for this year. We've been incredibly busy getting our house ready to sell, so a lot of blogging has had to wait. Fortunately, the house is now on the market and will hopefully sell soon.  Anyway, read on for my goals for 2017.

2016 Spending Report

I must be a personal finance geek, because I've been excited about this post for quite some time. I kept wishing for the year to end just so I could tally up all of our expenses. I will probably do this monthly going forward, both for your entertainment and to make sure we are sticking somewhat close to our budget. On to the numbers...

My Concerns in Retirement

Editor's Note:  This post was written a couple months ago and I was too chicken to post it at the time, but I'm trying to be more vulnerable, so here goes nothing.

Choosing when to quit your job and retire is one of the biggest decisions a person makes in life. It is a defining moment that will have a huge impact on the rest of your life. Most people make this decision fairly late in life, which means they are able to draw upon many years of wisdom and experience. I don’t have that luxury. I consider myself very intelligent, but I don’t pretend to possess a great deal of wisdom. That means making the decision to “retire” before my 30th birthday a daunting proposition, especially if I think about everything that could go wrong with my extremely early “retirement.” In this post I will discuss those things and try to reassure myself I’m making the right decision.