Mr. Tako Escapes – Mr. Tako's Adventures in Early Retirement (with Kids)

If you’re one of the many young people just starting-out on the path to financial independence (or even an older person just trying to catch up), the numbers can seem a little daunting. Using common retirement rules like the “4% rule”, a $1 million dollar portfolio can safely generate a mere $40,000 of income per year.

For many, this seems like a ridiculously small amount of income to earn from such a large amount of saved money. Perhaps you were hoping for a much larger income in retirement…

Food Recipes Uncategorized

Garlic Chili Edamame

April 9, 2021April 9, 2021 Mr. Tako 11 Comments

When it comes to Japanese cuisine, most people will encounter it at their local Japanese restaurant. Serving up the classics like sushi, ramen, gyoza, miso soup, and edamame, most of these “Westernized” restaurants aren’t actually all that good.

Which is too bad, because Japanese cuisine is actually way WAY better than that.

Unfortunately traveling to Japan for some good eats isn’t possible, due to COVID-19…

Uncategorized

March 2021 Dividend Income And Expenses

April 4, 2021 Mr. Tako 23 Comments

Don’t look now, but it’s time for another monthly update! Just like in previous months, I like to use this post to share all the niggly financial details of our life, as well as how much dividend income we’ve earned.

March was a fantastic month for a number of reasons. For one, March is when daylight savings time begins..

Investing Investing Ideas Uncategorized

The Bessembinder Factor

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021 Mr. Tako 18 Comments

If there’s one unsung hero of the personal financial world that needs a medal, I think it should be Hendrik Bessembinder. “Hendrik who?” you’re probably wondering…

Hendrik Bessembinder, is a professor from Arizona State University that researches and studies long-term wealth creation of the stock market. He studies the how part of how the stock market creates wealth…

Investing Investing Ideas Uncategorized

One Of My Worst Investments Ever

March 21, 2021 Mr. Tako 25 Comments

If you ever meet someone that says “I’ve never made a mistake”, I will happily point out to you a complete liar. Nobody goes through life without making at least a few mistakes.

The trick however, is to not make too many of them. Keep the numbers low (if you can). Do that and you’ll sail through life with relative ease…

Dividends Investing Saving Uncategorized

The Straw That Broke This Camel’s Back…

March 14, 2021March 16, 2021 Mr. Tako 55 Comments

People can pick up and move homes for many good reasons. Sometimes it’s a job, sometimes it’s to be closer to loved ones, and occasionally it’s to retire to cheaper location.

This process of moving to ensure a wonderful retirement is commonly known as geo-arbitrage. It’s very common for retirees to move, and something the Tako family has been considering for quite awhile now.

Along with a cheaper cost of living, we’ve been looking for a nice, safe, quiet place to finish raising our kids…

Dividends Investing Kids Saving Uncategorized

February 2021 Dividend Income And Expenses

March 7, 2021March 9, 2021 Mr. Tako 19 Comments

February is always an interesting month. Not only is it the shortest month of the year, but it’s also right smack in the middle of winter.

Like many other families living in the northern hemisphere, we received a giant blast of winter weather this February. We got “snowed-in”…

Dividends Investing Investing Ideas Uncategorized

Where To Invest Your Excess Cash In 2021

March 1, 2021March 1, 2021 Mr. Tako 17 Comments

If you’re like most people, your annual household spending was down significantly in 2020 because of the pandemic. Saving money must have been on everyone’s mind, because the U.S. savings rate saw massive increases in 2020. By January of 2021, the U.S. savings rate had increased to 20.5%.

That’s certainly a lot of cash being saved! Bank deposits are now at record highs…

Investing Uncategorized

The ROE Conundrum: Where Did The Shareholder Returns Go?

February 22, 2021 Mr. Tako 7 Comments

Personal finance can (at times) be a difficult and deliberately obtuse field for a layman to study. With acronyms like ROE, EBITDA, ROIC, CAGR, PEG, and hundreds of different valuation ratios, investing can be a dizzyingly complex topic.

Like other fields of great complexity, humans have created helpful little maxims to help wrap our terrestrial brains around the complex financial topics of personal finance and investing…

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