Like most families, when school lets out for summer, that’s when the Tako family does most of our traveling. This year the world had other plans for us. COVID-19 happened, and our summer travel plans were canceled.
Instead of visiting the national parks of the American Southwest (like we planned), we settled for a quiet summer at home. It was a bit of a bummer to be honest… but we tried to make the best of it.
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Travel. Ask any random person if they like to travel, and undoubtedly most will say “Oh yes, absolutely!!”. Then after some careful thought, they’ll hedge that claim with “…but I probably won’t do a lot of traveling right now”.
Travel used to be a pretty big chunk of the average consumer’s budget. Now, with quarantine periods for international travelers and “stay home” orders in-place, most families are simply sticking to home…
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Hi folks! Instead of my usual blog post where I decide the topic my choosing, this week’s post I thought I’d we mix things up a bit! It’s time for the readers to take charge and let them ask questions!
That’s right, it’s Q & A time! This week’s post is composed entirely of reader questions, and I’ll do my best to supply the answers!
Without further ado, lets get this Q & A started….
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Sometimes when inspiration hits for a new blog post, it comes from very strange places. Today’s post was inspired by an odd one — I took a trip to the DMV. Yes, really — the DMV!
Turns out, my drivers license was about to expire. I needed to make a trip to the nearest DMV office to get it renewed. Oh bother! The problem is, I don’t live anywhere near a DMV office. The nearest licensing office is a 30 minute drive away!
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Yep, we’re still on vacation! Last week we were exploring around Dallas and having a great time, but our vacation isn’t over yet! When you’re financially independent and “mostly” retired, you could argue that everyday is a vacation, but I still like to make the distinction when we’re away from home it’s a “vacation”…
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Most of the year I keep myself busy being a stay-at-home dad and “closet” personal finance blogger. Those two activities are usually more than enough to fill-up my limited spare time…
But when summer finally comes, I tend to slow down on the blog updates and spend time traveling with my family.
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The school year is over and summer is finally here! My oldest son, Tako Jr. #1, just finished his first school year as a kindergartner! I’m amazed at how much kids learn in kindergarten these days. They seem super-smart now! Tako Jr. #1 learned a ton of new stuff — reading, writing, and math. All in just a few short months!
It was an amazing school year…
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When you read blogs or news articles about geoarbitrage, it’s almost always the childless couples that travel the world. They leveraging the lower cost living of regions like Southeast Asia, Central or South American, and even Eastern Europe.
These “nomads” will stay in a location for a couple of months, enjoying that locale to its fullest…
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It’s been said that there are two certainties in life — death and taxes. With February nearly upon us, I’m starting to seriously think about paying my federal income taxes. That can certainly feel like death.
In the United States, paying taxes can be a pretty complicated affair — with hundreds of possible deductions, credits, write-offs, and tricky maneuvers that can be used to avoid paying taxes…
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