Mr. Tako's Adventures in Early Retirement (with Kids)
The last couple weeks have been pretty interesting here on good old planet Earth. My recent posts discussed about our plan for Healthcare after the ACA, and even Secular Stagnation and poor real GDP growth. Pretty serious stuff.
So I think it’s time I took things down a notch and stopped worrying about things I can’t control. Instead, I want to get back to this idea of leading an incredibly rich (and fulfilling) life on a minimal budget.
Read more
Change always happens…whether we like it or not. Besides death and taxes, change is the only real constant in life. The seasons change, the weather changes, people change, and (of course) politics change.
This post is about adapting our financial independence plan to change. Specifically healthcare changes. Changes we can’t control, but we can plan for…
Read more
Tonight, on the eve of the U.S. presidential election, much of the United States is going to be glued to a TV, computer, or mobile screen watching the voting results get counted.
I equate the election media frenzy to watching paint dry — Boring as hell!
Instead, let’s talk about an issue that’s really important! An issue that could have a significant effect on how everyone needs to be planning for retirement.
Read more
October was a scary month, and I’m not just talking about Halloween. It was a month of big changes for our family…and change is often expensive.
Sometimes *very expensive*, and this month was no exception to that rule.
Read more
When writing a blog post, I don’t like to sugar coat the shit.
I prefer to display the honest reality of financial independence, including the all rough bits! Sure, I could probably have a bigger blog audience if I focused only on the roses. But that isn’t my goal.
I believe my readers want to hear the balanced story of early retirement…both the shit and the roses alike.
Read more
Mrs. Tako and I recently took a trip to our local Costco to stock up on household goods. We make a Costco run a couple times a month, depending upon what’s needed.
The store had Halloween costumes on display and decorations out for sale. Our kids (of course) are terribly interested in all this Halloween stuff…so I was practically required to pilot the shopping cart down the Halloween aisle for a look at all of it.
Read more
Have you ever noticed how the most expensive items in your grocery shopping cart tend to be meat and processed foods?
Years ago I noticed this, and decided I wanted to make changes to my diet. We started buying less of those high-priced items (for both financial and health reasons), and started cooking almost every meal at home.
Read more
So you’re finally getting close to financial independence. You’ve worked hard, you’ve saved, and you’ve invested as much as possible. Instead of worrying about debt, you now worry about return on investment.
Perhaps your net-worth has broken one million dollars. You’re starting to feel pretty wealthy, and thoughts of saying sayonara to that 50 hour a week job might be on your mind…
Read more
It’s that time of year again — cold and flu season. It typically starts the week after kids head back to school….and sure enough our entire family has been down with a cold this past week.
Read more