Half As Well

Shortly after discovering that it was possible to retire early, and more importantly discovering that we were about to add a sixth member to our family, we made the confusing decision that we needed to move to a somewhat more expensive, but probably smaller house. Despite not being crunched financially, we were in a hurry to find a new home for our growing family. Looking back now I could say that the house search went quickly because we wanted to…

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I have always been good with numbers and I don’t really care for bad financial surprises, so I have always tried to have a handle on whatever bad money news might come down the road by forecasting out our budgets. The following is an actual (but edited for pseudo-anonymity purposes) excerpt from an email that I sent to my wife right before we changed our budget / lifestyle – Current Mortgage Payment is $945 Ideally looking to move Fall 2019…

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In an attempt to shed some light on our personal story, I wanted to post these brief summaries of my past (both individually and together with my wife) as it pertains to finances. This is the third post in the series. When I was growing up, after a certain age, we were allowed to drink “pop” (or “soda” for you non-Western Pennsylvanians). It wasn’t shoved down our throats, but it was available in the house, and I drank a lot…

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In an attempt to shed some light on our personal story, I wanted to post these brief summaries of my past (both individually and together with my wife) as it pertains to finances. This is the second post in the series. My wife and I married in 2010 and bought a house in the same year – we managed to cover the down payment and closing costs mostly from a small loan from my parents and utilizing the First-Time Homebuyer…

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In an attempt to shed some light on our personal story, I wanted to post these brief summaries of my past (both individually and together with my wife) as it pertains to finances. This is the first post in the series. I grew up in a more or less middle class home in the 80s and 90s. My father was a pharmacist and my mother was a nurse and later a cardiovascular consultant. When I was very young, there were…

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So it has been just over seven weeks since the last time I posted on this blog. A few things contributed to this, but only one that I want to focus on today. About a month ago today – my mother lost her almost two year battle with cancer. More on that later, but first I want to speak to the person that my mother was and how she helped mold me into the person that I am today. I…

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