If you're an avid reader of financial independence blogs you may have noticed something a little strange recently -- FIRE Bloggers have been complaining about a drop-off in reader web-traffic to their blogs...
It's January 2023, and you know what that means! Net worth post time! Every year I take the time to do one of these “net worth” blog posts for the previous year. I add-up all our different stock and retirement accounts, and then calculate my...
Another month is done, and 2022 is over! It's that time of year again -- the final accounting of dividends and spending in 2022! Believe it or not, I've been doing these posts for years now, and December is almost always the most interestin...
Happy Holidays everyone! Is it that time of year already? It's amazing how quickly 2022 passed! It seems like only yesterday we were starting to pack-up the house for our big move! A lot can happen in a year, that's for sure! Since the ...
Wow, this post is nearly a month late! While you readers have been patiently waiting for the next blog post, I've been goofing-off and taking a vacation instead of writing! Oops! That's what happens when you become financially independent I ...
There's a urban legend in investing that goes something like this: "Stocks keep moving up and to the right forever! Just keep putting money into the market and it will make you rich." That may have been true over the past decade, but 2022 h...
With the S&P 500 down about 20% YTD, its been a rough year for those with money invested in the stock market. Other asset classes have done just as poorly. Inflation has laid a solid roundhouse punch on household budgets this year, leavi...
As frequent readers of this blog know, the Tako family is currently in the market for a new home. This summer we sold our house in Washington state, and moved south to Arizona. Currently, we're renting a temporary house, and it's a pretty sma...
After a scary couple of months with some massive overspending, it's finally safe to say things are "getting back to normal" for the Tako family. August was all about optimizing our lifestyle in our new home. We started turning the screws, and...
After the long drive from Washington to Arizona, we started settling into our new home in July. We've been here a little over 1 month! The kids have now started school, and Mrs. Tako and I are starting to house hunt. Overall, our move didn't...
When people talk about geo-arbitrage, they often tout the amazing advantages of moving from high-cost location to a lower cost region. It's all double rainbows, unicorn farts, and ice cream sundaes when you read about geo-arbitrage on the inte...
Hello there! Yes, it's been awhile since I've posted anything to this blog, but I'm not dead yet! Really! Behind the scenes A LOT has been going on the last few weeks! First off, the Tako family moved 1500 miles from Washington state to Ari...
First off, I need to apologize for the lateness of this post -- it's already mid-May! Sorry folks! I'm running *a little* behind schedule on the blog these days. Let's just say I've been a little distracted by this whole moving process. Not...
It's official! After years of hunting, and looking for a wonderful place to finish raising our family, we've finally decided to move! I mentioned our upcoming move in my recent post "What have I been Up To (Winter 2022 edition)", but I didn't...
Wow! Has it been a month already since I last posted an update? Don't worry, this blog isn't dead! I've just been super busy! While it might seem like nothing is happening on the surface, behind the scenes I've been working like an absolute...
It's been tough to blog these last couple of weeks -- Not only am I doing a TON of DIY home improvement work, but it also seems a bit crass to be writing about personal finance when there's a war going on. It's a financial disaster of epic pro...
It's no secret that I've been posting a lot less frequently this winter. I've been way too busy and way too exhausted to find any time to write. It's a darn shame, because I really enjoy writing about personal finance and investing! Unfort...
Is January over already? Some months seem to pass by faster than others, and this January feels like it sped by at light speed. Like most winter months, life was pretty quiet here in the Tako household. We stayed indoors much of the time, av...
Are you "happy as a clam" with your stock returns in 2022? If you have money invested in the U.S. stock market, it's probably hard to be happy at the moment. Instead of the positive returns that we've come to expect in recent years, the stock...
December can be a difficult month. On one hand it's the coldest, darkest, and (at least here in the Pacific Northwest) the wettest part of the year. It can be rather depressing. You also have a great number of "cultural holidays" packed into...