Money Boss

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Archives for 2017

The Future of Money Boss

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As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, it’s been a long, slow summer here at Money Boss. I haven’t written much about money — and when I have done so, it’s mainly been about my new house.

While it’s true that the house itself has been the biggest barrier between me and writing — it’s been almost a full-time job for me since July 1st! — that’s not the only thing that’s been going on.

You see, about the same time Kim and I started looking for a new place to live, another opportunity presented itself. I hinted at this in early April when I wrote about how 2017 felt like the year of opportunity for me:

“As if all of this isn’t enough, I had a phone call yesterday that I can’t discuss in detail. What I can say is that an unexpected — but amazing — opportunity may have fallen into my lap. I’ll have a second call about this situation in a week or two, and I’m curious to see what happens.”

Well, it took six months for that opportunity to come to fruition, but last week it finally did so. You see, I’ve re-purchased Get Rich Slowly, the money blog I started in 2006.

So, while I was silent this summer, I was actually working hard behind the scenes. I was talking with the previous owners about the terms of the deal. I was talking with my personal board of directors about whether I should even pursue this path. And I was brainstorming just what I’d do with the the site if I did get it back. (For instance, I spent the last week of June coming up with this layout as a basis for a re-design. That’s time I could have used to write articles at Money Boss, but instead I was focused on Get Rich Slowly.)

This morning, I made it official. I announced that I’m back at Get Rich Slowly.

What does this news mean for Money Boss? That’s a great question, but I’m not sure I have a great answer. Not yet, anyhow.

I am proud of the work I’ve done at this site, and I think it’s a useful resource — especially my Money Boss manifesto. That said, I’m not keen on maintaining two sites about money. Long-time readers know how much I struggle to keep multiple sites going at once.

I do know this: Get Rich Slowly will address a much wider range of material than I was able to tackle here. For better or worse, I intended Money Boss to mainly be about “advanced personal finance”, which is awesome. But as much as it’s awesome, it’s also limiting. Get Rich Slowly will let me write about anything related to money.

All this is to say that my attention will be elsewhere for the foreseeable future — possibly indefinitely.

One option I’ve considered is moving most of my Money Boss articles over to Get Rich Slowly, and just keeping the core content here as a sort of “mini course”. Or I could use Money Boss as a place to publish occasional longer articles about advanced personal finance, just as I had originally intended. Again, I’m not sure which will happen — but I wanted to let you folks know what’s going on.

I’m not a slacker. Honest! But sometimes a year of opportunity is also a year of change. The six months have been all about change in my life. In this case, it’s a change back to what once was: I’m back at Get Rich Slowly.

Financial Freedom Is Time Freedom

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For the past month, my entire life seems to have revolved around repairs and maintenance on the new house.

Some days, I’m the one doing the work: shoveling level ground for a planned writing shed, crawling under the house to check for leaks, pruning the overgrown hedges. Most days, however, I’m meeting with other folks: roofing contractors, siding contractors, HVAC contractors, plumbing contractors, pest control contractors. For the past thirty days, this has almost been a full-time job!

“You know, you’re lucky,” a friend said to me a few days ago.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Most people don’t have the freedom you have,” he said. “It seems like you’re able to just press ‘pause’ on life to focus on your new home. You can shift your time and attention. Most people have to go to work every day. They can’t get eight roofing contractors out to bid on the project because they can’t take time off to meet with eight different companies.”

My friend has a point.

Because I’m financially independent, I’m able to structure my life in such a way that I have tremendous flexibility with how I spend my days. I guess this is somewhat obvious, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve written before about how frugality buys freedom, about how, in a very real sense, time is money — and money is time.

But our conversation made me consider this concept in a new way. It made me realize that what I value most about my financial situation is that it gives me the luxury to do what I want — when I want to do it.

I’ve written before about the six stages of financial freedom. The more money you save, the more freedom you have, and the greater risks you can take.

[The Stages of Financial Freedom]

I feel like a similar set of stages exists for time independence. They don’t line up perfectly with the milestones on the road to financial freedom — somebody who gets financial support from his family might have plenty of free time, for instance — but there’s a lot of overlap.

  • When you’re in debt, for example, your time is not your own. “Debt is slavery,” writes Michael Mihalik in his book of the same name. When you owe money, your freedom is restricted. When you work, the money you earn (from your time on the job) belongs to somebody else.
  • Once you’re debt-free, your time becomes yours again. Your wages go into your pocket and fund your future. But what you can do with your time is still limited by your ongoing expenses. If you don’t have anything saved, you can’t afford the time and money to pack up and travel the world. You can’t afford to stay home with your family. If you’re spending exactly what you earn, you’re essentially treading water with time.
  • When you begin to earn a personal profit — when you begin to earn more than you spend — then you begin to bank time. Sure, you’re actually banking money, but that money represents future freedom, future minutes and hours that you can use to do whatever you choose.
  • With good fortune and hard work, you’ll eventually reach the latter levels of financial independence. At these stages, how you spend your time is dictated almost exclusively by your goals and your personal mission statement. All of the weeks and months and years you worked hard to save money come to fruition. Your days belong to you.

In my case, financial independence has allowed me to structure my days so that I can pursue my priorities. Instead of having to drive to the box factory at 6:30 every morning (as I did for many years), I can get out of bed and drink my coffee while checking email. I can take the dog for a walk. I can go to the gym. I can sit in the living room and read. When I feel moved to write, I can write. And if I feel like I need to spend an entire month working with contractors, I can spend an entire month working with contractors.

Money gives you freedom not just to have the things you want, but also to do the things you want. Financial independence is temporal independence. Financial freedom is time freedom.

Our New Home: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

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I know it’s been quiet around Money Boss recently, but that’s because it’s been a busy three weeks in Real Life.

Kim and I spent the latter half of June packing the condo and prepping to move. Last Friday evening, we picked up the keys to our new place. We brought the animals over and spent the night. Then, on Saturday morning, we started a four-day marathon of shifting our household eight miles south.

Our new home

We’re still not completely unpacked — and probably won’t be for a couple of weeks — but we’ve made good progress. The kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and living room are all functional (if somewhat cluttered). All of our remaining boxes are staged in the back office (which used to be a garage). The internet is now operational. Mail has begun to arrive. The cats and dog have already learned to love the place. So have we.

After only five nights in the new house, Kim and I do love it — warts and all. And make no mistake: This place has some warts. [Read more…]

The Key to Financial Freedom

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It’s been a crazy couple of months for me. Since April, most of my time has been dedicated to selling our condo and buying a new home. Now, at last, the turbulent times are almost over. Kim and I closed on the condo last week, and we’ll close on the “country cottage” next Monday. On July 1st, we’ll move to the new place and a new chapter of our lives will begin.

As some semblance of normalcy returns to my world, I’ve been sorting through my Money Boss inbox. I love reading what you folks write to me (even if I don’t always respond!), especially when you share your goals and dreams for the future.

Debt is Slavery

For instance, here’s part of a message from a woman we’ll call Irene. Irene recently experienced an epiphany:

I see my parents, both of them tired and still worrying about the money. I see people in my country, counting days to retirement yet dreading the date like it’s some kind of an invisible curse that cuts off their pay by a large margin they now have to live with from month to month, even asking for a federal support to make the ends meet. I see young people whose potential is squandered just because they are slaves to the system they were told about — go to school, finish it, find a job, work your part until retirement, and then, if you’re lucky, you have ten to twelve years to enjoy…probably.

I see all that…and I want more out of my life than simply be a part of a rat race we all are invariably losing. I want to be that girl who dared to dream the impossible and then realized it.

I love it! It’s email from money bosses like Irene that keeps me motivated to continue doing the work I do.

In this case, Irene’s message struck a deeper chord with me. It reminded me of my own struggles with money.

When I was younger, I lived paycheck to paycheck on an average salary. I was deep in debt. I had no savings. I spent every penny I earned. Like many folks in similar circumstances, I felt chained to my job. I felt like I had no options.

“Debt is slavery,” argues Michael Mihalik in his book of the same name. “You drag yourself out of bed and go to work because you have to.” You have a mortgage, a car payment, credit card bills, student loans, and other financial obligations. If you don’t go to work, if you don’t keep earning money, you risk financial ruin.

Most people believe this is simply how life works. It’s the price you pay to live in a modern society. And because most people allow themselves to accept these financial burdens, they’re chained to their jobs. They lack freedom. They’re unable to take risks.

But most people aren’t money bosses. You are.

The Key to Financial Freedom

Because you’re a money boss, you recognize that it’s up to you to escape the chains of debt. You know that the key to financial freedom can be found through a simple concept: profit margin, the gap between what you earn and what you spend. And the best thing about profit margin is that it buys you freedom both today and tomorrow.

  • The greater the gap between your earning and spending, the more freedom you have today. This profit margin gives you power — power to make choices that might otherwise be unavailable to you.
  • At the same time, profit gives you greater freedom tomorrow. When you earn more than you spend, you’re able to set aside savings. This savings — your accumulated profits — grants you a wider range of options in the future.

The more money you save, the more freedom you have, and the greater risks you can take. As your financial independence increases, you chip away at the wall of worry. You’re able to make decisions based on happiness rather than dollars.

Remember my roadmap to financial freedom?

[The Stages of Financial Freedom]

A lot of folks think financial independence is a fixed point. It’s not. Financial independence is a process, with different stages along the path to complete freedom. As you reach each stage, it’s as if you’ve gained a key to unlock another chain that has tied you down.

When you reach solvency, for instance, you obtain the key that unbinds you from depending on others for financial support. When you reach stability, you unlock the chains of consumer debt. When you reach agency, you’re no longer shackled to your job. And so on.

This is not just theory. This is how money works — not just for me, but for you as well.

Buying Freedom

My inbox is filled with examples of folks who have managed to shed their financial shackles to one degree or another. For instance, another money boss — let’s call her Marie — wrote to say that she’s in a precarious position at work. There’s conflict, and she’s worried about her job. But because she’s managed to boost her income while trimming her expenses, she’s less worried than she might have been in the past.

This is a terrific real-life example of the security that comes when your work as a money boss comes to fruition. If she were in debt and/or spending exactly what she earned, Marie would feel stuck in a job that’s causing her stress. But because she’s paid off her debt and has accumulated some savings, the work conflict isn’t as scary. She knows that if she leaves her job, she’ll be fine for a while. She’s bought a degree of freedom.

No matter where you are on the road to financial freedom, I urge you to continue making smart choices. Remember to manage your life like a business. Ruthlessly guard against unnecessary expenses. Boost your income whenever possible. Never forget that your goal is to remove the chains that hold you back, to gain the freedom to do and be who you choose.

Money Boss Theater: The Cluttered Lives of the American Middle Class

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Long-time readers are familiar with my decade-long war on Stuff. I was raised in a cluttered home. From a young age, I was a collector. (Some might even say a hoarder!) After Kris and I got married, I began to acquire adult-level quantities of Stuff. When we moved to a larger house, I found ways to acquire even more Stuff. I owned thousands of books, thousands of comic books, hundreds of compact discs, and scads of other crap.

Eventually, I’d had enough. A decade ago, I began the s-l-o-w process of de-cluttering.

While I still bring new Stuff into the house — Kim would tell you I bring too much Stuff home — I’m not nearly so acquisitive as I used to be. In fact, for the past decade I’ve purged far more than I’ve acquired. And that process continues, week by week, month by month, year by year. In four weeks, when we move out of this condo into our not-so-big house, I intend to get rid of even more Stuff.

The Cluttered Lives of the American Middle Class

Turns out, I’m not the only one fighting this battle. Many Americans struggle with clutter. This is one reason for the popularity of the simplicity movement. When I visit my friends who live in tiny houses, they rejoice at the lack of Stuff in their lives. And it’s why books like Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up become popular bestsellers. (That book is great, by the way. Here’s my review from my personal site.)

Last week, I stumbled on a video that documents the work of a group of anthropologists from UCLA. These researchers visited the homes of 32 typical American families. They wanted to look at how people interacted with their environments, at how they used space. They also wanted to look at how dual-income, middle-class families related to their material possessions. They systematically documented the Stuff people own, where they keep it, and how they use it.

This team produced a book called Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century, which records their findings. They also produced this twenty-minute video that provides an overview of the results:

“Contemporary U.S. households have more possessions per household than any society in global history,” says Jeanne E. Arnold. That’s both shocking and unsurprising all at once.

Her colleague Anthony Graesch notes that our homes reflect this material abundance. “Hyper-consumerism is evident in many spaces,” he says, “like garages, corners of home offices, and even sometimes in the corners of living rooms and bedrooms.”

Graesch continues: “We have lots of Stuff. We have many mechanisms by which we accumulate possessions in our home, but we have few rituals or mechanisms or processes for unloading these objects, for getting rid of them.” All of this stuff causes stress. It carries very real physical and emotional tolls.

One interesting finding? Clutter bothers women more than men. This might be because the responsibility for cleaning the clutter generally falls to women.

“The United States has 3.1% of the world’s children but consumes 40% of the world’s toys,” notes Arnold. In households with children — or, in my case, puppies — the toys can take over the home. Children’s toys and objects spill out of their bedrooms into living areas, kitchens, and bathrooms. The push to become consumers, to value Stuff, starts at an early age.

Why do modern kids have so many toys? It may be because there are so many playthings available so cheaply. There’s more Stuff available for kids than there was fifty years ago, and that Stuff costs less. Plus, priorities seem to have shifted. Modern parents see spending on kids as a priority; parents fifty years ago did not. [Read more…]