Designing for Financial Independence
The holiday season is the most financially dangerous time of the year. There are all the parties that must be attended, the gifts that must be given, and the restaurant meals that must be eaten due to the countless hours of shopping. Because of the beauty of it all, we don’t realize the damage done to our finances … Read more
Being an architect, I know a little about building design and construction. Which I must admit is more complicated than people think it is. So, when I began to think about building a financial home my architectural training enlightens my decision making. Many might say that a financial plan is the foundation of building a financial home. I … Read more
The more people I speak to about investing, the more I recognize that many of us do not understand the various financial terms we hear in the media. The terms and the concepts all seem so confusing, overwhelming and complicated. Many of us are mesmerized as the media tries to explain what the stock market is and how … Read more
Mrs. Broke Architect and I have agreed on the goal of one day becoming millionaires. According to a study by the Spectrem Group, the number of American households with a net worth of $1,000,000 or more has been on the rise since 2008. In 2008 5.9 percent of American households were worth $1,000,000. By 2016 that number was … Read more
As the Broke Architect people assume that Mrs. Broke Architect and I spend most of our time pinching pennies, clipping coupons and sewing and repairing our old clothes and shoes. But, truth be told we live a pretty normal to amazing life. This is what I like to call living fabulously frugal. We own a home in a … Read more
How many times have you heard someone say money can’t buy you happiness? That statement is usually followed up with “you can’t take it with you.” These types of statements are often used when referring to someone being “cheap.” I typically hear these comments from people who do not have money. But somehow, they always seem to have … Read more
Many people I know are always dreaming of having a six-figure salary and/or having a million dollars in savings. Both of these are awesome goals but are not necessarily tied together. One can have a million dollars in savings without making six-figures and of course one can have a six-figure salary without have a single dollar in saving … Read more
Seeing that Mrs. Broke Architect and I do not have children, I believe that it would not be right to tell people how to handle their back to school shopping issues. We did not have to look into the sad eyes of a child this upcoming school year and inform them we only have a limited amount of … Read more
The foundational rule of most financial programs is to live on less than you make. This can be expressed many different ways: live within your means, spend less than you earn, or stop living paycheck to paycheck. In this post I want to take issue with one of the above statements. Stop living paycheck to paycheck. I have … Read more
It seems that we have entered a new era of being woke. Woke to the society’s social ills, woke to political injustices, woke to unfair policing. But what is missing from these discussions is the need for true financial literacy. Now there are large numbers of woke people in Americans who are taking to the streets to protest … Read more