Designing for Financial Independence
In my last post, I wrote about the four overarching categories that have an impact on how much money you are able to save and pay down debt. The categories are housing costs, transportation costs, food costs and discretionary spending. This post will focus on the one category that typically consumes the largest portion of most people’s income—housing … Read more
In the blog post “Budgeting the Foundation of Wealth Building,” I discussed the various types of budgets that could be used to take control of your finances. But within all budgets, there are four overarching categories that have an impact on how much money you are able to save and pay down debt. The categories are housing costs, … Read more
Currently, I am reading Elizabeth Willard Thames’s book “Meet the Frugalwoods – Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living.” In her book, Mrs. Thames tells the story of her family’s path to financial independence. There are sections of the book where she discusses living in economically disenfranchised communities and how that experience helped her to realize how privileged she … Read more
Back in 2014, Mrs. Broke Architect and I began questioning why we had a financial advisor. We met with him once a year, if that, to review our financial situation. Most of the time he would just tell us: “You guys are doing great; I’ll see you next year.” After hearing that for a few years, we begin … Read more
“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” Warren Buffet All of the leading economic indicators says that the American economy is strong and looking to continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Unemployment is down, consumer confidence and consumer spending are up and many forecasters are expecting it to continue to rise throughout … Read more
“We need to become less dependent on our incomes,” is a statement I heard from Paula Pant while listening to the Stacking Benjamins podcast. Her statement really got me thinking about how I have spent most of my adult life enslaved to various employers. Not trying to use the word “slave” lightly. But when I consider how I … Read more
At the end of 2016 when Mrs. Broke Architect and I set down to develop our financial plan for 2017, we had a net wealth of – $83,671 (To refer to my Net Worth vs Net Wealth Whats The Difference blog post to see how I calculated this number) . The purpose of our meeting was to review … Read more
The end of the year is a very financially stressful time in the Broke Architect household. It is not from any pressure to lavish our friends and family with incredible gifts. What stresses us out are the various financial decisions that need to be made during this time of the year, due to the major impact these decisions … Read more
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