Personal Finance

What Financial Independence is to me now is watching my wife find joy in volunteering at our local elementary school, doing homework with my kids, coaching my son’s basketball team, learning Spanish alongside my daughter and...... Last month, a client asked me what financial independence (FI) meant to me.  I tried to answer succinctly but as I rambled on, I realized my thoughts were anything but organized.  Since then, I've continued to ponder the question and this is my attempt to articulate what FI has meant and [...]

529 plans haven't received much love from me in the past, mainly because they don't compete with their Roth IRA counterparts. However, thanks to the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, you can now use 529's to fund both your favorite person's education and their Roth IRA. If you aren’t familiar with Roth IRA’s be sure to check out my posts Fund Your Roth and Roth vs. Traditional. And if you need more information don’t hesitate to reach out to Kristin or me. If you're a US citizen subject [...]

Have you ever dreamed of what you would do if you had too much money?  I am not talking about dreaming of yachts, ponds full of hippos, and hanging with your entourage. I'm talking about your dreams of philanthropy, giving your neighbor a scholarship, stocking a food pantry, or funding a local psychiatric hospital. If you aren’t there yet, stay on our plan of living below your means, saving and investing and you’ll be there sooner than you’d expect.   Some of our HIT Family is living out [...]

My Alternative to Expensive Insurance When reviewing health share plans we were drawn to Samaritan, which has been around since 1994. Samaritan describes themselves as “A community of Christians paying one another’s medical bills.”  This is exactly what it is,  those of us who signed up to be a part of this plan do not have insurance, and are committed to sending their monthly share to another Christian in need.  Samaritan is based in Peoria, IL. That means it’s just over the river from us, and there [...]

“Who is your health insurance through?”   “What do you mean you don’t have health insurance?”   “Your husband is an attorney, he should have health insurance through work”.     More often than not this is the start of my conversation with friends interested in learning about our health insurance.  About a year ago, my husband was promoted to partner at his law firm.  While we were celebrating, we learned partners are no longer employees and we would no longer have our employee sponsored health insurance. We had an option [...]

In August 2020, Sarah and I met our financial goals.  We reached “enough” and will begin forging a new path, not driven by money.  The financial independence journey took me 37 years to accomplish and over half of those years I spent in the passenger seat.  This post is about my early days and is dedicated to family, friends and mentors who started me down the path to financial freedom. A collage of mentors from top left to bottom right. Uncle Chuck and myself on the farm, [...]

2019 was a lifestyle altering year where I committed to bike more than I drive.  The seed was planted in 2017.  We moved from the Four Corners to Houston Texas, purchased a home, flooded and re-built.  Due to Hurricane Harvey it took us longer than expected to settle into a normal routine, but when we did I soon realized how much I missed the regular occurrence of outdoor adventures with nearby and active friends.  It wasn’t long before my mind was racing on ideas to fill the gap.  [...]

Death and Disability - What’s in your future and should you buy insurance? I have a 1 in 2700 chance of dying this year, and my wife’s odds are 1 in 5900. If 1 in 2700 wasn’t sobering enough, being at the luxurious age of 35 I have a 50% chance of becoming disabled for 90 days or more before turning 65.  I find it easier to ignore the data and go on living with my head in the sand but in reality, I need the data to [...]