Family Finances

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Effective Ways To Protect Your Family From Harm’s Way

Effective Ways To Protect Your Family From Harm’s Way

As a parent, your top priority is to protect your children until they are old enough to fend for themselves. Protecting your children requires good health, being alive, having resources, self-defense skills, and using common sense. If you’re missing one of these, the chances of your children and partner being harmed go up. After a […]

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Careful Giving Up Your Career To Be A Stay-At-Home Parent

Careful Giving Up Your Career To Be A Stay-At-Home Parent

In April 2017, I made a commitment to be a stay-at-home parent for the first five years of my son’s life. When my daughter was born in December 2019, I made the same commitment for the sake of equality. Research shows that the first five years are the most crucial for a child’s development. Supposedly,

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Rental Property Maintenance With Your Kids Solves Two Problems

Rental Property Maintenance With Your Kids Solves Two Problems

If you’re a real estate investor with children, you may face two significant challenges. The first challenge is holding onto your rental property for as long as possible. You understand that the longer you own real estate and stocks, the more likely you are to build wealth. However, as you grow older and wealthier, your

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The Economics Of Being A Childless Cat Lady Or Gentleman

The Economics Of Being A Childless Cat Lady Or Gentleman

With elections approaching, let the political mudslinging and dirt-digging begin! This time, it’s regarding being childless and loving cats. Republican VP nominee JD Vance said this during a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson: “It doesn’t make any sense that we turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it.

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A Parent’s Existential Crisis: When All Financial Obligations Are Met

A Parent’s Existential Crisis: When All Financial Obligations Are Met

After publishing my post, “When To Stop Contributing To A 529 Plan,” I felt a sense of emptiness. For years, I had been trying to find a logical way to decide when to stop saving for my children’s college education. When I finally figured out the answer to my financial obligation, I lost some purpose.

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Not Having Kids Is Your FIRE Super Power: Don’t Blow It!

Not Having Kids Is Your FIRE Super Power: Don’t Blow It!

There’s a classic saying, “Youth is wasted on the young.” It’s meant to convey that those who are young lack the perspective to appreciate all the advantages of youth and thus take it for granted. After more than seven years of being a parent, it is clear to me that not having kids is a

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From Part-Time To Full-Time Fatherhood: A Tricky Transition

From Part-Time To Full-Time Fatherhood: A Tricky Transition

When my son was born in April 2017, I promised to become a full-time father until he turned five. I was so serious about this commitment that I sold our largest rental property to free up time. This property was supposed to be our crown jewel for my wife and my retirement plans. However, something

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Raising Money-Smart Kids: A Guide To Teaching Personal Finance

Raising Money-Smart Kids: A Guide To Teaching Personal Finance

Understanding the fundamentals of personal finance is pivotal for kids to successfully launch into the world of adulting. Money skills are necessary to navigate effectively through everything from life’s humdrum day-to-day tasks to its elaborate complexities. Yet what surprises me is that most schools are still not required to teach financial literacy to students. Due

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Don’t Buy A Vacation Property Until After You Have Children

Don’t Buy A Vacation Property Until After You Have Children

Unlike buying a primary residence, where I believe you should buy one as soon as you can afford to, purchasing a vacation property is a different matter. Nobody needs to buy a vacation property; it’s a luxury expense that everyone can do without. Chances are, you won’t use your vacation property enough times a year

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Family Ski Vacations: The Cost Could Break The Bank!

Family Ski Vacations: The Cost Could Break The Bank!

In 2007, I had a dream of taking my future family on a ski vacation. I was an avid snowboarder and my wife enjoyed the tranquility of Lake Tahoe. After receiving a good bonus, I bought a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo at Everline Resort in Palisades. Our son came ten years later, but we didn’t go

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A Provider’s Clock For Men Is Like A Biological Clock For Women

A Provider’s Clock For Men Is Like A Biological Clock For Women

Lately, I’ve been pondering why I have less admiration for men who claim to be retired but have a working spouse. Is it fueled by envy? It’s possible, considering I wouldn’t mind if my wife were the breadwinner, easing some of the financial strain on me. The sentiment is akin to observing several of my

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Inflation And Greed: The Biggest Wealth Destroyers For Families

Inflation And Greed: The Biggest Wealth Destroyers For Families

After publishing my post on no longer being financially independent, several media outlets picked up the story and thousands of comments on their respective platforms ensued. The main criticism was that my expenses were way too high and that I am greedy. As a result, I thought it would be useful to discuss the impact

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A 529 Plan Is Not Enough To Pay For College, We Must Save More

A 529 Plan Is Not Enough To Pay For College, We Must Save More

In 2017 and 2019, I superfunded two 529 plans for my two children. Since then, my wife and my parents have also regularly contributed to the two college savings plans. You would think with all this aggressive saving, I would feel confident we’ll have enough saved to pay for college. But I’m still unsure. Given

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How Parents Can Fill The Void Once Kids Go To School Full-Time

How Parents Can Fill The Void Once Kids Go To School Full-Time

When my kids were born, I made a promise to be a stay-at-home father for the first five years of each of their lives. Mission accomplished with my son in April 2022. But there’s still some time to go before my daughter starts full-time school in Fall 2024 and turns five. Anticipating the completion of

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A Blind Spot About Private School Families: They Aren’t All Rich!

A Blind Spot About Private School Families: They Aren’t All Rich!

One of the things I’ve tried to work on since middle school is being less judgmental about others. To function efficiently in society, I often have default assumptions about people which can sometimes backfire. I’m also certain that if more people got to know each other there would be less conflict. As a minority who

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The Things We Learn After Being Apart For A While

The Things We Learn After Being Apart For A While

After successfully replacing her lost passport, my wife finally got to Tokyo, Japan to help her mother out with her mother’s sister’s estate issues. At times, it felt like mission impossible coordinating the trip, booking the hotels, going to the countryside to place the urn, and meeting with another country’s estate planning lawyers. Her mother

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A Summer Job Landscaping A Rental Property With My Children

A Summer Job Landscaping A Rental Property With My Children

During the summer, I like to work odd jobs to remind myself of the importance of hard work and determination. This way, it helps me not take for granted the things that I have today. Since starting Financial Samurai in 2009, I’ve been told countless times that I live in a bubble and I’m out

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The Joy Of Low Expectations: When Nobody Believes In You

The Joy Of Low Expectations: When Nobody Believes In You

After every tennis match I lost in high school, my father would console me by saying, “You just weren’t good enough.” Those words stung each time I heard them. But they were true. Over time, my dad stopped coming to my matches because I told him the pressure of his gaze wasn’t helpful. With no

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Blind Spots For Fathers Who Think They Are Doing A Great Job

Blind Spots For Fathers Who Think They Are Doing A Great Job

One of the fun things about giving up on retirement is preparing for upcoming job interviews. I probably gave over 300 interviews myself when I was working in banking from 1999 – 2012. One of my favorite interview questions is asking candidates about a blind spot of theirs they eventually realized and how? The question’s

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What It’s Like Attending A Fancy Private School Fundraiser

What It’s Like Attending A Fancy Private School Fundraiser

Now that COVID is over, my wife and I went to our son’s school fundraiser for teachers and low-income household families. I had never been to one of these types of events before and found it fascinating. The thing is, I almost didn’t go. I had been running around all day with the kids and

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