A working dad, starting a long journey to reach FIRE, contentment, or both.
There are lessons to be learned in many different circumstances. I was reminded of an important one last month, but not in a way one might expect. No, I learned (or relearned) a lesson during a fun morning of snow shoveling.
I’m happy to share the lesson with my readers without making them shovel my driveway.
Recently, I read something from someone I follow on Twitter (or X, or whatever we’re calling it this week) that bugged me. This person was, in effect, saying that they could not respect someone who didn’t make a certain thing a priority…which I don’t. In years past, reading this would have bothered me, as, in general, the person who said this was someone whose opinion I value.
This year, things are going to be different.
In my last post I mentioned that my situation had changed. And so it has. I left a stable but stressful job in August for new pastures. It was definitely time. But why did I make the jump, and why now? And was it the right move?
In the previous post, I asked ChatGPT to write 1000-1500 words about depression and financial independence. (I have one of those; unfortunately, the one I have is not the financial independence.) I promised to add my personal take to ChatGPT’s ideas and see how close it came to describing my situation.
So, how did ChatGPT do? Let’s find out.
Stop me if you’ve heard this premise, but…I asked ChatGPT to write a 1000-1500 word blog post about trying to reach financial independence while struggling with depression. How did it do?
Continue reading “ChatGPT Talks Depression and Financial Independence”
If you regularly checked this page (and I don’t know that anyone does), you might wonder if I gave up on writing it. After all, it’s been over a year and a half since the last post was published. And while this post will show that obviously I’m still writing, there’s more to be said than just that.
So, 18½ months later, what’s going on? Where did I go? How am I doing? Does anyone care? The answers to most of those questions will follow.
I was well into my 40s before I learned anything about the concept of FIRE (or, as it is much more commonly called now, just FI). While I am now aiming for FI (and moving very, very slowly in that direction), I am not nearly as far along as my millennial counterparts who dominate the financial Twittersphere. FI simply wasn’t a concept that was discussed much when I was younger…and Twitter didn’t even exist back then. Nevertheless, I can see several points in my life in which it would have been nice to hear about financial independence. Let’s explore them together.
The following is a guest post from Anne @ Unique Gifter, writing about neglecting the little things and having a constant stream of packages show up from not planning out her gift giving properly. (Picture captions are mine. Canadian spellings are hers.) Thanks for the post, Anne!
Saving and making good money choices are a huge part of my lifestyle. Throughout our marriage, my spouse and I have taken the “right” steps to set ourselves up for future retirement. But that doesn’t mean everything is perfect – so here is our dumb money choice: neglecting the little things.
Continue reading “Dumb Money Choice: Neglecting the Little Things”
In recent months (you know, when I’ve actually posted), I’ve moved more toward a more overall view of my finances. (I am trying to move toward financial independence, after all.) But this blog (and its predecessor) originally started as much of a side hustle showcase. I still do some of that, so I thought I would take a few paragraphs and talk about where I am actually making any amount of money with these.
Recently I was reminded rather forcefully that having a plan to reach financial independence is not a luxury but a necessity. Basically: my employer showed that I need to plan for the future because it hasn’t. No, it hasn’t planned for its own future, let alone mine. Unfortunately, that was brought into focus by a medical emergency.