There is a perception that minimalism means stripping possessions to the bare minimum needed to live. I find this description to be much different to what most minimalists think the term means. Here's my take on the difference between these two terms.
There is a perception that minimalism means stripping possessions to the bare minimum needed to live. I find this description to be much different to what most minimalists think the term means. Here’s my take on the difference between these two terms. Continue Reading…
Don't get swept into the irrational exuberance of a bubble and make a bad investment decision. If you're thinking about investing in bitcoin based on recent spikes, read about what you can do today.
In the last month, the value of Bitcoin has doubled. Just last night when I went to sleep, Bitcoin had hit $4400, but was down to $4000 when I woke up. For every Bitcoin millionaire story out there, there are countless people who invested at the wrong time and lost money or lost it all during the Mt. Gox hack. How do you invest in digital currencies without falling into the trap of a bubble? Continue Reading…
Weekend reading on decluttering your kitchen, what is minimalism?, calculating compound interest, reviewing time in retirement and recent books I've been reading.
Every two weeks (or so) I do a little write up on what articles, blog posts, books, or other media I found the most value in from that time. My goal is that you find these articles useful, interesting or inspiring in the same way I did.
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After a decade of traveling together, Mrs. Minafi and I have developed a set of travel rules we unofficially follow. These 7 rules have served us well on dozens of trips.
Travel can be one of the largest easily controllable expenses that most people face — myself included. For 2017, travel is set to make up 12% my spending — the largest of any category outside of my home. Over the years as we have traveled more, my approach to how I spend money while traveling has changed a lot. Here’s the approach to travel that’s worked the best for me to get the most out our trips for the least expense.
1. Get a Deal on the Flight
Flights are usually one of the top 2 expenses (hotel being the other) of the trip. We’re fans of Skyscanner, which lets you search for a flight, then get alerts on it as the price changes. For our recent trip to Japan, we watched as fares fluctuated and grabbed tickets when they were at their lowest. Continue Reading…
By tracking monthly expenses and computing savings rate over time, it can become crystal clear if your finances are moving in the right direction.
This is a graph of my savings rate over time. By savings rate I mean the simple formula: total amount saved / total amount earned. This will always be a percentage between 0% and 100% if you’re saving money, or below 0% if you’re dipping into savings. In my case, I consider anything unspent at the end of the month to be savings, so it’s not specifically money that was invested.
Each month I track this in a simple spreadsheet. This allows for doing the basic blue line here — SR over time. It varies wildly though. What’s not clear from this chart is vacations we had, honeymoons, a wedding, paying off some joint debt, paying off a new car and even a windfall (well the timing on the windfall is a little obvious). Continue Reading…
