Blog Posts

Travel Hacking for Beginners: How to Get Started Today

January 17, 2020 By Lance Cothern Leave a Comment

Travel hacking is a unique hobby where people use credit card rewards, frequent flier programs and other travel loyalty programs to travel for free or as cheaply as possible.

Some people prefer to get as much value as possible from travel hacking. Others aim to get access to luxurious travel experiences they would not otherwise be able to afford.

Either way, traveling for free is possible with a bit of careful planning. It may seem too good to be true, but it’s not. My family has used credit card rewards to get free flights, hotel stays and cruises on more than one occasion.

I’d say we’ve easily earned over $10,000 worth of credit card rewards and free travel since we got started a few years ago. Here’s what you need to know if you want to start travel hacking as a beginner that has no experience at all. [Read more…] about Travel Hacking for Beginners: How to Get Started Today

Andrew Carnegie’s Cogs and the Path to FIRE

December 19, 2019 By Jesse Cramer 2 Comments

The FIRE movement, at its heart, is about blazing your own trail. Today’s writing will get this point across, and I’ll lead by example–we’re going to explore a bit. This article will be a winding road, but I hope you’ll trust me enough to guide you out to the other side. Grab your walking stick, and let’s set out.

We all know where the traditional life paths lead. It’s 40 years of 9-to-5 and working for the weekends. It’s using our 20s and 30s to bury ourselves in debt, only to use our 40s and 50s to dig ourselves out. And don’t forget about engaging in Cold Wars of one-upmanship with the neighbors and church group and PTA. Who does he think he is, driving a Tesla in this neighborhood?! This is what the Jones’ have done for generations.

The FIRE movement shirks those “traditions.” Vicki Robin—if she’s not an O.G. FIRE founder, I’m not sure who is—reminds us, “Money is something we trade our life energy for…The only real asset you have is time.” There’s an idea worth holding onto. The only real asset you have is time. We’ll come back to this idea. But first, a detour! Let’s go check out the steel mill… [Read more…] about Andrew Carnegie’s Cogs and the Path to FIRE

4 Proven Ways to Make Money with Twitter

November 1, 2019 By Financial Wolves Leave a Comment

If all you’ve been doing on Twitter is following celebrity accounts and retweeting viral memes, you are seriously missing out. Whether it’s a personal account or a business social media page, you can actually make money with Twitter using a few simple ways.

Using social media, in general, is one of the top ways to make money online. You’ll likely have to take the time building an audience first.

Sounds too good to be true? Well, we’re here to prove otherwise, because it could give you a start at building your money making machine.

To give you a sense of just how popular Twitter is, as of early 2019, the social media platform had around monthly 330 million active users. Moreover, it had 500 million tweets being sent every day. If that doesn’t have you leaping for the opportunity, we don’t know what will. [Read more…] about 4 Proven Ways to Make Money with Twitter

5 Things I Learned from the FIRE Community

October 25, 2019 By Sam at How To FIRE 1 Comment

Many people dream of becoming financially independent and retiring early, but it’s something that only a small percentage ever achieve. For most, work continues well into their sixties (and sometimes beyond), leaving little time to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

The idea behind FIRE (which stands for financial independence, retire early) is to provide the intellectual tools, resources, and support that people need to make early retirement a genuine possibility. [Read more…] about 5 Things I Learned from the FIRE Community

An Argument for Lifestyle Creep

October 18, 2019 By Kevin from Just Start Investing Leave a Comment

If you’re in the FIRE community and you’ve heard of lifestyle creep, it’s probably been in negative context. Outside of questioning the 4% rule, it’s hard to think of bigger sin for FIRE folks than succumbing to lifestyle creep.

However, I’m not so sure it deserves such a bad rap.

Is spending more as you earn more money really such a bad thing? Can it derail your retirement plans? Shouldn’t you be investing more your index fund portfolio?

The short answer is, “yes” to all of the above.

The longer answer is, “yes, but there are ways you can smartly experience lifestyle creep without getting off track.”

We’ll dive into all those reasons and more, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First things first, what actually is Lifestyle Creep? [Read more…] about An Argument for Lifestyle Creep