Most of us are shrink wrapped in our own ideology. Some of us more so than others. I’m certainly very, very, ideological. I come from a long line of secular Jews. My great grandparents and grandparents fled countries where they weren’t welcome. They were underdogs. They stuck out like sore thumbs. They were beaten by […]
Grain’s Addiction
I’m well into my second month of The Vegan Before Six experiment. At the end of the month, I will report on whether or not there’s been any further weight loss, but for now I feel my subjective experience of this experience is worth a little bit of reflection. As a quick review, this approach […]
Unified Field Theory
The unified field theory of early retirement is an elusive ideal yet to be described. Much like the unified field theory of physics, first imagined by Albert Einstein as a way to reconcile the behavior of small particles, the behavior of large bodies, space, time, electromagnetism, etc. under a single physical set of laws, The […]
Churning Tricks
Enough philosophical handwringing. Enough ethical self inspection. Enough of the world and it’s large problems. (And my piddly solutions.) Tonight, for a change of pace, for something simple and escapist. Philosophy is for losers… Tonight I will check in on the status of my recent round of credit card applications, and detail how I will […]
Let’s Get Real
Shall we start tonight’s post with a shockingly beautiful, profound quote? This is from Haruki Murakami, The Japanese writer after whom my wife and I named our oldest son. “If there is a hard, high wall and an egg that breaks against it, no matter how right the wall or how wrong the egg, I […]
The Taxman Always Thinks Twice
There are many ways to go about justifying tax avoidance. I’ve already written here and here about my own justifications for trying to decrease my tax burden. But this is such a ripe area for ethical exploration. So why not dig in a little deeper? My gestalt is that people’s opinion on tax avoidance is […]
Cliff’s Notes: Never Pay Taxes
In my experience a great blog post is much more than an idea. It is more like a seed pod that is dropped into fertile soil. It germinates and sprouts and expands in all directions in the readers mind, transforming him much as a piece of ground is enriched by the presence of a growing […]
Book Club
I’m not sure why I write this blog, except that I’ve discovered that I really like writing and look forward to putting my thoughts down every day. One thing that I’m definitely unsure of is why you read this blog. Are you looking for tips on traveling for free? Are you interested in early retirement […]
A Spoonful of Sugar
I think people get the wrong idea that saving money is a sacrifice. The way most people talk about saving for retirement makes it sound about as appetizing as a glass of wheatgrass juice following seven hours on a stationary bike at fat camp. When TV personalities advocate for saving more, they always seem do […]
What You Pay For…
This may surprise you, but I have not always been money obsessed. In fact, if you ask my mother what I was like when I was a boy, she’ll tell you that every year for my birthday I asked for the same sort of thing, be it a football, a baseball, or a soccer ball […]
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