Posts tagged "Money"

Recently, a reader of this blog tracked me down on Facebook and asked me a very interesting question. Just to be clear, I don’t recommend doing this (even if I am indulging this behavior by writing this post). I may be terrible at answering questions, but I’m somewhat responsive over email, so maybe try me there first.

Anyway, the question went something roughly like:

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And by roughly, I mean exactly, given that I took a screenshot of the question.

There’s a few reasons I find this question interesting:

‘Tis the season for belated blog posts! Seriously though, I know my posting track record is terrible to begin with, but it’s especially terrible November to January…which I understand is a non-negligible chunk of the year. If it’s any consolation, most of that time goes to building gag websites of questionable utility as gifts for my friends and family, and traveling to and from the east coast to showcase said gifts. Anyway, I’m glad to be back, now let’s get to the topic du jour: managing truck expenses.

Each financial post I do brings at least a few questions about my plan or different investment strategies. Before we get to it, I’ll start with my usual disclaimer that I have no background in finance or financial planning, and taking financial advice exclusively from the guy living in a box truck probably isn’t a sound strategy. With that out of the way, let’s get to the questions.

Do you invest in bitcoins?

New Year, New Me Same Truck-Dwelling Degenerate

Excuse the contrarianism for a second here, but I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing people take the initiative, work hard, and reach their goals. My qualm is that, if you want to change something about your life, just do it. Don’t wait until we reach an arbitrary point in our orbit around the Sun to better yourself. After all, January 1^st is a day just like any other, nothing makes it any more conducive to success.

Student loan debt is, uh…a problem in the good ole US ^of A, to say the least. It has passed credit cards for the number two spot on the list of “biggest things holding American wallets hostage,” behind only mortgages at this point. When millennials wake up in a cold sweat in the dead of night, filled with a deep, overwhelming, and existential sense of dread, it’s probably because student loans are haunting their dreams. Okay, hopefully it’s not that bad, but it’s no wonder student loans get a bad rap, with millions of The Indebted™ buckling in for the long haul, getting ready to work and whittle at the loans for the next decade (or more).

It’s been a while since I last lambasted any of the ideals that keep the American Economic Engine™ chuggin’ along. I’m talkin’ about things like “Exceptionalism”, “Overconsumption”, “Materialism”, and any other ‑isms and ‑umptions you want to throw into the mix. Given my relative reticence on the topic, I thought it was high time I took some pot shots at Uncle Sam. Subsequently, I’ve spent a long time staring at this blank expanse of screen, musing over what edgy and Forced Witticisms™ I can put here. Strangely enough, nothing I put down feels particularly pleasing, probably because I don’t think I have anything useful to say on the matter.

This post is less about the “trucks” and more about the “tax-advantaged accounts”, which hopefully won’t offend too many sensibilities. I just figured it’s been a while since I last forayed in my financials, and the several ensuing months have seen some modifications to the plan. The biggest of these modifications is that I added a new tool to my early retirement arsenal: the Mega Backdoor Roth.

The Mega Backdoor what?

Way back in July of last year, someone gave me the idea to track how much money I was saving by not having to pay rent in the area. I crunched the numbers (in reality, like two numbers) and wrote the code, and the savings clock was born. When I flipped the switch, it showed a fairly disheartening negative $6,000 because I was still half in the hole from purchasing my Ford-fabricated flat. But in the intervening seven or eight months, I’ve had the pleasure of watching that number dwindle its way to zero (where I hit my break-even point), and as of this writing, work its way up to five digits in our (just as arbitrary as my formula) base 10 number system.

I gave my spiel about such lightweight topics as money, financial planning, and how I plan to live the rest of my ephemeral human life. Naturally people had some questions and thoughts of their own to contribute, and I’m more than happy to bring those into the mix.

Any reason you’re using an ETF instead of a mutual fund? I don’t see the soundness in the incurring fees on a brokerage account.

Disclaimer: All salaries and bonuses in this post – even those based on real paychecks – are entirely fictional. All financial information is paraphrased…..poorly. The following post was written by a 23-year old man who lives in a truck entirely of his own volition and holds a degree in something wholly-unrelated to both business and finance. As such, its content should not be viewed or seriously considered as advice by anyone.

I was talking to someone, who we’ll call Michael (because that’s his name), about the truck life and this blog, and he said, “You know, it’d be cool if you had a place on the site where you could see how much money you’ve saved.” Well Michael, I agree with you wholeheartedly, so starting today, there’ll be a live-updating clock on the right left side (or bottom on mobile) of the page that shows the amount of money I’ve saved by living in a truck. I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions that it’s not entirely about the money, but regardless, it’s an interesting metric to have. However, without an explanation as to how I arrived at that value, this whole thing would be pretty pointless. So here is my magic money formula.