I’ve written about the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) several times since I launched my blog. I’ve also made a few references to my FIRE journey. What I have not done to date is share any details about my FIRE story. In this post, I’ll rectify that by coming into the light and sharing my path to FI. I think telling my FIRE story is important for several reasons: To establish my credibility as an occasional writer on the topic.…

Travel Hacking via credit card incentives is a popular money saving strategy in the FIRE community. However, credit card companies are starting to tighten up the rules of their offerings. The new rules are intended to limit the frequency with which consumers can apply for new cards and earn sign up incentives. I recently read a blog post which surmises that timeshare ownership (a.k.a. vacation ownership) may be the next popular trend in travel hacking in part due to the…

Although I am by no means a financial or investment expert, I am an amateur lifehacker — and that includes hacking my personal finances to increase automation, improve security and maximize rewards points. Over the years, I have picked up several tips, tricks and best practices which I thought I’d share. None of these techniques are earth-shattering (and some are well known), but my hope is that anyone reading this post might pick up at least one new idea to…