I read many blog posts each day. They mostly focus on personal finance, but also on minimalism and travel . Here are some of my favorite posts I read in February.
I started in medicine late, and found FIRE even later, so retiring early was never going to be an option for me. However, for those who hear about financial independence early, and start earning a good living before their mid-30s, that early saving and investing can bear fruit. I very much enjoyed Kevin Ha’s post at Financial Panther: The Beauty of Coast FIRE.
Achieving FIRE, and truly retiring early, means that you may be living on a lower income for a very long time. Some bloggers have found some very interesting (but legal!) ways to stretch their early retirement dollars. Jesse Cramer at The Best Interest wrote a great (by which I mean: he articulated my thoughts about it much more eloquently than I could have done) post about this: Is ‘Benefits Hacking’ Genius? Or Immoral?
Over at Millionaire on the Prairie, Blue Lobster wrote 2 pieces this month that really spoke to me. The first, Truth be told, no one aspires to poverty, addresses the assumptions about income that underlie most personal finance writing: namely, that you have some excess income to deal with. The second, No One Said It Would Be Easy, is for those who do have excess income, though they may not think it’s enough.
Squirrel is a new contributor at Monevator, and I have been enjoying her posts very much. In early February, she wrote about The benefits of living mortgage free and her quest to retire her mortgage.
My oldest nephew will be applying to college next year, so my sister and I have been talking more about this in our weekly chats. Price is, of course, one of her concerns. The White Coat Investor makes the point that College Costs What You’re Willing to Pay–a post I might send to her in the next few weeks.
Budget Life List reflected on her spending in 2024, outlining the best and the worst. Her examples are not the same as mine, but the spirit is the same (pay for lessons to learn a skill that makes you happy; avoid fees that only benefit a company).
Mike Piper at Oblivious Investor wrote a longer post this month on A CPA’s Perspective on Minimizing the Financial Risk of Cognitive Decline. Given the issues we are dealing with as regards my in-laws’ estate, I sent that post to Mr. PiN to review as soon as I finished reading it.
Apparently Manhattan instituted congestion pricing for cars. Fast Company reported on the changes after one month in A million cars have disappeared. It sounds like traffic, including buses, is much better with shorter ride times, but some of the other boroughs are seeing more crowded roads.
Do you have any favorite posts from February?
What a wonderful lineup of posts. The one on poverty is an important reminder of our privilege. I’ve always maintained that FIRE is a goal for the privileged few and not for te masses. There are many people who struggle with the daily necessities.
As for the million cars, thanks to the stroke of the presidential pen, I suspect they are all back on the streets of New York by now. Kudos to NYC for trying to do the right thing.
I thought it was a pretty good assortment of posts this month, too.
I am not 100% sure that FI is for only a privileged few–I see people with limited means who could, if they chose, save more. However, saving enough to retire early is certainly limited to people who make 2 to 3 times the amount they need to live on.
I do agree that FI is a goal for everyone. It’s the RE piece that I am not sure about—especially as people live longer.
Thank you for adding me to your stellar lineup!
You are absolutely welcome!