Create a DVD cooperative

Published in August 26th, 2008

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!If you can muster a bit of personal initiative, here is a nice way to borrow DVDs which are otherwise not available from the library. Yes, of course you can buy them or swap for them, but this method [...]

International travel (for free)

Published in August 25th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in entertainment, job, transport

9 Comments

Up until now, I have visited 14 countries and I have lived in 3, and in most cases I have never paid a dime to get around. I must admit that more travel is not (no more) a high ranking priority in my case, but I would be happy to give you some tips on [...]

What am I going to do with all this toilet paper?

Published in August 23rd, 2008

Posted by Jacob in frugal

7 Comments

We tend to buy in bulk and stuff the surplus around the house. In particular, we buy big bags of toilet paper. This has become a problem now that we are scheduled to move into the RV in little more than a month from now. See, our regular toilet paper does not work in the [...]

The two year fitness program

Published in August 22nd, 2008

Posted by Jacob in fitness

10 Comments

Fitness sets itself apart from intelligence or education and financial wealth in that it is possible at a glance to see what kind of attitude a person has towards his/her own body and what kind of athletic competence he/she has. As far as I know (keep in mind, I do not know that much), body [...]

The price of an Olympian body

Published in August 21st, 2008

Posted by Jacob in fitness

5 Comments

I just came across a New York photo series of Olympians along with their stats and measurements. I must say this was very surprising, because it turns out they are not superhuman but just ordinary athletes. I found it interesting to compare myself to these guys, so here’s me:
Jacob, inline hockey center forward, clubbeller, and [...]

The total cost of TV

Published in August 20th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in education, entertainment

16 Comments

Monetary cost: $50/month = $600/year which requires savings of at least $15000 to sustain in retirement. Financially, a cable subscription will delay retirement for more than a year for most people. This assumes that one does not buy a new $1200 TV every other year which will double the numbers.
A much bigger cost is opportunity [...]

How much do I need to save for extreme early retirement?

Published in August 18th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in financial independence, financial security

8 Comments

In my recent post on How to retire in 5 years, I defined financial independence/early retirement at the point where expenses equals 4% of investable assets. Retired Syd, who is retired, and allegedly named Syd, asked what my underlying assumptions were for the 4% withdrawal rate, specifically
Would someone that is planning on extremely early retirement [...]

Need suggestions on how to catch stripers

Published in August 16th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in entertainment

3 Comments

I was just wondering if any readers would have some suggestions on what kind of tackle/bait/lure I should get to catch lake/reservoir stripers (live bait is verboten!). Naturally, I prefer to spend most of my money on fishing passes rather than equipment. I got a 6.5′ fast action medium power rod and a spinning wheel [...]

What competitive swimming taught me a about professional careers

Published in August 16th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in motivation, rat race

No Comments

Okay, so here’s a little known fact about me. I used to be a competitive swimmer. Not exactly Mr Phelps et al., but I did spend 9 hours a week training in the water, I did smell of chlorine at all times, and I did participate in a few regional championships. My swimming career lasted [...]

How to retire in 5 years

Published in August 14th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in financial independence, motivation, personal finance

29 Comments

After going on about the zen and glory of padded envelopes for some time now, I have realized that a refresher on how to retire extremely early (for those who are younger than 35) and how to retire in short order (for everybody who is older) might be in order. After all, this is this [...]

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