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July 2011

Unexpected Baby Expense #2

07.29.2011

This post is long overdue because I wrote the first unexpected baby expense post about 4 months ago. Baby RB40 is almost 6 months old now. Time really flies when there is a baby around. We really noticed the speed of time over the last few months because the baby changes so quickly. Before, without a baby around, everything stayed the same from month to month and before we knew it, a few years were gone. baby carrier We didn’t expect to buy a baby carrier because we already purchased a 2nd hand stroller. It turned out that we didn’t [...]

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Plastic Bags Banned

07.27.2011

It’s here! Well, it’s going to be here October 15, 2011. Grocery store plastic bags will be banned from Portland henceforth. This ban had been in the works for a few years and the city council waited to see if the statewide legislature would pass it. Unfortunately that bill failed because they were not able to get the support needed. The failed bill would have also put a 5 cent fee on paper bags which is not in the city’s bill. Anyway, the city council voted unanimously to ban the grocery plastic bags and we’ll see if Portland will survive [...]

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A Million Dollars is NOT Enough

07.25.2011

If you have a corporate job and plan to retire early… Is 1 million dollars net worth enough? Unfortunately, the quick answer is no, you can’t quit working entirely. I received a few emails from high net worth readers and their accounts are quite similar. (BTW, I love getting emails from readers so send me an email via the contact form anytime.) Here is an example of a corporate guy/gal’s million: 400k in retirement accounts (401k, IRA, and Roth IRA). 200k in home equity. 400k in taxable accounts and other investments. This is just an example, but I have seen [...]

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RIP Amy Winehouse

07.23.2011

Sad news today, Amy Winehouse was found dead at her north London home at the age of 27. She has tons of talent and made great music. Rest in peace Amy. Above is one of my favorite song by her. I was hoping she could turn things around, but she wasn’t able to do it. On the home front, we all got sick this week from a cold baby RB40 brought home from his first week of daycare. My coworkers said it’ll be like this for a few weeks until he build up immunity. We are all recovering now, but [...]

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Live On One Pay Check

07.20.2011

Like many modern families, we both work full time and have two incomes. It was great to be a DINK couple for over a decade. We can afford pretty much anything we want, travel to exotic locations, and we didn’t have any problem putting money away into savings and investments. We live below our mean and didn’t have many money problems. Eventually, I want to leave my full time job and we had a chance to try living on one paycheck during the 3 months of bonding leave earlier this year. We already have been reducing expenses over the last [...]

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