Many of us dream of owning a small business, but only a few have the liquidity to get things off the ground. Banks have tightened their lending policy and it can be very difficult for entrepreneurs to get a loan. One way to fund a start up is to use your retirement accounts. I just found out that you can do this without having to pay tax and the usual 10% early
[…] Read more:  Would you use your retirement fund to start a small business?

Life has been so busy lately that I haven’t had time to read much, but now that things are getting a bit better, I can catch up with a few blogs. Earlier this week, I read What is the ideal retirement at Free Money Finance? and it gave me the incentive to write more about this topic. Basically, we are living much longer these days and the old model of leaving w
[…] Read more:  Create Your Ideal Retirement

One of my financial goals for 2014 is to generate $12,000 (pretax) from passive income. This isn’t going to be easy because last year we made about $10,000 last year from dividend, rentals, peer to peer lending, and interest. The heavy lifting will be done by our dividend portfolio and should account for about 75% of our passive income. Our rentals are doing
[…] Read more:  Dividend Growth Portfolio for Passive Income

As I mentioned last week, we may have an opportunity to do something that most people can’t afford to – Pay for a house in cash. If we sell our 2 rental properties and our primary home, then we should have enough for a bigger house (about 1,500 sq ft in a really good location). However, is it a good idea to pay cash for a house? The interest rate is still ver
[…] Read more:  10 Reasons To Pay For A House In Cash

February was really busy and I was exhausted all the time. I guess that comes with being a stay at home parent. I was also a little sick most of the month and was busy with turning over a rental. It’s done and I’m glad that’s out of the way! Anyway, let’s go over our 2014 New Year resolutions first. Reviewing them at the beginning of every mon
[…] Read more:  February 2014 Goals and Financial Update

It’s going to be a New Year in a couple of days and I hope you’re enjoying the last of 2013. Now is the time to make a few New Year’s resolutions and write them down. Two of the most common resolutions are to get fitter and to save more money. These two are on my list, too, and today is your lucky day because I will share a surefire way to save more mon
[…] Read more:  How to Save More Money Next Year

Whew, we are back from our “vacation” to Southern California’s Inland Empire. Mrs. RB40 wanted to visit her family and friends so we went down a bit early to beat the holiday rush. This worked out quite well because the tickets were on sale and we didn’t have to fight the holiday travel crowd. We were hoping for some nice weather, but it was super win
[…] Read more:  Sometimes you need to be reminded how lucky you are

Last week, I was driving to the grocery store with RB40 Jr. and I heard a segment of This American Life. In this episode, they were at a Jeep dealership as they try to meet their monthly sale goal at the end of the month. Their corporate headquarters sends the dealer a goal each month (129 in October) and if they surpass it, they will receive a big bonus. That’
[…] Read more:  Do you compete with yourself or others?

Last week, I got an email from a new reader asking a thought-provoking question about leaving Corporate America. “What sort of signal does it send to my kids?  Will I still be a good role model?” It’s a conundrum. We all want our kids to work hard, right? I don’t want my kid to grow up to be a slacker so is quitting my job to be a stay at home dad sendin
[…] Read more:  Is Early Retirement a Good Example for Your Kids?

I truly believe the most important factor of early retirement is the ability to save a large percentage of your income early on. To do this, we need to keep lifestyle inflation down to a minimum. Just think back to when you first graduated from college. You didn’t need to spend a lot of money and life was good. As we get older, we take on mortgages, new car pay
[…] Read more:  Some Lifestyle Inflation is Inevitable