Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! We’ve been back at home in Raleigh for a couple of weeks after spending most of August on two different cruises. We’ve had plenty of time to rest and recuperate before our next big adventure that commences in a few more days. Soon we cross the pond for another two week cruise around Europe.
A bit of family news – after graduating college, our middle child accepted a full time job offer last month. She is scheduled to start next week. Another worker to keep the economy booming and another taxpayer to keep the government revenues flowing!
On to our financial progress. August was an incredible month for our finances. Our net worth increased by $122,000 to end the month at $3,760,000. Our August income of $1,862 was almost enough to cover our spending of $2,452 for the month.
Let’s jump into the details from last month.
Income
Investment income totaled $648 last month. Our equity index funds and ETFs pay dividends quarterly at the end of March, June, September, and December. As a result, we had a smaller than normal amount of investment income paid in August. Here’s more on our dividend investments.
Blog income totaled $553 for last month. This represents fairly average blog income.
My early retirement lifestyle consulting income (“consulting”) was $0 during last month. Things have definitely slowed down in my consulting business. Summer is over now, and the consulting biz is starting to pick back up. We’ll see how September ends up.
Tradeline sales income totaled $350 during last month. I ramped up my tradeline sales a few years ago and discussed it in a bit more detail in my October 2020 monthly post and in my July 2021 monthly post. During 2024 I made over $6,000 in exchange for lending out my stellar credit history from half a dozen credit cards.
My “deposit income” totaled $10. This came from cash back and incentive bonuses from the Rakuten.com and Mrrebates.com online shopping portals (some of which was earned from you readers signing up through these links).
If you sign up for Rakuten through this link and make a qualifying $30 purchase through Rakuten, you’ll get a $30 sign up bonus.
My bank and credit card bonuses totaled $300 last month. These bonuses came from some Chase credit card spending bonuses.
If you’re interested in tracking your income and expenses like I do, then check out Empower Personal Dashboard, formerly known as Personal Capital (it’s free!). All of our savings and spending accounts (including checking, money market, and more than half a dozen credit cards) are all linked and updated in real time through Empower Personal Dashboard. We have accounts all over the place, and Empower Personal Dashboard makes it really easy to check on everything at one time.
Empower Personal Dashboard is also a solid tool for investment management. Keeping track of our entire investment portfolio takes two clicks. If you haven’t signed up for the free Empower Personal Dashboard service, check it out today (review here).
Tracking spending was one of the critical steps I took that allowed me to retire at 33. And it’s now easier than ever with Empower Personal Dashboard.
Expenses
Now let’s take a look at August expenses:
In total, we spent $2,452 last month which is about $900 less than our regularly budgeted $3,333 per month (or $40,000 per year). Gifts and travel were the top two spending categories from last month.
Detailed breakdown of spending:
Gifts – $1,100:
Our daughter finished her bachelor’s degree and graduated college at the end of July. We had a small celebration at home where we gave her $1,000 as a graduation gift. A few days later we gave her another $100 for her 19th birthday. Then we took her on a cruise to the Caribbean! Not a bad summer for her at all!
Travel – $568:
Almost all of our $568 in travel spending during August came from our European cruise around the United Kingdom and Ireland. The gratuities on the two week cruise totaled $476, and we spent $10-20 here and there on local transportation while in various ports across the British Isles.
We also took a weeklong cruise to the Caribbean with two of our kids. Everything was prepaid on that cruise including the flights, hotel, and cruise fare and gratuities. The only thing we paid for was a few dollars for a couple of Ubers. I used my Chase credit cards’ rideshare credits to offset most of the Uber/Lyft charges. We sailed out of Tampa and the rideshare fares were incredibly low there.
Get free travel like us
If you are interested in getting free travel from your credit card like I do, consider the Chase Ink business cards (my referral link). Right now, the Chase Ink cards offers an above average $900 worth of Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be redeemed instantly for $900 in cash (or even more for travel!).
Chase is pretty liberal when it comes to “what is a business”. If you sell stuff on eBay or Craigslist or do some odd jobs occasionally then you have a business and could get a credit card as a “sole proprietor”.
I use the 90,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points by transferring them to my Chase Sapphire Reserve card (also offering a 60,000 point sign up bonus right now). With the Sapphire Reserve card, I can get 1.5x the points value by booking cruises, flights, hotels, or rental cars through their travel portal. For example, I used 165,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points to pay for the $2,475 in taxes, fees, and gratuities on two of my cruises. Or I can transfer those Ultimate rewards points to over a dozen travel partners’ airline/hotel programs like United, Southwest, or Hyatt.
Another excellent choice is the 120,000 point offer for the Chase Southwest Performance Business card. Those are enough points for half a dozen round trip flights in the USA if you shop carefully. This one card sign up bonus will generate enough points to qualify for the Companion Pass so that all of your Southwest flights are essentially buy one, get one free.
Utilities – $425:
We spent $161 on our water/sewer/trash bill last month.
The electric bill was $244 for August. That’s mostly air conditioner usage. It was hot and humid last month. Fortunately the bills drop quite a bit by September.
The natural gas bill for last month totaled $20. Most of that is the monthly connection charge. Just a few dollars for the actual gas consumed by the water heater.
Groceries – $236:
We were only in town about 12 days during August and didn’t go grocery shopping very much. As a result our total grocery spend was only $236 during the month. We ate pretty well on our cruises, however.
Cable/Satellite/Internet – $50:
We pay $25 per month for a local reduced rate package due to having a lower income and having kids. 50 mbit/s download, 10 mbit/s upload. I paid two months of internet bills during August.
Telephone – $44:
The annual renewal for our son’s mobile phone service came due in August. $44 for 12 months of 200 MB/month plus a few hundred talk minutes and texts. We use Redpocket for the cell service. He is on wifi while at school and doesn’t need a ton of data right now, so this plan works.
Gas – $19:
A tank of gas for our Hyundai Accent.
Healthcare/Medical/Dental – $7:
Our 2025 health insurance is free thanks to very generous Affordable Care Act subsidies that we receive due to our low ~$51,000 per year Adjusted Gross Income.
Our 2025 dental insurance plan normally costs $32 in premiums per month. We picked a plan from Truassure through the healthcare.gov exchange. The dental insurance does a good job of covering most of our routine cleanings, exams, and x-rays plus most of the cost of basic procedures like fillings.
I prepaid an extra $24 for my dental insurance in July to cover two extra months so I didn’t pay anything for my plan in August. Mrs. Root of Good’s insurance premium didn’t post until September so we’ll have two months of payments next month.
The $7 spent on medical expenses in August was a co-insurance bill for some routine lab work.
Home Maintenance – $4:
$4 for just over a gallon of gas for our lawnmower.
Restaurants – $3:
I used the $5 Doordash credit from my Chase Sapphire Reserve card at Taco Bell and paid $3 extra to upgrade to a combo meal.
Spending for 2025 – Year to Date
We spent $26,583 during the first eight months of 2025. This annual spending is within $100 of our budgeted $26,667 for the first eight months of the year per our $40,000 annual early retirement budget. I haven’t increased our annual budget for inflation in a decade, so at some point I need to revisit the budget numbers.
And just like that, we are back on budget for the year! We weren’t really trying to cut spending and might end up spending more on things throughout the remaining four months of the year. Who knows! But we’re also busy traveling, researching, planning, and booking more travel.
At this point, travel is mostly free from the millions of points and miles that I’ve accumulated over the years. Ironically, if we slow down on traveling we might actually spend more money while we are at home in the United States.
Either way, we are doing very well financially. It doesn’t really matter if we are spending $40,000 per year or $100,000 per year since our portfolio is well over $3,000,000 now.
Monthly Expense Summary for 2025:
- January – $5,091
- February – $2,462
- March – $2,136
- April – $4,261
- May – $4,097 (average of May and June)
- June – $4,097 (average of May and June)
- July – $1,992
- August – $2,452
Summary of annual spending from more than a decade of my early retirement:
- 2014 – $34,352
- 2015 – $23,802
- 2016 – $38,991
- 2017 – $31,708
- 2018 – $29,058
- 2019 – $25,630
- 2020 – $28,466
- 2021 – $31,740
- 2022 – $29,449
- 2023 – $37,865
- 2024 – $40,286
- 2025 – $26,583 (through 8/31/2025)
Net Worth: $3,760,000 (+$122,000)
Our net worth increased by a whopping $122,000 during last month to end August at $3,760,000.
We are are quickly approaching the $4 million milestone. We might hit the next milestone before the end of 2025 or it might take many more months or years if the market goes sideways.
(That chart title should read “Root of Good Net Worth $3,760,000”; we’re firing the photoshop guy, don’t worry!)
For the curious, our net worth reported above includes our home value (which is fully paid off). I value the house at $300,000, which is probably what we would net after sales expenses. However, please note that I don’t consider my home value as part of my portfolio for “4% rule” calculation purposes. I realize folks ask me about that every month so I just wanted to state that here for clarity.
Closing thoughts
Another great month of early retirement is in the books! I spent just under a decade working full time after college. And now I’ve been retired more than 12 years. The nine years I spent working felt WAY longer than the last 12 years of early retirement. “Time flies when you’re having fun” is certainly true!
When I started on my early retirement journey my oldest two kids were in 2nd and 3rd grade. Now they are both done with college and working full time. Pretty hard to believe.
Since they are both working full time jobs, they are paying for most of their expenses. Clothes, cell service, healthcare and dental, tech toys and computers, restaurants, social activities, and gas for the car are all their responsibility. They are both still living at home, so we cover housing, utilities, and groceries.
Eventually one of the kids will need to buy a new(er) car since we only have two cars to share between four drivers. The new(er) car will be their expense. Fortunately they can pay for it out of their new paychecks.
Our oldest child already enrolled in the 401k at work and is maxing it out. She’s well on her way to early retirement in another decade or two. Our other kid will probably enroll and max out the 401k once she’s eligible to contribute to her 401k.
Exciting times over here! Two out of our three kids are gainfully employed and us parents are keeping busy “working” a rigorous travel schedule. Speaking of travel, it’s time for me to go pack!
See you next time!
Ready for fall to arrive? Did you have a good summer? Take any big trips?
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Hi there, great updates as always….
A couple of questions. You mention your cruises were prepaid.
Do you mind sharing any tips you have on the best ways to get the best deals on cruises?
Do you pay them in cash and maybe you don’t include those in your expense numbers? not sure, so asking…is there any way to leverage points for cruise discounts or free cruises even?
I’ve been in the points hobby for awhile, but haven’t tried tradelines but I am familiar with how they operate. Am I late to that game or is it as profitable now as it’s ever been?
I ask that question since lots of these side hobbies or whatever we prefer to call them, lol….they change over time as they become more popular.
Many thanks and keep on enjoying!
https://rootofgood.com/save-on-cruise-vacation/
At this point, this is probably the best strategy for cruises, particularly for solos since it dodged the single supplement:
https://christinagawlik.wixsite.com/asuitcaseandasmile/post/how-do-i-use-casino-comps-to-find-stellar-deals
I like cruiseplum dot com for comparison shopping for cruises. Lots of filters and sort options to help refine the search.
I pay for cruises using Chase Ultimate Reward points from my Chase Sapphire Reserve card. I get 1.5x value out of them, so a $750 cruise costs 50,000 UR points. I’ve also been doing the “Casino Match Merry Go Round” for cheap cruises where you only pay taxes and tips (which I’ve mostly been able to pay using Chase Ultimate Rewards points, too). That’s harder to get “free” cruises from today from what I understand.
As far as tradelines – I believe it’s still a viable option today to get started. I’m still selling a decent amount and should make over $6000 in 2025 like in years past.
Another interesting post! We’re just about to head out to Bolivia for a month and Ecuador for a month. We’re calculating approx housing costs and it will be way less by traveling. We’ll spend maybe $700 for the month, and, that is for nice places that often include breakfast. We could, if we wanted, cut that way more. Travel can be such a savings! Have a great trip. It’s time for us to pack too! 🙂
Sounds good! Never been to Bolivia or Ecuador but have looked at them some. Food/housing/travel costs look very low from what I’ve seen! We usually get restaurant food when it’s really cheap like in those countries.
Could you do a post to explain how you are able to get so many free cruises? Are you booking these with points?
A quick summary right here:
https://rootofgood.com/august-2025-early-retirement-update-back-to-school-edition/#comment-243918
I like how you think of your financial life in relation to that of your children. It seems like, even as older children, they are responsible for their expenses beyond basic needs. Many people appease their children with costly things and experiences out of fear or guilt, a sense of obligation that can never be satisfied. But your kids, their college cost is their responsibility, all the “tech toys and computers, restaurants, social activities, and gas” etc are on them, no matter how rich you yourself are. It is inspirational.
$1,000 for graduating college, $100 for turning 19 and a Caribbean cruise when he has nearly $4M? Seriously? $1,100 won’t even pay the security deposit on a crappy apartment and the kids basically grew up on cruise ships!
Justin – I admire your parenting in many ways but sometimes you are downright cheap with the kids.
I got $0 from parents for graduating college, as did my husband. We weren’t expecting anything, so it was ok. It did not occur to us to give $ to our four kids at graduation so they did not receive any from us, either. They’re doing fine. We had fun together (like Justin with his kids) and if they resent it, they have never said. We certainly weren’t perfect, but all have thanked us for how they were raised, overall.
Sorry to hear that, though I cannot attest to you or your parent’s ability to gift money to your children.
Disagree. Just because Justin is wealthy doesn’t translate to the kids. This teaches them the value of a dollar. $1100 should seem like a lot to a kid, no matter who they are or how well off their parents are. Keep on trucking, Justin.
$1,100 should seem like a lot to a 19 year old? Have you looked at the cost of living lately?
I always liked Dave Ramsay’s comment about helping adult children….the best thing you can give your children is the ability to take care of yourself financially in your older years! Our youngest of 3 kids just graduated college and we paid for their school and used first car, gave them a small cash grad gift. They’ve been given everything to empower themselves to take care of themselves as adults. This is how we were raised and how we raised them.
Though I agree taking care of yourself financially in your old age is first priority, that’s besides the point. Justin has plenty of money and he will always be able to take care of himself and his wife. I’m more a fan of gifting money to children when it will make the most impact, which is demonstrated to be earlier in life, not later. Not sure if the link will appear here but Nick Maggiulli has a good article about this very topic on his “Of Dollars and Data” blog.
https://ofdollarsanddata.com/give-now-not-later/
wallies,
Thanks for sharing your perspective and for the link to the “Of Dollars and Data” article. The discussion around gifting while you’re alive versus later is certainly a fascinating and complex one, touching on both financial optimization and family dynamics.
Ultimately, the decision of how and how much to gift to one’s children is a personal one, and Justin, like any parent, has the right to determine what approach best aligns with his values and his family’s long-term well-being.
Speaking from my own experience in a similar financial situation, I’ve seen way too many kids who have everything handed to them grow into entitled adults who struggle to find their footing. It creates a dependency that can be crippling.
I will also be giving my kids a monetary gift at graduation, but I’ve found the far better and more valuable gift is the robust financial education and sense of self-reliance I’ve instilled. My kids are now well on their way, equipped with the knowledge, confidence, and pride of knowing they control their own financial destiny. Not the government, nor anyone else.
Financial independence isn’t just about a number in a bank account but rather a mindset rooted in responsibility, work ethic, and knowing that you earned your success. Justin’s approach, which emphasizes personal responsibility for college and other expenses, is an excellent model for fostering that mindset. A parent’s goal isn’t just to make their child’s life easy, but to make them capable and resilient.
That’s pretty much the goal here. Set them up for future success so they can earn for themselves and be responsible for themselves.
Wow, that’s a pretty hot take! I’m curious what you would suggest is an appropriate graduation gift for an 18 year old and a 20 year old?
And for context they each get to drive a car we’re paying for (they buy gas to get to work). And live rent free, no utilities, no groceries etc. So I suppose you could say we’re giving another $10-12k worth of living expenses annually.
I stand corrected. Considering you’re providing free rent, utilities, food and transportation, I think your gift is generous.
However, I don’t see how you’re setting up your adult children for personal responsibility if you pay all the expenses for them. Not quite sure why they rushed through college if it wasn’t to move out.
There’s intangible value in the four-year “college experience” (dorm/social life, roommates, etc.) – especially if one can afford it such as you can – that’s hard to duplicate later in life. There’s a bit of maturity that happens in the late teens/early twenties which provides a decent bridge to living independently. You lived with roommates in college, correct? And independently once you started a full-time job? Why would you raise them differently since it worked out well for you?
I don’t pay for everything – just the big lumpy things that are hard to separate out. I’m not trying to nickel and dime my kids over smaller things. They pay for gas, fun with friends, dining out, clothes, electronics, subscriptions, etc. Basically anything they want they pay for other than a roof over their heads and the usage of our cars.
It’s giving them a great head start on maxxing 401ks and Roth IRAs and HSA’s right now.
As far as “the college experience” – I think they had a good time in college? And they are 19/20 years old now, plenty of time to enjoy life, hang w/ new work friends and old HS/college friends and actually have money to do so now. Roommates – they have a decent chance of moving out and living with roommates at some point so I suppose they will still enjoy that aspect of “independence”.
They’re also living alone at home while we are gone for collectively several months per year. And one daughter has lived here by herself all summer for months straight while we’re on vacation. They have friends over, do whatever. Feels like a sweet setup with reasonably good training wheels on life, such that they hopefully launch successfully when they are ready.
As far as “why didn’t I copy/paste exactly what I experienced in college” – that doesn’t even make sense. We’re all individuals and they have quite a bit of autonomy and decision-making authority in their own lives (in case that wasn’t clear).
Yeah – I think it makes sense if you delineate who pays what. Otherwise your wallet becomes a bottomless well. Under our setup, our kids have their paychecks and know they can save (or spend) as they see fit without (much) guilt or grief from us.
Wow, a bachelors degree at age 18! Very impressive! Congratulations on raising super motivated and responsible children.
Thanks! She’s very proud of her accomplishment and we are, too 🙂
Hi Justin, congrats to you and your daughter! Do you mind sharing what the key steps/moves where to accomplish this? This seems like a great hack on the education side. Appreciate any insights you can share!
She took several AP classes in high school. Then in 11th grade she dual enrolled half time in HS and half time in the local community college. Then graduated HS a year early. That, plus taking summer classes in community college and 4 year college, led to graduating at 18. She also has an August birthday so she was always one of the youngest in her class.
Very impressive! Thanks for sharing
Good to see the two of you traveling so much, including some with the kids. Do it while you can, which in your cases should be measured in decades as a couple. We will also be ramping up our travels soon, spending 3-4 days at a time occasionally in Sevierville and Nashville over the next couple of months before hitting the cruise trail ourselves in Nov and Dec (too many fall projects to do before then, particularly removing the immense amount of leaves we get every year). Those will be our three final cruises with Carnival; starting in 2026 we are moving to Celebrity with four 7 day cruises currently scheduled with them. All seven out of our favorite cruise port, namely Port Canaveral. Will be spending three months this winter as well on the ocean in SC as we have done for ten years now (your adage about time flying holds true for us as well).
The increases in bottom line assets for those who worked hard and saved have been impressive this year, and the ride may continue through 2026. Everything is set up for success and I am loving every minute tracking our investments. You guys take care, enjoy both your home and travel lives, and be safe out their among the English (old Amish saying, but literal in your case based upon recent travels).
Yes, I’m hoping to get at least a couple more decades of travel adventures before the legs give out 🙂 And the traveling with kids will probably decline much sooner as they get busier with their own lives.
Your fall/winter travel plans sound great! You’ll be cruising as much as me! I hear you on the switch to Celebrity. I was impressed on the one cruise we took with them and hope to get back on their ships as some point in the future. Good product. I saw carnival walked back some of the changes to their VIFP but probably a case of “too little, too late” for a lot of folks.
Your travel hacking skills are phenomenal. Could you to a more detailed breakdown on one of your next trips? What sites you use etc.
That’s a very wide open topic. I may write more about it at some point. Basically just scrape up a ton of flight/hotel/Chase UR pts, then comparison shop at places like booking dot com, kayak dot com, and airbnb for reasonable rental cars, lodging etc. Try to get free flights from my air miles and free hotels from the hotel pts stashes (or transfer in from Chase UR pts such as to Hyatt).
Your reports always fire me up, Justin. Using your link, I was able to get the Chase/Southwest Visa card today; your post came just in time at the last day for the offer. Hope they credit you accordingly and thanks for the idea. Happy travelling! I look forward to your next update.
I do see one referral that came through, so thanks if that was yours that credited. Someone else told me they used the link but I just see the one 20k credit, so who knows how it works? Enjoy the SW pts and hopefully you can get a companion pass out of the deal.
I wasn’t a fan of Red Pocket when I tried it a few years ago. I had a question for customer service when I was getting started and it was a mess, so I cancelled it.
I signed my son up on Tello’s $6/mo. plan with has a 100 minutes, unlimited texts, and 1GB of data. I’m happy to pay a little more for extra data and not being locked into it for a year. It seems that the throttling is pretty extreme with Red Pocket from the reviews I read.
When do you start charging the older, employed kids rent? 😉
They’ve been okay for us so far, but we have not needed technical support fortunately. They did raise the $30/yr plan to $43 including tax/fees so it’s not quite as good a deal as in the past. But I just renewed my wife’s phone on that plan since I couldn’t find anything as good at a similar price level. Our adult kids are doing the ~$10/mo for 1 GB of high speed data (and unlimited low speed data) since they are out and about, driving to work and doing their things. I looked at Tello and didn’t see the $6/1GB plan option, otherwise that would be very appealing. They use Google Voice for text/voice so it’s unlimited anyway (other than mild data consumption of course).
As far as charging rent – I have no plans right now. They’re 19 and 20 yrs old so I figure give them a bit to get going on earning, career experience, resume building etc. Also don’t mind them around the house to help out with things and housesit and watch their little bro when we go on vacation. Hopefully they take the initiative of ultra low living costs right now to turbocharge their 401k/IRA and save hard for a couple of years.
Just a question. How did you like the Margaritaville cruises with kids? Thinking seriously about booking that cruiseline out of Tampa.
Would love your thoughts on it?
It was pretty fun. I’d put it on par with an older ship on carnival. Crowd was somewhat tame but we were on a 7 day cruise. I would say if you can find a deal that’s competitive with Carnival (or any other cruise line) then I’d take it. I think MSC might be even cheaper and I actually like MSC better overall.
With that red cap and all the time you spend on ships, you’re throwing off serious Steve Zissou vibes!
had to google that but yes, very accurate ha ha ha. Eventually my goatee will match his beard too…
Wonderful. What does your portfolio spread look like. I’m asking some insights on asset allocation?
Great share as always
Roughly 45% US, 45% international, 10% bonds. I believe US is slightly higher and bonds slightly lower just because US equities have outperformed.
Thanks.
Us stocks – Are they in VTSAX equivalent index funds?
International stocks – VXUS equivalent?
Bonds – Are they VBTLX (or) international bonds?
Appreciate your help
Us stocks – Are they in VTSAX equivalent index funds? – Yes for the large cap US allocation. Also have a large cap value tilt, a small cap and a small value tilt (VTV/VB/VBR)
International stocks – VXUS equivalent? Yes, VXUS. Also have some slices of international value (DFIV), Small cap (SCHC), Em Mkts (VWO), and Intl REITs (VNQI)
Bonds – Are they VBTLX (or) international bonds? Just VBTLX/BND for the <10% bond holding.
Appreciate your help
Thank you very much. For 529 do you recommend vanguard529 (or) myutah529 plan? Both look alike
I like California’s Scholarshare 529’s. They were the best option when I looked several years ago. Assuming state-specific 529 tax deductions/credits are not available to you where you live.
Great post as always. I also am not entirely clear how you get all the free cruises, do you do lots of day to day spending like groceries and travel on the credit cards, and then when you log in it shows points built up? Do you use multiple credit cards?
I cannot work out how it really works. Also I don’t think there is as many good credit card offers in the uk unfortunately
Some more details here: https://rootofgood.com/august-2025-early-retirement-update-back-to-school-edition/#comment-243918 – Might not translate well to UK, as you point out the credit card offers aren’t quite as good.
As the kids are now covered by health insurance from their employers, this would certainly change your ACA subsidies amount, since your household size has decreased. No?
What is your expected insurance premium going forward — taking that into account as well as the fact that the covid-era enhanced subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2025?
Both kids have employer coverage. One of them started working late in the year so she’ll start the employer insurance in 2026. Other one already has it. So our household size will drop to 3 in 2026.
I have not estimated the impact on our health insurance yet. I can either reduce our AGI in 2026 to continue getting very cheap insurance or just pay a few hundred extra $ for premiums each month. That plus the Covid era ACA subsidies going away (probably – currently under debate in the government shutdown happening in mid-October 2025) means we’ll probably pay more no matter what.
Disagree. Just because Justin is wealthy doesn’t translate to the kids. This teaches them the value of a dollar. $1100 should seem like a lot to a kid, no matter who they are or how well off their parents are. Keep on trucking, Justin.
They certainly felt like it was a lot of money. It’s also more than their 2 week paychecks from their full time jobs, after all the deductions, 401k contribution, tax withholding, etc.
Justin, great posts as always. Have you used AI in any of your travel hacks?
Not really for travel hacking (as in saving money) but I have used it to generate ideas for itineraries, places to visit, details, research on history/culture stuff.
Congrats to your daughters! Are they solely focusing on their 401k or are they also contributing to a Roth IRA?
Our son (only child) is 24 and maxes out his Roth IRA while also contributing to a Roth 401k at work. He’s coming home for the weekend and we’ll have the conversation about increasing his 401k contribution since he’s getting a raise. Would love for him to get to the point of maxing both while also enjoying life.
right now, they are maxing the 401k which is limited to contributions of 50% of each paycheck. They will probably do Roth IRAs too, even if it means selling 7k from their brokerage accounts (they saved up some money during college). That would be my advice anyway. Their living expenses are very low while they are still living at home.
graduating COLLEGE at 18 is amazing! not that it’s a race… but i wonder if she’ll be able to retire in her 20s..and do a bit better than Dad. 🙂
Possibly. She’s on the right path so far!!