Posted by Tim Stobbs on February 5, 2010
So after spending almost a week in the US (by the way, 6am flight yesterday so hence no post) I got immersed in the local news and I was trying to wrap my head around the US federal budget that was around $3.7 trillion dollars. WOW, that’s a lot of zeros! But besides that, it is interesting that they are spending about $1.6 trillion more than they earn (that’s about twice the entire US military budget according to the paper I was reading).
In order to make sense of how crazy this situation is lets chop off a few zeros and put this discussion in terms of personal finance for someone named Mr. US. You see Mr. US has a hard life. For some reason he was appointed peace-keeper in his neighbourhood. Yet for some reason now a few years later he is also keeping the peace over in the next neighbourhood which has a lake between them, so he spends far too much of his time worrying about things that have nothing to do with his house. Then to top it off his family is completely dysfunction, they can never decided where to get take out food so they often end up ordering from three different restaurants trying to keep everyone happy. This is also why they live in a 3000 sq foot home and have three cars. This costs a lot of money and he is the sole income earner so the family has a massive spending problem because they don’t agree on anything and therfore have a huge debt.
In terms of pure numbers, Mr. US makes a mere $21,000 a year. Yet this hasn’t stopped the family from spending $37,000 last year ($16,000 more than they made) thanks to their low introductory credit card from the Bank of China. This is despite the fact the family is already still in debt to the Bank of China for a mortgage of $123,000. Yet it gets worse for Mr. US, his aging parents have recently moved in so he expects his health care costs and their living expense in the next few years to eat up even more spending. So his small income which already wasn’t covering the bills is looking rather pathetic right now. Also no one in the house seems to be willing to discuss the obvious that they need to drastically cut their spending or they have to raise their income by having Mr. US get a better job or having Mrs. US get a job until the debt situation is back under control.
It’s a sad situation for a household, it’s even worse for a country. I’m just trying to imagine the effect of having their credit rating shot down a level would have on all of this, which by the way is being discussed already. Perhaps it’s time for Mr. US to cut up his credit cards.
Posted by Tim Stobbs on February 3, 2010
What are we? It’s a good question. Are we what we do for pay: an engineer or school board trustee? I don’t think so, if I lost my job I’m still me. Or are we what we are called by others: son, father, husband? Again I don’t think so, since you don’t have to father to be a dad or I don’t stop being a grandson after my grandparent dies. Or are we just the sum of our memories? I’m going to have to disagree with that as well, since I get the strangest impulses to do things that have nothing to do with a memory of a place or an event.
Are we perhaps just what we are? Names, titles, past or present don’t really define us. Rather we define ourselves minute by minute and day by day by our thoughts, actions and feelings. On one hand it’s a rather simple concept, yet on the other the implications get complicated. Because if you really understand that fact the world always has unlimited potential.
You don’t have to work somewhere where you hate your job or stay in a relationship that is giving you no happiness or joy. You don’t have to settle for what you are told is right for you. Instead you can always live out your dreams, not tomorrow or next week but rather right now. Because once you realize your define yourself and others don’t define your by their expectations or wishes everything becomes just a choice. You can either conform to the life you are told to live or live the life you want.
Will it be a scary thing to do? Yes. Will others be upset with you? You are almost guaranteed to piss off someone. Yet the reality will be this: you will never be happier than when you are being yourself as defined by you. It will take some time to determine what is really you, rather than your old habits from what others expected of you.
I’ve personally been at this for years. I often ask myself: is this what you want or what you were told to want? So the other day when someone asked if I was interested in getting an MBA I told the truth: ” No, I have no interest in that.” Why? I won’t use it all that much (after all I’m retiring in less than 15 years) and the fact is I don’t have much interest in most of the courses. I certainly think some people would expect me to get it, but I don’t really care.
So before you assume much of anything about your retirement plans such as when to stop working, with how much money and what you will be doing in retirement. You need to ask yourself “is this what I want?”. It’s a rather simple question, but the answers could drastically alter your plans.
Posted by Dave on February 2, 2010
I eat pretty healthy, probably a lot better then most people. I also eat fairly cheaply on a per day basis (as you can see by the title of the post, between my wife and I we eat for approximately $50 per week). For full disclosure, I don’t include restaurant trips in this budget, that is included in our entertainment budget. Basically 20 out of 21 meals per week are included in the $50. Saving money on food, especially good quality food is pretty easy, although it is a radical change over what I ate from childhood up to a couple of years ago. Here are some tips that I can offer if your current bill is higher then you want it to be:
1.) Learn how to cook/bake: It’s not as scary as it seems – when I first started, my main companion with any meal was ketchup and hot sauce to cover up some of the weird tastes I was putting together. As an example, I bake my own bread, sometimes by hand, but usually with a bread machine I got as a wedding shower present last year. For $10 you can buy a 10kg bag of flour that last us approximately three or four months, making 1 loaf a week. I also make my own tortillas, pasta, tomato sauces, baked beans – basically anything can be made from scratch rather quickly and easily – the internet is a really good source for recipes and troubleshooting when recipes go terribly wrong. 
By making all of your food from scratch, you also know exactly what you’re eating, whereas a lot of prepackaged food includes ingredients that are not pronounceable, and probably shouldn’t be consumed.
2.) Don’t be afraid to try new foods: From my childhood on, I hated squash – I hated the texture, the taste, the colour – I was definitely not a fan. I had not tasted squash in well over a decade, but when I did, I found that it isn’t terrible and is really healthy to eat. I basically buy fruit and vegetables when they are in season and switch throughout the year what I eat. There are some serious savings to be taken advantage of by buying in season rather then maintaining a constant diet year-round. Try brussel sprouts, eat some butternut squash, try some weird fruits or odd looking green things that are there – they are generally pretty healthy.
3.) Eat less meat: I love meat, but it is expensive and there are much more healthy sources of protein. I eat a lot of beans and legumes, which I buy dry from bulk food stores, soak and cook in a pressure cooker. If even one or two days of meat are removed from your diet, especially in a household of more then 2 people, significant money per week can be saved.
I put this advice into action this weekend, when I hosted a “Christmas” dinner for my family of 10 people. I made – vegetarian chili, homemade pasta, and fresh-baked french bread with garlic butter – all from scratch. It was very well received and probably cost me a total of $10-$15, was reasonably healthy, and made from fresh, whole ingredients with no preservatives or chemicals in it (with enough leftovers to last until Wednesday or Thursday of this week for lunches) and didn’t really take a ton of time to do at all.
As an example of how I eat, here are a few things that I ate last week and this week:
Breakfasts:
“Green smoothies” – spinach/kale/some other kind of green mixed with seeds, berries, banana, flax, and other weird healthy stuff that my wife drinks, but doesn’t understand the awesomeness that is irish moss with her kale and beet smoothie.
Eggs on home-made toast
Lunches:
Usually leftovers from dinner the night before
Dinner:
Stir fry with tons of vegetables in a home-made peanut sauce
Chicken breasts, rice and brussel sprouts
Sweet potato fries, rice and beans
I’m not sure if my diet is typical, but I think it is generally healthy – made with whole foods, full of fruits and vegetables. I’m working on cutting back on grains, but I really really like them, so we’ll see how that goes. How about you, have there been any major changes to your diet as you strive towards early retirement, or a healthier lifestyle? Food is one of my more serious interests right now, so I look forward to comments.
Happy Groundhog Day!
