Minafi

Financial Independence Through Investing, Minimalism & Mindfulness

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Use Savings Rate as a Lifestyle Inflation Canary

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2 min read. Canonical, Blog, Financial Independence. 21 Comments

This is a graph of my savings rate over time. By savings rate I mean the simple formula: total amount saved / total amount earned. This will always be a percentage between 0% and 100% if you’re saving money, or below 0% if you’re dipping into savings. In my case, I consider anything unspent at the end of the month to be savings, so it’s not specifically money that was invested.

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The Simple Three Fund Portfolio at Vanguard

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5 min read. Blog, Investing, Financial Independence. 21 Comments

Investing is easier than it looks. In this post, I’m going to give very simple steps you can take to start investing including where, how much and what to invest in. Investing in this way has returned around 7% a year over the last century using only a three fund portfolio.

This post is somewhat opinionated in the investing method mentioned here. It’s similar advice to what you’d read in books like The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing, or other diversification strategies, but the specific actions are listed here to give a framework for those new to investing.

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Comparison is the Thief of Joy, but How Do You Stop?

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2 min read. Blog, Mindfulness. 2 Comments

Years ago at my job, I was working extremely hard on something I was very passionate about. In this case, it was a programming course on Bootstrap that I was working on over at Code School. I was creating something that I could be extremely proud of (and now that it’s launched, I can say I am proud of it!), but at the time I let something I shouldn’t have get to me — comparison.

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Why I Don’t Want to be a Landlord or Invest in Real Estate

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6 min read. Canonical, Blog, Financial Independence. 8 Comments

Everywhere I go, I read about how real estate is the fastest path to wealth. Drawn in by this promise of easy money, I’ve read a lot about this subject. I read books, listened to podcasts and audiobooks, analyzed properties, worked with local real estate and banks to get pre-qualified — but in the end, I decided I didn’t want to be a landlord. Here’s a recap of what I learned, and why I decided not to pursue this “obvious” source of wealth.

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How to Choose Between 401k, Taxable and Roth IRA Accounts to Optimize Taxes

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6 min read. Financial Independence, Canonical, Blog, Investing. 9 Comments

This post is the 3rd in the series “How to Be Brave and Start Investing“. First, we started with the Why Do You Want to Invest Now? of investing, and then moved on to Which Investment Accounts Should I Use? 

In today’s post, I’ll focus on what types of funds to use in which account for the most tax-efficient fund placement. This topic may sound a bit dry, but over the course of a few decades investing, it could make a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars difference in taxes.

By the end of this post, you’ll know why different fund types (stocks, bonds, international funds, real estate trusts, etc) should go in specific accounts, what to look for when evaluating funds to determine placement, and how much money you stand to save by making the right decision.

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