Archive for February, 2012

Mrs. BNL’s Perspective On The Brave New Life

27
2 months ago
by Brave New Life in

This is a guest post from my wife, in response to my recent article about getting her on board to our new lifestyle.  Feel free to use the comments section for any follow-up questions you have for her, as she represents someone more reluctant to dive into our frugal lifestyle than most others on this site.

 

Hmm, let me see if I can recall how the brainwashing began…  BNL has always been better at saving money than me. When we first got married we had many “discussions” over our budget (which was really quite generous looking back). Each January we would agree on the year’s budget (including a monthly amount of money for me to spend specifically at Target with no questions asked – this was the most important part of the budget!). I think More >

Lending Club Update: February 2012

18
2 months ago
by Brave New Life in

I’ve managed to get writer’s block while trying to finish my last 2 posts in my core principle series, so I thought I’d take a minute to provide an update on my Lending Club investments.

 

I’ve been investing in Lending Club for a little over 6 months, so it’s probably a good time for an update anyways.  I originally wrote about my strategy (which was using a filter on lendstats.com to find the most optimal notes to invest in) and I targeted a 14%-15% overall return on investment.  So far, things are looking good.  If you haven’t read the lending club investment strategy post, I recommend you go back and read that before you read this update.

 

The Funding Process

In order to increase my overall ROI with Lending Club, I set up a pretty More >

How To Get Your Significant Other To Embrace a Brave New Life

28
3 months ago
by Brave New Life in

I’ve been getting an increase in emails lately that are asking a common question, so I thought I’d take a short break from the Core Principles series to address it. The question that has been asked many times can be summarized like this:

“Hey, Brave. I’m totally on board with everything you’re saying and want a similar lifestyle for myself. The problem is, my husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend just isn’t on board. Did you have any problems like this?”

The short answer is “Yes!”

My wife has always had major reservations with my financial strategy. In fact, despite the fact that we started dating when we were 16 and married at 25, we’re only now becoming aligned in our financial decisions at the age of 33. I always wanted to save and invest, More >

Core Principle #5: Understand The Marginal Utility of Money

7
3 months ago
by Brave New Life in

Last week a blogger colleague of mine and a guy I greatly respect, Mr. Money Mustache,  asked me whether I would like to guest post one of my “brave new life” core principle series articles on his site while he’s out of town snowboarding.  While I find myself intimidated by his large audience, I decided to do it anyways.

So…  The next installment of the series is located  on his site here.  Hopefully you’ll appreciate the post, and if you’re new to MMM I highly recommend you check out the rest of his site.

Core Principle #5: Understand The Marginal Utility of Money

Core Principle #4: Nurture Your Relationships

15
3 months ago
by Brave New Life in

Here’s an excerpt from an article I read recently:

I am a hospice chaplain. I visit people who are dying – in their homes, in hospitals, in nursing homes. And if you were to ask me the same question: What do people who are sick and dying talk about with the chaplain? I, without hesitation or uncertainty, would give you the same answer: Mostly, they talk about their families: about their mothers and fathers, their sons and daughters.

They talk about the love they felt, and the love they gave. Often they talk about love they did not receive, or the love they did not know how to offer, the love they withheld, or maybe never felt for the ones they should have loved unconditionally.

They talk about how they learned what love is, and what it is More >

Core Principle #3: Frugality, Self-Sufficiency, and Sustainability

23
3 months ago
by Brave New Life in

There is a deep and important correlation between frugality, self-sufficiency, and sustainability.  Recognizing this relationship is critical to the brave new life philosophy. There are hundreds of books and blogs on each, but rarely do you see the three tied together.  The inter-relation between them is why I chose to make them a single core principle.

It’s very important to tie them together.  Bind them in unison, let one support the other and become a philosophy.  Some life decisions are hard when you only consider one, but become very easy and obvious when all 3 support the same decision.  And it’s quite often that all 3 do support a single decision.

Part 1 – Frugality

Frugality, for most people, is a means to an end.  For some (those More >

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