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Brave New Life
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Home page: http://www.bravenewlife.com
Posts by Brave New Life
Core Principle #4: Nurture Your Relationships
153 months ago
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
233 months ago
by Brave New Life
in Uncategorized
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 >
Core Principle #2: Reject Lifestyle Inflation
273 months ago
Part 1 – Rejecting Lifestyle Inflation
College life is a simple life. Living in a single small room with a roommate. Biking to class. Getting books from the library. Cutting costs wherever you can to save up for beer money (which never amounted to much since there were no good paying jobs available). Sounds rough, right?
Except that it wasn’t rough. It was a great time. Every day was a day spent with friends. The simple things like a free concert, a sunny afternoon playing ultimate Frisbee, and a cheap keg of Bud Light were all you needed for a perfect day.
Then you graduated and decided you needed new clothes, a nice car, and a loan for a house because that’s what people do. You bought an iPad to go with your Macbook and iPhone More >
Core Principle #1: Question Everything
143 months ago
Part 1 – Accept that you’ve been brainwashed
That’s right! You’ve been brainwashed. And it gets worse, you’re still being brainwashed. Every day, more brainwashing.
And it’s coming from everywhere. It starts with marketing. The evil, vicious world of marketing. They brainwashed you into “needing” a GI Joe action set when you were a kid. They brainwashed you into paying $100,000 for a college degree in sociology where, if you use your degree, will spend decades trying to pay back (and if you don’t use your degree, then what was the point?). They brainwash you into believing and celebrating (and buying things) for holidays like Valentine’s Day, and into buying an engagement ring worth 2 months salary (well done, De Beers!).
Marketing More >
The Core Principles Of A Brave New Life
143 months ago
Over the past 6 months, this blog has kind of moved towards a reputation of early retirement. And that’s cool, it’s the shiny object that draws people in.
But a brave new life is more than that. It’s a life that values family, friends, and leisure over hard work and money. It’s a life that values sustainability and self-sufficiency over bigger and better stuff. And it’s one that values understanding of things, rather than acceptance. Early retirement is both a step towards this life, as well as a benefit of it. The ultimate goal, however is not early retirement. The ultimate goal is a positive, joyful, and tranquil life.
In order to pull all this off, I believe there are 8 core principles that must be understood and embraced. Some More >
Why?
153 months ago
by Brave New Life
in Uncategorized
“Why?” - Stella, my daughter
My daughter is about to turn two, and she recently started asking “Why?” Every time she does, my eyes light up in excitement!
You see, “Why?” is a game kids play starting around age two, and they’ll continue to play until their parents, teachers, TV shows, and government convince them to stop.
Here’s an example conversation:
Me: Let’s go outside Stella: Why? Me: Because it’s a beautiful day Stella: Why? Me: Because it’s 70 degrees outside and the sun is shining Stella: Why? Me: Because there are no clouds in the sky Stella: Why? Me: Because I love you. Now let’s go!
Side note: I usually end the why conversations with “I love you.” rather than going into the basics of physics or meteorology with my 2 year More >
Investing In Private Equity Funds For Real Estate
254 months ago
As with all investment articles on this site, I’ll just warn that I’m not an investment professional, and this should not be taken as advice.
In my recent monthly status I mentioned that I’ve begun a new experiment in my ever growing portfolio of alternative investments. Before I go into the details, let me explain how I got here.
Several months ago, I began a partnership with a local real estate investor who was seeking money to purchase a distressed house. I invest the money, she does the work, we split the profits. An distressed house is now a livable one, and a family gets a beautiful new home right next to the elementary school. Everybody wins.
I like this idea, but there are reasons why I may not want to increase my More >
Retire By 35 – December 2011 Results
204 months ago
Each month I calculate my family’s cash flow and balance sheet to track my path to extreme early retirement. I do this to ensure we are spending our money on things we need and activities we enjoy. My intention with sharing it here with such transparency is not to show off my income or savings, but rather to show what can be done if you stay focused and deliberate. I strongly encourage everyone to create a similar report, even if you don’t share it with others. It takes me 2 hours (including this fancy report), and it’s the only time I look at my portfolio or expenses each month.
For those of you who follow this site closely, you know that I didn’t write up my standard report in November. During my monthly analysis at the end of More >
Avoiding Income Taxes With Self-Directed IRAs
114 months ago
I’ve spoken a lot about income diversification, using various investment strategies to create the income. One of the things that bugs be about these types of income, however, is that I had to do a lot of it with taxable money. And since I’m still working a full time job, in a high marginal tax bracket, this money was getting taxed at a rate that was really eating into my effective profits. I knew I could shelter basic dividend income inside my IRA, but what about real estate investments and other income generating investments?
Then I learned about Self-Directed IRAs (SDIRA). An SDIRA allows anyone with an IRA to get greater asset diversification by allowing for investments other than traditional stocks and bonds, including but not More >
2011 – The Year In Review
184 months ago
by Brave New Life
in Uncategorized
I’ve thought about this quite a bit, and I think I’m willing to say that this has been the best year of my life. If not the best, certainly the most significant. I can say without a doubt that I’m not the same person that I was on January 1st. And I don’t mean this as hyperbole, I really feel that my outlook on almost all aspects of life is completely different.
In January, I made the decision to change jobs and move to Colorado. At this time, I was still the old me. I was doing it because I was tired of my company, and tired of central Texas summers. I had a dream of early retirement, but no supporting plan. I had no idea that over the next year I would make such significant changes to my life.
In March, just a day aften I completed my More >
