Archives for April 2012

Questions on the 4% “safe” withdrawal rate

Author: Doug Nordman Last Updated: June 27, 2018 Leave a Comment

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I have over 250 posts on the blog stretching back over the last 18 months, and you readers would only notice a comment on one of the old posts if you happened to subscribe to the "Comments" RSS feed. (It's the orange icon over there on the right, under the "Please leave a comment!" text.) However, WordPress notifies me whenever a comment's added to … [Read more...] about Questions on the 4% “safe” withdrawal rate

How much will military veterans leave on the table?

Author: Doug Nordman Last Updated: June 27, 2018 1 Comment

Advertiser Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any other entity. This site may be compensated through the advertiser Affiliate Program. For more information, please see our Advertising Policy.

Once you've started saving and investing for financial independence, you want to know when you're actually financially independent. The answer should be straightforward, but it starts out with a simple number and then piles on the fine print. Here's an example: "You're financially independent when 4% of your investment portfolio … [Read more...] about How much will military veterans leave on the table?

Old-school frugal (part 2 of 2)

If you're coming here from a search engine or another link, the first part of this post went up the week before. By far the biggest influence on today's frugal living and financial independence has been Joe Dominguez. Joe worked on Wall Street in the 1960s, back when American industry and finance was riding high. Nobody wanted to retire-- … [Read more...] about Old-school frugal (part 2 of 2)

If I Only Knew Then What I Know Now – How to Catch up on Your Retirement Planning

Jeff Rose over at Good Financial Cents is a CFP who sees dozens of older clients. Nearly every week he meets people in their 60s and 70s who tell him "I wish I'd started earlier and saved more." Recently I heard from a military spouse with the same sentiments. The difference is that she's figured it out at a much younger age, and she's already … [Read more...] about If I Only Knew Then What I Know Now – How to Catch up on Your Retirement Planning

Roth TSP: 7 May, but later for military

You're probably as tired as I am of these blow-by-blow breathless updates on the Roth TSP. At least the military's Defense Finance and Accounting Service is doing a better job of coordinating their announcements with the federal Thrift Savings Plan. The board of governors of the TSP has announced that the Roth version of the TSP … [Read more...] about Roth TSP: 7 May, but later for military

Old-school frugal

Frugality is hot again. I'll start this post at the end of the story: during the Great Recession, Americans rediscovered frugality. Only this time, the information had already been archived on the Web and a core of tech-savvy people had dedicated themselves to the lifestyle. Frugality and simple living had never gone away, but they certainly … [Read more...] about Old-school frugal

Translating Military Experience to Civilian Careers

Author: Doug Nordman Last Updated: February 10, 2019 2 Comments

Advertiser Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any other entity. This site may be compensated through the advertiser Affiliate Program. For more information, please see our Advertising Policy.

I spend a lot of time on Linkedin researching info for the book & blog. I've joined a dozen different groups and I'm enjoying the discussions. Every once in a while, though, an especially interesting topic comes up. A month ago a member asked a seemingly simple question: "What part of your military experience do you anticipate will carry … [Read more...] about Translating Military Experience to Civilian Careers

Sea story: Simulate submarine life at home

This is a long, long list of how to simulate submarine life at home. These lists have been floating around for decades, perhaps even since World War II. They're always anonymous, and they used to be passed around by hand after being printed on a poorly-maintained mimeograph machine. Today we share them by e-mail and post them on websites, so it … [Read more...] about Sea story: Simulate submarine life at home

Do you have affluenza?

Author: Doug Nordman Last Updated: June 27, 2018 2 Comments

Advertiser Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any other entity. This site may be compensated through the advertiser Affiliate Program. For more information, please see our Advertising Policy.

Last week I posted about military retirees who are exploring bridge careers and others who are planning to retire with adequate cash flow but low savings. "The Military Guide" is packed with more real-life stories from people who have solved these challenges. One of the themes behind these stories has been making sure that their families were on … [Read more...] about Do you have affluenza?

Book report: “The Mindset List”

"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?" -- Plato, 4th Century BCE I ran across this book of lists during my research on … [Read more...] about Book report: “The Mindset List”