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Some of my friends like to make fun of me because when they come over to my house, they go into my bathroom and see 20 rolls of toilet paper, a 10-pack of bar soap, a huge jug of bleach, or a giant tub of laundry soap. In my kitchen, the same kind of thing can sometimes be found and I’ll have 5 or 6 bottles of wine in my cupboard, a vat of dish…
Getting sick costs money. Even if you get paid sick days at work, employers won’t look favorably upon someone who is often not there and you probably won’t exactly be next in line for that big raise or promotion. And it also costs money to go to the doctor, for over-the-counter medication and it’s very easy to give in to impulse buys when you’re feeling weak and not like your normal self. So, the moral…
I’m sure everyone would agree that pets are not cheap because you have to pay for things like: food, vet care, toys and a myriad of other things. I have 2 cats and I’m a big believer that it’s really possible to take care of them, cheaply. Here are some of my tips: 1. Order pet food online. In Korea at least, it’s far cheaper to order in bulk quantities online on a place like…
Clothes are definitely one of those things that you can spend hundreds of dollars every month on, or almost nothing. I definitely fall into the latter category, as my students and good friends I’m sure could tell you. I rotate among the same 3 sweaters, 4 pairs of dress pants, 8 or so shirts, and 2 pairs of shoes at work. And for casual wear, it’s much the same, but even less. Maybe 2 pairs…
Rice and Beans, Beans and Rice As Dave Ramsey says, when you’re trying to get out of debt the only time you should see the inside of a restaurant is when you’re working there. And that those who are in debt should be eating rice and beans, beans and rice. Although I’m not in debt, I love cooking at home for the following reasons: Cooking at Home is Healthy! I love the fruits and vegetables.…
Frugal Living and Passive Income: Are they Related? On the surface, frugal living perhaps seems it doesn’t really relate that closely to building passive income streams, but in actuality, frugality is very necessary until you reach a certain level of passive income, at which point it doesn’t really matter how much money you spend, or don’t (to some degree….there are limits of course!). If you have $5000 a month coming in, with little to no…
Money Diet = Frugal Living Awesome I’m a huge fan of having periodic money diets in order to kick my savings into high-gear. This particular one was motivated by my upcoming move to Canada, which certainly ain’t gonna be cheap. Nothing says “frugal living” than posting all your spending online in a Facebook group with other people, and then also doing a post about it on here. Money Diet March: Some Previous Results Here are…
How Working in Korea for 10 years Set Me Up For Life I think working abroad is great as I talk about over on my other site about teaching in a Korean university: Top 5 Reasons Working Abroad is Awesome. In that post, I didn’t talk about the money, but working in a Korean university has given me a solid, solid foundation for my financial future. Part of it was luck in that I happened to…
Internet Marketing: A Vision! The other day, I had a vision of sorts. I was out on a bike ride, contemplating my Internet empire and trying to figure out what the pest plan for me is in these next few months before I return to Canada and go all-in on the digital entrepreneur. And it hit me. Facebook = Fickle. SEO focused on longtail keywords = Here for the long-term. Traffic from Facebook I get…
The Wealthy English Teacher: Teach, Travel, and Secure Your Financial Future is available on Amazon in both digital and print formats. You DON’T need to have a Kindle to get the digital version, but you can get the app from Amazon and read it on any smartphone, tablet, Mac or PC. If you’re living abroad, teaching English as a Foreign language and want to learn how to pay off debt, get started with investing and…
Research Would Show: Mutual Funds are Terrible I was just talking to my Canadian friend this morning and she was telling me about her mom who has hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in mutual funds. With even a minimal amount of reading about investment options, you would know that mutual funds are basically a total rip-off, particularly if you’re from Canada since the fees there are the highest in the world and you’d be…
My second book, The Wealthy English Teacher is hot off the press and now available on Amazon in both digital and print formats. Initial sales have been promising with more than 20 copies sold in just a couple of days with no paid advertising. I’m hoping that people will really like it and tell their friends-there really is no other financial book (or even resource on the Internet) that is specifically for ESL teachers. If…
It’s never too late to start planning for retirement You might be reading this post when you are in your late forties, fifties or even sixties and thinking that your financial landscape is pretty bleak. You are perhaps thinking about if it is too late to start saving for retirement. Perhaps you have lots of debt, including credit cards, no emergency fund and nothing in the way of retirement savings or other assets such as…
Today I’m continuing with my series on personal finance tips, inspired by this post over at The Simple Dollar: 60 Simple Rules of Personal Finance. I’ve already talked about keeping it simple and spending less than you earn. Today, it’s all about knowing what your pay per hour worked is. This has been on my mind lately for 2 reasons: 1. I’m writing a book called, “The Wealthy English Teacher” and there’s a chapter about…
This topic is especially relevant to English teachers abroad who seem to be some of the worst offenders when it comes to not having an emergency fund and then when something bad happens, they post all over Facebook asking for donations But, an emergency fund is necessary! I don’t want to be all judgey because some of these people are totally legit; I’ve actually donated a good amount of money to them over the years.…
My goal is to “retire” early in a few years and just work part-time or do online stuff a few hours a week. To reach this goal, I do three things: 1. Invest my money in dividend paying stocks. 2. Build Passive Income Streams, like Squidoo. 3. Live frugally, so that I have more money to do #1. Part of living frugally in Korea in the summertime is living without an air-con in my apartment,…
