What I Love Most About Being Financially Independent

Last week, Mrs. Groovy and I returned home from our daily constitutional and were greeted by two sheriff deputies. It seems a neighbor lost control of her car and visited some carnage upon our fence. Here are some pictures: Our first and only reaction to the carnage was the health of the driver and any …

Pandemics, Public Use Theory, and Financial Independence

In the fall of 2019, I invented a theory called the public use theory. Here are the two key premises of that theory: Premise One: All institutions—because they’re run by mere mortals—are flawed to one degree or another. Premise Two: The more you engage with any particular institution, the more likely you’ll be exposed to …

Golly Gee, Cars Are Expensive

Last June, Mrs. Groovy and I got a new-to-us car, a 2016 Honda CRV for $21,035.91. We christened our new Honda, “Penny,” and she came to us with 32,635 miles on her odometer. Now, because I run a personal finance blog, I decided to follow the prescribed maintenance schedule of the manufacturer to the tee. …

Minimum Required Income for Financial Independence

This post was last modified on 8/16/2019 because Steverark pointed out a glaring deficiency in my MRI-RI Calculator that couldn’t be ignored. I neglected to account for inflation. Someone who is spending $40,000 annually today will be spending a lot more than that 20 or 30 years hence. Over the next couple of days, I …