• 2017 Budget Year in Review

    2017 Budget Year In Review

    It’s that time of year again.  No, I don’t mean Christmas. I mean dusting off the transaction history for this past year from Personal Capital (link) and sifting through…(checking total amount of transactions)…2,097 transactions! Boy, what fun it is to calculate net income…yeah. It has certainly been an interesting year.  The first half of the year was largely focused on travel, and mid-way through the year, Peter changed jobs and work locations.  Let’s take a look at the numbers and then we’ll provide a summary of the good, bad, and ugly.  Please note that we will publish only the percentages of our expenses compared to our after-tax income (or disposable…

  • Las Vegas Strip at Night

    4 Things You Might Not Know About Las Vegas

    If you’re traveling to Nevada, odds are you’re looking to stop in Las Vegas. While “Sin City,” as some call it, isn’t for everyone, it’s still one of the main tourist attractions in the U.S. You know the general idea: there are massive casino resorts, luxurious pools, fine dining establishments, and some of the best shows and nightclubs in the country. However, if you really do a trip to Las Vegas right, you might find that there’s more than meets the eye. These are a few fun aspects of the city that don’t tend to get as much publicity.   1 – The Rides Are A Blast Most people probably…

  • Faulkner's House in Rowan's Oak, Oxford, Mississippi

    How we fund and afford our travels

      People always ask us how we can afford to travel this much, and we try to make it as transparent as possible by posting our travel expenses on this blog. However, what they really don’t know is HOW we can afford to spend all that money on travel.  Living in the USA, I’ve realized that it is a land of opportunity, and also a land of many temptations. In this country, the opportunities are endless: from travel hacking, mistake fares, and other ways to make extra cash and get discounted deals, we truly are spoiled for choice. However, despite the vast richness of the country, I keep hearing people…

  • Buying vs Renting A House - Which one is better

    Buying vs Renting a House – Which One Is Better?

    A battle that is debated continuously in the personal finance world. If you want a simple answer, it will depend on your situation right now. Here, we discuss some of the pros and cons of each and why we ultimately became homeowners ourselves. The perks of buying a house I mean it doesn’t even have to be a house-house. You can decide to live in a townhouse, or a condo, or even in a trailer or tiny house. Once you decide to buckle down and buy, there are a few things we considered such as: Cost of renting vs monthly mortgage payments Most people (like us) can’t afford to buy…

  • Bohol Bee Farm, Philippines

    The Real Cost of Travel

    What is the first reaction you receive when you tell someone that you’re traveling? I ask this question, out of curiosity, because whenever me and Ruby go traveling during the year, people we talk to sometimes express surprise and often ask us how we can afford to travel so much. One of the most common questions we’ve received is, “Are your families rich or something?” (for the record, no!). Travel is classified as a “leisure” activity, but that leisure word really means “luxury” for most people in the United States, at least from my experience.  It’s as if there is a bit of a stigma attached to the word here,…