There are a few ways to monetize your 3D printing addicti hobby. You can design objects that others want to print, you can design and print things that others want to buy, you can print things that others want printed etc. Most of these are marginally profitable at best, but could be a way to help pay for a hobby and make a few bucks on the side. Design Thingiverse has a feature that allows you to tip designers that offer things that you find useful. Tipping is voluntary so the income is likely to be very small. I have quite a few designs on Thingiverse so I set up…
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Mortgages on F.I.R.E.
How do I choose between a 15 year mortgage and a 30 year mortgage? Does the F.I.R.E. philosophy change the game? How the Game is played In general, the more you can invest in high growth rate index funds the better off you are. This is especially true if you are a standard investor with a 30 to 40 year investment horizon. In the standard timeline you are likely better off taking a 30 year mortgage and investing the rest, than you would be taking a 15 year mortgage and investing less while you pay off the mortgage. In a long timeframe strategy, the compounded growth of the extra investments…
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Part Time Work as Strategy
How do you bridge to pivot projects, let your nest egg grow, and de-stress your life all at the same time? Go part time and get a head start on all your pivot projects even earlier. The accumulation phase During your accumulation phase years, you are working full time and saving your pennies for the future. There are at least four things happening during that time. You are saving and investing part of your money You are allowing your nest egg to grow You are learning to control your spending by living on less than you earn. You are aging Adjustments that increase your savings rate will both increase your…
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F.I.(ish) P.E.E. from another angle
I became interested in the early retirement movement as a consequence of a rising sense of dissatisfaction with my job. It seems a bit ungrateful no matter how I look at it. I have a very good job, doing important work. Nevertheless I have a hard time doing the same thing day in and day out. Gratitude So what is the solution to mid life blues? I think having options is a good start. Having a sense of gratitude for what I have now is another piece to the puzzle. I have a great life, a wonderful wife, and good children. In nearly all ways I’m already a very rich…
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Pivot 2: Udemy Course
Is selling online courses a legitimate side hustle? How do I find the right course? Testing the waters With four or five years to go before I start seriously considering a mid-life pivot, I am testing the waters on side hustles. My first side hustle sort of fell into my lap. I heard about a college that needed a teacher for a course in my field and pretty much got the job as soon as I expressed an interest. This second side hustle will require a little more hustle. Choosing a course I wanted to create a course that would be valuable and at the same time not rehash something…
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Pivot 1: Online Teaching
My first foray into the world of the side hustle is online teaching. I am currently a medical physicist working full time at a cancer center. Last year I got an opportunity to teach physics to students in my field for a college in Washington state. Thing is, I live in Alaska, so the whole thing was done online. The money was not great per hour the first year, but with the initial investment of time already over, I can teach the same course next time without all the startup costs of planning lessons, writing assignments, etc.. In fact I am considering pre-recording my lectures next time I teach, so…
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A deep dive into F.I.(ish) P.E.E.
The original F.I.(ish) P.E.E. post was too short to explore all of the subtle nuances of F.I.(ish) P.E.E. theory. So here are some more ramblings. On the spectrum For each of the major components of a retirement plan you need to be comfortable with the level of risk you are taking. If you have no appetite for risk in a certain category you will need to compensate for that by using worst case math. Categories include longevity risk, sequence of returns risk, volatility risk, etc. For instance, the 4% rule was built on a worst case scenario to hedge against exceptional sequence of returns risk. If you retired just before…
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F.I.(ish) P.E.E.
Smash the 4% rule! Forget FIRE! Retire even earlier with F.I.ish P.E.E.! So here I am starting yet another FIRE blog. I’m sure this one will stand out from the crowd. If not, then it will at least help me formulate my own FIRE plans. Unfortunately I caught FIRE a bit late. I’m currently 42 and my retirement account contains about four times my projected retirement spending. So after reading all the FIRE blogs I’m starting to think “Gosh darn, them young whippersnappers is retired already? I’m missing out!” To make things more complicated I have a wife and six children, the youngest of which just turned two. So what…
