Personal Finance
Give More and Pay Less – Breaking down Private Foundations and Donor Advised Funds
Have you ever dreamed of what you would do if you had too much money? I am not talking about dreaming of yachts, ponds full of hippos, and hanging with your entourage. I'm talking about your dreams of philanthropy, giving your neighbor a scholarship, stocking a food pantry, or funding a local psychiatric hospital. If you aren’t there yet, stay on our plan of living below your means, saving and investing and you’ll be there sooner than you’d expect. Some of our HIT Family is living out their philanthropic dreams and are supercharging them through tax protected charitable vehicles. [...]
Choosing a Health Care Sharing Plan
My Alternative to Expensive Insurance When reviewing health share plans we were drawn to Samaritan, which has been around since 1994. Samaritan describes themselves as “A community of Christians paying one another’s medical bills.” This is exactly what it is, those of us who signed up to be a part of this plan do not have insurance, and are committed to sending their monthly share to another Christian in need. Samaritan is based in Peoria, IL. That means it’s just over the river from us, and there are many people around our area that are familiar with this medical [...]
Do We Need Health Insurance?
“Who is your health insurance through?” “What do you mean you don’t have health insurance?” “Your husband is an attorney, he should have health insurance through work”. More often than not this is the start of my conversation with friends interested in learning about our health insurance. About a year ago, my husband was promoted to partner at his law firm. While we were celebrating, we learned partners are no longer employees and we would no longer have our employee sponsored health insurance. We had an option to continue to pay for the insurance but after seeing it was [...]
Anxiety, the Last Hurdle Before Financial Freedom – Part 1
Severance Update In my last post, “No Power, No Water, No Heat, No Severance'' we were in the middle of a cold front that left us without electricity, water, and internet. This delayed all of my corporate work communications and the following week when the essential services came back online I received word on my severance request and... It was accepted. I am now twice retired, and can focus on HIT, family and friends. Financial Independence It has now been 3 months since retiring and financial independence has been everything I dreamed it to be. But before I share more [...]
Financial Independence is Here! My Reflections On How The Journey Began
In August 2020, Sarah and I met our financial goals. We reached “enough” and will begin forging a new path, not driven by money. The financial independence journey took me 37 years to accomplish and over half of those years I spent in the passenger seat. This post is about my early days and is dedicated to family, friends and mentors who started me down the path to financial freedom. A collage of mentors from top left to bottom right. Uncle Chuck and myself on the farm, Grandpa and I on Memorial Day, Grandma shucking corn with George, Mom [...]
2019’s Lifestyle Altering Bike vs. Ride Challenge
2019 was a lifestyle altering year where I committed to bike more than I drive. The seed was planted in 2017. We moved from the Four Corners to Houston Texas, purchased a home, flooded and re-built. Due to Hurricane Harvey it took us longer than expected to settle into a normal routine, but when we did I soon realized how much I missed the regular occurrence of outdoor adventures with nearby and active friends. It wasn’t long before my mind was racing on ideas to fill the gap. The quick and easy answer was to sacrifice family time and go [...]