The challenge facing first time home buyers is well documented at this point.  The gap between the median income and median home price continues to widen.  This presents an increasing challenge to anyone looking to save up a down payment and purchase a home of their own.  It is easy to think about giving up this goal, but if you can shift your mindset it can help keep the door open.

In the book, Moneyball by Michael Lewis, Billy Beane finds himself in a similar situation as the General Manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team.  The A’s have the lowest payroll in the league and some how they are expected to compete with teams like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox that have orders of magnitude more money to spend.  It is a terribly unfair situation and yet Billy Beane and the A’s found a way to be competitive and even make the playoffs.

The Art of Winning at an Unfair Game

The subheading of Moneyball sums up the challenge of buying a home for most people in the United States.  The cost of housing has risen dramatically and in recent years interest rates have also shot up which creates a massive challenge for the average person.

In building a baseball team, Billy Beane broke the components of what the team needed to produce down to basics and then figured out how they could approach meeting those needs different than everyone else.  He had to work differently to be successful and that is how people need to function if they are going to be able to enter the housing market.

Am I in the Right City?

The housing market in the US is incredibly varied.  In San Francisco, $1 million may not even get you in the game.  In St. Louis, $400K could get you a reasonable sized home in one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city.  The average home in St. Louis is under $300K.

I see people moving to Spokane from Seattle all the time because prices in Eastern Washington are approximately half of what they are in the core of Seattle.  There are just cities that represent the New York Yankees in our Moneyball analogy.  The big coastal cities are just not in the equation unless you are making some serious money or have built massive equity from owning property for a while.  This is the first place the Moneyball mindset has to come in.  If you want to buy, you have to be realistic about whether this will require a move to a lower priced metro area.

It is worth exploring new areas with a similar job market if you don’t have a vision for what another city could look like.  I have seen numerous extended families relocating to Eastern Washington from California so that the kids can buy a home as they start a family.   It really sucks that so many awesome coastal cities like San Francisco and Seattle are so unaffordable, but it’s something that needs a sober perspective if you are going to be able to make a real plan for the future.

Your Winning Purchase Needs to Be a Little Different

The biggest thing that is encouraging about home buying despite that challenges is that you don’t need to find a home each week or even a few times a year.  You only need to do it once every five to ten years (or once period if you are lucky).  This is what puts the odds a bit more in the favor of a young couple who knows their area and is open to what their future could look like.

People are all different and so if you can try a house on and imagine a life that you would truly enjoy despite bad paint or an old kitchen then you are in a good zone.  This is also a big reason to look in a place you enjoy and can see the value in that the masses may not see the same way.  It’s an odd quirk of modern life that people seem to love standing in lines.  They do it for hot, new restaurants, but they also do it in the housing market.  The best schools and top neighborhoods end up inflated when areas that are a slight step down are consistently much more affordable.

If you have Moneyball mindset then you can see that there are amazing homes and potential neighbors in these “other” areas and you can escape the crowd.  If you can live life in a smaller footprint or with one bathroom then you will continue to find opportunities.  Just changing a Zillow search to include 2 bedroom or one bathroom homes can unlock potential opportunities that most people are not even looking at due to the standard desire for a 3 bed 2 bath home.

In Austin, just being an extra 10 minutes away from the super hip areas can drop prices dramatically.  If you want some fun on Zillow, compare home prices in 78704 (Ultra Hip) to 78748 (Still great, but no hype).  The difference is massive even to be slightly outside the core of the city.  If you know your city, you can find some of these imbalances that many will miss.

Anchor in What You Really Need

How many cool restaurants do you really need to enjoy your life?  If we are honest, it’s not that many.  The kids at the schools rated 9 or 10 aren’t the only ones who are learning and happy.  Sometimes the highest rated schools have a whole set of challenges that come with a hyper competitive culture.   If parents in the area are engaged with the school, then having a super high rating isn’t the difference between success or failure for your kids.  Once again, if you know your city and can talk to people at the schools, you may find that there is a real gem that school ranking websites will never identify.

I think it’s safe to assume that there are cool neighbors in virtually all neighborhoods and it only takes connecting with a few to bring a new area to life.  For me, having projects to work on over time has always brought enjoyment and a deeper connection to the property.  I would have never developed my love of gardening and landscaping if I wasn’t forced into it by our first home.  My biggest Moneyball move has been to buy houses with yards that were in complete disrepair.  The look of the overgrown property drove many away, but I saw it as having a blank slate to work from.

Buying a house is similar to building a baseball team in that there is tons of variability in the options out there.  If most people have one a similar vision in mind, then there will be houses that fall through the cracks just like there were promising baseball prospects for Billy Beane.  For the person that can remain flexible in their search, the possibility of finding a winner is feasible.   Even though the housing market nationally is as challenging as ever, you only need to find one good house to make it a win.

I hope this serves as some encouragement that there is opportunity out there still in this world and you can find a great spot to call your own if you know how to look differently.

In this article I want to focus on a different portion of the path to American Abundance outside of the major cities.  I recently listened to an episode of the Ezra Klein show that featured congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who is the representative for Washington state’s third congressional district.

The focus of the podcast was on how a democrat like Gluesenkamp Perez is handling the policies of President Trump since her district voted for the Republican president in the last election.  Its a tricky situation to be in politically, but Gluesenkamp Perez maintained a simple focus throughout the interview and that focus is what I want to write about.

I recently read the book Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, and so the perspective of restoring lost productiveness was in my brain.  Klein and Thompson focus on what the liberal political movement needs to do to become a force for productivity instead of being an obstacle to it.  Their focus is largely on the coastal cities where they have spent time.  I very much appreciated their perspective on what can be done to build more homes, energize scientific discovery and restore industry.  The questions I’ve had is what this looks like for areas outside the major cities.

The Future of American Abundance Will Start Small

Gluesenkamp Perez brings an interesting perspective to this Abundance conversation because she is from rural Southwestern Washington which includes Vancouver and a number of small towns.  As a resident of Spokane in the Eastern part of Washington, I related to her perspective on what it means to move forward economically for areas outside the major coastal cities.

The first aspect of where this Abundance starts small is with businesses that are local in nature.  Gluesenkamp Perez discussed the auto shop that she and her husband run.  The reason that businesses like this will be the future is that they can’t be replaced by AI and won’t be targeted by larger corporations.   Its not the type of business that will make its owners incredibly wealthy, but it can provide for a great life.

The other thing that comes through in the interview is that Gluesenkamp Perez is focused on building the trust of the people in her community.  The constant focus of major media on new technology can cause us to forget that a trustworthy business is an amazing asset.   It’s the kind of strength that takes time to develop but also can’t be replicated and replaced.

I am a believer that there will continue to be opportunities for local businesses particularly when it comes to fixing cars, working on homes or meeting other practical needs in a community.  There are so many people retiring from these types of professions, and they will be growing in many areas as people move out of larger cities.

My wife works as a realtor in Spokane and as the city grows there is a constant need for contractors.  We’ve seen several successful businesses start up and gain footing the past few years.  The best part is that in smaller communities like Spokane or rural Southwestern Washington, these careers can provide an income to buy a home and start a family.

American Abundance Will Need to Be Scrappy

The simple reality for most Americans is that getting on stable footing financially in your 20s and 30s is much harder than we anticipated coming into adult life.  It’s as if we set out on a 5-mile hike only to realize it was 14 miles and went up the side of a mountain.  This is another area where Gluesenkamp Perez offered a great perspective that I believe is part of helping people get through the slog to begin to build wealth.

She was matter of fact about encouraging her child to play outside and was willing to share that her appliances were purchased second hand.  What makes Gluesenkamp Perez so refreshing is that she’s proud of these realities.  I could relate given that my wife and I almost exclusively purchased our furniture on Craigslist for the first 10 years of our marriage and we did all our home projects ourselves in Austin as we scraped by with young kids.

The lie that seems to weigh on so many people today is the expectation that this journey would be easier or that it wouldn’t require us to be scrappy to save money and stay out of debt as we pushed through our late 20s and into our 30s.  I loved to hear someone who embraces people who work with their hands and on the value of passing appliances through communities (provided they are actually built well).   However, if we are prepared for the fact that we will need to buy fixer upper houses, find second-hand furniture and think creatively to get through these years then it can help us keep momentum for the journey.

I have worked in aerospace and pharmaceutical manufacturing for most of my career and the jobs I’ve seen these industries create are another example of how I see scrappiness being the future.  I’ve had friends who started as welders, inspectors and production technicians work their way into promising careers, buy homes and flourish.  There is an amazing value in people who can perform challenging technical work and problem solve with equipment in modern manufacturing.  This hands-on experience then opens opportunities to move on to management or working with the quality group in these highly regulated industries.  These types of jobs need to be celebrated in a community and that is something it was clear that Gluesenkamp Perez understood.  Jobs like this are available all over the country, often in communities that are relatively affordable like Grand Rapids, St. Louis or Indianapolis.

The question is whether people will value moving towards these manufacturing roles that are available and have to longer term vision to see where it can take them.

American Abundance will Require Embracing Local Community

My favorite part of the tone that Marie Gluesenkamp Perez set in her interview with Ezra Klein was that she wholeheartedly embraced the views and needs of her community.  She obviously knew what people were thinking and had spent time talking to them.  She was part of the fabric.

When she discusses the challenges of poverty and drug use in her community it was not at a distance, but they were people in her community in need of help.  One of the challenges from the book Abundance was when the government spends money on problems, but nothing really comes as a result.  There is a disconnect when it is all just numbers on a page.  Personal connection and people serving their communities will always lead to more change even if it is small in scale.

Ever since Covid threatened the restaurant industry, my wife and I have had a stronger realization that the coffee shops and cafes that we love aren’t just an automatic part of the scenery.  Especially in a smaller city like Spokane, these places need people to think about time and money spent as an investment in order to survive.  This is a major balancing act for a frugal finance blogger like me who is constantly looking at the budget, but my wife has been a great balance in this area.  She promotes her work mostly through giveaways to local businesses.  It ends up giving a boost to coffee shops, bakeries or small restaurants.  It also encourages our network to get out and learn about their local businesses.

As we move into our 40s and see our disposable income rise, we definitely try to keep this type of thinking in mind.  There is a never-ending flood of convenience at our fingertips and so it takes intentionality to ensure some of the that money goes into our local community.  This also ensures that we continue rubbing shoulders with our neighbors and hopefully ensuring small businesses can continue hiring.

I don’t know what the future holds for Spokane or Southwestern Washington where Marie Gluesenkamp Perez calls home, but I do believe that her perspective is cool to see and gives me hope for the future of American Abundance.

The idea of retiring by age 30 or 40 is a bold move.  I’m always amazed when I hear stories of people like Mr. Money Mustache who put away around 70% of their salary and retire super early.  When I first heard of this concept, I was a young father and making less than $50K a year.  I wasn’t in a spot to try for an early retirement, but I liked a lot of the concepts from the movement.  Breaking away from the standard American spending patterns helped my wife and I to move towards a higher margin life.

Freedom is Better than Status

This is the core principal that has always impressed me with folks that pursue a more hardcore financial path.  The focus stays clearly on moving towards a life with freedom to spend time as they desire to and not feeling trapped.  In the US, it seems like people often feel trapped by their jobs and commitments, but the reality is that the are trapped by the status that they want to maintain.

Whenever I read about people in the FIRE movement, they have just removed this piece of the equation.  Their focus is on simple logistics of what it will take to live a life they enjoy on a budget that will allow them to be free of work as early as possible.  It is a drastic reorienting from the standard life in for people in the US.  This is the type of focus that I think non-FIRE people can benefit from the most.

For the less financially hardcore, this focus on freedom may lead to more spending at local restaurants or vacations in the short term.  However, it can help us avoid letting lifestyle creep set in if we know our current career isn’t life giving and we need to think about a change.  Here are some ways that focusing on freedom over status could help:

• Not sizing up the house and losing a good mortgage rate.
• Avoiding a big car payment to allow for more investing.
• Reduced stress at work not pushing for that next promotion.
• Finding ways to reduce overall hours worked in a week.
• Pursuing enjoyable, but unflashy vacations.

The Things that Feed the Soul are Cheap

Going for walks with your family, reading a book and working with your hands all feed the soul.  There is a consistent connection between these simple pleasures and a deep feeling of contentment.  This comes into focus when someone targets extreme frugality since that comes with eliminating a lot of the consumer pleasures in life.

The norm in the US is ample consumer options which makes it easy to lose the simple pleasures.  This is the biggest battle I see with raising teens, like my wife and I are, in the modern world.  So much is available that the simple joys get crowded out for our kids, but also for us.  For those of us that aren’t targeting retirement before out kids get out of the home, it means we have to be more intentional in this area.

A big part of this is linking these activities that feed the soul with the “cotton candy” that surrounds us.  It means going for a walk with the dog or spending time in the garden before the watching a show.  For my kids, it means putting reading and drawing out as the gateway to any time on screens.  Pretty much every time I’ve put some limit in place to benefit my kids in this area, I’ve seen quickly that I need to do something similar.

One major reason I took over this blog is that it created a major push for me to focus on writing.  I’ve always loved to write and spend time pondering life, but its generally lost out to the hustle of life.  Having the blog helps me do something that I know feeds my soul and keeps it top of the priority list.

Keep Investing Simple

I’m not sure if this is universally true of people in the FIRE movement, but I’ve almost always heard folks focus more on lifestyle and savings.  The goal is to get money moving into Index Funds linked to the S&P 500 and let compounding interest do the heavy lifting.  The primary reason for this is that most people targeting early retirement are not investment experts and are humble enough to acknowledge that.

This seems very important in 2025 where uncertainty is at an all time high with the markets and it would be easy to try to dive into alternatives.  This is a prime situation where the best option is probably to do nothing other than ride the market out.  2025 feels very shaky, but we can still look back and see that there is plenty of wild, unpredictable stuff that has happened over the past 50 years.

This principle could also be summarized as “Do what you know well and keep the rest simple.”  For my wife and I, real estate is something we know since she is a realtor.  For us this is an area we focus on, but when it comes to our retirement savings, the focus is to keep it simple and put it into the simple S&P Index Funds.

I have always been intrigued by investing and would love to have more expertise in the market, but I also know that I’ll never put that much time in become an expert.  If people who were able to retire by 35 were able to do it with a simple market strategy, then I can stick with that.

Let the FIRE Movement Be Encouraging

The biggest thing that I take from the FIRE movement is the encouraging thought that there are relatively normal people out there who were able to commit to super high savings rates, focus on a simple life and grew enough wealth to stop working before they turned 40.

If those people can do something that extreme, then my wife and I can definitely find a way to stash money away for our kid’s school, save enough to retire in our 60s and find joy in our working life.

I’ll never be that hardcore, but I can glean from the mindset to help my family continue to grow our margin.  In an increasingly uncertain world, growing margin and enjoying life is my biggest goal.  The FIRE movement provides great insights to make this a reality.

The trend of mini-retirements has picked up some visibility at the start of 2025 as younger people are taking time off from their career to refresh or redirect.  I took additional notice of this since I was between roles for a few months myself.  This got me thinking about the benefits of slowing down, but also the concern of long-term finances and career progression.

I definitely gathered from some of the commentary that this is more common amongst 20-somethings.  My time off gave me some perspective on the value of having a larger amount of time to rest and refocus.  Taking this time as a 41-year-old also provides me additional thoughts about the potential financial implications of taking a break like this earlier in life.

Emotional Well-Being Takes Time

My biggest take away from my short hiatus from a stressful role in pharmaceutical manufacturing is that my work life had taken a toll on my emotionally.  It’s nothing catastrophic, but the grind of deadlines and dysfunctional management add up over time.  I definitely noticed that I needed the time to recover and refresh myself even though I wasn’t choosing to take the time off.

Despite the fact that anyone older than me seems to love dunking on the work habits of Gen-Z, I have consistently noticed that the desire for balance is a primary driving factor.  In this way, I’ve always aligned more with my younger peers.  I didn’t see the value of pushing myself to work big hours to drive for a promotion so that I could be completely drained when I get home to my wife and kids.

The challenge for emotional well-being is that jobs aren’t stable and there will always be busier seasons or reasons to take on a more stressful role in order to advance.   I’ve strived to maintain balance over my career, but there are simply periods where the time hasn’t been available to refresh.  Burnout is sneaky and hard to predict.  I know I’ve personally seen it grow gradually in my life even when I didn’t think that the work environment would produce it.  Gen Z seems much better at listening to this internal voice than the older generations which is one reason I could see for the rise in taking some time off.

Keep Long-Term Finances in Mind

When considering a work hiatus, the first consideration has to be staying out of debt.  If you gain some peace of mind now but put yourself behind with money going forward then it’s not worth it.  However, if you have some savings and can live on a tight budget for a while then the benefit of setting a new perspective can be incredibly valuable.

Shifting Careers

The best thing that could come out of a mini-retirement could be shifting to a new career direction that gives a better long-term outlook.  This could mean a job earns more, but also a position that you have more energy to work at for decades to come.  If a brief break provides a shift that brings energy to your work life for years then the financial benefit will be massive.

Taking a Break is a Big Deal

Taking time away from the workforce is a big deal and could have significant negative implications for the future.  This is something that should be very seriously considered before cutting ties with a full-time job.  I’ve survived multiple layoffs in my career, but I know how challenging it was for my friends who were cut.  Its incredibly important to be grateful for a job and keep this factored in when evaluating a break.

Talk to Key People in Your Life

When I ended up moving on from my previous role, I’d been talking to my wife and some friends for months about the impact the job was having on me.  It was a slow progression and I think that is definitely the best way to approach a career break.

It’s also good to get the opinions of parents or older friends in your life that will likely offer a contrary opinion to a mini-retirement because it gives the idea the proper testing.  If a current job isn’t a good fit or has been draining you then you may also get an unexpected level of support for your potential change.  Regardless, the input is critical to making sure you make a solid decision.

The other side of this equation is that you may be over-reacting to your current situation.  This is something we all have the potential to do and there is no shame in realizing it.  The goal is to realize you are over-reacting before you jump ship and then regret it.  This is super critical for people like me who deal with anxiety since you can get caught up in your head and lose touch with reality a bit.  Getting ideas out in the open prevents this from driving the bus too far.

You are Unique and so is Your Career Arc

The biggest thing I’ve learned in my working life is that every career ebbs and flows in its own path.  Very few people know exactly what they want to do in their early twenties and then sees that through.  Also, in order to advance in your career, movement is an absolute necessity in the modern job market.  Between the time it takes to think through long term career plans or to recover from a period that drained your emotional reserves, taking some time off earlier in one’s working life could be a great tool to reset your trajectory.

The most important thing is to ensure that you are taking care of your finances to make sure you don’t create a financial burden for later on.  As long as the finances are square, I think that there may be many Gen Z people that look back on some time off in their early career as the catalyst to a happier career and better perspective in life.

I personally went through three different career directions during my twenties and so I can attest that it’s incredibly challenging to figure this out until you have some experience.  I also know that it’s easy to find yourself burned out due to work culture or simply not pacing yourself in life.  There is no reason to feel shame about this stuff, but the important thing is to take the next right step.  There is a chance that a mini-retirement is that step for some and so it’s a great thing to keep in mind.

Once again in 2025, Finland has been ranked the happiest country in the world.  This is the eighth consecutive year this has happened and so its good to look to see if there are lessons to be had.  It is also worth evaluating in a fresh way if these Finnish sources of happiness will translate to other places like the US.   Here we go to see if there are lessons to be learned, particularly for the US where the vibecession has been in full swing for a while now.

Keeping the Right Pace

In Finland, activities like going to the sauna and hygge culture are deeply entrenched.  It is also common to get out in nature even when its very cold outside.  These rhythms keep people moving at a pace that feeds the soul, but also values comfort.  This stands in contrast to aspects of American culture that values busy schedules and hardcore fitness.  It is pretty easy to see that if it is normal to focus on slower pace and cozy vibes then people would be happier.  The big challenge for someone in the US is that we fill our schedules so quickly and so its good to take a look at a different way of doing things to draw ideas, but also to normalize simpler patterns of life.

If thinking of the happy Finns helps you take some time to relax and read a book rather than focusing on a side-hustle, then go for it.

Accepting Discomfort as Part of Life

One of the most interesting things about Finland and the other Scandinavian nations consistently being the happiest in the world is that they are cold and dark for much of the year.  These are not the most pleasant places on the planet, but this also plays in their favor.

There is a built in acceptance of the challenges of the Scandinavian winter which helps to keep it from bringing the mood down as one would expect it to.  This is the thing that stands out the most for the Finnish happiness equation.  Having a way to frame the challenges of your particular situation that still allows for enjoyment is an amazing gift.

This is the piece that relates to money the most in 2025.  Inflation has been taking a bite out of every budget and there are simply inherent challenges with affording homes in most cities.  This is the financial climate that we will be in going forward.  The hope is always that things improve, but these are huge trends and so a good comparison is the coming of a Scandinavian winter.

If you prepare for the challenge, then its much easier to take on and overcome.  If the Finns were all on social media looking at pictures of Costa Rica all winter, I assume they would not be as happy.

Happiness as the Foundation, not the Result

The Finns need to be good at happiness to survive their cold, dark winters.  They recognize this and they’ve built their culture around it.  Another side effect of this is that the Scandinavian countries are also relatively wealthy.  If you are good at finding happiness it helps to fuel you to in your pursuits whether its a business or a challenging career.

As Americans, our greatest struggle would seem to be discontent.  We are conditioned not to be satisfied by our current situation and we are increasingly able to identify the ways the world isn’t living up to our expectations.  Then add to this that we are facing plenty of challenges and it quickly feels like we should just give up.

Its like we are headed into December north of Arctic Circle and we haven’t prepared for the journey.  That is the lesson from the Finns.  They know how to confront the uncomfortable and still find joy in it.  That provides the foundation to work from as we build businesses and look for grow wealth.  That gives the fuel for the journey that will likely take longer than you expect and contain plenty of discomfort.  If you can stick it out, the payoff will be awesome, but you have to feed your happiness along the way to win.

As Americans, its helps to steal a bit from this Finnish way of thinking.

There are a myriad of ways that the modern world pushes on our brains and bodies in ways that are challenging.  We have easy access to way more calories, options and stimulation than any generation in history.  This creates challenges for staying fit, paying attention and managing the budget.

There is a lot of content lamenting our current state, but these changes are hear to stay and will likely only increase since all of the pressures are connected to huge companies making more money.  So what can be do?  I’d propose we start with thinking through four types of fasting that can help to break out of the ruts that are so easy to fall into.

Fasting from Food

I’m not going to discuss a more traditional style of fast associated with not any food for a period of time like 24 hours.  There is plenty of great content on that topic out there.  I want to focus more on how abstaining from certain foods or food at certain times can help us reset and thrive.

Elimination Diets

An elimination diet involves cutting out certain types of food like milk, eggs, dairy or processed foods for a period of time to test the impact on the body.  The central idea here is that modern food is pushing on the boundaries of what our bodies can handle.  For many of us, if we are feeling a bit off in some way, there is a good chance that we are over our tolerance for some type of food.

Additionally, one of the biggest challenges our bodies face that cause a myriad of disorders is heightened inflammation.  There may be a more significant medical issue at hand, but often times, the issue is something in the diet that is out of balance for the systems.

Regardless of what might be going on with you personally, an elimination diet may provide a doorway to unlocking better overall health.

Intermittent Fasting

This is one I have personal experience with since I have often started work very early and so I would skip breakfast due to not being hungry at 5:30 in the morning.  However, along with this I noticed that I felt more attentive in my morning work hours and generally noticed that it was easier to keep weight off.

I started hearing people talk about intermittent fasting a few years later and wasn’t surprised based off my experience.   This can involve simply cutting off food intake by a particular time in the evening and then planning to wait until lunch the next day for a first meal.  Additional detail can be added depending on what level of results a person is looking for, but the awesome benefit of controlling the time you eat is that it allows a bit more freedom in what you do eat.

Another benefit to the intermittent fasting is that is creates a bit more rigid schedule for food which also helps the grocery budget.  Any time we simplify a certain aspect of our lives, it tends to have a positive effect on our finances.

Fasting from the Internet

Similar to food, this isn’t necessarily focusing on a full blackout since that is challenging  to pull off, but it may be worth it for a season.  The primary challenge here is our constant access to cheap dopamine which then has numerous adverse effects on our brains.

To survive in the modern cell phone age, we need some sort of plan to pace our access to the internet and social media.  This is definitely something that isn’t a space for a one-size-fits-all approach, but is really something each individual needs to thing through.  Here are some options that I’ve employed:

• Deleting all social media apps and YouTube on my phone for a week
• Putting the phone away at 7 PM and not checking when I go to bed
• Media free evenings for the whole family
• Only reading first thing in the morning before work

As a family with two young teens, my wife and I are always tinkering with the amount of screen time that makes sense for their development.  Along with that, it would be very hypocritical if we didn’t work on our screen time as well.  After all, the goal is to be in the healthiest space we can as a family and so it’s best if we all find ways to limit our screens.

Fasting from Busyness

Busy schedules are the number one lament of almost anyone I know with school age kids.  There is a constant challenge to allow the kids access to activities, but to also find a pace of life that makes sense.  The idea of fasting from busy schedules is partly acknowledging that the pace of modern life is likely going to continue on its current trajectory.

There simply have to be seasons of relief, whether its taking a break from a particular sport or even a parent stepping back from a hobby to allow for some relaxing evening time.  I see this one playing out similar to an elimination diet.  If a family cuts back a certain amount for a month, they may find that other maladies have reduced as well.  Bickering and stress may drop and it could gives signs that a bigger change is needed.

This is something that is also very unique to each family.  My family goes at a slower pace and I know friends who would be bored in our rhythms, but I am also pretty sure that there are a lot of folks out there what would benefit from throttling down for a few weeks at a time to refresh.

Fasting from Spending

This is a personal finance blog and so the money had to come up eventually.  This particular fast can go a couple different ways.  This could be a period of really tightening the budget to a bare minimum in order to save for something special or to do a full budget reset.  Another approach is to simply drop the budget down a bit to create some margin or to fight against lifestyle creep.

The value here isn’t in being hardcore, but in breaking out of the natural progression of spending more without even noticing.  This is huge for folks in their 30s or 40s who are finally getting some financial margin.  That margin can be swallowed up by a nice car or by simply losing the diligence that might have existed when things were tighter.

This is the #1 challenge for my family now.  I want to help my kids foster gratefulness for what we have and to enjoy the simpler things in life, but we are under constant assault from consumption.  That is why we need to break the pattern once in a while for some sort of reset.

Working for a Fuller Life

The point of these four fasts is to break away from patterns that naturally develop in the fast pace of modern life.  I hope that this post spawns some thoughts for folks who are just working to fight for a full, healthy life.  Often the best ideas aren’t very hardcore, but something that tweaks our trajectory in a positive direction.

The principles of saving and budgeting are simple.  The execution is where it gets tough.  In a busy world with work deadlines and kid’s sports, the ability to control spending and avoid lifestyle creep becomes incredibly challenging.  Additionally, we want to enjoy our busy lives and society points to a billion different products to consume to help us with that.

If we feel less than fulfilled with our current situation, it is just too easy to get pulled in by all the ads or friend’s vacations on social media.  We end up wanting the “next thing” and this invariably makes it challenging to live on a budget that really gets us where we want to be in the long run.

What does Simple Joy mean?

The idea behind simple joy is to find things that bring happiness in your life that involve a slower pace and don’t require a big outlay of cash.  A fancy dinner at a new restaurant is a great potential source of joy, but it can’t be repeated too often.  Vacations are great, but you can only take one or two a year.

There has to be something that is consistent and sustaining in your life that helps bring a spark to those random weeks when it feels like a slog.  This is the thing that will allow you to pass on picking up take-out or snagging some random item on Amazon just to break up a lame stretch.

Here are some thoughts on what it could be:

• Taking a weekly walk with a friend
• Trips to the Dog Park
• Playing Pickup basketball
• Keeping an art project alive
• Gardening
• Learning to Cook
• Gaming with Old Friends

These are generally things that we did when we were younger and had more free time, but then they gradually vanish from our schedule.  Others like gardening and cooking are things that seem to sit out in the retirement years when time shows up again.

Carving out Time

One major thing that it takes to focus on simply joy is to set out time for whatever the activity is.  If this time is carved out, then it can’t be taken over by some random busy task that pushes in from modern life.   The big challenge is that it may involve pushing back against kid’s activities, but this opens up another opportunity too.

Kid’s need time to just be kids and hang out with friends.  Its free and I know for my kids, they really fight for time to just hang out.  It’s a crazy side effect of the never-ending push for more activities that kids are losing out on this time more than ever.  The push of kid’s activities is a pretty constant conversation I have with friends of school age children.  All this stuff is good, but it’s always worth asking if it’s blocking us from stuff that feeds our soul.

Creating Emotional Reserves

The biggest thing I’ve seen when my wife and I go way over budget for a month is that it corresponds to periods where we are really busy with work and starting to get burned out.  When I had intense periods of stress, it makes eating out much more frequent and also increases trips to the store where items are forgotten which then prompts more visits.

When things are a bit out of control, the number of purchases goes way up and then the end month budget is toast.  This is why it’s so important to have some sort of activity that anchors you and brings a little oasis when weathering stressful periods.  Keeping a good budget is mostly about staying consistent and nothing helps that more than having some event each week that you know is going to help you pull away from the stress, relax and enjoy yourself.

My weekly basketball game with friends provides this for me.  It is a simple activity where I get to see friends and get a great workout in, but it also helps refill the emotional tank.  On a full tank, its way easier to cook dinner each night during a busy week.  This simple joy activity provides the base.

Budgeting is all about maintaining momentum

It’s just the facts.  Budgeting is a necessary part of life whether you have a great income or are feeling tight.  There are way too many people figuring out new and smart ways to pull our money away from us.  They are endlessly pushing at our lack of contentment and for even the more finance conscious person a plan for spending is only as good as our desire to execute it.

There are lots of great apps and plans out there, but you have to be able to fill the tank and find enjoyment in something simple and cheap.  We all have some level of self-discipline, but it shouldn’t feel like a struggle to live in a reasonable way.  That is why we all need to put our focus on building in that regular, life-giving activity that hits the refresh button.

I think that this is a big piece of the angst that hovers over America as we enter 2025.  Many people feel stuck in a space where they are simply existing and not able to break through to a place where they are gaining ground towards building a future.

It can be an unfulfilling job that doesn’t have long term growth or the inability to buy a house.  It is also the slow growth of consumer debt while simply making monthly interest payments.  This state of being where things aren’t totally falling apart, but also isn’t moving forward is frankly the most frustrating place to be.

How to Move From Existing to Building

This question is so challenging because it is unique for each person or family.  Everyone has different constraints and also different opportunities.  Generic advice, which the internet is the best at, can never factor in all of these unique things for each person and so each individual needs to put in the effort to become the expert on your particular situation.

Reality is Your Best Friend

For anyone trying to break out of the malaise of simply treading water, the first step is to really get a feel for what is going on.  This is a simple, yet often challenging first step.  If you know there are some rough spots in your finances then its not something that is exciting to look at.  Also, if you know the path is going to be long to get to a secure financial position then it can be daunting to make a plan.

Here are some tips for getting a handle on your current reality:

• Do the work in an enjoyable location.  Go to a favorite coffee shop or pick a comfortable spot in your house, but cultivate a good vibe to start out.
• Reserve judgement on yourself.  The goal is to know where you are at and not to compare to where you could be.  Have grace for where you are at.
• Get spreadsheet help if you need it.  I am this person for my wife.  She does not do spreadsheets and so I build them for us.  If you aren’t built for spreadsheet, chances are there is a nerd in you life who is and could help you.  There are also great tools coming out all the time to help you get a clear picture of where you money is going.

Are you open to a big move?

Back in 2016, my wife and I were in this spot in Austin.  We had managed to buy a house, but we were simply not making enough to keep up with rising costs at that point.  We had two young kids and had managed to buy a house in 2011, but we were feeling stuck.

For us, the big move was relocating to Spokane, Washington.  This was returning home for me, but it was a massive move for my wife.  It was tough, but it allowed us to leverage our one asset which was the value from our home in South Austin.  I was also able to find a great job in Spokane because I had experience at a couple of big companies in Austin that gave my resume weight.

For other people, moving cities could involve moving to a more expensive city since the pay for many careers is significantly higher in the coastal cities.  This can be daunting, but in the end it may be the best move for the long term.

This was our move, but I’m sure others would have different considerations.  It can be moving from a city you love like we did, changing careers or looking at something unconventional about how you live.

We’ve had multiple friends go to a single car which is a pretty major savings in their life, but it is actually a pretty big move in our modern car centric world.

Thinking Unconventionally

Going to a single car is an example of the type of thinking that can hep you move to building wealth instead of treading water.  Most other examples of looking at unconventional options revolve around living situations.  Here are some potential options to consider:

• Go small. This isn’t necessarily a tiny house, but considering a 1200 square foot house for a family of 4 is an example of living somewhat unconventionally that can have a major impact on bills.
• Living multi-generationally.  This is definitely one that isn’t for everyone, but if you have a relationship with your family that makes this an option, it could be an amazing way to reduce expenses for everyone involved.  Additionally, people love to point out how people in their 20s are moving home at higher rates, but if you have a plan it may be the right move for a period.
• Move to the Country.  In order for this to be unconventional, it would involve not getting your 10 acres, but in most cities moving a little bit out of town drops the price for real estate a lot.
• Never Buying a House. In certain cities, the right call might be to focus on investing in other areas and simply finding a good rental situation.  Removing the pressure to save a massive down payment may open up enough other options that are frankly better in the long term.
• Moving Overseas.  You mostly hear about this from FIRE people moving to places like Portugal, but it could also be moving somewhere for a job that allows you to save at a high rate for several years.  I predict opportunities like this will only increase as population shifts happen across the world.

Being Patient and Keep Improving

Its possible that you need to make a big move.  For some people, major change is required to break out of a bad trajectory.  For others, its just being patient.  The internet is great at showing us people who have made their millions by age 30, but for most people it is a slower journey.

If you have young kids and things are tight due to child care, then it could be as simple as waiting for the kids to start school.  It could also be progressing in your career or a business that just needs time to develop.

Its good to keep an eye on spending and not let your lifestyle get away from you, but it is quite possible that the right answer is to stay the current course.   Salaries grow over time and businesses gain ground, but it often can’t be accelerated beyond a certain amount.

The hardest period for this is the season where you first transition from existing to building since you won’t see the numbers in your bank account yet.  Putting those first solid deposits into investments feeds the desire for more, but the real key is just running it back year after year.

Final Thoughts

The most important step to break away from simply existing and surviving financially is to take some time to evaluate you situation.  The right answer could be as simple as getting serious about budgeting.  If your spending habits haven’t been evaluated for a while then maybe you can free up enough money to make a turn towards saving and building wealth.

For many, more significant changes may be needed.  Maybe a move to a new city is the answer or perhaps starting to pursue a new career.  There likely isn’t an easy solution and so being willing to make a big move or think unconventionally may be necessary.  The worst thing is to stay stuck.

For some, the answer is really to stay the current course and let things grow.  This can be a challenging spot in its own right, but it why its so important to really understand your reality in order to make the right choice.

By: Chris Bemis

I remember watching the news back in the 90s when Walmart was spreading across the country and there was the lament of small-town stores shutting down.  We are way past that time for retail stores.  Now, Walmart is just assumed since they are in every part of the country and will pretty much always have the lowest prices on the general items you may go looking for.

However, no one looks to Walmart to bring fresh ideas or character to a city.  Walmart’s job is to provide cheap prices for the basics.

There can be debate on whether Walmart is a good thing, but that isn’t what this is about.  This article is just about how the internet accessed through google is Walmart.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) started this process.  Websites constantly battle for the optimizing content that Google will align with which drives writing to target key words and to connect with the established norms on a certain topic.

There are definitely those who have not loved this direction for the internet.

How SEO consolidates influence

The simplest way that the Google algorithm consolidates influence is that is starts with the domain authority of the biggest websites.  Larger websites with more clout and links are now massively ahead of anyone starting out in a particular space.   Similar to Walmart, this isn’t necessarily wrong, but it is a power dynamic that pushes the little guy out to the edge.

For any entrepreneur or writer, this is a pretty incredible hill to climb.  There are businesses that help smaller operations get links to build influence, but it needs to be a pretty focused target to break through.  The weight of the huge sites vastly outweighs the ability of smaller sites to be gain influence.

Additionally, many large sites have staff devoted to churning out content to target key words and continue to hold the grip on the top search spots.

Insert AI at the top of the Search Results

Now Google provides its own AI generated results at the top of the page for the vast majority of searches.  This just further consolidates the eyeballs on the internet to a limited source.  Anything sourced by AI is obviously going to be based on an algorithmic search of the internet, which once again, similar to Walmart, may not be a bad thing, but it does give a certain type of result every time.

The result will be encyclopedic in nature and not have any new insight for the reader.  This is perfect for finding a local Thai restaurant or determining if a book store is open.

Where this needs to be thought through is for someone trying to find some fresh insight on a given topic.  Starting with Google may not be the best place and probably hasn’t been for quite some time.  New and different ideas are simply buried.

Learning to explore differently

Cool coffee shops and interesting stores have survived and honestly thrived in the era of Walmart.  People will always want to find spaces with character and originality.  This is true whether it is in the physical world or in digital spaces.

That is a big reason I took over Personal Finance Blogs late last year.   I thought it was a great space to give access to original thoughts from people who have enough interest in helping others figure out the challenges of growing wealth that they generate content for the world to read.  I would hope to see other sites like this on other niche topics.  The goal is to provide a space for people to come to where they know there will be original thoughts.

In the news space, a site like Ground News is a cool option.  It provides some independent filtering of the articles out there, but at least lets you see where things are coming from different perspectives.  This is different from Google, which is still filtering, but doesn’t tell you anything.

Another thing I gained from taking over the site was an account on X.   For a long time, I thought Twitter was just a noisy place where people yelled at each other, and this is probably still very true.  However, as I spent some time on the account and found other voices that I liked to follow I realized that it was a pretty great place to find new voices.   I have to be the filter, but maybe that is the whole point.

Also, if you challenge yourself to follow some folks that don’t quite align with you politically, it can be a great place to gain understanding of the differing perspectives in the world.  We need to challenge ourselves to be a good filter and not only allow in ideas that make us feel good.

Being Intentional Online

The big thing that I’ve learned as I’ve entered a deeper understanding of how the internet functions is that it simply takes more intentionality to really find good, original content online.  It takes a bit of digging to discover new voices, but it is very much worth it.

Despite all the junk, there is always amazing content flowing onto the internet.  It just takes a little effort to find it and then enjoy the fresh perspectives that are available from all over the world.

You wouldn’t shop at Walmart for everything and so it’s good to think of the internet the same way.

By: Chris Bemis

Discussions of toxic work environments seem to be more common nowadays, but it’s doubtful that this type of workplace culture is increasing.  I think that it is more a function of awareness and expectations from Millennials and Gen Z in the workplace.   I’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with several different toxic workplaces in my career and in this article, I hope to shed some light on how to approach these situations based on where you are at in your journey.

What to do with a toxic work environment?

The first thing you are likely to notice in a toxic workplace is that everyone is working around a certain individual or leadership group.  At my first job in biotech, it was the CEO of the startup.  My boss was terrified to take bad news to him and always stayed late just to avoid the appearance of slacking off.   This created a super unhealthy environment and instantly made me question my decision to join what I thought was an exciting startup company.

However, I obviously needed the money since I had a newborn at home and there was a ton of opportunities to learn how to manufacture monoclonal antibodies.   I was in a position to take the first of the following reactions to a toxic work environment.

Keep Your Head Down and Get the Value from the Job

It was tough for me to keep my head down and not speak to some of the disfunction that I was seeing.  I sense that this is hard for a lot of Gen Z workers as well.  However, I didn’t have any position to change things and so the best thing I could do is be a solid contributor and make sure I was not falling into any of the bad culture of the site.

This is key for younger workers since it just takes time to build up the credentials to be heard in most workplaces.   When the workplace culture is more toxic it is almost a guarantee that younger workers will be ignored.  With this in mind, it is often the best move to simply put in the time and focus on the good things coming from the role until something better comes along.

In this company, by maintaining a positive attitude and being willing to cross train in a few different groups, I was able to survive a 70% layoff.  That ended up being a massive payoff since I was then able to learn even more in my final year at the company before I finally moved on.

Look to Build an Island of Sanity

As I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve had multiple situations where I’ve been able to create space within a toxic work environment.  My second stop in biotech was at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Austin and the source of the toxic environment there was another mass layoff.  There were three groups with different layoff dates that were kept working so that they could collect their severance and then there was the small group of us that had been retained.

On top of this, the company sent the replacement workers from Lithuania to Austin to be trained.  It was a disaster for culture.

Thermo was big on metrics and it was very clear what each group needed to do to hit their numbers.  For the five of us that were kept in the protein lab, we simply focused on hitting our numbers and kept clear communication with management.  We obviously had trouble trusting the organization, but we used our efficiency to buy ourselves freedom from the chaos.

This is the critical principal to creating an island of sanity: narrow your focus and maintain a few close relationships.  We couldn’t control the broader culture, but we were able to create a small culture of trust.  By maintaining performance, we were able to buy ourselves some peace.

This approach is definitely for someone who has a little more status and experience in their role, but it will 100% improve your outlook when things take a toxic turn at your workplace.

Speak up and Work for Change

This last approach is obviously the one to go for if you have some standing in the organization.  However, this also hold significant risk in a truly toxic work environment.  If there are controlling leaders that need to be challenged, they may not take kindly to pushback.

It is completely appropriate to evaluate your tolerance for risk before putting yourself out there with leadership that may have shown a history of not being trustworthy.

This brings me to my most recent position where I was a manager of a technical support group at a pharmaceutical company.  The company has a very toxic culture of leadership making rash decisions and then not listening to the feedback of the teams required to deliver.

I pushed my management for several months on this topic but was repeatedly told that they had made “commitments to the board” each time I brought up timelines that were completely unrealistic.   The unique thing about this situation was that my wife’s real estate business had been booming for several years at this point.

For the first time in my career, I was in a position to open myself up to some more risk and I felt compelled to try to be a voice for change.  I talked with other managers and encouraged them to talk to their leadership.  I discussed alternatives with my leadership and explained that going faster wasn’t necessarily the biggest need for our company.

I wish I could say that this was a successful venture.  One of the most consistent aspects of a toxic workplace is that management doesn’t listen to the perspective of their employees and despite my repeated attempts, it was clear that no change was coming.  I am glad that I pushed back as much as I did and didn’t simply align with the toxic culture that silenced most of the management.

I think that there is potential that in the long term there will be change, but it wasn’t in time for me.  However, the bigger point here is that there is always a chance that things will get better and that management in a toxic culture is ready to change.  If you are in the position to go for it, it is worth taking the chance.

Move On When Its Time

At the end of the road, toxic workplaces are bad for mental health and cause burnout.  If you find yourself in an environment like this, you do need to evaluate how it is impacting you.  It may be a situation where you need to leave before you even have another job lined up if there is abusive behavior present.

For me, this was giving an extended notice that I’d be leaving my role.  I had seen repeatedly that my boss would make whatever promises he needed to get me out of his office, but didn’t follow up in a timely manner to things I needed.  I also saw that the leadership was completely committed to moving at a pace that I’d advised wasn’t sustainable.

The big message here is that you do not need to be loyal to a workplace and that you really need to take care of yourself as a first priority.  I ended up moving into a place of burnout for months due to trying to protect a young team that I felt responsible for.  I feel good about this, but I also wonder if I should have made a cut earlier.

Final Thoughts

The big reason that I wanted to write this article is for anyone at the different stages I’ve been through in my career.  I also sense from talking to friends and family that many people are dealing with similar toxic work environments to what I’ve seen.

The most important thing if you take any of the options I’ve described is that you shouldn’t feel guilty about the path.  At different points in life, the right decision will be unique.  You may really need the money and need to put your head down.  You may be in a spot to speak up and fight for change.  It also might be time to go.

By: Chris Bemis