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A neat stack of folded newspapers sits isolated on a white background. As grocery retailers accelerate their move toward proprietary mobile applications, the traditional Sunday circular that families once used for weekly savings is rapidly disappearing from households across the country. Shutterstock. For decades, families looked forward to the Sunday newspaper to clip grocery coupons from the weekly circular. That tradition is fading fast as supermarkets move those deals entirely into their own proprietary smartphone […]
There is a fine line between frugal and cheapskate- but how do you know when you cross that line? Frugal living is excellent, but when does frugal cross the line to cheapskate? When do your frugal living tips become too cheap for everyone else to tolerate? Frugal living is an admirable pursuit, but there’s a point where it stops being smart money management and starts making life harder for everyone around you. So, when exactly does frugal cross the line to cheapskate? Here are ten telling signs that the line has been crossed. 1. Not Tipping Cooking at home is frugal. Not tipping is cheap. It’s a succinct distinction, but it captures the difference almost perfectly. Frugality affects your own wallet, while refusing to tip shifts the cost onto someone else’s livelihood. 2. Engaging in Theft There’s a significant difference between cutting corners and breaking the law. Consider someone who buys a package of lightbulbs or batteries, swaps the fresh ones out for dead ones, then returns them to the store claiming they didn’t work, effectively never legitimately buying lightbulbs or batteries for years. That’s not frugality. That’s theft. 3. Leaning On Other People Frugality becomes cheapness the moment it relies on someone else absorbing your costs. Take the example of a woman with a family and a house who, rather than paying for trash service or buying a dryer, hauls her trash and wet clothes to her father’s house. She’s not saving money. She’s transferring the expense to someone else. 4. Squeezing Pennies on Necessities A useful framework: frugal is compromising and cutting out the extras in your life. Cheapskate is squeezing pennies on the things you actually need. Washing all your clothes at once using dollar-store detergent? Frugal. Wearing your clothes into the shower to wash them at the same time as yourself? That’s crossed a line. 5. When Time Becomes the Real Cost When the time you waste or the quality of life you lose is worth more than the money you save, frugality has turned into something else. If you’re voluntarily sacrificing your well-being for a trivial sum when there’s a better option available, that’s not being smart with money; that’s being cheap. 6. Refraining vs. Avoiding Payment There’s a clean distinction here worth noting: frugal is refraining from a purchase to save money. Cheapskate is trying to avoid paying for something you’ve already decided to consume. One is discipline; the other is an attempt to get something for nothing. 7. Taking More Than Your Share Frugal is taking half of your meal home from a restaurant to eat for lunch the next day. Cheapskate is taking half of your date’s meal home from the restaurant to eat for lunch the next day. The difference lies in who bears the cost of the saving. 8. Pushing the Bill Onto Others Consistently “forgetting” a wallet at dinner isn’t absentmindedness, it’s a pattern. And yes, your friends have noticed the pattern, and they are getting frustrated. When someone
Over all the years I’ve been writing this blog, Ben Carlson is among the top few writers I’ve linked to most often (Jim Dahle and Christine Benz are probably the competitors). Ben recently released a new book, which I just finished reading: Risk and Reward: How to handle market volatility and build long-term wealth. In short, it’s excellent. It would be on my short list of books to recommend to a new investor, and I […]
By Jim Dahle, WCI Founder
Deciding whether to rent or buy a home is not just about choosing a place to live, it also shapes your financial future, your daily lifestyle, and the level of responsibility you are willing to take on over time. Many people feel confused when making this choice because both options seem useful in different ways, […]
The Tax Planning Window There’s a window after you retire but before Social Security and RMDs kick in where your tax flexibility is at its peak. Here’s how physicians waste it, and how to use it. Your accountant will tell […]
Most retirees spend decades preparing for retirement taxes, but many never spend much time thinking about what happens to those taxes after they are gone. Early in retirement, the focus is usually on generating sustainable income and keeping taxes manageable each year. But for households likely to leave assets behind, the planning process eventually starts to shift. As the focus moves towards leaving a legacy for your loved ones, tax planning becomes more about […]
Choosing a financial planner isn’t just another decision on your list. It’s a relationship that can shape how you make financial decisions for years—sometimes decades—to come. The right fit can help you feel more clear, more confident, and more intentional with your money. The wrong fit doesn’t always fail dramatically—but it can quietly lead to second-guessing, missed opportunities, or advice that never quite feels aligned. So if you’re at the point of choosing someone, it makes sense to […]
Taking a cross-country road trip was always one of my biggest travel goals. Back in 2013, a travel companion and I finally made it happen. We drove across the country, visited several cities, attended sporting events, explored local attractions, and created memories that I still talk about today. We had no idea how much…
Most physicians plan well for their own financial future. Retirement accounts are maxed. Investment positions are building. There’s at least a working picture of what financial independence looks like. What most of us haven’t planned for is the financial weight of our parents aging. Not in the abstract sense. In the specific, arriving-faster-than-you-expected sense. The cost of care. The coordination burden. The slow financial drain that doesn’t feel like a crisis on any given Tuesday […]
Summer travel costs can rise fast once hotel rates, restaurant meals, gas, and attraction tickets start piling up. Many families want a break without coming home to a credit card bill that feels like a second vacation. The good news is that affordable summer travel still exists if you plan carefully and focus on simple … Read more
Hey everyone! I hope you’re enjoying the beautiful spring weather. It’s been a while since I posted an update. To be completely honest, blogging became much more difficult once I stopped posting every single week. There are always so many things to do around the house, and writing is much harder when I don’t stick to a strict schedule. Anyway, I promised to update my withdrawal plan, so here it is. This plan isn’t set in stone. We’ll constantly modify it to minimize taxes and respond to unforeseen circumstances. We will likely withdraw more in some years to cover “lumpy” expenses, like buying a new car. Life is full of surprises, and we’ll have to adapt as needed. Our early retirement withdrawal plan is flexible. Right now, we have almost $1 million combined in our taxable brokerage account and Treasury bonds. However, we also have changing family circumstances to navigate. Our parents are getting older and need more assistance. Because of this, we plan to move to California to be closer to Mrs. RB40’s family when our son finishes high school in 2029. As you’ll see below, this move is a massive factor in our financial timeline. (For context, I am 52.5 years old right now.) The Timeline: 2026 to 2049+ 2026 to 2028: The Early Years & Simplifying Real Estate 2026 is our first year of full retirement. Our active income will be minimal—probably around $5,000 from blogging and minor side gigs. Fortunately, Mrs. RB40 has a small pension of about $10,000 annually. More importantly, her retirement plan includes group health insurance coverage. We pay the same premium amount as we did when she was working, and it’s deducted directly from her pension. This is huge. Not having to worry about the ACA marketplace or healthcare costs gives us a lot of breathing room. Estimated Annual Expenses: ~$75,000 Active Income + Pension: ~$15,000 Passive Income (Dividends/Interest): ~$20,000 The Gap: We need to cover a shortfall of about $40,000. The Solution: Since we are moving to California in a few years, I am winding down our Portland rental real estate. We recently put our rental condo on the market. Once sold, it should generate roughly $150,000 after fees and taxes. This cash pool, combined with our other income streams, will fund the next 2 to 3 years of living expenses. Our Housing Adjustments: Currently, we live in a duplex and rent out the upstairs unit. However, I’ve asked our tenant to move out in 2027. RB40Jr is a teenager now and needs more space. One bathroom doesn’t cut it anymore. Mrs. RB40 also wants more room since she is home full-time. We will use the next few years to live comfortably in the whole property while fixing it up to get it ready for sale. It’s a big win that we resisted upsizing for 15 years. Most families expand their housing when they have kids. Note on a lumpy expense: I may purchase a new car
Most estate planning conversations begin with questions about transferring wealth efficiently. Families want to know who inherits retirement accounts, whether a trust is necessary, how to avoid probate, and whether estate taxes will become a problem. Those are all legitimate concerns, but they are rarely what causes the greatest stress when a crisis actually unfolds. The breakdowns that destabilize families are usually operational. A surviving spouse suddenly cannot access accounts. Bills stop getting paid because everything […]