97

Renting: The New American Dream

in Money Basics, Rants

Back in February, I caused a little bit of a stir with the following comment on the Facebook page:

If I had a dollar, for every email I got from someone whom DEEPLY REGRETTED buying a house, I would never have to work again. Just rent, people. It’ll be o.k. ;)

I got called everything from pretentious to a genius. And you know what? That’s OK.

If you’ve made a decision about your housing situation, you’re happy with it, AND you have the life you want – then stop reading here. Go on, you. :)

But if you’re not sure whether to rent or buy… if you’re doing one or the other but are desperately unhappy with your choice… or if you’re in what you think is a good housing situation, but the rest of your financial life isn’t making you happy… then read on.

Here’s the not-so-secret secret: There is no one-size-fits-all answer.

I’ve heard from people – both on that Facebook post and in countless emails – who made home ownership work out well. I’ve heard from just as many who bought their homes but would give anything to be renting. And I’ve heard from plenty of lifelong renters who are thrilled with their choice.

What I can say, though, is that MOST people who decide to buy their homes rush in, lock themselves in, and don’t see alternatives.

Nine times out of ten, housing-related costs are the largest single expense in people’s budget. Yet often, people put more thought into their car or even cell-phone purchases than their housing costs!

I will also tell you this straight up: I’m personally a HUGE fan of renting.

[Find out why I feel that way!]

{ 97 comments }

38

Conversations With My 12-Year-Old Daughter About Money, Work and Happiness

in Do What You Love, Joan's Posts, Money Basics

Note: This is a post from Joan Otto, Man Vs. Debt community manager. Read more about Joan here.

Since we started homeschooling our 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, in late February, it’s really been on my mind what a crucial age this is for her in terms of financial awareness.

I see so many of her peers in middle school with $200-a-month cell-phone plans, with outfits that cost more than my weekly grocery budget… but even more scary, I see them having no idea where the money for these things comes from. “I don’t know, my mom buys all that stuff,” is the common answer.

And, by the same token, I see so many kids’ parents working at jobs they hate, coming home and telling their children how much they hate the work they do, that they’re just doing it to pay the bills, and I worry that Sarah will grow up thinking, “Work is somewhere you go to be unhappy.”

I know I’ve certainly been guilty of that in the past, even when doing “work” I mostly enjoyed… talking about it with Sarah as something I have to do instead of describing the way I’m making a difference in the world. If that sounds familiar, well, Baker talked about that concept before in the context of a conversation with his daughter Milli, and that post was the start of a change on my part in how I talked about life and work with my own daughter.

So much about parenting for us can be summed up in two words: Be intentional.

We’re intentional about discussing our own financial situation, and we’re intentional about having Sarah make financial decisions herself.

The picture above is a good example… that’s Sarah with her brand-new Nintendo 3DS, which she spent all her birthday money and a little of her savings on, in addition to “selling some crap” of her own to help fund it. She did the work, figured out how much money she’d need, and made it happen. And we didn’t question her decision (though I was the dorky  mom who said, “OK, but you need to make sure you buy screen protectors!”)

The thing is, I know Sarah puts thought into her life and her money. So instead of wondering what her attitudes about money, work and happiness are, I decided to sit down and ask her.

About work

Me: So what kind of work do you want to do when you get older?

Sarah: Be a pet groomer.

Me: Do you want to work somewhere like Petsmart that does grooming?

Sarah: I want to own my own business. … Well, I guess I would start out working at Petsmart, to save money, because opening your own business costs a lot of money and you have to hire people and give them money as their paychecks. So I guess Petsmart would be my first bet.

[See more what Sarah had to say here!]

{ 38 comments }

69

Welcome Charlotte Rose Baker to the Team!

in MvD Updates

The Man Vs. Debt team grows stronger!

Saturday morning, at about 6:20 a.m., Charlotte “Charlie” Rose Baker joined the growing MvD team. :)

Charlie weighs in at 8′ 10″ and measures about 21 inches. Pretty impressive.

Courtney went all natural for this one (something I would NOT do after watching – NO WAY), but she survived like a champ – and was walking around and ready to go a few hours later.

Charlie currently enjoys sleeping, being swaddled, and eating.

She’ll be handling the complaints department of the site effective immediately.

Welcome to the team, Charlie!

Xoxoxo,

-Daddy

{ 69 comments }

16

4 Videos That Inspired Our Amazing Week…

in Do What You Love, Videos

We’ve had an amazing week this week (testing out a daily post schedule) and we wanted to take time out on Friday to share some amazing videos that inspired a fun week!

As it turns out, many of these videos fall into the “Do What You Love” category of things. :)

If you enjoy inspiring round-ups like this, let us know, and we’ll do them more often!

The Happy Secret to Better Work…

Likely my favorite TED talk ever I watched just this week from Shawn Achor. Even cooler is the fact that this was a TEDx talk in Bloomington, IN (close to my hometown). :)

It’s fast-paced, short, *hilarious*, and hits home hard. Everything I love in an inspiration speech. If you only watch one thing this weekend – make it this!

Exercising Around the World…

My good friend and fitness nerd extraordinare, Steve Kamb, has spent the last 18 months of his life traveling around the world (a feat made possible by his unwavering commitment to helping thousands get in shape).

While traveling Steve maintained his fitness with bodyweight exercises in some of the most popular landmarks in the places he visited. 18 months later, we’re left with the inspiring combination of all those workouts. :)

A Man Who Clearly *Loves* His Work…

I first saw this on Reddit, but fell in love with it immediately. It’s a simple scene featuring an man who worked for years with artifacts from the Titanic.

You can certainly tell he’s a scientific man, someone who appears extremely intelligent, but as he speaks you can feel the passion for his work just oozing out of him. Wouldn’t it be great for all of us to have this level of passion for our work (no matter what it is)? I love it!

Cello Wars Lightsaber Duel…

Joan’s inspiration for the week came from a Youtube Star Wars parody. It’s not a new video, but one her family has viewed countless times for inspiration.

The video was put together over 6 months, mostly at night after families went to bed, by just a few dedicated musicians and videographers. It now has almost 6 million views. Joan has begun following the small crew’s journey to quit their jobs and make music (and videos) full time. :)

*****

What article or video inspired you this week?

Which of the above videos was your favorite?

{ 16 comments }

31

Burn All Your Crap In A Bonfire (If That’s What It Takes)

in Money Basics, Rants, Sell Your 'Stuff'

Early this week, I received an email question from a passionate reader.

I’ve changed a tiny bit of the details to protect the guilty, but the question went like:

Hi Baker!

I forgot to ask you a question about money vs time. I hope you don’t mind that I ask you here: I have a bunch of crap- loads of it. But at this point I’m thinking it’s not the best use of my time trying to sell it all.

I’ve got 3 kids (7, 5, and 21 mos) and Im thinking it best to donate most of it except for a few items that are clearly worth over a hundred dollars. And spending the time instead creating and writing my blog.

Would you agree with this decision or would you still recommend the selling process?

Much appreciation,

-Really sweet lady that Baker hasn’t asked permission, so he won’t share her name here. :)

I love questions like these, because they are simple, straight-forward and easy for me to provide help!

[Read my (maybe surprising) answer here]

{ 31 comments }

34

Are You Overweight AND in Debt? 10 Tips I’ve Learned For Tackling Both Problems…

in Joan's Posts, Pay Off Your Debt, Rants

Baker’s note: This is a post by Joan Otto, the “community manager” here at Man Vs. Debt. Expect to hear from her more and more in the coming weeks!

Hey, it’s Joan! Hi again. So in my introductory post here on Man Vs. Debt, I shared with you the cold, hard truth about our financial picture. (It wasn’t pretty.)

I got into the numbers behind our debt, to the tune of about $70,000 currently before the mortgage, and about $90,000 at its worst. But those aren’t the only, uh, not-pretty numbers I’ve been keeping track of in recent years.

While I was getting deeper and deeper into debt, I was also getting fatter and fatter.

After the birth of my daughter in 2000, my average weight was around 117 to 130. But at worst, in early 2005, I carried about 170 pounds on my 5-foot-4 frame. That’s not the end of the world, but it’s about 50 pounds heavier than I should be, especially in light of some health problems that weaken my joints.

50 extra pounds of weight on my knees meant I was, at one point, looking at having a knee replacement in my early 20s, to which I said NO FREAKING WAY.

That was my turning point.

[See how I lost the weight once... and what it taught me!]

{ 34 comments }

33

The Making of “I’m Fine, Thanks” (Part Two)

in Do What You Love, MvD Updates, Travel

As you likely know, I spent most of February and March producing and filming a documentary on why we, as a culture, default into a life of complacency, instead of chasing our dreams.

I wrote an update from the road on our progress, what we had seen, and what I was feeling about the importance of the project.

Check out part one of “The Making Of” series if you missed it to get caught up!

I left that story with us in middle-of-nowhere Texas at 3 a.m. filming the untouched, starry night skies.

After catching only a few hours of sleep each that night, we continued to plow our way toward Phoenix, Arizona.

For anyone that’s driven across the entire state of Texas – you know firsthand how disheartening that can be. It takes a crazy number of man-hours to traverse that ridiculously large piece of land. And frankly, New Mexico isn’t much of a reward for succeeding. ;)

Nevertheless, we pulled into Phoenix in the evening to my friend Pam Slim‘s beautiful house. (Pam, her husband, her kids, and her dogs graciously hosted a smelly, worn-out group of 5 guys for several days… can’t thank her enough!)

Not only was Pam’s family open and accepting of us for days, she also took time out to drop wisdom bomb after wisdom bomb into the camera in our interview for the documentary.

[Read more from the road]

{ 33 comments }

27

4 Questions That Changed How I View Work and Life

in Do What You Love, People & Products, Videos

I love Danielle LaPorte.

In a sea of experts talking about careers, entrepreneurship, passion, and life… she’s different.

She taught me to be genuine, unique, and passionate – no matter how difficult the process would be. And I owe her big time for that.

Once upon a time, Danielle charged hundreds of dollars (and then thousands of dollars) for one-on-one, in-your-face, no-holds-barred consulting conversations that rocked the worlds of people who had no idea what they had signed up for.

I had one of those conversations with Danielle once – and I walked away with a totally different view of my life and business.

[Find out how Danielle's teachings can help YOU make a change]

{ 27 comments }

14

Baker’s virtual surprise birthday party

in Do What You Love

What, two Man Vs. Debt posts in one DAY? What’s that?

Well, this one ISN’T by Baker. It’s me, Joan, aided and abetted by the awesome Dustin, popping in with a surprise “virtual birthday party” for the head honcho. We’re all about three states apart right now, but Dustin and I just couldn’t let the day pass without a special birthday shout-out to a guy who’s not only an incredible inspiration … he’s also an incredible friend.

Happy birthday, Baker!

Thanks for all you do for your family, your friends, and the Man Vs. Debt community. We’re honored to be along for the ride. I’m feeling a little LESS honored by my dollar-store hat up there, but, you know, we can’t all find Silly String like Dustin did.

I know Baker got some birthday wishes after his post this afternoon, but I’m hoping we can get a few more folks to join our virtual party in Baker’s honor.

Just leave him a birthday shout-out below, and then go do something you love this weekend in his honor.

Best gift you could give him!

{ 14 comments }

22

Your Body of Work (and Mine)…

in Do What You Love, MvD Updates, Rants

Today I turn 28 years old.

Many times on my birthday, I reflect about my life, my meaning, and my goals for the next few years.

I’ve done a little of that today, but not as much as I have in the past. (For example, you can read these 26 life lessons I wrote exactly 2 years ago.)

I have thought about a few simple things – a few goals, if you will – by the time I hit 30:

  • I want to only work on projects I deeply love and care about – that combine to positively impact millions of people’s lives.
  • I want to have a million in positive monetary worth (and no debt). That’s right, nothing wrong with saying that. It’s the *why* you want it that matters. I want it for flexibility and the opportunity to work on amazing projects when I see them enter my family’s life.
  • I want to spend the majority of my post-afternoon-ish day with Courtney, Milli, Charlie, and any future additions to the family.
  • I want to remain healthy and active (for me: under 15% body fat, 95% whole foods diet, under 200 pounds).

You know, the same things we all think about on our birthdays. :)

And speaking of working on projects I deeply love… I’ve loved Man Vs. Debt for 4 years now. Sure, sometimes it’s been a love-hate relationship, but I’ve deeply enjoyed building this community. It’s changed and continues to change my life.

In fact, sometimes I feel I’m too in love with it. 

[Find out what I have in mind to make MvD even better!]

{ 22 comments }

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