Team, It’s been a minute… I apologize for the extended absence over the last two months but no worries, I come back bearing good news. More about that in a minute. First, I hope this holiday season has been tremendous thus far, and that you are able to spend great quality time with family and good friends. We’ve been working hard on getting our business up and running (definitely more about that to come), traveling to see family, and preparing for the Christmas season we so enjoy. It has been a busy few months and my first post will detail a little more about why I haven’t published anything lately, but let’s just say starting a business while being a respectable husband, father, and full-time employee of a different business can be challenging if your priorities aren’t straight. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself here so […]

Hello Team,   This week we have another ‘Mailbag’ edition. For those not familiar: the questions I receive that either can’t be answered in a short tweet, with a quick text or if the question may be helpful to more than just the (question) poser – I’ll share my answer as a post. I hope you find this one enjoyable and helpful.   Best,   -Mike     Good Afternoon,   Mike, first off, love the blog.  My question came after reading your recent article about credit cards and rewards. I wanted to know what you thought is a good or reasonable amount of credit cards to have? Also, what do you think about adding new cards and canceling other cards? Or just having cards that you don’t use a lot? I’ll give you an example I have had a (1)capital one credit card: for about 2 years. that I don’t use often […]

As of this writing, credit card rewards are a tax-free kick back from various credit card companies for using their services. The various credit card companies offer rewards incentives in an effort to bring you under their umbrella, put their card in your hands, and thus have you spend cash using their services.   They have the ability to make money a few different ways:   Annual fees, Interest they charge you if your balance is not paid in full at the end of each month, and Merchant fees (we’ve seen this one as business owners).   If you’re not familiar with merchant fees –   every time you swipe your card, the store owner is charged a negotiated percentage by both the credit card company the customer is using and the credit card machine company the store owner is using. This is sometimes why certain stores only take certain types […]

It’s all the craze these days – “Eliminate debt!” But we don’t stop there. We’ll continue – “…ASAP!!!”   I know, I know. I’ve even written articles about that very topic. I’ve discussed the ridiculousness of interest and how the borrower is a slave to the lender, yadda-yadda. About how you have more freedom without the noose of debt around your neck… I hear ya.   But have we stopped a minute to consider the alternatives?   Or at least some of the consequences that come along with dropping everything to pay down debt? Monica and I hadn’t. “What in the world could be a negative consequence to aggressively pay down debt, if you can afford it?” This was our logical thought process.   One day we realized this may have been maybe the 5th worst financial decision we had made to this point (after investment choices during the GR (Great Recession), […]