Heartland on FIRE

Blazing a Trail Towards Financial Independence

Blazing a Trail Towards Financial Independence

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Over 50% of Americans Don’t Use Their Vacation. Don’t be one of them!

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***Extremely Mickey Mouse voice*** – Hi Kids! Today’s Mousekatool is Paid Vacation

I am fresh off of our first full week vacation in 2 years.  While we’ve taken a few long weekend trips, we haven’t had a full week off during this time.  We took our daughters to Disney World (geez… could you tell?) and we all had a great time and created many memories that won’t soon be forgotten.

My wife and I have already started discussing our next vacation!  I think we can all get behind more vacation, right?

Well, the answer is apparently a big fat NO.

As I have been reflecting on the week gone by, I recalled an article I had read that stated that roughly 52% of Americans don’t use their paid vacation.

Let that sink in.

Your boss is willing to pay you money… to not show up for work.  And we say, “No Thanks” more than half the time!

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How to Move Up the Credit Score Leaderboard

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Credit cards can be a polarizing topic in the personal finance community.  On one end, you have Dave Ramsey and his cash envelope system which abhors the use of credit cards.  At the opposite end you have the travel hackers, who churn credit cards for travel rewards.  The Heartland on FIRE household has covered the full range of the credit card usage spectrum.  In 2017 we essentially did not use our credit cards.  However, over the past year, we have become big proponents of credit cards.  As such, we have been paying closer attention to our credit score.  Let’s explore whether a credit card is right for you, and if so, the importance of a high credit score.  Also, I’ve thrown in a quick tip to raise your score.

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Our Money Missteps: The Lost Decade

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As a personal finance blogger, specifically an advocate of the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) movement, you might assume that the Heartland on FIRE family has a spotless past when it comes to money decisions.  You might think we’ve rarely, if ever, paid interest on credit cards, purchased only used cars, and made flawless house purchasing decisions.  I mean, if you look at our net worth progress, we are in better shape than many (most?) families in their early- to mid thirties.

You would be sorely mistaken

In this post, I am going to air out our dirty money laundry.  To come clean, as it were.  To demonstrate how, even after stacking poor decision on top of poor decision (FOR OVER A DECADE!!) you can still find yourself on the path to FIRE.

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Decision Point: What to Do with the Rental Property?

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Rental property:  It’s a popular path to develop passive cash flow for many in the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) community.  When a property is purchased at the right location and for the right price it can certainly be a lucrative investment.  But when that rental property is your former primary residence… and was not purchased with long-term rental in mind, the numbers can be a bit more dodgy.  This is the predicament we here in the Heartland on FIRE household are in.  We just renewed our tenant for 6 months and the clock is ticking on whether to keep renting or to try and sell the house.  We can’t be the only folks who have faced this dilemma, so I figured posting our thought process and analysis may be a useful exercise for others.

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