“Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!”
“Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…”
“The dead rising from the grave!”
“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!”
– The Ghostbusters
We all like to think glowingly about our future. Raising our families, fun vacations, memorable meals, and retirement, of course! We spend a great deal of time thinking and planning about what fun things we are going to do and how we will go about doing them. In the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) community, we use high savings rates to reach Financial Independence (FI) much quicker than our non-FIRE peers.
But unfortunately, S^&T happens, and our best-laid plans could go up in smoke. However, the same skills you use to propel yourself on the path to FI can serve you well when everything that can go wrong, does go wrong.
Happy Halloween! Another month is in the books. October was much kinder to my psyche than September… But how did our finances fare? 
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.
September is done. As far as I am concerned: Good riddance! It’s been an adventure to say the least and I am happy to welcome Fall! Grumpy commentary aside, how did we do last month?