Tentmaking Tips

Well, if you’ve been watching the news, you’ve probably heard about Hurricane Beryl.

The hurricane developed in the eastern Caribbean a few days after we arrived in the Caymans.

As each day passed, the hurricane grew in strength and the locals expressed to us great concern that it could be like the devastating Hurricane Ivan that flattened the Caymans in 2004.

We knew we needed to make plans to leave early, especially before the last minute panic that would likely ensue if we waited until the hurricane got much closer.

I was so thankful for travel rewards!

Our plan was to book an additional flight the day before our scheduled departure flight. Then we would watch the weather and determine if we should leave a day early or keep our original flight.

I had originally booked with American (via British Airways) but I couldn’t book another flight the day before because it had pretty...

Often, when people spend quite a bit of money on a trip, they’ll purchase travel insurance in case something comes up that interrupts the trip.

Travel Insurance will typically include medical insurance which covers you if you’re traveling to an area where your health insurance wouldn’t cover medical costs. But it can come at a high cost.

When you book with points, you’re not as concerned about comprehensive travel insurance because you didn’t pay much money for the trip to begin with. And, often, you can get your points back if you cancel ahead of time.

But, what about medical costs? What if there’s an emergency and your medical insurance won’t cover it? That could set you back thousands of dollars. And if they need to evacuate you to a place where there’s better medical care, that could be tens of thousands of dollars.

Enter GeoBlue Travel...

And their index funds are world-renowned.

In fact, it’s commonly said that the first index funds available to individual investors were created by the founder & former chairman of Vanguard, John Bogle.

His followers, who are avid index fund investors, are often called Bogleheads.

Warren Buffett has famously said that upon his passing, his wife would do well to be invested primarily in an S&P index fund at Vanguard.

Since I was a teenager, I remember my Dad recommending to me that I invest in index funds at Vanguard.

Me and my wife both have personal IRAs at Vanguard along with our taxable brokerage account.

We’ve invested there for years.

Vanguard is unique in that it is owned by the mutual funds it manages, and therefore owned by its customers.

That’s likely why Vanguard has some of the lowest fees in the industry. And fees can eat up your returns in a hurry.

One of their most famous index...

The reason I know is because one of our host daughters from Afghanistan has been really wanting to get this card. I’ve been telling her to hold out for a higher welcome bonus.

She was so excited when I emailed her this new elevated welcome bonus offer yesterday.

It’s a limited time welcome bonus of 85,000 points on all 3 of the Southwest personal cards.

It expires 19 days from now.

If you’re looking to get the Companion Pass, I’d encourage you to pass on this offer and wait to get this card until later in the year.

But if you’re just looking for a Southwest card with a great welcome bonus, this is definitely a good time to get it.

There are 3 Southwest personal cards offering this bonus: Plus, Premier & Priority

Here are the main differences:

Plus

• 3,000 bonus points each year on card anniversary

• 2 early bird check-ins

• 2x points spent on Southwest purchases

Over the years, I’ve found this comment to be so true.

This week was no exception.

A seller called us a few months ago telling us about her need to sell her house. There was just one problem. A tenant still lived in it and they hadn’t been paying rent.

As we got closer to the closing date, the tenant told the seller they weren’t going to move out unless the seller paid them money. She knew the eviction process would be long and expensive, so she offered them a few thousand dollars to leave the property.

Turns out, after taking the money, the tenant still said they wouldn’t leave. We started to help her walk through the eviction process and a notice was posted on the tenant’s door to vacate.

The tenant eventually said they would leave but not before sending a fake invoice to the Title Company...

Then we got an email from the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek in Colorado. We’ve gone skiing there over Christmas the last 2 years. We hadn’t planned to go again this year but they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. :)

They emailed saying if we booked again by May 15th, they’d give us 10,000 points off per night! For our 4 night stay, that’d be an extra 40,000 points saved. Sign me up!

The rooms are typically 45,000 Hyatt points per night because the cash price is so high. Right now, the cash price is $1,026/night. The reason for this is that the resort is ski-in/ski-out right on the slopes.

I then booked 2 American flights to the nearby airport using our AA points and 2 more flights through British Airways (a partner with American) so I could use my Chase points.

This is a great hack to taking more American flights on points. Transfer...

And most of them would like to be financially independent before retirement age.

They just wonder if that’s even possible.

Financial Independence (FI) is simply where your investments will cover your living expenses in perpetuity.

JL Collins is one of the bloggers who first started writing about FI.

His Stock Series became so popular that he eventually turned it into a book, along with other financial principles that have contributed to his financial independence.

This is a book I often recommend to people as a good place to start in learning about FI.

It’s called The Simple Path to Wealth (JL Collins).

This book helps to simplify the process of becoming financially independent.

Late last year he released another book with 100 stories of people who have gone on a similar FI journey.

I just finished it, and thought it was great, so I wanted to recommend it to you as well.

It’s called Pathfinders...

The welcome bonus is typically 60,000 points after $4,000 in spend in the first 3 months of the card.

They just increased the bonus to 75,000 points.

Those extra 15,000 points could be worth an additional ~$300 in free travel for a total of over $1,000 in free travel through that one welcome bonus.

This card has a $95 annual fee with the following perks:

• 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Travel

• $50 annual hotel credit

• 3x points on restaurants

• 2x points on other travel purchases

Just the hotel credit & your restaurant spend will likely make this card worth keeping.

Also, this card gives you the ability to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Chase’s travel partners. This is often the best way to maximize the value of each point.

If you don’t have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, now would be a good time to take a look!

And if you decide to get it, here's...

This is an important metric to track on your journey toward financial independence.

Your freedom number is the amount of money you need in investments in order for the return on investments to equal your living expenses.

Once you hit this number, your investments will pay your monthly expenses and you’ll become work optional.

Work optional just means that you can choose whether or not you want to continue generating more income since you don’t need it to sustain your lifestyle.

Many people think the best way to calculate your freedom number is to multiply your yearly expenses by 25. This is based on the 4% withdrawal rule in early retirement.

For example, if your annual expenses are $60,000, then $60,000 x 25 = $1,500,000 becomes your freedom number. Once you accumulate $1.5MM in investments, you can likely retire financially and live off your investments.

By reducing your annual expenses, your freedom number gets smaller, and you can...

And it probably won’t surprise you to find that your taxable value went up… again.

Sometimes it makes sense as to why it went up. You’re aware that home prices have risen in your area. Other times you’re confused as to why it went up because sale prices have stagnated or gone down in your area.

Remember, in either scenario, your value is subject to negotiation.

That’s why I protest every year.

Here are a few tips for protesting this year:

1. Submit your protest right when you receive your notice.

I received my notice recently and immediately went online to protest. Thousands of other people will be doing the same thing, but because I did it quickly (literally the day of), I was able to get an appointment the next day to see an appraiser.

2. Negotiate with one of city appraisers first

In Texas, both the local appraiser...