An Unintentional Meander Up Grumpy Avenue (Part 2)

Grumpus the Story Teller

Gather round the campfire kids. Did I ever tell you the story of how I lost $766K?

If you are one of my three avid readers, then you may have wondered if I was ever going regale you with more (true) stories about my rather substantial money mistakes. Well wonder no more, the time has come. And while this story does not have the “I sold 300 shares of Amazon in 2004 to buy a house in the height of the market in Southern California” hook that An Unintentional Meander Up Grumpy Avenue Part 1 did; it does have an otherwise avoidable $20,000 dollar tax bill waiting at the end of it. Not as memorable as my $750,000 opportunity cost? Fair enough, that sum still makes me light-headed. However, what if I told you I paid someone for the privilege of the $20,000 tax bill? And it was potentially avoidable? Stick with me and by the end of the story if you are not busting out the tried and true “Man that Grumpus is an idiot” line, then I promise you a full refund on your time and a beer next time we meet.

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An Unintentional Meander Up Grumpy Avenue (Part 1)

Posted on 02-July-17 by Grumpus

“You only have to do very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.” — Warren Buffett

Learning Lessons the Hard Way

In the fall of 2004, I sold 300 shares of Amazon stock as part of a down payment on my first, and to this point only, home. Wait, before you say “Man, that Grumpus is an idiot” there is more to the story. I bought a home in Southern California (SOCAL) only eighteen months before the height of the housing bubble. For those of you unfamiliar with historical SOCAL housing prices, I’ve posted the below chart of what housing prices did in San Diego from 1987 to 2015:

Yep, that’s bad. So bad, in fact, that my home’s value only recently passed the original price for the first time since the bubble burst. In the meantime the amount of Amazon stock I sold in 2004 would have done this:

The sky is the limit for Amazon!

OK, now you can say it now — I am an idiot.

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Financial Planning (Part 1): Time and Planning

Posted on 25-June-17 by Grumpus

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)

I received several comments in response to my last post from people who were receptive to the idea of Financial Independence (FI) save but one factor – the amount of time it would take to figure out how to achieve that goal. I get it. Life has a knack of interrupting attempts to plan long term. From babies to hobbies to the day to day grind of work. There just is not enough time in one day, one week, or one month to sit down, study the problem, and conduct the planning that FI requires. No doubt FI takes time – I used a three month Temporary Duty (TDY) assignment to develop my plan. Since I was separated from my family, I decided to put my time to good use. However, you may not be so “lucky” as to get three months of TDY from life’s other responsibilities to conduct FI planning. If lack of time is your biggest obstacle to planning for FI, attached is an outline to follow in an attempt to save you some … time. Depending on how well you track your finances, using the outline will probably cut your required planning time in half. Speaking of the need to track your finances, if you do not already do so, please read my post on the need to track your finances before going any further with this one. Continue reading →