Phil's Updates en-US Fri, 18 Apr 2025 11:05:14 -0700 60 Phil's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Friend1420617975 Fri, 18 Apr 2025 11:05:14 -0700 <![CDATA[<Friend user_id=7154232 friend_user_id=121978583 top_friend=false>]]> Review1646018437 Tue, 18 Feb 2025 04:23:41 -0800 <![CDATA[Phil added 'I Will Teach You to Be Rich']]> /review/show/1646018437 I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi Phil gave 5 stars to I Will Teach You to Be Rich (Paperback) by Ramit Sethi
I'm going to update this review, year-by-year, with how much this book has changed my life, starting in 2017 as a college student with no money.

Year One, 2017: I'm a junior in college studying "Integrated Language Arts," which means I'll probably end up teaching, technical writing, or doing some sort of web design / SEO work; in any case except teaching, my income will be a little bit above average. Right now, though, my income is nothing to brag about. I work in a factory making $12/hour and I do some freelance writing and SEO work on the side.

In a way, you could say I'm living out the first couple chapters, "Optimize Your Credit Cards" and "Beat the Banks." I'm focusing on building credit and staying out of debt. I got accepted for a Discover Card about a year ago with 2% cashback on groceries and gas; I haven't taken out any loans to pay for college, and I plan to keep it that way: as of today - October 10th, 2017 - about 66% of public college students graduate with a debt load of $25k, which means staying out of debt will put me well above average.

Bottom Line of Year One: Net worth of about ~$500 and a credit score of 695.

Goal for Year Two: Net worth of at least $2.5k, ~$1k in a 401k, and a credit score of 730. I can't say I'll update this at the exact same time every year, but I'll come close. If I hit my goals, I'll come back to revise them.

Year Two Update, 2018 $3k in a Roth IRA and a ~720 credit score.

I've also traveled to some neat places, which I think fits in perfectly with the idea of "Living a Rich Life."

Vanguard



FICO



Bottom Line of Year Two: Goal accomplished with ~$3k in a Vanguard Roth IRA and a ~720 FICO.

I traveled to San Clemente, Santa Monica, and Los Angeles in Southern California; Hilton Head in South Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia. I've discovered how much I like traveling, and I've made it one of my priorities.

Updated Goals for Year Three: Save a minimum of ~$5k for a month-long backpacking trip across Europe, put as many purchases as possible on my Delta SkyMiles card so I can get a discounted flight, continue to max out my IRA, and save ~$5k for a down payment on a duplex so, as soon as I land a full-time job after graduating college, I can finally move out of my parents' house.

Years Three and Four Update, 2019 & 2020: I've done quite a bit of traveling pre-pandemic since my freelance writing business was doing well -- maybe blowing a little bit more money than I should have. I did that backpacking trip: I picked up some odd jobs in Ireland working on a farm and painting, and that covered some of my living expenses before moving on to Switzerland and Italy, and then I went all the way to Costa Rica and Peru (before doing a road trip across Europe again).

Do I regret it? Not at all. If you wanted to travel the way that I did today, in 2020, you literally wouldn't be able to. And all of that traveling didn't cost me anywhere near as much as you'd expect. I was very, very frugal about it.

Unfortunately, as soon as the pandemic hit, my income took a nosedive. I'm climbing my way back up, but I'm back at my parent's house for now. This is where I stand financially, from my Personal Capital:



I drive a 2010 Honda Civic that gets 36MPG, and I bought it for $6k cash. I probably put another $1.5k in it or so, including paying out-of-state taxes, new battery, new rim caps, and so on, but I don't think anything I did increased the value.

I'm studying now to be a real estate appraiser. After experiencing first-hand how unstable my freelance income was, I wanted something different. I've already done some real estate copywriting, so this seemed like a good place to start.

Bottom Line of Years Three and Four: $17k net worth. $6k car. $5k in Roth IRA. $6k in savings (saving to buy my own place since I know I'll be in NE Ohio for 10+ years).

Years Five and Six Update, 2021 & 2022: My net worth has gone nowhere. I’m still at $17k, but I see it as massive progress because I’ve significantly increased my earning potential. I’m now a Certified Residential Appraiser and I should finally be making $50-$90k this coming year. I still drive that same Honda Civic and it gets me 35-40MPG. I’m going to drive it until my girlfriend forces me to get rid of it.

I’ve also traveled a bunch with this beautiful Canadian girl I met in Costa Rica. If that’s not a “Rich Life,” I don’t know what is.

Bottom Lines of Years Five and Six: Net worth has stagnated ($17k) because of education costs and stock depreciation. Still contributing to Roth IRA as much as possible. Should be in a much better position this time next year. For future reference, I’m writing this on May 17th, 2022.

Goals for next couple years: Earn $60k+ in calendar year, buy a condo and maybe rent out a room of it.

Year Seven Update, 2023

It's now January 12th, 2023. I'm really not doing great with the whole "I'll update this at around the same time every year" thing so I'm just gonna do it in January from here on out... Hopefully...

My net worth is now ~$31k and I make a decent salary, around $70k before bonuses. That beautiful Canadian girl I met in Costa Rica is now my beautiful fiance.

Life's okay. It could be better. I feel like I'm underpaid but it is what it is. I'm hoping to buy a house or duplex soon, so that'll maybe help my net worth and income options.



I still drive that same Honda Civic and I love it.

Bottom Line of Year Seven: $31k net worth with a good salary.

Goal for next year: Buy a house.

Year Eight Update, 2024

It's been an eventful year. I'm writing this now on January, 9th, 2024, having remembered that this review exists thanks to a commenter.

My beautiful fiancee is now my beautiful wife. She's fantastic. She’s everything I could’ve ever hoped for.

I bought a house. It's a ~1,600 square foot, 3 bed, 1.5 bath brick Colonial in Parma, Ohio (near the Cleveland area). It was listed at $215k and I bought it for $198k after concessions. It needed some work, for sure, but I didn't realize just

I strongly recommend that anyone who's thinking about buying a house reread the section about houses not being good investments. My net worth would be much higher this year if it wasn't for an unexpected $15k boiler expense. I got a home inspection from someone who seemed reliable. I crossed my t's and dotted my i's. As a real estate appraiser, I look at houses every single day and analyze local markets. I still ended up making a blunder.

It's hard. Life changes. Now I'm not sure if I'll stay in this area for long, so it's entirely possible that I lose money on it when I go to sell.

When in doubt, rent.

Regardless, I've made some major gains in terms of net worth, courtesy of saving aggressively and combining finances.



Our net worth now sits at around ~$60k if you don't count her Canadian retirement accounts. They aren't in the graph because that's just our US assets. If you count her Canadian assets, our combined net worth is around ~$120k USD, but it fluctuates.

I look back at when I first started writing this, when I had $500 to my name and worked for $12/hr in a factory, and I can't believe it.

I still drive the same Honda Civic by the way, although it looks pretty ugly at this point and I've been strongly considering an upgrade.

My credit score has not changed, but I don't really think about it anymore. I guess one day when I'm 40 and haven't missed a payment since I opened my first credit card, it might improve.



Bottom Line of Year Eight: ~$120k net worth.



Between the two of us, our income is about ~$115k.

Goal for Next Year: Make $90k or more. Max out both of our Roth IRAs.

Year Nine Update, 2025

We completely destroyed that goal. I haven't done taxes yet this year but we've easily made $115k+ and I easily made $90k+. Both Roth IRAs are maxed. Gabby's maxing her 401k match. Life is good.

However, I think it's easy to read this and think that I'm obsessed with spreadsheets and Monte Carlo simulations and, well, just numbers in general -- but I want to emphasize a very good point Ramit has made over and over again: Life is lived outside of the spreadsheet.

Tracking my net worth is a cool way of showing people that this stuff works (and I'd be lying if I said I didn't like to see the number tick up over time), but it doesn't dominate my life. My wife and I went on a $5k vacation to Belize last year. My money dial is health and fitness so I balled out on 90lb PowerBlocks and I'm going to buy an Oura Ring to track my sleep better. These things don't show up in the spreadsheet. I don't drive a beat-up Honda Civic because I'm obsessed with having more money; I drive a beat-up Honda Civic because I just don't care. It's not helping me live my "Rich Life." If it helps Gabby live hers, then we'll probably update it (which I see happening in the next year or two).

Anyway, after officially combining our assets, we found out we're a lot richer than we thought.

Last year, we probably had about a $120k combined net worth, not $100k. For anyone reading this, I updated that number for Year 8.

Our lives are so inextricably intertwined financially that I no longer have any idea what my individual net worth would be, so here's both of ours:



In the words of Frank Sinatra, "It was a very good year."

I think I'll probably repeat this every year: I started with $500.

You'll notice this doesn't include the house. Robert Kiyosaki has said a lot of dumb things, but one thing he's said that I 100% agree with is: "Your house is a liability, not an asset." I live here. I'm constantly getting nickel-and-dimed by random repairs. It's not easily liquidated. It might add another $30-$40k but it's meaningless until I can access it.

Gabby and I are hoping to sell in the springtime and move into an apartment. If our net worth jumps again next year, you'll know why. However, with the market as it is, I don't have high hopes.

Either way, I have enough money to be flexible about it. That's an incredible feeling.

Bottom Line of Year Nine: ~$165k net worth.

Goal for Next Year: Sell the house, move into an apartment. I'm hoping to move up to a Director position at work, which will bring my base up to $90k. In terms of skilling up professionally, though, I'm not sure what else I could do. I think I'd be really good at writing sales letters since that's what I do all day anyway, but I'm not sure what to sell. Maybe something for busy professional men to stay fit, but just spitballing here. ]]> Comment287283929 Tue, 18 Feb 2025 04:22:36 -0800 <![CDATA[Phil commented on Phil's review of I Will Teach You to Be Rich]]> /review/show/1646018437 Phil's review of I Will Teach You to Be Rich
by Ramit Sethi

Thanks for the bump on this, all. I updated for this year. Looks like there’s maybe a formatting issue but I’ll fix it. I’m running out of characters for a 카지노싸이트 review so I’ll probably update subsequent years with just the numbers. ]]> Review7330257749 Mon, 17 Feb 2025 12:23:29 -0800 <![CDATA[Phil added 'Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention— and How to Think Deeply Again']]> /review/show/7330257749 Stolen Focus by Johann Hari Phil gave 3 stars to Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention— and How to Think Deeply Again (Hardcover) by Johann Hari
It's a good book, but I don't like two things about it:

1) The subtitle is literally How to Think Deeply Again. The author consistently says that there isn't much we can do about the attention crisis and he mostly shrugs off extremely useful tools as superfluous. This robs the reader of personal agency.

I agree: The attention crisis is a systemic issue that we need to solve systemically, but I feel like very little time and attention was given to the systems that everyone can use to take back our focus. Almost anyone can downgrade to a dumbphone. It's entirely possible. I don't recall that being mentioned a single time. Locking away your cellphone in a box is one thing. Completely eliminating it from your life is another.

2) The end felt way too similar to The Anxious Generation, which admittedly came out after this book -- but the ideas for that book originated in The Coddling of the American Mind which came out before this book. Frankly, I don't think this affects most of the readers of this book in the same way that it affects future generations. I'm 29. I walked a mile to school by myself in third grade. My parents let me play outside with no supervision. I had the internet, but not like kids today.

I'm willing to bet good money that the main demographic for this book is males aged 45-65. Yes, it's important to understand how technology is fundamentally shaping future generations' attention spans but it feels like a completely different concept that's tacked on to a book about why you can't pay attention.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just sick of hearing about it since I just read The Anxious Generation, but still... ]]> Review7330253593 Mon, 17 Feb 2025 12:22:07 -0800 <![CDATA[Phil added 'The Poppy War']]> /review/show/7330253593 The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang Phil gave 5 stars to The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1) by R.F. Kuang
]]> Review7330251649 Mon, 17 Feb 2025 12:21:50 -0800 <![CDATA[Phil added 'The Muscle Ladder: Get Jacked Using 카지노싸이트']]> /review/show/7330251649 The Muscle Ladder by Jeff Nippard Phil gave 4 stars to The Muscle Ladder: Get Jacked Using 카지노싸이트 (Kindle Edition) by Jeff Nippard
Jeff Nippard has some of the best content on YouTube, so when I saw he was coming out with a book, I was super excited to buy it.

Jeff Nippard’s The Muscle Ladder uses a ladder as a metaphor for making progress in the gym. Right off the bat, YouTube fitness enthusiasts will likely notice the similarities between The Muscle Ladder and Team 3DMJ’s Muscle and Strength Pyramid.

As you move up a rung of “The Muscle Ladder,” you move from high-impact beginner concepts (like consistency) to more advanced techniques (like drop sets).

But the ladder metaphor falls apart very quickly for me. One rail – the vertical section of the ladder that holds all of the rungs together – is “consistency” (makes perfect sense: if you don’t do something consistently, the stimulus won’t be enough to change your body long term) and the other rail is “mindset” (huh?).

Sure, having the proper mindset about why you’re going to the gym is important, but is it so important that you literally won’t make gains without it? I don’t think so. In fact, I think the majority of lifters who follow Jeff got started because they were horny teenagers who thought that they’d look like Arnold Schwarzenegger within a couple months of lifting (and therefore be swimming in pussy – a mindset so wrong it has layers to how wrong it is). It’s not because they had any interest in health or self-improvement. If you took out one of the rails of the ladder, it should literally fall apart.

“Mindset” is not a rail; “Effort” is. Without consistency and effort, you won’t make gains:

High consistency + low effort = almost no gains.
Low consistency + high effort = almost no gains.

Instead, effort is the third rung of the ladder. Technique is even below it. I used to do the ugliest bicep curls in the world when I was in high school and my biceps still grew. It just doesn’t resonate with me.

Some people might think I’m nitpicking – but the book is literally called The Muscle Ladder. I think a lack of organization is a legitimate criticism.

In fact, when I read the Chapter on “Effort,” I got the feeling that even Jeff himself knows this. The chapter begins, “No matter how much you optimize all the other variables, what you do won’t matter if you don’t push yourself hard enough.”

This all gets closer to the heart of the main thing I dislike about the Muscle Ladder: I think Jeff Nippard switched around the order of the Team 3DMJ Training Pyramid in order to make The Muscle Ladder seem novel.

If you’ve read one, you’ve pretty much read the other.

I’d give it a 3.5/5 but I rounded up because I love Jeff. ]]> Review7330251649 Mon, 17 Feb 2025 12:21:25 -0800 <![CDATA[Phil added 'The Muscle Ladder: Get Jacked Using 카지노싸이트']]> /review/show/7330251649 The Muscle Ladder by Jeff Nippard Phil gave 4 stars to The Muscle Ladder: Get Jacked Using 카지노싸이트 (Kindle Edition) by Jeff Nippard
Jeff Nippard has some of the best content on YouTube, so when I saw he was coming out with a book, I was super excited to buy it.

Jeff Nippard’s The Muscle Ladder uses a ladder as a metaphor for making progress in the gym. Right off the bat, YouTube fitness enthusiasts will likely notice the similarities between The Muscle Ladder and Team 3DMJ’s Muscle and Strength Pyramid.

As you move up a rung of “The Muscle Ladder,” you move from high-impact beginner concepts (like consistency) to more advanced techniques (like drop sets).

But the ladder metaphor falls apart very quickly for me. One rail – the vertical section of the ladder that holds all of the rungs together – is “consistency” (makes perfect sense: if you don’t do something consistently, the stimulus won’t be enough to change your body long term) and the other rail is “mindset” (huh?).

Sure, having the proper mindset about why you’re going to the gym is important, but is it so important that you literally won’t make gains without it? I don’t think so. In fact, I think the majority of lifters who follow Jeff got started because they were horny teenagers who thought that they’d look like Arnold Schwarzenegger within a couple months of lifting (and therefore be swimming in pussy – a mindset so wrong it has layers to how wrong it is). It’s not because they had any interest in health or self-improvement. If you took out one of the rails of the ladder, it should literally fall apart.

“Mindset” is not a rail; “Effort” is. Without consistency and effort, you won’t make gains:

High consistency + low effort = almost no gains.
Low consistency + high effort = almost no gains.

Instead, effort is the third rung of the ladder. Technique is even below it. I used to do the ugliest bicep curls in the world when I was in high school and my biceps still grew. It just doesn’t resonate with me.

Some people might think I’m nitpicking – but the book is literally called The Muscle Ladder. I think a lack of organization is a legitimate criticism.

In fact, when I read the Chapter on “Effort,” I got the feeling that even Jeff himself knows this. The chapter begins, “No matter how much you optimize all the other variables, what you do won’t matter if you don’t push yourself hard enough.”

This all gets closer to the heart of the main thing I dislike about the Muscle Ladder: I think Jeff Nippard switched around the order of the Team 3DMJ Training Pyramid in order to make The Muscle Ladder seem novel.

If you’ve read one, you’ve pretty much read the other.

I’d give it a 3.5/5 but I rounded up because I love Jeff. ]]> Review1646018437 Mon, 17 Feb 2025 12:18:59 -0800 <![CDATA[Phil added 'I Will Teach You to Be Rich']]> /review/show/1646018437 I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi Phil gave 5 stars to I Will Teach You to Be Rich (Paperback) by Ramit Sethi
I'm going to update this review, year-by-year, with how much this book has changed my life, starting in 2017 as a college student with no money.

Year One, 2017: I'm a junior in college studying "Integrated Language Arts," which means I'll probably end up teaching, technical writing, or doing some sort of web design / SEO work; in any case except teaching, my income will be a little bit above average. Right now, though, my income is nothing to brag about. I work in a factory making $12/hour and I do some freelance writing and SEO work on the side.

In a way, you could say I'm living out the first couple chapters, "Optimize Your Credit Cards" and "Beat the Banks." I'm focusing on building credit and staying out of debt. I got accepted for a Discover Card about a year ago with 2% cashback on groceries and gas; I haven't taken out any loans to pay for college, and I plan to keep it that way: as of today - October 10th, 2017 - about 66% of public college students graduate with a debt load of $25k, which means staying out of debt will put me well above average.

Bottom Line of Year One: Net worth of about ~$500 and a credit score of 695.

Goal for Year Two: Net worth of at least $2.5k, ~$1k in a 401k, and a credit score of 730. I can't say I'll update this at the exact same time every year, but I'll come close. If I hit my goals, I'll come back to revise them.

Year Two Update, 2018 $3k in a Roth IRA and a ~720 credit score.

I've also traveled to some neat places, which I think fits in perfectly with the idea of "Living a Rich Life."

Vanguard



FICO



Bottom Line of Year Two: Goal accomplished with ~$3k in a Vanguard Roth IRA and a ~720 FICO.

I traveled to San Clemente, Santa Monica, and Los Angeles in Southern California; Hilton Head in South Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia. I've discovered how much I like traveling, and I've made it one of my priorities.

Updated Goals for Year Three: Save a minimum of ~$5k for a month-long backpacking trip across Europe, put as many purchases as possible on my Delta SkyMiles card so I can get a discounted flight, continue to max out my IRA, and save ~$5k for a down payment on a duplex so, as soon as I land a full-time job after graduating college, I can finally move out of my parents' house.

Years Three and Four Update, 2019 & 2020: I've done quite a bit of traveling pre-pandemic since my freelance writing business was doing well -- maybe blowing a little bit more money than I should have. I did that backpacking trip: I picked up some odd jobs in Ireland working on a farm and painting, and that covered some of my living expenses before moving on to Switzerland and Italy, and then I went all the way to Costa Rica and Peru (before doing a road trip across Europe again).

Do I regret it? Not at all. If you wanted to travel the way that I did today, in 2020, you literally wouldn't be able to. And all of that traveling didn't cost me anywhere near as much as you'd expect. I was very, very frugal about it.

Unfortunately, as soon as the pandemic hit, my income took a nosedive. I'm climbing my way back up, but I'm back at my parent's house for now. This is where I stand financially, from my Personal Capital:



I drive a 2010 Honda Civic that gets 36MPG, and I bought it for $6k cash. I probably put another $1.5k in it or so, including paying out-of-state taxes, new battery, new rim caps, and so on, but I don't think anything I did increased the value.

I'm studying now to be a real estate appraiser. After experiencing first-hand how unstable my freelance income was, I wanted something different. I've already done some real estate copywriting, so this seemed like a good place to start.

Bottom Line of Years Three and Four: $17k net worth. $6k car. $5k in Roth IRA. $6k in savings (saving to buy my own place since I know I'll be in NE Ohio for 10+ years).

Years Five and Six Update, 2021 & 2022: My net worth has gone nowhere. I’m still at $17k, but I see it as massive progress because I’ve significantly increased my earning potential. I’m now a Certified Residential Appraiser and I should finally be making $50-$90k this coming year. I still drive that same Honda Civic and it gets me 35-40MPG. I’m going to drive it until my girlfriend forces me to get rid of it.

I’ve also traveled a bunch with this beautiful Canadian girl I met in Costa Rica. If that’s not a “Rich Life,” I don’t know what is.

Bottom Lines of Years Five and Six: Net worth has stagnated ($17k) because of education costs and stock depreciation. Still contributing to Roth IRA as much as possible. Should be in a much better position this time next year. For future reference, I’m writing this on May 17th, 2022.

Goals for next couple years: Earn $60k+ in calendar year, buy a condo and maybe rent out a room of it.

Year Seven Update, 2023

It's now January 12th, 2023. I'm really not doing great with the whole "I'll update this at around the same time every year" thing so I'm just gonna do it in January from here on out... Hopefully...

My net worth is now ~$31k and I make a decent salary, around $70k before bonuses. That beautiful Canadian girl I met in Costa Rica is now my beautiful fiance.

Life's okay. It could be better. I feel like I'm underpaid but it is what it is. I'm hoping to buy a house or duplex soon, so that'll maybe help my net worth and income options.



I still drive that same Honda Civic and I love it.

Bottom Line of Year Seven: $31k net worth with a good salary.

Goal for next year: Buy a house.

Year Eight Update, 2024

It's been an eventful year. I'm writing this now on January, 9th, 2024, having remembered that this review exists thanks to a commenter.

My beautiful fiancee is now my beautiful wife. She's fantastic. She’s everything I could’ve ever hoped for.

I bought a house. It's a ~1,600 square foot, 3 bed, 1.5 bath brick Colonial in Parma, Ohio (near the Cleveland area). It was listed at $215k and I bought it for $198k after concessions. It needed some work, for sure, but I didn't realize just

I strongly recommend that anyone who's thinking about buying a house reread the section about houses not being good investments. My net worth would be much higher this year if it wasn't for an unexpected $15k boiler expense. I got a home inspection from someone who seemed reliable. I crossed my t's and dotted my i's. As a real estate appraiser, I look at houses every single day and analyze local markets. I still ended up making a blunder.

It's hard. Life changes. Now I'm not sure if I'll stay in this area for long, so it's entirely possible that I lose money on it when I go to sell.

When in doubt, rent.

Regardless, I've made some major gains in terms of net worth, courtesy of saving aggressively and combining finances.



Our net worth now sits at around ~$60k if you don't count her Canadian retirement accounts. They aren't in the graph because that's just our US assets. If you count her Canadian assets, our combined net worth is around ~$120k USD, but it fluctuates.

I look back at when I first started writing this, when I had $500 to my name and worked for $12/hr in a factory, and I can't believe it.

I still drive the same Honda Civic by the way, although it looks pretty ugly at this point and I've been strongly considering an upgrade.

My credit score has not changed, but I don't really think about it anymore. I guess one day when I'm 40 and haven't missed a payment since I opened my first credit card, it might improve.



Bottom Line of Year Eight: ~$120k net worth.



Between the two of us, our income is about ~$115k.

Goal for Next Year: Make $90k or more. Max out both of our Roth IRAs.

Year Nine Update, 2025

We completely destroyed that goal. I haven't done taxes yet this year but we've easily made $115k+ and I easily made $90k+. Both Roth IRAs are maxed. Gabby's maxing her 401k match. Life is good.

However, I think it's easy to read this and think that I'm obsessed with spreadsheets and Monte Carlo simulations and, well, just numbers in general -- but I want to emphasize a very good point Ramit has made over and over again: Life is lived outside of the spreadsheet.

Tracking my net worth is a cool way of showing people that this stuff works (and I'd be lying if I said I didn't like to see the number tick up over time), but it doesn't dominate my life. My wife and I went on a $5k vacation to Belize last year. My money dial is health and fitness so I balled out on 90lb PowerBlocks and I'm going to buy an Oura Ring to track my sleep better. These things don't show up in the spreadsheet. I don't drive a beat-up Honda Civic because I'm obsessed with having more money; I drive a beat-up Honda Civic because I just don't care. It's not helping me live my "Rich Life." If it helps Gabby live hers, then we'll probably update it (which I see happening in the next year or two).

Anyway, after officially combining our assets, we found out we're a lot richer than we thought.

Last year, we probably had about a $120k combined net worth, not $100k. For anyone reading this, I updated that number for Year 8.

Our lives are so inextricably intertwined financially that I no longer have any idea what my individual net worth would be, so here's both of ours:



In the words of Frank Sinatra, "It was a very good year."

I think I'll probably repeat this every year: I started with $500.

You'll notice this doesn't include the house. Robert Kiyosaki has said a lot of dumb things, but one thing he's said that I 100% agree with is: "Your house is a liability, not an asset." I live here. I'm constantly getting nickel-and-dimed by random repairs. It's not easily liquidated. It might add another $30-$40k but it's meaningless until I can access it.

Gabby and I are hoping to sell in the springtime and move into an apartment. If our net worth jumps again next year, you'll know why. However, with the market as it is, I don't have high hopes.

Either way, I have enough money to be flexible about it. That's an incredible feeling.

Bottom Line of Year Nine: ~$165k net worth.

Goal for Next Year: Sell the house, move into an apartment. I'm hoping to move up to a Director position at work, which will bring my base up to $90k. In terms of skilling up professionally, though, I'm not sure what else I could do. I think I'd be really good at writing sales letters since that's what I do all day anyway, but I'm not sure what to sell. Maybe something for busy professional men to stay fit, but just spitballing here. ]]> UserChallenge58871353 Thu, 02 Jan 2025 12:49:43 -0800 <![CDATA[ Phil has challenged himself to read 30 books in 2025. ]]> /user/show/7154232-phil-sykora 11627
He has read 3 books toward his goal of 30 books.
 
3 of 30 (10%)
Create your own 2025 Reading Challenge » ]]> Comment284488296 Thu, 19 Dec 2024 15:27:51 -0800 <![CDATA[Phil commented on Phil's review of Activate Your Vagus Nerve: Unleash Your Body’s Natural Ability to Overcome Gut Sensitivities, Inflammation, Autoimmunity, Brain Fog, Anxiety and Depression]]> /review/show/3123538525 Phil's review of Activate Your Vagus Nerve: Unleash Your Body’s Natural Ability to Overcome Gut Sensitivities, Inflammation, Autoimmunity, Brain Fog, Anxiety and Depression
by Navaz Habib

RE: Saniya, read “Ego Depletion: Is the Active Self a Limited Resource?” by Roy Baumeister, et al, if you want the study itself — but other researchers have built on the concept over time and a more palatable book is Kelly McGonigal’s “Willpower Instinct.” Roy Baumeister’s book on willpower is also good but nowhere near as good as Kelly McGonigal’s. If you want a more abbreviated version, I think they both have TED talks too. ]]>