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For the first time in more than a year, I feel as if my life is under control. I’m getting things done that need to get done. I have balance. After being overwhelmed for so long, the book stuff is winding down, and I’ve made some changes behind the scenes here at GRS (about which more soon) that allow me to ignore the stuff that doesn’t matter so that I can focus on the stuff that does.
In fact, I’ve settled into something of a routine. I’m not the sort of guy who usually likes routines, but this one’s nice. It goes something like this:
- Out of bed at 5:30, quick check of e-mail and blog comments, then brush teeth, wash face, and out the door to:
- One hour at the Crossfit gym starting at 6:30.
- Back home by 8:00 am. If I’m feeling industrious, I bike or run a bit. After breakfast and a shower, I…
- Head up to the office by 10:00 am. Spend the next six hours answering e-mail, taking calls, and writing about money.
- At 4:00 pm, I head hoome to spend an hour studying French.
- If I don’t have something else planned (such as a Portland Timbers soccer match), Kris and I eat dinner together. Then we read, watch a TV show from iTunes, or work in the yard.
- I try to be in bed by 9pm for pleasure reading. (I’m just finishing The Egg and I, as recommended by GRS readers.) Lights out by 10pm.
I follow this schedule from Monday through Thursday, and then get three weekend days to do all sorts of other stuff. (Though I usually spend about eight hours on Sunday working at the office.) It feels great! And my workload has dropped from 60+ hours a week all last year to just 24-32 hours a week now. Not Tim Ferriss levels, but much more balanced than before.
As a result, I feel like I’ve been able to produce some better articles lately. I’ve also had time to do more reading about personal finance, both in books and around the web. You know what that means, right? I may be able to post link round-ups a few times a week again — starting with today! Here are some recent articles that have caught my attention:
First up, Flexo at Consumerism Commentary posted the latest edition of his podcast earlier this week, and it features an interview with Donna Freedman. Many of you enjoyed Donna’s guest post here last Sunday. If you’d like to hear more from her, spend half an hour listening to the podcast.
Next, Lisa wrote to tell me that one of her favorite blogs, A Practical Wedding, has been running a series on money and marriage (part two). The first two posts in the series discuss the practical considerations of merging finances (and the comments on the posts argue for alternatives). Lisa thinks I should get the author to a guest post for GRS. I like Meg’s style, so I plan to drop her a line.
Chris from Software Advice recently offered a 10-step guide explaining how to negotiate your rent. What does this have to do with software advice? Who knows? But this post gives a great run-down of the things you can do when negotiating with a landlord.
Steve pointed me to an article at Science and Money that compares 529 plans from Fidelity and Vanguard. I know nothing about 529 plans (which are tax-advantaged plans designed to encourage saving for college), and have never published an article at GRS about them. However, Helen at Science and Money has been doing some research, and this article is a nice round-up of what she’s learned.
Finally, after Katie’s recent guest post about having frugal fun with board games, Josh dropped me a line to tell me about a game he’s been putting together. That game now has a website. If you’d like to see what one of your fellow readers has been up to, go check out Heroes of Feonora. I haven’t downloaded the game yet myself, but I intend to do so soon!
This article is about Spare Change Thursday, 10th June 2010 (by J.D. Roth)
Nice 529 article! I wish she could do that for the 10 different retirement plans my employer offers(though of those, only Ing offers Vanguard funds… and they charge a .7 fee, I discovered this year– so we’ll take a day to figure out what to change to).
Wow, it is really difficult to figure out how to make comments on the site today.
Nicole, you’re the second person to complain about comments today. Something goofy must have happened. Can you tell me what’s different?
Sounds like a nice routine!
Just happened to see the Portland Timbers play here in Austin last night against the Aztex. Ended in a tie…
Vraiment impressionante, JD! Ceci dit, 9h, c’est potentiellement trop tôt d’aller coucher. Vous-avez quelle âge?
The comments look the same to me at the moment - I’m on firefox if that matters.
I hope you knocked on wood or something when you published this! I’m way too paranoid to publicly announce that I’m in a groove and all is running smoothly
I should mention that yesterday and today (and, it looks like, tomorrow), I’ve devoted my office time to catching up on e-mail. I managed to get to Inbox Zero in April, but since then, I’ve been deluged once more. I’ve whittled the 500+ messages down to 83 now, but they’re the 83 that require the most effort and attention. So, back to e-mail. (And someday I hope to get to writing again!)
1. The link at the bottom is gone (both firefox and IE), so you have to scroll all the way up again to place a comment.
2. I couldn’t click the number at the top when it is at zero, though that may be true usually. After the number changed to 1 I could click on it.
3. Even though it’s been more than 1hr since I last posted, WP is telling me I comment too quickly and to slow down. Then it ate my detailed explanation that I typed up about the lack of links to comments. I just now used IE to trick it into thinking I’m someone else so that I could leave this comment.
Hey JD,
Great post. Question for you: have you always been an early riser, or was this a routine that you had to train yourself into?
I’m trying to reorganize my daily schedule to become more productive. Right now, I’m a late riser struggling to become an early riser (I sleep right through the alarm clock & don’t feel fully functional till 9 or 10 a.m.). Any tips on getting up earlier in the morning?
Here’s what’s different: When reading the front page of the site (*not* clicking through to an individual article) you used to be able to read the article at the top of the page, and when you got to the bottom and finished, you could click “comments” and it’d take you to the article’s page along with all of its comments.
Now, when you get to the bottom of the article on the main page, all you can do is “like” it on Facebook. You have to scroll all the way back up to the top and click the title or “N Comments” to get to a place where you can write a comment.
Also, this morning I wrote a comment on Sierra’s post that seems to have been lost in the aether.
“1. The link at the bottom is gone (both firefox and IE), so you have to scroll all the way up again to place a comment.”
Yep, noticed this right away. Very annoying. I hope this is a temporary issue. It’s much more user-friendly to have links to the comments both at the head and tail of the post.
Ugh.
Okay, I see at least two problems with comments. That comment link is missing (that’s easy to fix) and for some reason, TONS of legitimate comments are getting routed to spam. I have no idea why this is happening, but I’ll try to figure it out. Sorry, everyone.
Reading about your daily schedule is more motivation I need to leave the corporate world behind. I must get my butt (further) into gear to make that viable…
Aside from the comments problem, you sound really upbeat J.D. - which is great. How are you loving doing all those workouts? I’ll bet your energy level has gone way up!
Oh dear, that sucks. I guess you did NOT knock on wood when you published!
(I hope you’re in a laughing mood at some point)
Okay, comment link is back on the bottom of each article on the front page. Now working on why comments are being routed to spam…
Thanks!
Sounds like a great schedule. Don’t you have children? Do you spend any time with them as part of your routine?
JD, quit lying! There’s no way you and Kris have been playing in the yard with the rains we’ve been getting! LOL
Awesome to see you’re doing CrossFit. I’ve been “crossfitting” for 3 years now and it is by far the best investment I’ve made in myself (aside from going to college, but that was more of an investment on my parent’s part). It has absolutely changed my life in that it’s opened my eyes to how much time I used to waste working out in your standard health club gym. You should have no trouble meeting the fitness goals you’ve set for yourself.
Man I wish I could get up at 5:30 and then go to the gym. You have inspired me to try this tomorrow.
Hey J.D. (and Steve),
Thanks for mentioning my series on choosing a 529 plan. I hope it brings some clarity.
Likewise, Nicole, I wish there was a way to vet choices for a 401(k) plan — each company’s plan is different. Choice is great but too many options can lead to analysis paralysis.
@Ryo Well, are you a morning person? If not, I try not to get overly impressed by these “early rise” people. Getting up early isn’t a virtue in itself - sleep requirements (the when and how much) are more often then not hardwired, down to how possible it is to retrain them.
JD your schedule is great, I’m jealous.
Yeah Crossfit! I didn’t know you were into it. Just another reason this site rocks! I’m finishing my last fundamentals course at the box and I’ll be starting 3 times a week as of next week!
@21 Helen
They’re not even GOOD choices. And three of them don’t provide information on their investment options on their webpage. If Vanguard by itself were a choice (not through Ing) we would just go with it. As it is, we went with Ing because that’s the only one that sent a person around to help… at that .7% management fee. I figured that was better than not investing at all… but with the 1%+ fees on that plan (because we didn’t go with the Vanguard Index funds, another mistake) I’m thinking it’s time to make a change.
I think I’ve narrowed it down to Fidelity or TIAA-CREF (and I will feel guilty when the Ing guy comes by). But it is very difficult to compare… and the fees on the lifecycle plans are so high compared to the regular Index Funds that I think we’ll have to go into that layer of complexity as well. (Not to mention that the TIAA-CREF lifecycle fund is crazy conservative… 50% bonds for a 2045 fund!)
An area where I kind of wish the government would do a bit more regulation… at least in terms of what the plans have to disclose so it would be easier to compare them. I need a column that just lists FEES.
“just 24-32 hours a week now”
It is official - JD, you are now a European, complete with government sudsidized health care (through your spouses work, right?)…
I wish I could wake up at 5:30 in the morning. If I go to bed at 10PM, I need to give myself until 6:30 to sleep. I don’t need that much sleep, but for some reason it’s too much pressure when I don’t give myself more time for sleep than I actually need. I get stressed out and don’t sleep well. Maybe I don’t need personal finance advice as much as I need advice on how to get a decent night’s sleep!
@25 Nicole
Yikes! I’m not sure that your employer is doing you a favor with so many options.
Usually choice is good, but with too many options offered, you’ll need a guide, and (surprise!) the only ones available are from the respective investment companies which (no surprise!) tend to recommend what they’re selling.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a place to post the 401(k) information and then let the readers pick it apart — let the hive attack.