Money Tips Network

As I mentioned in other recent articles, my family and I recently spent almost two weeks vacationing in various parts of Colorado. We mostly spent the time camping, with a few days staying in a cabin owned by a family friend.

As is usual on our family vacations, we were able to explore a wide variety of free and low cost activities, some of them good and some of them not so good. Here are twelve things we did on our vacation that I would describe as either “free” or “low cost” that we all enjoyed. I chose four from each of the three general areas that we stayed in during the trip.

As I write this article, I’m sitting in the passenger seat of our family’s minivan. We’re driving back home from more than a week of camping in various sites in Colorado and my wife is taking a turn driving while I write the first draft of this article and edit another one.

In a lot of ways, I’m a “digital nomad.” I can essentially do my work anywhere that I can take my laptop and something that provides an internet connection. I can usually work at home, but I don’t have to; I can work pretty much anywhere I go, and we could easily move to a new location if we need to.

Sometimes, though, working at home isn’t the perfect solution. For a variety of reasons, I have to work out and about.

Auto-Owners Insurance offers a wide range of insurance policies including homeowners insurance, business insurance, life insurance, farm insurance and more. Of course, they also offer auto insurance policies with a variety of add-ons you can use to customize your policy to your lifestyle or budget.

If you’re in the market for car insurance and don’t know where to turn, it’s smart to get a quote from Auto-Owners Insurance and a handful of other companies. Keep reading to learn all about the policies Auto-Owners Insurance offers, what they include and how to get a free quote.

was founded in 1931 during the depths of the Great Depression. During that time, visionary leader Robert Wood, a World War I general who was also the president of Sears, knew the country had a growing need for quality insurance products and sought to fill that need through his new venture.

These days, Allstate is a popular American brand that offers auto insurance, life insurance, and homeowners insurance policies. Not only are they known for offering low prices on a variety of products, they are known for the many customer discounts they offer as well as their famous slogan, “You’re in good hands.”

American Family Insurance has become a household name thanks to its catchy commercials and popular insurance policies. Not only does the insurer offer high-qualify and protective coverage for your home and your car, it also offers coverage for boats, recreational vehicles and motorcycles. It even offers life insurance, identity insurance, travel insurance and health insurance.

American Family Insurance even offers renters insurance, a type of insurance coverage that protects a renters personal possessions in the event of fire, theft, vandalism and more. Renters insurance is similar to homeowners insurance in that it can kick in to help you pay for a new place and replace your personal possessions. The big difference: It doesn’t actually cover the building you live in.

A few days ago, a reader named Jerry sent me the following quote from the book The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss and asked me my thoughts on it:

Retirement as a goal or final redemption is flawed for at least three solid reasons:

1. It is predicated on the assumption that you dislike what you are doing during the most physically capable years of your life. This is a nonstarter — nothing can justify that sacrifice.

2. Most people will never be able to retire and maintain even a hotdogs-for-dinner standard of living. Even one million is chump change in a world where traditional retirement could span 30 years and inflation lowers your purchasing power 2–4% per year. The math doesn’t work. The golden years become lower-middle-class life revisited. That’s a bittersweet ending.

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SUBTITLE – Reader Mailbag

Once a month (or so), I share a dozen things that have inspired me to greater personal, professional, and financial success in my life. I hope they bring similar success to your life.

1. Simon Sinek on passion versus stress

“Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stressed; working hard for something we love is called passion.” – Simon Sinek

It feels good to work hard on something that you love and really care a lot about. It’s even better when you’re paid to do it and there aren’t other elements making it less enjoyable.

It feels bad to be made to work hard on something you don’t care about at all because of professional pressure and the need for a paycheck. Call it stress or something else, but it’s not pleasant or joyful.

Last week, I shared my review of Jesse Mecham’s excellent book You Need a Budget. In the review, I lauded the You Need a Budget system and discussed how I was an avid user of early versions of the software but haven’t subscribed since YNAB switched to a subscription-based model. I wanted to delve into the ins and outs of subscription-based software a little because it’s a model that many software companies use today, from Microsoft with their Office 365 system, Adobe with their Creative Cloud software, and many other companies that offer “free” and “pro” versions of their software where the “pro” version requires a subscription.

So, let’s start from the beginning.