The Friday Feast ~ the 21st of August

The personal finance community is filled with so many talented writers and truly inspiring people and families who want something much different in life than the traditional plan of buying lots of stuff and retiring in their 60s.  Here is a look at the best of this week's personal finance blogs.

In this episode of Friday Feast: Even Steven, Dividend Mantra, Just One More Year, Canadian Budget Binder, Save Money Dammit, Our Next Life.

Welcome to Friday.  This week felt a bit longer than usual due to some insanely stupid decisions made by the client whom I am working for.  This particular client should stand as a shining example of what happens when you put the bottom line ahead of responsible solutions.  Retirement, I welcome thee.

Needless to say, I have been eager throughout the week to read through the personal finance blogosphere to get my mind off of this sheer stupidity - and you guys did not disappoint!  Then again, you never do.

We start off with something that many of us deal with a lot - talking with friends and family about money.  Even Steven published an article that discusses a situation he had with one of his close friends who are clearly living above their means.  If you recognize this during the course of a conversation, do you bring it up?  If so, how?  How do you approach such a sensitive topic with your friends or family?

Perhaps my favorite post of the week came from Jason at Dividend Mantra.  He wrote about how a job that he hated propelled him into the early retirement community and was the main driving force behind finding a happier life for himself.  In the end, he quit his job and does freelance writing from home - and he couldn't be happier.

I discovered a new blog, Just One More Year, and instantly fell in love with it after reading Bryan's latest post, You Only Live Once.  The driving force behind this post was take the bull by the horns, don't wait for your financial ship to arrive, and become a grand master of your own destiny.  My wife and I are taking this post to heart - we'll have about $800k when we retire, and we plan to explore the hell out of our country (and world).  We want to explore and don't want to wait another decade before making it happen.

We're doing this by living a frugal lifestyle, and as the Canadian Budget Binder wrote in a piece yesterday, being frugal isn't for "poor" people. Quite the contrary, living frugally is how you get rich, making your dreams outside of your sterile office environment come true.  They aren't millionaires, but their debt-free status instantly puts them on a higher financial pedestal than so many out there who appear to have more.

And lastly, how much would it take for you to buy a month?  Save Money Dammit took this issue on and discussed the importance of time when we consider our overall level of wealth and happiness.  "What this means is that by saving more money and being financially independent, you’re able to be in control of how your time is spent rather than being forced to trade your time for money."

By the way, Our Next Life took the challenge and posted their kick ass contribution to the About Series, which is an opportunity to tell the world a little something extra about yourself, and your blog, that isn't already on your 'About us' page.  We want details - the juicer, the better!