I try to tend to my money the same way I would a small garden, and hence the name of my blog.

As the name implies I have no get rich quick schemes (at least none that work). Instead I try to be, as Thomas Stanley discusses in his excellent book The Millionaire Next Door, "a patient cultivator of wealth".

I'm currently single and renting - leery of outrageous housing prices in my metro area. I will have a discussion of the housing bubble. I work in tech, a notoriously unstable industry, and survived numerous (7 or 8 - I lost count) rounds of layoffs. This experience left me pretty cautious financially.

I have the following money goals:
3-5 years: Purchase a home that is a good value
Long Term: Achieve what financial commentator Bob Brinker calls "Critical Mass" - a large enough pool of wealth to sustain a reasonable lifestyle without the need for working. I estimate this to be between $1 million and $2 million dollars.
mortgage calculator