In today’s world, we are persuaded to believe that doing what others expect of us is the answer to a happy life. External expectations and norms shape us as individuals and influence our aspirations. Work the 9-5 till you’re 65, and then you can start living. Surely, society benefits from the long work-life of citizens, and individuals have bought into the idea that these jobs are necessary. It adds no advantage that the easiest way in life is to follow that paved path, and not to question what you truly want to accomplish.

The week before this flight was absolute chaos and very likely the most stressful time of my life. More to come on this in a future post, but it was such a relief to finally put that behind me. Originally, I had a flight scheduled for Sunday, Sep 13, but had to reschedule it due to house renovations. I truly didn’t know if I would ever make it out with all that was going on, but I finally departed on Tuesday, Sep 15!!

This post is not as morbid as the title may allude to, but more of a necessary and realistic reflection on life. I’m 23 now, almost a quarter of my life has passed (fingers crossed I’ll make it to at least 100), and with each day and year that goes by, time is becoming more precious to me. I realize the imminence of death and that, truly, our time here is short.

My first pair of knitted socks!! Needless to say, knitting has become my favorite quarantine hobby, and I’m so grateful for it. In the last few months, I’ve really had to push myself to maintain my interests (running, reading, podcasts, etc.), sometimes without much success, so I’m thrilled that I’m passionate about this activity.

As I prepare my first series on this blog on real estate investing (REI), I thought I’d share an introductory post on why I even chose that route to begin with. A lot of people have asked me if I prefer real estate over stocks, or what the difference is from an investment perspective. Here is my take on it, based on my experience.

It’s been a tumultuous few weeks in the world, to say the least. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, there has been social unrest, injustices among many marginalized groups, and cries for change across the nation. There is a movement happening like I’ve never seen before in my life. Although we’re all still working towards understanding what reform looks like, there has been an immense wave of action and support from my friends, our community, and the world at large. This is what inspired me to try to make an impact myself.

Notes for BiggerPockets Money Podcast 125
Guest: Fritz Gilbert
Audio time: 1 hr 29 min
Read time: 3 min

Fritz Gilbert, of Retirement Manifesto, has created a pre-retirement checklist to guide people in making a smooth transition into retirement. Many people (especially my age) may think of retirement as a faraway concept, something that’ll eventually happen. They may not realize that there’s actually a lot of active planning involved. In this podcast, Fritz explains his personal experience with the 5-year checklist and how it may be helpful for others.

I officially started this blog in April 2020, as we all hunkered down, sheltering in place. Since I was spending more time in the kitchen, baking loaves of banana bread and Levain Bakery cookies, I needed a space to store my recipes so I could come back to them. That was all the motivation I needed to revisit the idea of a blog, yet again.

This past weekend, as I pondered my afternoon snack, I thought of these shortbread cookies. They’re light, crumbly, and pair perfectly together with a warm cup of tea and a good book. I usually add variations to my cookies, as I’m not a fan of just plain shortbread, so I decided to use up some tea leaves I had sitting around. The tea adds a hint of floral / earthy notes and balances the butteriness of the cookie quite well.

Notes for BiggerPockets Money Podcast 123
Guest: Avery Heilbron
Audio time: 1 hr
Read time: 2 min

One-line Summary

Learn how Avery Heilbron is planning for financial independence through real estate, with 5 units at just age 25.

His Journey with Money

• Always been frugal, did not like spending money
• Picked up a side hustle de-leading properties
• Financial position after graduating college in 2018: did not have student loan debt, saved money from summer internships, had high-paying job lined up (data scientist/analyst for an insurance company)