💸 We Owe $7,000 in Taxes This Year
And no… it wasn’t a surprise in the way you might think.
It was a miss.
What Happened
We sold shares from Harrison’s company stock (MSTR) this year.
And we didn’t withhold anything for taxes.
No automatic withholding.No estimated payments set aside.
Honestly?
We just didn’t account for it in the...
Mar 18, 2026
💰 Inside My 2025 NurseMoneyDate® Numbers
As an Ongoing Access member… you already know this:
You don’t just learn how to manage money.You get a real-time look at mine.
The actual numbers.The decisions.The trade-offs behind what I’m building.
Because financial confidence isn’t built from theory, it’s built from seeing how this actually ...
Mar 18, 2026
🤍 Three Months of Trying to Conceive
Three months.
Which, logically, I know… isn’t long. But emotionally?
It’s long enough to start realizing something uncomfortable:
I don’t actually have as much control as I thought I did.
I’m Someone Who Plans for a Living
I map things out.I run scenarios.I build timelines.
When it comes to mone...
Mar 18, 2026
🍽️ The Year We Basically Stopped Cooking
If you looked at our bank statements over the last year… you’d probably think we were doing something “wrong.”
Uber Eats.Eating out.Convenience, over and over again.
The kind of spending that personal finance advice loves to shame:“Stop wasting money.”“Cook more.”“Be disciplined.”
And here’s the ...
Mar 18, 2026
🌅 I Don’t Care About Early Retirement Anymore (The Way I Used To)
There was a time when early retirement felt like the goal.
The number.The milestone.The exit.
I built spreadsheets around it.Ran projections.Calculated Coast FI.Modeled timelines.
And I still believe in financial independence.
But something has shifted.
I don’t care about retiring early the way I...
Feb 28, 2026
🌱 Trying to Conceive (TTC) & The Illusion of Control
There’s something I don’t talk about as clinically as investing.
My TTC journey.
Trying to conceive has been one of the most disorienting experiences of my adult life.
Not because it’s tragic.Not because it’s dramatic.
But because it is unknown.
And I am someone who builds plans.
📋 I Know How to...
Feb 28, 2026
🎶 Empty Bars & Compounding: What Ed Sheeran Taught Me About Slow Wealth
On Valentine’s Day, Harrison and I went to see Ed Sheeran here in Sydney.
80,000 people.
Lights. Phones in the air. Everyone screaming lyrics word for word.
It was one of those surreal moments where you look around and think:
This is massive.
But what stuck with me wasn’t the stage.
It was the st...
Feb 28, 2026
🌧️ How I’m Managing My Money During a Heavy Season
I want to share something honestly.
When life feels heavy, my money feels it too.
This past month has been one of those seasons where everything feels louder: the news, the emotions, the conversations, the weight of what’s happening in the world. And I noticed it showing up very clearly in my fin...
Feb 03, 2026
🤝 Can You Buy Friendship?
Short answer: yes. Longer answer: it worked really well.
I’m going to say something mildly unhinged but very true:
I paid for friendship last year.And it’s been an absolute dream.
No shame. No regret. Five stars.
🧠 Let’s Be Real for a Second
Making friends as an adult is… weird.
You’re busy.You’...
Jan 25, 2026
🌴 Why We’re Researching Early Retirement in the Philippines
And how it’s changing our cost of living assumptions
As Harrison and I think about early retirement, one of the biggest levers we keep coming back to is where life happens.
Not forever.Not as an escape.But as an intentional chapter.
Lately, we’ve been researching what early retirement could look ...
Jan 20, 2026
🧭 How Harrison and I Reached Coast FI
And what that actually means
Harrison and I recently hit Coast FI on our path to early retirement.
That sentence can sound confusing, so let’s slow it down.
Coast FI does not mean we’re retired.It does not mean we stopped working.It does not mean we never invest again.
What it does mean is this:
...
Jan 20, 2026
🧾Rebuilding the Muscle of Tracking Every Dollar (Without Slipping Into Scarcity)
Something Harrison and I are doing right now in our own finances might surprise you.
We’re tracking our spending dollar for dollar, every day.
Not just weekly check-ins.Not just “does this align with our priorities?”But literally noticing where each dollar goes.
And honestly; it’s not something w...
Jan 11, 2026