Merry Christmas from the Frugal Expat

Steve Cummings

It is that time of the season where we get together with family and friends to celebrate the amazing year we have had. Truly 2020 has its ups and downs, but in the end I have felt it being a very blessed year indeed. 

This year has had a pandemic that has rocked the world from one place to the next. The world has stopped all travel, and therefore Mrs. FE and myself have been placed on travel hiatus until 2021.

The Travels of 2020.

Even though the world has stopped traveling, we were able to adventure to many places in the World in 2020. 

We were able to travel to Morocco in January for our Chinese New Year break. It was a great 14 days spent relaxing in Morocco, but not escaping the cold weather. 

Mrs. FE’s sister was able to join us on our trip, where we were able to visit the desert, ride a camel, enjoy the life of the various Moroccan cities, and even homemade food in a near-by mountain town. It was great fun.

Our last trip was to Antarctica. We left on the 1st day of March for a trip of a lifetime. Argentina was a country we had never been to so we visited Argentina, and then made our way to Ushuia, Argentina to hop on a 10 day exploration cruise of Antarctica. 

It was a beautiful trip with much wildlife and adventure. The people were amazing, and the food and staff made the trip worthwhile. 

Unfortunately, the pandemic raged throughout the world giving us some unneeded stress as airlines canceled flights, and we were forced to pay extra money to be able to get back home in Taiwan. 

Upon returning, we spent a nice 14 day quarantine locked up in our Apartment. It was glorious as Mrs. FE were able to spend some quality time together.

The Frugal Expat Blog:

I had been thinking about writing a finance blog for a while. It was an avenue to help teach friends and family more about finances. In May, I had just finished teaching a four week beginner class on personal finance, and thought about helping to expand people’s knowledge through writing. 

The Frugal Expat was born. I have been able to write up 38 articles to help people with their finances, and here are the top 10 most popular posts. 

  1. The Magic of the 4% Rule
  2. Double Your Income with Compound Interest
  3. The Simplicity of Index Funds
  4. Yotta Savings vs. Ally Bank: Who Wins?
  5. What is your Net Worth?
  6. Budgeting using the 50/30/20 Rule
  7. A Lazy Portfolio using the KISS Method
  8. The Importance of a Savings Rate
  9. A Crazy Summer; July Net Worth 
  10. What’s the Deal with VTSAX?

These are the most popular posts on the blog for 2020. Take a look at them, read a few, leave a comment, and get ready for a busy 2021.

Have a Merry Christmas

This is a much shorter article, but it is time to celebrate Christmas. There are more great things on the horizon, I hope you stick around for the ride ahead. 

If you are looking for some frugal gift ideas, my friend Matt from Financial Imagineer has a couple in his post Santa's Kick-Ass Christmas List for Financial Imagineers.

Keep saving, keep investing, and stay out of debt. 

From my family to yours,

Merry Christmas

” Spend less than you make, stay out of debt, and invest the rest”

8 thoughts on “Merry Christmas from the Frugal Expat”

  1. Some gift ideas in the link you provided are awesome, but I doubt they are “frugal” to acquire, at least in Taiwan, at this last minutes moment lol..

    Reply
  2. Very true, Some of the gifts are great books as well. If you are going to spend some money for Christmas, you can start off with investing money into yourself. Education is the key to having a good financial future.

    Reply
    • Already did haha, I always get books from Book Depository, free delivery.
      Paper books in physical stores are expensive in Taiwan, especially those written in Languages other than Mandarin…

      Reply
    • 2020 has been a pretty good year all in all. It could have been worse, but we have to make do with what we have. 2021 will be an even better year. I can’t wait! My wife and I would love to be able to travel once again. I was glad I read your Christmas Gift ideas earlier this month. I thought it was great, so I wanted to share it to all of my readers.
      Thanks,
      Steve

      Reply
    • Thank you IF! 2021 is a new year with new goals. My wife and I have been adding every year to increaseing our Net Worth to achieve financial independence. We are looking forward to 2021.
      Cheers to you too!

      Reply

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