Author: MrFireStation

Spend Less Than You Make, Thrifty Thursday

Thrifty Thursday – Best Times Of The Year To Travel

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I recently wrote about our travel plans in early retirement and the advantages of traveling off-season.  A friend of mine said that the three best times to travel were in January/February, May, and September.  This is when rates may be as much as 20-30% cheaper than the times when most people can fit in trips between work & school schedules.

I thought it was good advice and it certainly proves out when you look at this chart from yourfirstvisit.net which Continue reading “Thrifty Thursday – Best Times Of The Year To Travel”

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Uncategorized

Stock Market Moves for Summer 2015

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I’m a pretty conservative investor overall.  I tend toward low cost index funds and have a relatively conservative weighting toward cash, bonds & real estate. My goal is to preserve what I have more than grow it aggressively and take on added risk. 

That said, I tend to pay a lot of attention to the stock market.  It’s on the news every night and easily tracked.   In fact, nearly half of our equities holdings are wrapped up in a single MegaCorp stock – where I worked for many years and accrued substantial stock options.  

In their new July 2015 issue (which I read on vacation using my library’s free app), Kiplinger’s included their mid-year report on the stock market and offered advice on three moves to make right now.  Continue reading “Stock Market Moves for Summer 2015”

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation3 Comments
Have A Purpose

Golf In Early Retirement

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How can a guy think about early retirement and not think about golf? They go together like peanut butter and jelly, don’t they? One problem – I don’t like peanut butter and jelly (peanut butter plain, thank you), and I’m not a very committed golfer either. Does this spell early retirement doom? I don’t think so.

First of all, I do golf and I do enjoy it. That’s why I picked the phrase “not a very committed golfer” to describe Continue reading “Golf In Early Retirement”

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation2 Comments
Spend Less Than You Make, Thrifty Thursday

Thrifty Thursday – Free e-Magazines To Check Out

Here’s a great deal I found out before leaving on our recent vacation: through our local library, I can download dozens of magazines to my tablet without any cost.   We were leaving for our recent cruise and I looked into downloading a book onto my iPad.  That’s unusual for me, as I am more often reading magazines and newspapers than full books.  Short attention … Continue reading Thrifty Thursday – Free e-Magazines To Check Out

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FIRE Countdown

Early Retirement FIRE Escape – 9 Month Countdown

Nine months left and everything is still on track.  This post officially marks the 9 month point in my countdown to FIRE – being financially independent and retired early. My FIRE escape date is planned for April 1, 2016 – just a few weeks before my 50th birthday. Each month I’ve been counting down the activities that are getting me prepared. The overall stock market … Continue reading Early Retirement FIRE Escape – 9 Month Countdown

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation5 Comments
Thrifty Thursday

Thrifty Thursday – Cruise Ship Excursions

Our family has taken quite a few cruises over the years and I am always amazed at how often folks pay big bucks for excursions through the cruise line companies.  This is a key source of revenue for cruise companies, but not really necessary for most ports. Our last trip was a good example.  We were on a Scandinavian cruise and porting for the day … Continue reading Thrifty Thursday – Cruise Ship Excursions

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Have A Plan

8 Reasons To Be Confident In Your Retirement “The Number”

The one question most readers have been sending me has to do with The Number.  I write those words with capital letters in homage to the financial planning book by Lee Eisenberg of the same name and out of respect for the importance of making sure you have enough before walking away.  The Number is the amount you have in retirement savings divided by the … Continue reading 8 Reasons To Be Confident In Your Retirement “The Number”

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Overall Philosophy

Reminiscing On The Water

We are at sea today on our summer vacation cruise of Scandinavia. Yesterday we were in Copenhagen, and today we are sailing toward Tallinn, Estonia.  We are on a Royal Caribbean ship, although we have cruised on different ones in the past.  As we were pulling out of the harbor yesterday, there were several other cruise ships also departing, including ships from MSC, Holland America, … Continue reading Reminiscing On The Water

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Have A Plan

Cruising Toward Early Retirement

I’m writing this post from a cruise ship crossing into the Baltic Sea. We are on summer vacation and taking a cruise to the Scandinavian countries (and a two-day stop in Russia). As a family, we have taken about a half dozen cruises to all different places – Caribbean, Alaska, Mexico, Mediterranean (twice), and now this one. As I’ve written before, I love to travel … Continue reading Cruising Toward Early Retirement

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation4 Comments