This weekend is the annual city garage sale in our suburb where the Lion’s Club organizes hundreds of sales as a fundraiser. Yesterday morning there were charter buses, 12 passenger vans, and pickups loaded with stuff bought at these sales all around the city. Related: Garage Sales – Our Old Crap Can Be Your New Crap We have good friends from college that have made … Continue reading Finding FIRE at Garage Sales
My former boss from MegaCorp recently posted an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal titled “In Defense of the Not-So-Busy Retirement.” After retiring a year ago this month, Mr. Boss commented that he was having no problem embracing the idea of ‘Slow Retirement’ touched on in the article – that is, a retirement where one doesn’t succumb to the social pressure that one needs … Continue reading FIRE Lifestyle – Where Does The Time Go?
Its hard to believe that I’ve been writing this blog 2-3x a week for over 3 years. I started it more than a year before I retired and now that milestone is two years in the rear view mirror. I’ve enjoyed sharing this journey and appreciated all of the recent positive comments, messages, tweets, and emails readers passed on during the ‘Two Year FIRE Anniversary’ … Continue reading Birthday From From MegaCorp Past
Many people worry about losing connections with people as they they make their FIRE escape into early retirement. Social connections are necessary in the workplace and people sometimes fear that they will be sitting home alone watching cable news when they stop working. That might have been the case at one time, but social media has undoubtedly been a game changer for millions. I’ve long … Continue reading Social Media & FIRE Lifestyle
This is the second of two posts that detail the eight dimensions on this ‘Life Wheel’ that I developed just before early retiring from MegaCorp two years ago. It is a long answer to the most common question I get these days: “What do you do to stay busy?” Last week, I covered the first 4 sections of the wheel in this POST. Today, I … Continue reading FIRE Second Anniversary – Life Wheel Update (2)
If I’ve learned one thing in early retirement it is that if you are worried you won’t have enough things to keep you busy in early retirement, you are very wrong. Simply put, the number of fun UNPAID things to do in this world greatly outnumber the quantity of fun PAID activities! Before I left MegaCorp two years ago, I developed this multidimensional ‘Life Wheel’ … Continue reading FIRE Second Anniversary – Life Wheel Update (1)
Amazing. It has now been TWO years since I blasted out of MegaCorp HQ and into our new lifestyle based on FIRE (financial independence & retiring early). I guess that means the honeymoon period should have come to an end by now – except it hasn’t. As I was told by many veteran FIRE achievers a couple years ago, I’ve found it might be true … Continue reading FIRE Second Anniversary – ‘Kidult-hood’ Revisited
We had the joy of spending a few days in Tennessee earlier this week with good friends of ours who used to live in Minnesota. No surprise, when we arrived from the Bold North, we brought snow with us! People we talked to in Tennessee said it was the first snow they had gotten this entire winter. Our friends moved here a few years ago … Continue reading Where To Live In Early Retirement?
One of the things I most like about the freedom that comes with a FIRE lifestyle is the opportunity to engage in cultural events on multiple levels. While the Olympics is happening halfway around the world, I have the time to do a lot of winter sports-themed activities, rather than just watch on TV. For the Opening Ceremonies last week, my wife and I researched … Continue reading FIRE Winter Olympic Games
Last year I suggested a few books that I thought people might find to be great last minute gift ideas. Maybe personal finance books aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, so I thought I would add another suggestion to the list that is a lot more fun: Ernie Zelinski’s How To Retire Wild, Happy, & Free. Before I get to this newest recommendation – here are … Continue reading Holiday Gift Book Recommendation: How To Retire Wild, Happy, & Free
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