Early retirement isn’t just about finances, it is also about keeping yourself healthy. I am happy to report that I have continued my diligence in tracking my fitness activity into my second year of early retirement. My daily fitness level is up dramatically compared to my former working self. Since April of last year, I have boosted my daily steps by almost 70% to an … Continue reading Fitness Activity In Early Retirement
I’m picking up my son at college later today. He is coming home for a party this weekend and will be home for the summer in just a few weeks. While he is only finishing his Freshman year at college right now, I know that soon he will be graduating for college and establishing himself in the adult world. When I think of our experience … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Get Climbing!
I’ve been writing about personal finance and early retirement for more than two years now and have managed to not mention the topic of life expectancy once. Since there are only three real variables to use in planning for retirement – spending, investments, and life expectancy – after over 250 posts to this site, you can see how clever I’ve been in avoiding this ‘inevitable’ … Continue reading FIRE Planning For The Inevitable Future
. If you ask many people what defines the American Dream, they would say ‘owning your own home’. For decades, home ownership defined what being independent and successful looked like. More than just shelter, a home is viewed as an ever-giving fountain of financial security and status. That being the case, it is not surprising that Americans have poured more and more of their wealth … Continue reading Financial Analysis: The Impact of Trading Up Houses on Early Retirement
It’s hard to think about financial independence and retiring early separate from the concept of AGE. I’ve been early retired for a year now and I get the questions constantly: How old are you? You look too young to be retired? What will you do for the rest of your life? I retired two weeks short of my fiftieth birthday last year, and TODAY – … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Birthday Freedom
“If the value of the dollar goes crazy, owning gold gives me peace of mind,” says a friend of mine that is a certified ‘gold bug’. He believes that gold – as the ultimate basic currency – is a hedge against a sudden global geopolitical event that undermines the international system of currency. Gold is frequently in the news, featured on late night TV, and … Continue reading Gold – An Investment in Fear?
There is probably no one more quotable when it comes to personal finance and lifestyle advice than Ben Franklin. A prolific quipster, his proverbs on money and our relationship with it are short, snappy, and typically spot-on. Much of our cultural ethos on work and money come from Ben’s writings in his Poor Richard’s Almanac. It is a book I think I will add to my … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Cleaning Stuff Up
Now that we are past the one year anniversary of our early retirement in 2016, I promise I will get back to more posts that focus on the personal finance side as opposed to the lifestyle side of the change … I’ve written about a lot of the MILESTONES that led to our early retirement last year, but someone recently pointed out that I haven’t … Continue reading FIRE Milestones – Six Steps For Planning Retirement Spending
Tomorrow – April Fool’s Day, appropriately enough – marks the one year anniversary of leaving MegaCorp for early retirement last year. The year has gone very fast and filled with a lot of fun and terrific memories. I don’t have any words of wisdom to share other than TIME is the ultimate luxury and the sooner you can reach financial independence and early retirement (FIRE), … Continue reading FIRE Milestone – One Year Anniversary of Early Retirement!
This is it. This is the last week of the year since I left MegaCorp for early retirement last year and also the last chapter in a series of four posts about what I have been up to since last April Fool’s Day. This post focuses on the last two areas of the Life Wheel I created with goals in each area of my life … Continue reading First Year of Early Retirement (4) – Learn/Write & Giving/Teaching
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