Yesterday was an exciting day in stock market history as the Dow Jones Industrial Average set another new record, breaking the 20,000 mark for the first time. It certainly has come a long way when you look at this chart that stretches back to the 1970s … I am old enough to remember when it broke 1,000 in November of 1980, as I recall reading … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun- Market Milestone
Regardless of your politics, you can’t help but notice the discussion around minimum wage that has been on the news over the last year. I won’t make this post political, but at the risk of great blogging danger, I wanted to share some information I researched (as part of my Sociology class) that describes who minimum wage workers are. Afterall, many people start their journey … Continue reading Minimum Wage Jobs – Worker Profile
After 9 months, we are definitely having the most ‘chill’ month we’ve had since we early retired last year. I’ve been calling it ‘no responsibility January’ since I’m off work, my son is home from college, and my wife is working very few hours at her part-part-time job. Basically, no one is doing anything responsible! While the rest of the world has gotten squared back … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Chillaxing January
I had a beer and some pretzels with an old friend & colleague on a snowy day last week and caught up on his life and plan for financial independence and retiring early (FIRE). He has a few years to go before his FIRE escape date, but had questions about asset allocation as he gets closer to it. His horizon is about 7-10 years, so … Continue reading Bucketing Assets For Early Retirement
Of all of the posts that have been published on this site in the last two years (over 265 articles), one of the most consistently popular reads is this one about the FIRE Milestone of Reaching Millionaire Status. As when I wrote it, I think there continues to be a certain power in the concept of being a millionaire and the fact that that the … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Millionaire Life
We’ve continued our effort to organize this January and continue to make progress. We keep our financial records pretty streamlined, but I recently looked at an official guide to how long you are supposed to retain records. MFS Funds – formerly Massachusetts Financial has a ‘handy’ guide they publish that covers financial records from A to Z. Unfortunately, as I compared it to what we … Continue reading Organizing for FIRE – Financial Files
I think today’s quote captures most people’s quest toward a life of financial independence and retiring early (FIRE) as well as anyone could. I jotted it down several years ago on a Post-it note and had it stuck to my calendar in my office at work. People solve for their success in life in different ways. For me, it was working for MegaCorp for 27 … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Live Free
It’s nice to start the new year in an organized way and my wife and I have long practiced a habit called “Round-Up Day” to get our financials in order. Jane Bryant Quinn wrote about this useful concept in her book Making The Most Of Your Money. Once a year, you spend a day rounding up all of your bank statements, investment accounts, and checkbook … Continue reading Organized for FIRE – Round-Up Day
It’s been fun to have our family & friends out of school and work over the last week, but of course many will be back at the grind next Monday. Not us – since early retiring last April, we’ve been on one long extended weekend. It truly has been a complete lifestyle change! While it’s been well noted that 2016 has been an unusual … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – New Year!
I guess the day after Christmas is as good a time as any day of the year to hit one’s annual fitness goal. Today marks the day that I’ve reached 4,000,000 steps since New Year’s Day. Health and fitness were one of 8 areas I outlined for focus following my retirement on April Fool’s Day. My goal was to reach 12,000 steps a day and … Continue reading Stepping Through The Holidays
