If you are like me, you sometimes see articles in the personal finance press about people who are very young – in their 30s and 40s – who have quit their jobs and declared themselves FIRE’d (financially independent & retired early). Recently, ABC’s Good Morning America ran this piece on a couple who retired very young and the ‘secret strategies’ they want to share with … Continue reading How Long Can FIRE Last?
I sent this picture of a Porsche Cayman S with a ‘NO KIDS’ license plate to my MegaCorp boss a few years ago. He’s a Porsche guy and he and his wife don’t have kids of their own. His reply was insightful … “One wife, too!” I wouldn’t recommend making significant life decisions based purely on dollar and cents, but that doesn’t mean that many … Continue reading No Kids? One Wife?
Squirrels have it figured out. This time of year, they are scurrying around the woods behind our house collecting nuts and SAVING them for the future. Winter in Minnesota – where we live – is long and only the good savers will make it through. The same is true for retirement savers. The ones that save diligently will enjoy a financially worry-free retirement. It is … Continue reading Squirreling Away Savings
It’s a basic question, but one that I have struggled to find any data on: how many people retire at what age? I found a chart from a University of MN study a few years ago and ‘reverse engineered’ some data, but I knew that my math wasn’t very exact. Now I came across this chart / data from a helpful website called DQYDJ.com … … Continue reading How Early Is Early Retirement? (New Data)
One of the highlights of our trip to Europe this month is our stop at the BMW Museum in Munich. Since I early retired, I spend more and more time goofing off with cars and I love seeing the shiny steel, chrome, & rubber on display at a place like this. Even the historic cars are kept in pristine condition. At home, our own cars … Continue reading Museum Quality Car Time
On my original list of 150 things I wrote down to keep busy in early retirement, I had ‘watching new movies more often’ as a fun activity. I love movies – our whole family does – and we are certainly in a ‘golden age’ of big screen entertainment. Related: Early Retirement ‘Not Bored List’ Before retiring, I expected I would watch about 30 new movies … Continue reading Movie Musings
When I was working, it seemed that the climb toward our FIRE escape from MegaCorp was slow and steady. Each year our nest egg grew bigger. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Even in a very bad year like 2008, we managed to eek out some growth. It felt like the cards we were being dealt were always resulted in a pretty good hand. That has not … Continue reading Retirement Savings Volatility
I always say that no matter how bored you might think that early retirement can get, it will never be as boring as a budget meeting. That said, it has never been boring for me in the three in a half hours that I’ve been goofing off. Yesterday is a perfect example. I researched/booked some travel tour tickets in the morning, my wife’s book club … Continue reading Always Busy, Never Boring
Do you collect ‘visits’ to any places? Friend, neighbor, and recent retiree, Jeff, sent me a text today telling me about his new ‘collection’ of State Park visits. He liked the article I wrote a few years ago about my plans to have a list of at least 150 things I could do on any day in early retirement. He found 68 State Parks within … Continue reading Parks and Ball Parks
I’ve been a responsible adult for about 35 years, but I’ve enjoyed living a second childhood since we made our FIRE Escape in 2016. The pleasure of living in this ‘Kidulthood’ has become the key discovery of our lifestyle change. A few weeks ago, I shared my latest obsession with re-living the Apollo Mission history from my grade school days. Childish, maybe – but several … Continue reading Kidulting Again – LEGO Moon Landing
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