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
There are a few songs that can serve as an anthem for the journey to financial independence and retiring early. “Take This Job & Shove It” comes immediately to mind, as does “Bang On The Drum All Day”. Those songs are about escaping the drudgery of work, but I think the most appropriate song for my FIRE mindset might be John Lennon’s 1980 “Watching The … Continue reading Watching The Wheels
We’re back to “No Responsibility January” at the Fire Station. Last year I noted that January has become a pretty chill month for us with me not working, my son off from college, and my wife no longer working her part-part time job. While it seems like the rest of the world is back to school or work – we’re just goofing off. With time … Continue reading “No Responsibility January” & Travel Planning for 2018
At the end of the year, the media is full of retrospectives on the top news events and celebrity stories, so with that in mind, I set my thoughts to what are the biggest news happenings that have affected people on their journey to financial independence and retiring early (FIRE) in 2017. Here’s my list (in no particular order) … TRUMP BUMP – The stock … Continue reading Top 7 FIRE News Stories of 2017
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
December is always a crazy month in the office. I had the fortune of visiting MegaCorp yesterday and be reminded of what an unusual month it is. It had been quite a while since I had been back in the old digs. I saw the daily calendar printout of one of the people I was meeting with. He was back-to-back with 8 or 9 meetings … Continue reading Christmas Time At MegaCorp
The stock market has been having a great year (+17% S&P500), but that hasn’t stopped me from fretting over the price of MegaCorp stock (-8%), as I continue to sit on significant stock options as part of our early retirement portfolio. While many retirees may be celebrating the record market closes this week and ongoing ‘Trump Bump’, our portfolio is sitting FLAT for the … Continue reading Too Many Eggs In One Basket?
We used the extra time we had this weekend when our son was home from college to put up our Christmas tree. We go all out when it comes to our Christmas tree and have a big collection of colorful, mercury glass ornaments. Our ceilings are 12 foot high, so it takes a big tree to ‘fit’ the room and hold all the ornaments. We … Continue reading Christmas Trees By The Numbers
My first year of working out of college came with a lesson in corporate culture. It was the day before Thanksgiving 1989 and our Division VP told everyone to head out early that Wednesday at 3:00pm to beat rush hour and get an early start on the holiday. This was before the days of flextime, job-sharing, and any discussions of ‘work/home balance’. Work was still … Continue reading Thanksgiving Freedom From MegaCorp Nonsense
When I resigned from MegaCorp early last year, I brought a bottle of fine Scotch Whisky into my boss’s office to toast my farewell. We didn’t crack it open because he wasn’t feeling well that day and he told me it would have been a violation of company policy. I suppose that makes sense on some level, but believe it or not, it came as … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Drinking On The Job
