Last year, when I was just early retired a few weeks, I wrote this article describing the ‘honeymoon’ period of leaving work behind. I even shared a ‘5 Stages of Retirement’ academic framework that many already-retired readers immediately called B.S. on – complaining that the sudden feeling of freedom does NOT grow old and that the honeymoon of early retirement NEVER ends! These comments came … Continue reading Still On Our FIRE Honeymoon
We are in the car market again after two years with our current fleet. Our SUV has reached the point when it is starting to require quite a few repairs and as I have written before, vehicles are a budget item that I confess to being a guilty pleasure splurge. The SUV we will sell is a 2011 model with 114K miles. We have really … Continue reading Car Shopping Framework – 7 Principles That Guide Us
I love this wry quote. It describes a desire that is very human. Although I have never been much of a bridge burner myself, I think we can all relate to the vengeful appeal of breaking free of an authority with no plan to ever return. There is something about this emotion that runs deep in all of us. A satisfyingly potent cocktail of independence … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Burning Bridges
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the crazy financial situation of Alyssa Milano, the actress who has apparently lost all of the millions she made on TV and is in a lawsuit with her former accountant. I wrote that it surprises me how many celebrities, athletes, and musicians seem to waste the great fortunes that they have been able to earn through poor management … Continue reading Deferred Compensation & Savings – Bobby Bonilla
I have commented before that Mr. FireStation is a pretty boring investor. My belief has always been that slow & steady wins the race. Our son, however, has delved into the mysterious world of cryptocurrency, which if you are not familiar with it, perhaps sounds like something only Superman would use. Beginning in January, when we were vacationing in Mexico, our 19 year old son … Continue reading Cryptocurrency – Fad or Future?
Today is the first day of a long summer weekend trip to Chicago for our family. We live in the Twin Cities – just about 400 miles away – but haven’t gone to Chicago for fun in more than 15 years. I’ve been there dozens of times on business – we even used to fly down and back for lunch meetings at our ad agency … Continue reading FIRE Travel – Life On A Different Track
Last week I had the pleasure of enjoying dinner with a good friend that I haven’t seen in more than 15 years. Michael and I were long-ago colleagues at a now distant MegaCorp and I have always enjoyed his perspective on life, family, and happiness. This is a guy who does a great job prioritizing all three and not letting work, money, and business get … Continue reading The Best Things In Life Are Free (and Outdoors)
No words of wisdom from the FIRE Station this morning – just some interesting numbers to put your journey to FIRE into some perspective: AGING 50% of Americans are retired at age 63 18 years is the average length of retirement 13% of the US population is over age 65 today 6.1K Americans turn 65 each day 10.K Americans retire every day 55% of Americans … Continue reading Numbers To Put Your FIRE Journey In Perspective
This is the second post in our summer travel series and I thought I would feature one of my favorite cities in the whole world, Barcelona. If a city every stood by the name ‘colorful’ – it would be Barcelona. On a hot summer day & night, there is something truly magical about the Catalonian capital that give it a funky, laid-back, and romantic vibe. … Continue reading FIRE Travel – Barcelona, Spain
Earlier, I wrote a few posts on financial failures on our route to financial independence and early retirement (FIRE). The idea was to share that everything hasn’t been challenge-free on our route to a life of goofing off. Today’s story isn’t patently a financial failure, but it runs completely counter to the advice that you might typical hear as you build your retirement nest egg. … Continue reading Financial Failures – Taking Loans From 401k
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