We had a neighborhood Christmas party last week and somehow the conversation turned to the color of my hair. At age 50, it is hanging in there pretty well – hardly any gray right now – and has become an interesting microcosm of my early retirement so far. I’ve read that most people’s hair turns gray 10-20% for each five years after they turn 25 … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Turning Back The Gray
We enjoy the whole Christmas season, especially attending events and parties with family and friends. While those activities are the highlight of the holidays for me, we also exchange gifts as a family on Christmas morning. The older your kids get (and the older you get) the bigger challenge it becomes to find meaningful presents for each person. Since we are already into the first … Continue reading Christmas Gift – Festive Framework
I wasn’t sure how many ‘parts’ there may be to our health insurance open enrollment this year, but we got it sorted out pretty quickly. While the cost increases are dramatic, the fact that there are actually less options to look at makes the shopping process relatively quick. Not painless, but quick. You’ll remember from our earlier post that our incumbent health insurance provider was … Continue reading Early Retiree Health Insurance – Open Enrollment (Part 2)
I have a few friends that have shared that they are now getting close to giving their formal notice or are turning the corner on their last year of work. The journey to financial independence and retiring early (FIRE) seems like a challenge oftentimes, but each day you push through, each paycheck you invest, and each luxury you forgo pulls you closer to the day … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Dream Locamotion
I am titling this post “Part 1” as I am expecting the challenge of organizing our health care coverage for 2017 to be a multi-part personal finance adventure. I explained how we were approaching health insurance in early retirement this past spring, but it seems that all of the cards are up in the air again and we are likely looking at a 33%-50% increase … Continue reading Early Retiree Health Insurance – Open Enrollment (Part 1)
I read an interesting white paper recently from the American Enterprise Institute that looked at “What Is Happening In Retirement Planning Today?” The paper was well-researched and stands as a bit of a contrast to the tangle of dark personal finance headlines that you often see in the in the paper and online. While the media seems intent on frightening working-age Americans and many analysts … Continue reading Eight Retirement Myths Thoroughly Debunked
This past Saturday (10/1) marked the six month anniversary of the day I walked out of MegaCorp for early retirement. It was April Fool’s Day, which seemed liked the most appropriate day of the year to do something so foolish. How’s it been so far? – terrific, I’d say. A friend who retired a few months early has been thinking the same thing. To mark … Continue reading Early Retirement – Six Month Anniversary
Having enough money to support the lifestyle you planned for early retirement is the key concern for many people on their path to financial independence and retiring early (FIRE). The awesome website early-retirement.org had an interesting discussion recently over how much people are spending in early retirement: more, less,or about what they expected to spend before they left their jobs. For us, our spending has … Continue reading Unexpected Expenses In Early Retirement?
Several weeks ago I wrote about being back on campus and auditing a Sociology class at our local university, where my son is a freshman this year. The school has a ‘Parents on Campus’ program that allows parents to take up to two classes each semester for free. Before starting the class, I realized that it probably would be awkward to be a fifty year … Continue reading Old Guy On Campus – Early Reflections
The shower head in our bathroom is starting to drip. Our house is about seven years old and I’m sure there is some rubber washer that probably needs to be worn out. Now that I early retired, I guess I am going to have to figure out how to fix it. It’s not the only drip that happens at our house that probably needs tending … Continue reading Drip-Drip-Drip: Reoccurring Payment Schemes
