I find that regardless of your political leanings, people continually frustrated by wasted government spending and what it means for the national debt. The debt, which was a trillion dollars in Reagan’s time, is now about $20T (it has risen at a shocking 8.4% annual clip). Despite today’s quote, Reagan himself substantially overspent during his 8 years in office. Fast forward to today and our … Continue reading US Government’s Wasteful Spending Problem
Many people are familiar with the 2010 Princeton study that reported that there is a diminishing return to the impact of money on one’s happiness that tops out at about $75K a year. People were surprised that the threshold was very in line with the average household income in the USA at $73K. It is often cited as evidence that money doesn’t buy happiness. I … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Love Of Money
I had lunch with a good friend this week who is just six weeks from her retirement date. I am very excited for her. She planned on retiring in a few more months, but moved up her date because she has “had enough”. Unfortunately, she is a little concerned about her retirement nest egg – which could probably benefit from the extra few months pay. … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun -Don’t Know, Don’t Buy
I thought our health insurance drama was over this year when we settled on a new plan during open enrollment in November. I wrote about our new plan then, which included a premium jump of more than 30% despite doubling our premium to $13K and dramatically dialing back the doctors and clinics we could go to in-network. As I wrote then, the insurance market in … Continue reading Early Retirement Health Insurance – Open Enrollment (Bonus Chapter)
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
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
