More than 15 years ago, some colleagues and I were talking about how effective we were in building our savings. We were all making a good living, but some were more successful in building their net worth than others. One colleague – a single guy with a snappy car – mentioned that he started out being a good saver, but had recently been spending too much … Continue reading Stop Saving, Start Spending In Retirement?
This post is part of the MrFireStation.com series called Life After FIRE … For MANY years, when we would go to church the weekly program would announce what the Retired Men’s Group was doing that month. It sounded FUN. They were golfing, they were listening to an expert on a local business or project, they were raising money for a good cause,or they had a speaker … Continue reading Life After FIRE – Fitting In
Our son is working part-time this summer and is off to college this fall. He is pretty good with his money at this point of his life and shows a lot of interest in frugal living and how money works. I like to think that I am helping teach my son about financial independence & the opportunity to retire early (FIRE) by setting a good … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Price / Value Equation
My mind has been thinking back to school days lately. Three weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit my old elementary school in Michigan for the first time in over 38 years. This past Friday, our son graduated from high school with a big ceremony at the Cathedral and and enjoyed his all-night senior party at school. He went to the same high school … Continue reading Summer Break – Class of 2016
One of the benefits of early retirement is that you have extra time to look back and reflect on your life. I have already an intense habit of this and have always spent a fair amount of time researching and remembering “days gone by”. It’s a curious trait. I have read that in the early 1900s, ‘nostalgia’ was actually classified as a form of depression. … Continue reading Retirement Reminiscing – My Old School
I am always paranoid about recurring, subscription fees that are like the little leaks that Ben Franklin warned us about. These kinds of fees are certainly much more common today than they were in Ben’s time. Some are big and easy to understand – utilities, internet access, or a boat club with monthly dues. Others are quite insidious in their nature. They hide in our … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – The Little Things
Starting on May 1, my wife and I began a project that a friend suggested called the “30-Day Decluttering Challenge”. The concept is simple – on the first day of the month, get rid of one item. On the second day of the month, get rid of two items. Continue to do so until the 30th day of the challenge, when you get rid of … Continue reading 30 Day Post-Retirement Decluttering Challenge
Today we have an extra special guest – for the first time ever we are joined by the wonderful MrsFireStation – who will share her own thoughts on Captain Sparky’s escape from corporate life and our new life of leisure in early retirement … My background … I’ve been a stay-at-home Mom for 18 years and our son is a senior in high school and … Continue reading The Better Half – Thoughts From MrsFireStation
Last week I published a post that discussed the ‘honeymoon’ phase of retirement and included a chart on the phases of retirement (from Forbes.com, sourced to Dr. Sara Yogev). While I certainly feel like I’m in the honeymoon phase now – after just a few weeks away from the office – I went to the forums on Early-Retirement.org to see what some more ‘experienced’ early … Continue reading Never Ending Honeymoon?
While I am only starting my third day of early retirement, I can already feel that my fundamental relationship with TIME and SLEEP is changing. First off, I am starting to understand what freedom from everyday work feels like. Simply put, it feels like I am SKIPPING SCHOOL – but EVERYONE knows. Even the principal (my old boss) knows. For the last few weeks, even though … Continue reading A Wrinkle In Time
