A terrific thing happened at work yesterday. One of our very capable managers came in my office and said, “I’m retiring!” It was the first time in my 27 year career that anyone on my team had retired (that will tell you about culture of the MegaCorp’s I have worked for). I was SO excited for him. He’s about 7 years older than I am, … Continue reading Up, Up & Away … Early Retirement
Like anything, reaching the goal of early retirement starts with a choice to start seriously planning toward it. In sequence, picking a retirement age to shoot for is the first of one’s MILESTONES toward a life of financial independence and retiring early. This is the starting point at which you start hatching a financial plan and start making decisions to focus on it. For us, … Continue reading FIRE Milestones – Picking An Early Retirement Age
Well, it looks like “the Boy” – our seventeen year-old son is set for where he wants to go to college. I’ve written before on the cost of college, but wanted to share a little bit about how we have saved & planned for his matriculation into post-secondary education. Many people can’t conceive of retiring before your kids are done with college, but I feel confident that we are well set in that department. How did we do it? Continue reading “Retire Before Children Head Off To College?”
This is the second part of a two-part post related to the Liebster Award, a pass-a-long recognition of seemingly unknown origin, is used by small bloggers pay to pay forward a little visibility to other small bloggers (less than 200 followers). Captain Sparky here at MrFireStation.com has been active for only about 8 months, so I was excited to get the nod from NorthernExpenditure.com and feel honored to pass it along. Continue reading “Liebster Award Part II – Great New Blogs”
About 18 months ago, I started reading a book called How To Retire Happy, Wild & Free by Ernie Zelinski. I downloaded it on my Apple iPad and brought it with me on a weeklong cruise to Mexico. At that point, we were more than a couple years away from early retirement, and had just achieved financial independence. Reading it was maybe my first step toward creating a formal plan to early retirement. Continue reading “Our 10 Plans To “Retire, Wild, Happy & Free” – Check-In”
DW and I are now just 7 months from early retirement. I recently posed a question to a group of early retirees about the adjustment that takes place between the full-time working world and a life of early retirement. During my many cups of coffee with friends over the last year, I regularly heard about a need to take the first full year of early retirement to adjust to the new lifestyle. I have even heard it described as like the adjustment that comes from “leaving a bad relationship” or divorcing one’s longtime spouse.
I asked specifically about how long it took to adjust to not working? Continue reading “Six Ways To Prepare For Our Early Retirement Lifestyle”
David Letterman is retiring after this Wednesday’s show. At 68 years old, I wouldn’t call it a early retirement, since he has been on the air for 33 years in his late night slot, starting in 1982. It has been fun to watch the last few shows as he counts down to Wednesday night. I was in high school when he first went on … Continue reading David Letterman Retirement
“You’ll be bored.” More than anything, that’s the response I expect from friends & family that when I retire early next year. The plan is that it will be just a few weeks short of my fiftieth birthday (‘FIRE by 50’). It’s a worry that increasingly dominates my thoughts. Will I think myself a clever genius for making an early exit from the workforce, or … Continue reading Pre-FIRE Escape – “Not Bored” List
I enjoy “living the good life” parables like this that help put put the concept of “Life > Money” in perspective … it’s featured in most Jimmy John’s sandwich shops … HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? “The American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large … Continue reading How Much Is Enough? – Jimmy John’s
I had a great day at work this past Friday. There wasn’t anything especially amazing about it, but it was a truly enjoyable day. Good conversation, meaty strategic work, and a fair amount of horsing around. It was the kind of day that makes me say ‘this is fun – why do I really want to retire early from all of this?’ What am I … Continue reading 9 Reasons It’s Difficult To Retire Early
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