Route to Retire ...the path to financial independence

Expat Health Insurance – Our Plans for Panama

Expat health insurance – the one piece of retirement unique to those living in another country. One of the biggest struggles for folks wanting to pull the trigger on early retirement in the U.S. tends to revolve around healthcare. Unfortunately, I can’t help you with that one except to say to plan for the worse. You have to build the unknown into your FIRE number because it can be the one wildcard that can throw off anyone’s plans. That sucks, but it’s our fault as a country for letting the healthcare industry get as powerful as it has. Unfortunately, that puts most of us in the U.S. in a tough spot where medical care costs more here than any other

A Moment to Exhale… So Now What?

Well, we’re finally over the hump. We actually had a moment to exhale. We sold the house and moved into an apartment. Everything should start to get easier and easier as we get closer to the big move to Panama next summer. I started this post while at the airport on our way to Miami to get our cruise kicked off. We booked this trip at the beginning of the year thinking we’d have nothing going on at this time. Yeah, we were wrong. Once we got through security here at Hopkins airport here in Cleveland, I got a text from my agent telling me everything just finished. The closing is officially done and they’re in the process of filing

For Those Who Hate Budgeting, Try Reverse Budgeting

Last week, I talked about money throughout my life. I’ve had my ups and downs with it just like most folks. What I didn’t talk about though is my hate for budgeting. I’m probably one of the most organized people with a good old case of OCD you’d love to know. I need structure in order to operate. For me, everything has its place and making a plan is always the smartest way to do something. It’s actually soothing for me to do little things like putting away the dishes from the dishwasher. I think that’s because I feel like order is being restored and everything’s going back in the cupboard or drawer it belongs in. I sound like a

Why I Want a Stock Market Crash This Close to FIRE

What kind of person actually wants a stock market crash just two months before retirement? This guy, that’s who! That might sound like a weird sentiment especially considering I’ve been worried about this exact thing over the past couple of years. After all, a down market would kill my net worth at the same time I plan to start withdrawing my money. This discussion is specific to the mindset of getting closer to retirement. If you’re in the accumulation phase of your life, you shouldn’t be questioning whether or not a down market is good. If that’s the case, a stock market crash is exactly what you want. You should already be saving and investing so a crash would just help

Money Throughout My Life

Money. We all know its importance or you wouldn’t be reading this post. Whether you like it or not, it’s what the world runs on. You could opt out of playing the game and become a hobo, but there are very few of us that can live happily ever after in that position. You can’t let money rule your life, but it’s important to understand its role. Once you can control your capital instead of it controlling you, you’re one step closer to freedom. The old adage that “money can’t buy happiness” is only partially true. It can’t directly buy you a life of bliss, but it can buy you freedom – and that freedom can give you the opportunity

Selling a House… It’s the Reason I’ll Never Buy Another

Selling a house. Selling our house. It sounded easy enough and we needed to consider doing that as part of our plan to move to Panama next summer. We thought about keeping it and renting it out, but after discussing the options with our financial advisor, it actually made more sense to sell it. We have a lot of equity in it and we’ll need that money to cover our first five years during our Roth IRA conversion ladder. That said, we’re not moving to Panama until next summer so we can let our daughter finish out the school year. So why not wait and just sell the house in the spring? That was initially the plan, but with the real

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