10 Pillars of Lifestyle Design: Evolving into a Life of Happiness

10 Pillars of Lifestyle Design: Evolving into a Life of Happiness

3 Comments / Motivation, Education, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts, Health and Fitness / /

My stepdad died last month. My mom’s been in and out of the hospital since then (broken heart?). As a former engineer, I have a mindset to observe and then improve things. It’s just how my brain works. I’ve been observing all the decisions they’ve made over the decades (good and bad). I’ve also been studying how other folks have been living their lives and the results that follow. It’s something I’ve been curious about for several years now. It’s […]

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Moving to Asheville, Big Travel Plans, and a 326-Mile Bike Adventure

Moving to Asheville, Big Travel Plans, and a 326-Mile Bike Adventure

12 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts, Health and Fitness, Kids, Spending, Travel and Vacation / /

It’s been a while since I’ve given just a general update on what we’ve got going on. And with some really big plans like moving to Asheville on the agenda, I thought it might be a good time to bring you up to speed. Besides our big move, we’ve got some fun international trips we’re working on getting on the books over the next couple of years that we’re already super-excited about! Just to make sure I’m not bored as

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The Ultimate Free Travel Tracker: Map Your Past and Plan Your Future

The Ultimate Free Travel Tracker: Map Your Past and Plan Your Future

9 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Here's Why I'm Liking..., Product and Service Reviews / /

There’s nothing quite like returning from a big trip, finally unpacking your suitcases, and reflecting on the memories you just made. Whether it’s looking back at photos from a recent family getaway to Hawaii or plotting out the itinerary for an upcoming cruise, reliving those adventures is half the fun of traveling in the first place. But as your list of destinations grows, remembering exactly where you stayed, what you did, and when you were there starts to get a

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Protecting Your Investment Accounts: 4 Critical Steps I've Taken

Protecting Your Investment Accounts: 4 Critical Steps I’ve Taken

6 Comments / Investments, Consumer Protection, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

When you first start putting money into the stock market, your investment accounts may not seem to be that valuable. But over time, those accounts may very well be the lifeblood of your entire financial life. That’s the case for us nowadays. We’ve been fortunate enough to build up a solid net worth over the years that now funds our early retirement. That’s all well and good, but that makes it a little scarier that if one of those investment

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Our Fantastic 2-Week Hawaii Vacation… Would I Go Back Though?

Our Fantastic 2-Week Hawaii Vacation… Would I Go Back Though?

12 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Life in Early Retirement, Spending / /

Hey, everyone – we just got back from a two-week Hawaii vacation… super cool trip. We flew down to O’ahu with our best friends, Dave and Kellie, who we’ve known for over 25 years! They stayed at an Airbnb in Waikiki for the first week. We stayed the first week with some of my other best friends, Matt and Mandi (who I’ve known even longer!), and who live in Pearl City We did a ton of cool stuff throughout the

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The Huge Blind Spot in Empower's Asset Allocation

The Huge Blind Spot in Empower’s Asset Allocation

10 Comments / Investments, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

I love using the Empower dashboard to manage our investment portfolio. Not only is it worth its weight in gold, but the price of $0 is something worthwhile, too! They’re hoping you decide to use their investment services, but it’s not a requirement. I don’t use their services, but I have heard good things about them. So, if you want an easy way to aggregate all your financial life into one dashboard with amazing retirement and investment tools, sign up

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Leveraging AI Made Filing My Taxes Surprisingly Less Stressful

Leveraging AI Made Filing My Taxes Surprisingly Less Stressful

8 Comments / Taxes and Financial Planning, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments / /

I’ve got mixed feelings about the power of AI (artificial intelligence). Privacy can start blurring quickly and the bad guys will continue leveraging AI to be exponentially worse than before. But… AI is helping to do some amazing things. The one area that keeps me fascinated is the world of medicine. AI is helping to detect cancer better, provide better risk prevention, and improve surgical outcomes. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about cures for diseases that seemed like they

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Being Lucky Has Little to Do with Luck

Being Lucky Has Little to Do with Luck

16 Comments / Motivation, General Thoughts, Health and Fitness, Life in Early Retirement / /

I had an interesting conversation in my head today. I was wrapping up some things I was working on and thought, “Wow, that’s really starting to fall into place… we’re pretty lucky.” Then I started thinking, “Ya know, the far majority of the time, things consistently do fall into place with what we’re doing.” Then that really got my mind going – is it that we really are just lucky, or is it something else? And that’s when my brain

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How Our 38-Day Europe Trip Took an Unexpected Turn (And Why It Was the Best Part)

How Our 38-Day Europe Trip Took an Unexpected Turn (And Why It Was the Best Part)

16 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Travel and Vacation / /

Well, our big Europe trip is officially over… and it was truly awesome. We spent time in a ton of cities and countries throughout, but somehow we still have so many more we want to visit! Nothing’s ever perfect, but this trip was pretty darn close, and it checked all the boxes of a fantastic experience for our first time on the continent. All the cards just seemed to fall into place, making for an amazing time. With this being

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An Exciting Net Worth Milestone and Some Other Ramblings

An Exciting Net Worth Milestone and Some Other Ramblings

14 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Blogging, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts, Investments, Road Trip, Travel and Vacation / /

It’s been a few weeks since my last post. I think I’m starting to get into a nice cadence that I’m enjoying a little more. I still really love writing for Route to Retire, but after 10 years, I decided earlier this year that it was time for a lighter rhythm. It didn’t make sense to keep holding myself to some self-imposed, arbitrary schedule, especially with all the other fun things I’ve been keeping myself busy with lately. So although

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