November 2017

Prioritizing Each Investment Account for FIRE

Prioritizing Each Investment Account for FIRE

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

As I became a little more familiar with the idea of FIRE (financial independence / retire early), I needed to learn where I should be putting my money.  And I’m not talking about the specific investments – I’m referring to the type of investment account. Terms like taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free can make a huge difference in the outcome of your portfolio.  When I started out, I didn’t understand just how much of a difference each of these accounts could make in […]

Prioritizing Each Investment Account for FIRE Read More »

The Cost of Living in Panama… Geoarbitrage at Work!

32 Comments / Geoarbitrage, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Panama, Travel and Vacation / /

Ah, the cost of living in Panama… something I should have posted about months ago. As my long-time readers know, the Route to Retire family has decided to move to Panama in a couple of years as part of our FIRE plans.  I’ve also talked about how inexpensive it can be to retire to a place like this. It’s interesting that you can actually take advantage of the difference in living costs between two locations to help you financially.  And there’s actually

The Cost of Living in Panama… Geoarbitrage at Work! Read More »

Paula Pant Kicked Me Where It Hurts

36 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts / /

Ok, she didn’t physically kick me, but Paula Pant found a way to get into my head.  She worked me up into a real tizzy (do people still use that word?). It crushed me and took me days to think through and re-evaluate some things. First off, if you don’t know Paula Pant, she’s the host of the Afford Anything brand, which includes her blog and podcasts. She’s also one smart cookie and has a great sense of humor.  Intelligence

Paula Pant Kicked Me Where It Hurts Read More »

The Move to Vanguard

The Move to Vanguard… Bye, Bye TD Ameritrade!

35 Comments / Investments, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Product and Service Reviews / /

If you’ve delved into the FIRE community even slightly, you’re probably already familiar with the shrine that is Vanguard.  The Vanguard Group is an investment/brokerage firm out of Pennsylvania that manages over $4 trillion in assets. Eh, who cares?  All the big brokerages manage big dollar assets like that. True, but Vanguard’s different from the other firms out there in that Vanguard is structured as a mutual company. What that means is that it’s a private company where the owners are actually

The Move to Vanguard… Bye, Bye TD Ameritrade! Read More »

My 6 Favorite FinCon17 Moments

My 6 Favorite FinCon17 Moments

24 Comments / General Thoughts, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

FinCon.  Holy @#$%.  Was not expecting it to be as awesome as it was. Believe it or not, I consider myself not to be a people person.  I would rather just be at home and hang out with my wife and daughter. However, once I’m out, I sort of flip that whole tendency upside-down.  I’m usually the guy that starts a conversation with the people in line at the grocery store, the guy next to me at the bar, or

My 6 Favorite FinCon17 Moments Read More »