May 2018

Homeschooling... a Great Start to Awkward Conversation

Homeschooling… a Great Start to Awkward Conversation

23 Comments / Education, Kids, Panama / /

As soon as you mention the idea of homeschooling, people get uncomfortable. Some shut down, go silent, and give you a stare that quietly says, “I’ll keep listening, but you’re now officially crazy in my book.” Others quickly object.  They might say, “That’ll cause all kinds of social problems for your kid!” or maybe “That’ll be too much work!” or some other wonderful expression of disapproval. Personally, I don’t have the same feelings.  Although it’s still not really mainstream, a lot of folks […]

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Guest Appearance on the Countdown to FI Podcast

2 Comments / Podcasts and Other Appearances, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

Man, I’ve been on a roll with these podcasts!  My latest appearance was on the Countdown to FI podcast and it was truly a lot of fun! Mr. and Mrs. CTF are some great peeps to talk to and talk we did! We stuffed a lot into this show with a lot of discussion that hasn’t been brought up in previous podcasts. Some of the conversation revolved around our countdown to early retirement and what our plans are. We discussed

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Why Do I Suck So Much at Giving to Charity?

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

I’ve realized over the past year or so that I really suck at giving to charity. Sure, I do a nice job of donating clothes to Goodwill throughout the year.  However, Goodwill tends to have a bad rap when it comes to pay and where donated clothes actually go. Because of the question marks we tend to have on the organization, we’ve shifted more toward donating clothes to Volunteers of America most of the time. I also consistently donate a

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Why the Rich Get Richer

Why the Rich Get Richer

18 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Saving / /

Have you ever heard the saying “the rich get richer”? It’s the go-to cry of the American working man and woman against the inequality that seems to arise when more fortune seems to fall on the wealthy. I started thinking about that saying recently and you know what?  I think it’s true. It’s not that hard to see that the middle class is slowly being squeezed out.  Wages for middle-class Americans have been relatively stagnant while prices continue to rise.

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Guest Appearance on the Chain of Wealth Podcast

Leave a Comment / Podcasts and Other Appearances, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

I had an opportunity to appear on the Chain of Wealth podcast recently and it’s now live! If you’re not familiar with Chain of Wealth, they started the site in 2017.  Who’s “they” you ask? Denis and Katie, of course! They created the blog to walk through the story of Katie paying off her debt.  Their podcasts focus on interviewing folks that can help inspire others. I was excited to be a part of their show! In this podcast, of

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The Three-Year Blog Post... Finance Lessons Learned

The Three-Year Blog Post… Finance Lessons Learned

30 Comments / Blogging, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts, Investments, Real Estate, Spending / /

3 years.  That’s what this blog post marks… three years of blogging on Route to Retire. For new bloggers, this might sound like a long time.  However, I look at some of the others out there who have been doing this for over a decade – like J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly or J. Money at Budgets Are Sexy.  It’s then that I realize I’m still somewhat of a rookie in the blogosphere. I’ve consistently posted a minimum of once a

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Buying an Investment Property? Here's Why I Sold Mine

Buying an Investment Property? Here’s Why I Sold Mine

22 Comments / Real Estate, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

Buying an investment property might be one of the smartest things you can do… if you do it right. Most of my money is in the stock market because of the ease of investing in it, the company match offered, and other incentives.  However, I don’t fully trust it. The biggest reason why is that you don’t really have control over what happens.  Sure, you can choose your specific investments, but it’s not up to you to determine if that

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