I’ve been wanting to be a part of the ChooseFI podcast shortly after it began. Jonathan and Brad launched the show at the end of 2016 and quickly took the FIRE community by storm! It’s a fantastic podcast helping to discuss the path to financial independence. They bring on various guests to examine different aspects and strategies of reaching FI. What’s really great though is that they also focus quite a bit on enjoying the journey along the way. I […]
Global Entry was something pretty foreign to me at this time a year ago. We love to travel, but most of it has been domestic here in the U.S. The biggest exception to that are the cruises that we love to take. But here’s the thing – all the cruises we’ve been on are considered closed loop sailings. That means that we departed and returned to the same U.S. port when the trip was over. It also means going that
Global Entry – Why You Need It and How to Get It for Free Read More »
By early 2017, we had finally built our net worth up to over a million dollars. It was a great feeling to reach that milestone, but it didn’t really change things for us – we just continued to follow our plan. When I left my job at the end of 2018, we had a net worth of about $1.1 million and, thanks to the bull market still pushing ahead, it’s roughly $1.2 million right now. I’ve written a few posts
Although we’re ecstatic about this new adventure we’re embarking on, it’s worth noting that there are some downsides of moving to another country. That’s right – in just a couple of months in August of 2019, we’ll finally be making our move to Panama. It’s exhilarating and just a little scary at the same time. We’ve been preparing for this for several years now, but wanted to reach FIRE before we made it happen. It’s crazy to think that this
I’m only 43 years old right now (Ok, fine – I’m pushing 44!). But this is still prime time to continue on with my career. If I were to keep working, I could build up an even bigger and more secure nest egg. So why don’t you do that? Why did you leave your job and retire early? Are you stupid or just lazy? Haha, talk about cutting to the chase! I actually love when others ask me questions about
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Relocating to Panama has become a much bigger undertaking than we anticipated. In an earlier post, I discussed some of the tasks we’ve been working on as we get closer to the day of our move. Today though, I thought I’d lighten things up and talk about some of the tools we’ve been using in preparation of the move. My nerdy side loves to find useful new apps and websites and hopefully, you do, too. More importantly, I love to
Another day where the personal finance community helps each other out. This time it was with my very own coin collection. As we’re continuing to prepare for our big move to Panama later this summer, we’re cleaning house as much as we can. Between selling, giving away/donating, and trashing all our stuff, we’ve been plenty busy. Eliminating the big stuff like furniture has been nice. It’s been pretty quick to go on OfferUp and frees up tons of space. We
My nephew recently started reading this blog and it got me thinking. What would be valuable information for him as a reader? What do I wish I knew when I was younger? He’s almost 20 years old and he just started a career in construction probably close to a couple of years ago. At his age, I know I wasn’t very smart financially. Don’t get me wrong – I thought I was, but looking back, I made some stupid decisions.
8 Financial Tips I Wish I Knew When I Was in My 20’s Read More »
Scary title, right? Using a word like “cancer” is not something to take lightly and saying that FOMO is the cancer of FIRE is something that should make you raise an eyebrow. But here’s the thing… that’s exactly what it is. And it has the power to destroy your journey to FIRE. Today I’m going to explain why this and how to avoid it. But first, let’s define a couple of words: FOMO (or FoMO) FOMO stands for Fear
When we first sought out our new adventure, we thought we could basically just pack up and go. I mean, you just sell everything and move to Panama, right? Ha! Wishful thinking! There’s a tremendous amount of planning involved to make this a smooth transition. I’ve talked about some of the minutiae we’ve encountered in our planning, but now it’s time for more scoop. And considering we’re about to embark on a huge adventure, I thought it would make sense
