Jim @ Route To Retire, Author at Route to Retire

The Path Is Simple, but It’s Not Necessarily Easy

22 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Motivation / Jim @ Route To Retire / December 25, 2018

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately… dangerous, right? Hindsight has me realizing that if you’re hoping to reach financial independence, the path is simple, but it’s not necessarily an easy journey to get there. As I’m typing this, I’m down to four working days until I’m done working at a career I’ve been at for 19½ years – a job I started right after my 24th birthday. At the time, I had just bailed out of retail management. […]

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The 4 Worst Words for Your Financial Future

12 Comments / Spending, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Saving / Jim @ Route To Retire / December 18, 2018

I’m about to share something important with you. Four words that might be the worst in the English language and can crush your financial future. We’re all at different points in our financial lives and we all have different goals. However, I think it’s safe to say that we’re all here for the same reason – we want to be sure that our future is financially stable. In my own life, I started to recognize a common theme that has

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Why Less Is More and Bigger Isn’t Better

12 Comments / Saving, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Geoarbitrage, Spending / Jim @ Route To Retire / December 11, 2018

I’ll leave the “bigger is better” jokes up to you guys. But, if you’ve been around the personal finance blogosphere long enough, you’re bound to hear things like that or “less is more” or some other variations of the phrase. To me that just seemed obvious – sure, if you want to cut your costs, eliminate your cable or drive a used car and **poof** you’ve saved a few bucks. Frugality at its best. However, I’ve learned that spending less

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No One’s Asked – Here’s Why You Should…

26 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts, Motivation / Jim @ Route To Retire / December 4, 2018

No one’s asked. Not a one. Not one single person in my entire office. I’m now just days out from my retirement – December 31, 2018, is my last day of work. I gave my notice in early summer and we kept it low-key in the office for a little bit while we worked out the game plan. However, I officially made the announcement to my engineers in a meeting on August 13. And as many of you know, the

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Meet My Daughter on Women Who Money

Leave a Comment / Guest Posts, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Kids / Jim @ Route To Retire / November 30, 2018

You’re probably bored with me rambling all the time (who isn’t?!). Well, I’ve got good news for you! This post is intended to let you hear what my daughter has to say instead! Although she’s only eight, she’s got a good head on her shoulders. She’s always been a good kid and she’s a thinker. Her smarts make me raise an eyebrow sometimes with the things she says. You’d think that with a brain like hers that she’d be no

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Is One Million Dollars Enough to Retire On?

23 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Saving / Jim @ Route To Retire / November 27, 2018

One million dollars. It’s the coveted goal for many. Maybe it’s something you think is way out of reach. Or maybe you’re on the other side of the spectrum and close to it or even long surpassed that number. Regardless, one million dollars just seems to be a good round number in our heads to strive for reaching. In fact, it’s a number that many folks have had as their target number for financial independence or retirement for decades. You

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You Get What You Get, So Don’t Throw a Fit

16 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Motivation / Jim @ Route To Retire / November 20, 2018

You get what you get, so don’t throw a fit. This might be a little bit of an off-topic post, but since cruises are my favorite vacation and that’s the banner on my site, I’m hoping you’ll hang with me on it. Plus, the point is actually more than the cruise itself – it’s about enjoying life and aiming for more. I started this post while on a cruise ship. We’ve been on a number of cruises with lines like

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Expat Health Insurance – Our Plans for Panama

27 Comments / Insurance, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Geoarbitrage, Panama, Travel and Vacation / Jim @ Route To Retire / November 13, 2018

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,

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A Moment to Exhale… So Now What?

22 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts, Travel and Vacation / Jim @ Route To Retire / November 6, 2018

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.

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For Those Who Hate Budgeting, Try Reverse Budgeting

10 Comments / Saving, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Spending / Jim @ Route To Retire / October 30, 2018

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

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