Jim @ Route To Retire

Global Entry - Why You Need It and How to Get It for Free

Global Entry – Why You Need It and How to Get It for Free

14 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Panama / /

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 »

How to Get a Million Dollars for Your Nest Egg

How to Get a Million Dollars for Your Nest Egg

14 Comments / Saving, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Motivation, Real Estate / /

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

How to Get a Million Dollars for Your Nest Egg Read More »

The Downsides of Moving to Another Country

The Downsides of Moving to Another Country

39 Comments / Panama / /

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

The Downsides of Moving to Another Country Read More »

Why Not Keep Working and Saving? Are You Stupid?

42 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Saving, Spending / /

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

Why Not Keep Working and Saving? Are You Stupid? Read More »

Relocating to Panama - Awesome Apps We're Using

Relocating to Panama – Awesome Apps We’re Using

20 Comments / Panama / /

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

Relocating to Panama – Awesome Apps We’re Using Read More »

That Day I Sold My Coin Collection to J. Money...

That Day I Sold My Coin Collection to J. Money…

23 Comments / Investments / /

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

That Day I Sold My Coin Collection to J. Money… Read More »

8 Financial Tips I Wish I Knew When I Was in My 20’s

16 Comments / General Thoughts, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Health and Fitness, Investments, Kids, Life in Early Retirement, Motivation, Real Estate, Saving, Self-Employment, Spending / /

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 »

FOMO is the Cancer of FIRE

FOMO is the Cancer of FIRE

14 Comments / Spending, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Life in Early Retirement, Motivation / /

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

FOMO is the Cancer of FIRE Read More »

We Thought We Could Just Pack Up and Go…

We Thought We Could Just Pack Up and Go…

26 Comments / General Thoughts, Travel and Vacation / /

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

We Thought We Could Just Pack Up and Go… Read More »

Guest Appearance on the What's Up Next Podcast

Guest Appearance on the What’s Up Next Podcast

4 Comments / Podcasts and Other Appearances / /

The “What’s Up Next?” podcast is a little newer to the scene.  In fact, the first episode just came out in November of 2018. However, I’ve known Doc G from DiverseFI for a while and we finally had that opportunity at FinCon in Dallas last year.  It’s great to meet other bloggers in real life and Doc is no exception. He’s a great guy and we had some good conversation… and a few beers, of course! Anyway, a few months

Guest Appearance on the What’s Up Next Podcast Read More »