Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE)

Is Retiring Early Selfish??

Financial freedom… I think about it more and more every day.  I wish I had put more focus on this in my younger years so I could be even closer to the goal than I am today. Part of my desire to retire early is to have more available time to spend with my daughter.  Unfortunately, with my late start, she’s going to be 15 years old when I finally quit my job.  Although that’s still young, it’s going to be a […]

Is Retiring Early Selfish?? Read More »

Second Opinion

I Got a Second Opinion Last Week…

So, I had been talking with one of my mentors a couple of months ago and we got on the subject of taxes… particularly taxes regarding rental property.  If you’re a regular follower of my site, you know that I currently have one rental house and I’m looking for a second so this was an important topic for me. My friend that I was talking with has five rental houses and is extremely savvy when it comes to the financial details

I Got a Second Opinion Last Week… Read More »

Should I Pay Off My House Early?

You’ve been doing well with your finances.  You don’t have any car loans or credit card debt.  You’ve been socking away money in your 401(k), Roth IRA, and other investments.  Now you’re looking for more avenues to help put yourself in a better position with your money. Eventually, you start asking yourself that one question… the one that can really stir up some good debate… Should I pay off my house early if I can? On one hand, you have that huge feel-good aspect

Should I Pay Off My House Early? Read More »

Four Weddings and Maybe My Funeral…

Today I’m getting slightly off track because I need to rant and, well, it’s my blog so I’m going to go for it! Ok, first off, maybe four weddings is an exaggeration… I have three to go to in the next month. And maybe it’s not really going to be my funeral, but it sure feels like it! Here’s the problem… Wedding number one is out-of-town – it’s in the big city… New York City. I hate the big city.

Four Weddings and Maybe My Funeral… Read More »

Should You Compromise Your Lifestyle to Retire Even Earlier?

If you’re reading this right now, you’re most likely either looking for a way to retire early or you already have a plan in place.  Either way, the thought repeatedly comes to my mind of ways to make retiring early happen even sooner. I run an interesting gamut of being frugal with most things but still splurging by taking cruises and other fun vacations on a regular basis.  It drives me nuts to waste money on things I have the ability

Should You Compromise Your Lifestyle to Retire Even Earlier? Read More »

Dividend Stocks on Sale!!

My grandfather used to always say “When everyone’s running in one direction, you should be running in the other.”  Well, this past week was a great opportunity to follow that advice and pick up some new dividend stocks. When the stock market started to drop, people started to panic… everyone and their brother was hurrying to sell what they could before “they lost it all.”  The media hyped it up even more and got people even more worried. The good news is

Dividend Stocks on Sale!! Read More »

You Don’t Need to be Rich to be Financially Independent!!

When I was in my twenties, I had this vision that I would be very rich.  Rich, rich, rich!!  I thought I needed to have all the money in the world if I was ever going to be done working. I mean, how else can you retire if you aren’t rich and sipping champagne on a yacht near your own private island in the Caribbean somewhere??!! Now, although that vision coming to fruition would be great, it took me until the past

You Don’t Need to be Rich to be Financially Independent!! Read More »

How to Access Your 401(k) Money Penalty-Free

The majority of my net worth is tied up in my 401(k).  The reason, if you remember, is that my employer gives me an unlimited 35% match on my plan. This makes it hard to pass up the free money. However, it makes it a lot harder to get to that money when retiring early. When I was younger, I really just planned on having millions… being rich would just carry me into retirement.  However, after digging more into things

How to Access Your 401(k) Money Penalty-Free Read More »

Save It All… or Spend It All?

As my brother and I got older, we both gained a good understanding of how important money really is in our society.  We both made sure that we worked our way up into solid-paying jobs and we continue to pull in more income where possible.  He went after and gained his real estate license on top of his regular career to help bring in additional money.  I went the landlord route to chase after long-term cash flow. However, we like to laugh at how

Save It All… or Spend It All? Read More »

Panama

Is Panama the Right Place to Retire?

I’ve been trying to figure out a good place to retire that’s not, well… Ohio!!  I’ve lived in Ohio for most of my life and it’s done well for me, but why live in a place that ever snows?!! The answer is simply that I have roots here… friends, family, stable job, and so on.  Pulling the trigger to move out of your comfort zone is a tough thing for most of us to do.  And the problem is that once you have kids, they start

Is Panama the Right Place to Retire? Read More »