Investments

Is One Million Dollars Enough to Retire On?

Is One Million Dollars Enough to Retire On?

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

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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For Those Who Hate Budgeting, Try Reverse Budgeting

For Those Who Hate Budgeting, Try Reverse Budgeting

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

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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Why I Want a Stock Market Crash This Close to FIRE

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

What kind of person actually wants a stock market crash just two months before retirement? This guy, that’s who! That might sound like a weird sentiment especially considering I’ve been worried about this exact thing over the past couple of years.  After all, a down market would kill my net worth at the same time I plan to start withdrawing my money. This discussion is specific to the mindset of getting closer to retirement.  If you’re in the accumulation phase of

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Strategies We’re Using in Our Early Retirement Planning

14 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Geoarbitrage, Investments, Panama, Self-Employment / /

Early retirement planning.  You’d think the closer we get to our FIRE date, the simpler things would become. I mean really – I’m leaving my job in just a few months so as I continue to train my replacement, my workload should start to diminish over time.  Plus, we’re downsizing to an apartment soon (if we could ever sell our house!). What else could there be, Jim?  How much early retirement planning do you really need?  Didn’t you already get these

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There is a Secret Formula to FI, But It Ain’t No Secret!

18 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Blogging, Debt, Investments, Motivation, Saving, Spending / /

Everyone likes a secret, but a secret formula?  Even better! Now that we’re only a few months out from me quitting my job, we’re starting to share the news more with friends and family. A lot of them seem to be a little confused, but then we talk about our planned move to Panama and it takes most folks to a level beyond comprehension. Eventually, though, we tend to get past that initial shock.  And then the “bold” ones out there

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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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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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Adjusting My Asset Allocation... Tastes Great, Less Filling

Adjusting My Asset Allocation… Tastes Great, Less Filling

16 Comments / Investments, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

This might be sacrilegious to say in a personal finance blog, but I’ve never really paid that much attention to my asset allocation. Yeah, yeah, quit your mumblings about what a terrible personal finance blogger I am. What it really comes down to is that I just kept saving and investing.  It was as if I just kept shoveling dirt into a pile and never looked up. Then one day I looked at the pile and went, “Huh?  Oh, hey,

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Is the 4% Rule Safe to Use in Retirement Planning?

Is the 4% Rule Safe to Use in Retirement Planning?

22 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments / /

The 4% rule is probably one of the most well-known ideas in the FIRE (financial independence/early retirement) community.  It provides a way to put some actual numbers to your future needs. But is it safe to rely on this rule for your own retirement planning? Let’s start with digging in a little further on what the 4% rule is first…   Some background on the 4% rule The biggest focus folks have in retirement planning is how much money they

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Prioritizing Each Investment Account for FIRE

Prioritizing Each Investment Account for FIRE

16 Comments / Investments, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Taxes and Financial Planning / /

As I became a little more familiar with the idea of FIRE (financial independence / retire early), I needed to learn where I should be putting my money.  And I’m not talking about the specific investments – I’m referring to the type of investment account. Terms like taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free can make a huge difference in the outcome of your portfolio.  When I started out, I didn’t understand just how much of a difference each of these accounts could make in

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