Kids

My Homeschooling Review After One Interesting Year

11 Comments / Kids, Education, Guest Posts, Life in Early Retirement / /

After a year of teaching Faith ourselves (mostly Lisa), she was nice enough to give us a homeschooling review. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Lisa and I were both blessed enough to retire from our jobs. I left my job at the end of 2018 after 20 years in IT. Then in 2019, we sold everything and moved to Panama with just two suitcases each. We decided not to get residency here yet until we’ve had a chance […]

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Personal Finance for Kids... Here's a Way to Teach 'Em!

Personal Finance for Kids… Here’s a Way to Teach ‘Em!

8 Comments / Kids, Education, Product and Service Reviews, Saving, Spending / /

lt seems to be a relatively common discussion in the community here that we need some better education when it comes to personal finance for kids. The problem is that most schools don’t build this into the curriculum. Kids end up graduating from school more academically prepared but not financially prepared. That’s a huge problem. Personal finance for kids needs to be a pillar in our educational system. Not knowing even the basics such as the magic of compound interest

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46 More Unforgettable Quotes from My Daughter [Part 2]

46 More Unforgettable Quotes from My Daughter [Part 2]

4 Comments / Kids, General Thoughts / /

Hello, friends!  I hope you enjoyed part 1 of the quotes from my daughter.  Those quotes were from when she was between ages 2 through 4. It’s time to share another batch of lines that struck me as worthwhile to jot down over the years. These quotes from Faith are from when she was age 5 up until now (age 9). During these goofy times with the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic, a lot of things are out of whack from what we’re

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Early Retirement with Kids Is Wonderful... but Frustrating

Early Retirement with Kids Is Wonderful… but Frustrating

24 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts, Kids, Life in Early Retirement / /

Reaching early retirement in 2018 at 43 isn’t something that a lot of the population is interested in or trying to pull off.  But change that to being in early retirement with kids to raise and that puts us in even more of a niche. We have one child, our daughter Faith, who’s a great kid.  She’s 9 but acts like a really short adult most of the time.  That probably makes life a little easier for us and we

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41 Unforgettable Quotes from My Daughter - Part 1

41 Unforgettable Quotes from My Daughter [Part 1]

15 Comments / Kids, General Thoughts / /

Quotes from your daughter for your blog post, Jim?  Um, isn’t this a little bit of a weird post? So, yeah… about that.  Truth be told, I’ve been struggling to figure out what to write about today. Recently, I’ve given you my 2 cents about the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic.  I’ve also written about some random thoughts on how about how the pandemic is going in Panama and how we’re handling things.  I’ve even talked about whether the recession is going to

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Our First Week of Homeschooling in Panama

Our First Week of Homeschooling in Panama

19 Comments / Education, Kids, Panama / /

We’ve been preparing for our move to Panama for over a year now.  When we decided to move, we knew we were going to be homeschooling for at least the first year we’re here. Immediately, I started researching homeschooling and have been trying to figure out this new world.  There are so many different philosophies and strategies on how to homeschool that I wrote about previously in my post, Homeschooling Research… Aarrgghh!!!!. I quickly realized this was going to be

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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.

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An Interview with My Daughter about Our Crazy Plans

18 Comments / Guest Posts, Kids, Travel and Vacation / /

We all know that everyone loves to hear from my daughter on here more than me.  So I thought that this time I’d bring her back as an interviewee. Most of you think that our plans to move out of the country later this year are pretty bold but cool (albeit, a little crazy). But the problem is that you’re only getting my perspective on our upcoming plans.  And I know a lot of you want to know what the

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Finding Balance in Early Retirement with Kids

31 Comments / Kids, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts, Life in Early Retirement / /

Finding balance in life is tough.  Between your regular job, chores, time with spouses or people you’re dating, and going out to play with friends and family, time is limited. The fact is that we all only have 24 hours per day… 168 hours each week. Then you throw a kid into the mix… ha!  Good luck!  It’s like a turbulent hurricane of confusion every day.  And the frenzied mess doesn’t scale well either.  With each additional child you have,

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Meet My Daughter on Women Who Money

Meet My Daughter on Women Who Money

Leave a Comment / Guest Posts, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Kids / /

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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