Motivation

Finding Happiness Once You Leave the Rat Race

Finding Happiness Once You Leave the Rat Race

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

I remember thinking that finding happiness would be instantaneous once I left my career behind. After all, work was the time-suck in my life that was holding me back. Back in 2010, I was crushed when I had to go back to work after the short vacation I took once my daughter was born. My 9-5 was in the way of everything and I wanted out. Fast forward to my first day of early retirement on January 1, 2019, and […]

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More Topless Photos for Your Enjoyment!

More Topless Photos for Your Enjoyment!

16 Comments / Health and Fitness, Life in Early Retirement, Motivation / /

Topless photos on a blog that tends to focus on Panama, personal finance, and life in early retirement?! Jim, what the @#$% are you thinking? You should be ashamed of yourself! I know, I know… but it needs to be done. You can close your eyes if you want, but it’s not going to stop it from it happening! It’s that time of the year when many folks have made a decision, a resolution if you will, to get in

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Here’s Why I’m Liking… The Courage to Be Disliked

Here’s Why I’m Liking… The Courage to Be Disliked

18 Comments / Here's Why I'm Liking..., Motivation, Product and Service Reviews / /

I’m not sure why I had the book “The Courage to Be Disliked” on my Amazon wish list. Someone either told me it was a good read or I had read about it somewhere. I use different wish lists on Amazon for myself so I don’t lose track of the books I’m interested in reading. Since I only get a chance to read a little each night, it takes me a while to get through each book. I’ve got probably

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To Truly Reach for the Stars, Challenge Herd Mentality

To Truly Reach for the Stars, Challenge Herd Mentality

24 Comments / Motivation, General Thoughts, Kids / /

I had a little bit of a strange realization the other day. We tell our kids, friends, and other family members that we support their dreams. We tell them to reach for the stars and they can be or do anything they want to in life. But guess what – those are just some empty words. Even though we say to reach for the stars, those words can be meaningless due to our actions. We push our kids to chase

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Only You Can Change Your Life… Seriously!

22 Comments / Motivation, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Health and Fitness, Panama / /

Only you can change your life.  Only you can change you. I was jogging back from the gym the other day and it reminded me of something.  I absolutely hate going to the gym.  I’ve talked about it before, but I do – I hate it. So then why do I do it? Because I want to be a better me. That’s it.  That’s the only reason.  It would be so much easier to sit on the couch and drink

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Is FIRE the Finish Line or Just the Beginning?

22 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Life in Early Retirement, Motivation, Self-Employment / /

Looking back on my own path to financial independence, I treated the whole thing like a race in my mind.  Reaching the finish line was the utmost important goal. As I continued to make more money every year through raises, I saved more and more.  But the other side of the equation is cutting expenses… and cut expenses we did! In my mind, if it wasn’t a necessity, I really had to think about if it made sense to spend

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What the FIRE Movement Means to Me

What the FIRE Movement Means to Me

14 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), General Thoughts, Motivation / /

I recently came across a question in the FinCon Community Facebook Group relating to the FIRE movement (financial independence / retire early).  It was asked by Jeff Rose, creator of the Good Financial Cents site. If you’re not a member of the FinCon Facebook group, you likely won’t be able to access this link.  However, the question asked was “Who disagrees with the FIRE movement and why?” The post drew quite a number of comments that spanned all sorts of

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The Biggest Secret the Library Offers to Enrich Your Life

The Biggest Secret the Library Offers to Enrich Your Life

18 Comments / Education, Motivation / /

Oh, the times they are a-changin’.  I don’t think Bob Dylan was talking about the library in his early ’60s song, but boy oh boy, libraries are much different than they were when I was a kid. Of course, you have the obvious stuff like digital card catalogs and the ability to use the computers if you need Internet access.  Heck, I even used them over the past year during those unusual times I needed to print something (I haven’t

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One of the Absolute Best Facets of Early Retirement

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

A lot of you have been following FIRE (financial independence, retire early) blogs as you continue down your own path toward financial freedom.  And the numbers to reach FI (financial independence) are important, but what about the early retirement side of things? Some of you will continue to work and just want FI to ensure a secure retirement.  If you love what you do, that’s the best scenario you can have.  Congratulations! But others of you want to get out

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Striving to Let Go and Be a Better Person

Striving to Let Go and Be a Better Person

14 Comments / Motivation, General Thoughts, Life in Early Retirement / /

Well, tomorrow is the big day… we’re finally flying out and moving to Panama!  And with that, I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about change and my plans to be a better person. That’s right – who woulda thunk I could be any more of a better person than I already am?!  Well, guess what – even people like little old me have a little breathing room to improve on in our lives!   Striving to

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