Life in Early Retirement

Retirement Problems: My 2 Biggest Fears Since Retiring

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

Having retirement problems when you’re early retired can sometimes sound petty.  It’s like winning the lottery and then complaining about the amount you have to pay in taxes. So, don’t get me wrong – I’m having the time of my life since I left my job in 2018.  Gaining freedom and more time are two facets of life that only a small percentage of people can fully realize and I’m loving every minute of it. We’ve been enjoying time together […]

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Striving to Be (Somewhat) Lazy in Early Retirement

Striving to Be (Somewhat) Lazy in Early Retirement

20 Comments / Life in Early Retirement / /

“Lazy” is a word I sometimes struggle with.  I like to be doing something productive or I feel guilty. That productivity might have been something most of us are familiar with like mowing the lawn or staining the deck.  It also might be something smaller like organizing and sharing photos with friends and family on Google Photos.* Regardless of what it is, I have a hard time sitting still and doing nothing.  I can’t seem to just say, “You know

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6 Months of Early Retirement… We’re Now Homeless

18 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Travel and Vacation / /

I left my management job in IT at the end of 2018 at the age of 43.  The goal was to reach early retirement with my family so we could live a life of freedom and adventure… and now we’re homeless. This might sound unexpected, but here’s the thing – that was exactly the plan.  Being homeless is something we’ve been working toward for a long time now. For those of you familiar with our path, this shouldn’t come as

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Guest Appearance on the ChooseFI Podcast

Guest Appearance on the ChooseFI Podcast

4 Comments / Podcasts and Other Appearances, Geoarbitrage, Life in Early Retirement, Saving / /

I’ve been wanting to be a part of the ChooseFI podcast shortly after it began.  Jonathan and Brad launched the show at the end of 2016 and quickly took the FIRE community by storm! It’s a fantastic podcast helping to discuss the path to financial independence.  They bring on various guests to examine different aspects and strategies of reaching FI. What’s really great though is that they also focus quite a bit on enjoying the journey along the way.  I

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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

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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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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

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It Takes More than Money – My Interview on Retire By 40

3 Comments / Guest Posts, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Life in Early Retirement / /

A lot of you already know that Joe from Retire By 40 was my inspiration for heading down the path to FIRE.  He gave me the kick in the pants I needed to realize that early retirement was possible. I took a week off of work when my daughter was born in 2010.  When I had to go back to work after that and couldn’t be with her throughout the days after, it crushed me.  I struggled, but I thought

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The Drawdown on Investments - Our Game Plan

The Drawdown on Investments – Our Game Plan

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

After last week’s post on the breakdown of our net worth, I thought it might be a good follow-up to provide more detail on our drawdown plans… a part II, if you will. “Why?”, you might ask.* I realized that there aren’t a lot of folks in the trenches talking about this subject.  Many FIRE sites talk about the strategies of getting to the point of early retirement.  However, it seems like there aren’t too many that talk about actually drawing

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Guest Post on the FIRE Stories Site

Interview on the FIRE Stories Site

2 Comments / Guest Posts, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Life in Early Retirement / /

Hey everyone – just wanted to let you know about an interview I just did for Tim Pittman at FIRE Stories. FIRE Stories is a newer site that Tim started just this past January.  He interviews folks who have achieved financial independence and retired early.  His aim is to determine how they got to where they are today, what mistakes they’ve made along the way, and garner advice on how to start adopting the FIRE mindset. I didn’t know Tim when

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