Life in Early Retirement

Going to the Movies in Panama: 5 Interesting Lessons Learned

Going to the Movies in Panama: 5 Interesting Lessons Learned

10 Comments / Panama, Life in Early Retirement, Spending, Travel and Vacation / /

I’ve always been a little curious about going to the movies in Panama. How much different would it be from going to the movies in the U.S.? Are there subtitles in English or Spanish? Are the movies dubbed over in Spanish? Is it cheaper than what we’re used to seeing? What is the experience like in the theater – are the Panamanians talkers during the movie? We’ve lived in Boquete, Panama since 2019 and only finally went to see our […]

Going to the Movies in Panama: 5 Interesting Lessons Learned Read More »

Time Marches on… Getting You Up to Speed

Time Marches on… Getting You Up to Speed

6 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Health and Fitness, Panama, Travel and Vacation / /

That’s right, folks – time marches on. Time always marches on. And it’s been a while since I’ve updated you on where we’re at and what we’ve been doing. Things are changing quickly for us and it’s tough to stay on top of all our upcoming plans. We have so much going on and time seems to be flying by incredibly fast. It’s crazy to think that we just went to the States for a month-long visit and came back

Time Marches on… Getting You Up to Speed Read More »

Selling Everything We Owned Has Been Truly Liberating

Selling Everything We Owned Has Been Truly Liberating

24 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Geoarbitrage, Motivation, Panama, Travel and Vacation / /

Selling everything and just taking off and leaving is a dream a lot of folks have… even if it’s just a fleeting thought. To actually do it though sounds crazy. Who would do something like that?! Yeah, we were those people. We got rid of just about everything we owned and headed to Panama in the summer of 2019. At the time, we were just going through the checklist of moving preparation to make it happen. One of the biggest

Selling Everything We Owned Has Been Truly Liberating Read More »

Looking Back From Your Deathbed… Be Alive Now!

Looking Back From Your Deathbed… Be Alive Now!

13 Comments / Motivation, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Health and Fitness, Life in Early Retirement, Travel and Vacation / /

Picture yourself on your deathbed looking back on your life… A few fun vacations, some great nights out with friends, or maybe some great memories with a loved one or kids. Whatever comes to mind, I’m sure there will be some great memories that’ll make you smile. But now dig a little and try to think about what you’ve regretted not trying or doing more of in life. Maybe it’s the simpler things like sitting back and watching a couple

Looking Back From Your Deathbed… Be Alive Now! Read More »

The 2 Most Useful Spanish Phrases I Love to Use

The 2 Most Useful Spanish Phrases I Love to Use

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

For those of you who are regular followers of this site, you know that I’ve continued to improve my Spanish-speaking skills since moving to Panama in 2019. That said, some Spanish phrases are more useful than others. Sure, it’s great to know common expressions such as: Buenos días (Good morning) ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?) ¿Hablas inglés? (Do you speak English?) Disculpe/Permiso (Excuse me – disculpe to ask a question and permiso to pass by someone) Terminology like these examples

The 2 Most Useful Spanish Phrases I Love to Use Read More »

Aren’t You Bored in Retirement? The Truth Comes Out!

Aren’t You Bored in Retirement? The Truth Comes Out!

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

Bored in retirement. For some reason, that seems to be a concern many folks have with retirement, particularly early retirement. The “easy” part’s done. You’ve saved up enough money that you’re able to leave work on your terms. You’ve hopefully used a free retirement planner like the one in Empower (formerly Personal Capital) to give you the confidence you need on that front. With the money equation out of the way and retirement here, you’ve gained the freedom of choice.

Aren’t You Bored in Retirement? The Truth Comes Out! Read More »

I’ve Decided to Hike up an Active Volcano...

I’ve Decided to Hike up an Active Volcano…

12 Comments / Health and Fitness, Life in Early Retirement, Motivation, Panama / /

The thought of hiking up an active volcano might seem out of sorts for me, but it’s now something that’s going to happen in a few months. First off, I skipped another week of writing (I’m getting pretty good at this!). But I do have a good excuse – we had guests for 8 days. Our friends Steve and Courtney Adcock visited us for about a week in Boquete, Panama and we had a rocking good time! As I write

I’ve Decided to Hike up an Active Volcano… Read More »

Health Insurance in the U.S. – How We'll Keep Costs Low

Health Insurance in the U.S. – How We’ll Keep Costs Low

33 Comments / Insurance, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Health and Fitness, Life in Early Retirement / /

The subject of health insurance in the U.S. tends to make people cringe immediately when thinking about it. And rightfully so! I don’t think anyone can argue that the system in the U.S. is broken. It’s overly complex, the costs are out of control, and something needs to change. Now, we might all have different thoughts on what should be done, but we all know that something needs to be done. Unfortunately, though, the choices are pretty limited. If you

Health Insurance in the U.S. – How We’ll Keep Costs Low Read More »

We’re Saving Over $800 on Our Trip to Mexico… Here’s the Plan

We’re Saving Over $800 on Our Trip to Mexico… Here’s the Plan

12 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Life in Early Retirement, Panama, Saving, Spending / /

Moving back to the U.S. from Boquete, Panama next spring is going to be bittersweet. But we’re excited about our new adventures to come… starting with a trip to Mexico on the way back! It’s still hard for us to grasp that we’re not locked into doing the “normal” type of vacations anymore. Since we’re early-retired and Faith’s homeschooling, we have the ability to slow travel or just make up new paths in life on the fly. In this case,

We’re Saving Over $800 on Our Trip to Mexico… Here’s the Plan Read More »

We Don’t Need More Money... But I Want It!

We Don’t Need More Money… But I Want It!

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

The guiding principle of the Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) movement is to get to the point in life where you have enough and don’t need more money to cover your expenses. Once you pull that off, you’re golden. You’re now financially independent and never have to work another day in life again… if you don’t want to. It sounds great, right? And for someone that pulled it off at the age of 43 a couple of years ago,

We Don’t Need More Money… But I Want It! Read More »