Saving Archives - Route to Retire

The FIRE Planner – A Solid Start in the Quest for FI

2 Comments / Education, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Geoarbitrage, Investments, Product and Service Reviews, Real Estate, Saving / By Jim @ Route To Retire / May 11, 2021 May 8, 2021

I just finished reading a really good book. It’s called The FIRE Planner and it might be a great asset for those ready to get on the path to financial independence or those who are already on it. The FIRE Planner was written by a friend of mine named Michael Quan. I met Michael at one of the FinCon money conferences a few years ago (I believe it was the 2017 expo in Dallas). It seems like FinCon events are …

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Teaching Kids About Money – Valuable Lessons Instilled

14 Comments / Debt, Education, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Kids, Saving, Spending / By Jim @ Route To Retire / March 30, 2021 March 31, 2021

Relying on schools to educate your kids about personal finance is generally not going to be a smart move… most schools don’t even have a curriculum to teach them the basics. When it comes to teaching kids about money, the onus falls on you. That’s good news because you have an opportunity to ensure that your children are learning the right information. Just as many parents haven’t been educated about personal finance, many teachers themselves haven’t been either. If you …

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We Have a Lot of Cash in Hand Now… Too Much!

37 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Real Estate, Saving, Taxes and Financial Planning / By Jim @ Route To Retire / March 16, 2021 April 13, 2021

Having cash in hand is a good thing. Whether it’s for an emergency fund or money you’re saving up for something short-term like a car, having money at your disposal is a good thing. But there’s a limit to that goodness and having too much cash in hand can absolutely be a problem. When you have money sitting in the bank, it’s earning a little bit of interest (a real little bit in this day and age!). However, that interest …

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Being Rich – What Would Change in Life?

26 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Saving, Spending / By Jim @ Route To Retire / March 2, 2021 February 27, 2021

Ah, the allure of tons of money… who hasn’t had the dream of being rich?! The things you could afford, the places you could go, the luxurious good times you could have. It’s fun to imagine all the cool things you could do with boatloads of money. Wait a minute, Jim – aren’t you already rich? You retired a couple of years ago at 43 for Pete’s sake! We’re definitely in a position that I’m more than elated for – …

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Owning Rental Properties Is Smart, but I’m Out, Jack!

36 Comments / Debt, Investments, Real Estate, Saving, Taxes and Financial Planning / By Jim @ Route To Retire / February 9, 2021 February 3, 2021

That’s right, folks – after owning rental properties since 2003, I’m now completely out of the game! In 2018, I sold the house I had bought as an investment property in 2003. And just a couple of weeks ago, we closed on selling the duplex we had purchased in 2015. Here’s the weird part – if you’ve been following my blog over the years, you know that I’m a strong advocate of owning real estate rentals. Each property can provide …

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The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping $$$

8 Comments / Product and Service Reviews, Saving, Spending / By Jim @ Route To Retire / November 17, 2020 November 13, 2020

Last week, I dished out a post of over 6,800 words: Moving to Boquete or Visiting? The Ultimate List of Tips!! This week, I thought I’d keep things a little simpler and let you know about some of the best Google Chrome extensions for online shopping. It’s time to save some money, folks! With the holidays around the corner and the pandemic continuing to do its thing, shopping online should be even more widespread than ever this year. Sometimes I …

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$1.3 Million Net Worth… Yet Scraping By Right Now

30 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Saving, Spending / By Jim @ Route To Retire / November 3, 2020 October 30, 2020

Anytime you can throw the words “million net worth” into a discussion, the words “scraping by” shouldn’t follow. It just doesn’t fit the bill. Now before I continue, let me say that we’re fine, but we ran into an interesting financial problem that has messed us up this year. And, of course, my job is to share that with you so you can make sure you don’t run into a similar small dilemma. I’m always very forthcoming regarding our money …

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How I Got Over $181,000 of Free Money for Retirement

24 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Saving / By Jim @ Route To Retire / June 23, 2020 June 21, 2020

I had a thought recently that made me wonder how much free money for retirement was given to me during my last job. My former employer was always generous in taking care of employees through the 401(k) plan offered. So just how much of our net worth could be attributed to that facet of saving? I dug up my old 401(k) statements and expected the need to spend a lot of time breaking things down and then adding up all …

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

8 Comments / Education, Kids, Product and Service Reviews, Saving, Spending / By Jim @ Route To Retire / May 19, 2020 May 19, 2020

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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Make Your Money Work for You Instead of Vice Versa

14 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Saving / By Jim @ Route To Retire / January 7, 2020 January 4, 2020

I think I first heard the mantra of “make your money work for you” when I was a kid. I’d also guess that it was my grandfather who preached it. He was able to retire in his mid-40’s before the term FIRE (financial independence / retire early) was even coined. But it took me years to really understand what that meant. And even once I thought I got it, I still assumed it was just some pipe dream that only …

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