Route to Retire ...the path to financial independence

Um, I Was Told to Stop Talking to My Kid About Money…

Everyone has opinions on how kids should be raised. And there really are no perfect answers. However, I never thought there’d be a day when my own parents would tell me to stop talking to my kid about money. But that’s exactly what happened. If you’re not familiar with my daughter, she’s a stellar writer on the Route to Retire blog. Her post Like Father, Like Daughter… got some pretty good attention – including making it onto Rockstar Finance. She’s seven and an extremely bright kid (I think most parents say that about their kids). She’s kind to everyone and has a great sense of humor. She’s artistic and loves gymnastics. But one thing that makes her a little unique is she’s

Why Spider-Man’s Path is Like the Journey to FIRE

Thought we’d try something a little different in this post for those of you interested in the journey to FIRE (Financial Independence / Retire Early). It’s time for a little analogy on how a hero’s journey is similar to the path to FIRE! You might notice that in a good number of the hero stories and movies out there a pattern seems to take place. Well, that’s because there’s actually a twelve-step plan they like to follow. Don’t believe me? Here’s the blueprint for these important storytelling moments. No, don’t leave this post yet – I’ll go through these twelve steps with you. But more importantly, I’m going to take you through how that pattern and how it relates to the

Adjusting My Asset Allocation… Tastes Great, Less Filling

This might be sacrilegious to say in a personal finance blog, but I’ve never really paid that much attention to my asset allocation. Yeah, yeah, quit your mumblings about what a terrible personal finance blogger I am. What it really comes down to is that I just kept saving and investing. It was as if I just kept shoveling dirt into a pile and never looked up. Then one day I looked at the pile and went, “Huh? Oh, hey, that’s pretty nice.” I built up a nice nest egg over the years by just saving and investing in a pretty haphazard way. This isn’t a horrible thing, but it’s far from the most efficient way of planning for our future.

Guest Appearance on the Retire Hoppy Podcast

A podcast with a beer theme?! That’s music to my ears and exactly what the guys at Retire Hoppy are aiming for! If you’re not familiar with the Retire Hoppy site, that’s because it’s a little newer. It’s run by Ted Carr and Roy Weinberg and is a spinoff of the Retirement Journeys blog and podcast. This was a really fun podcast to be on. You can’t get anymore laid back than these guys. Ted and Roy are both retired and like to have a little fun. And what’s more fun than talking a little finance and having some beer?! So what did we talk about? Good question… Why early retirement is so important Why Panama? That seems to be

Are Your Posts Worthy of Rockstar Finance?

Recently, I was given the opportunity to serve as the guest curator for Rockstar Finance. What’s Rockstar Finance you may ask? Only one of the coolest sites in the personal finance space. Rockstar Finance was started in 2013 by J. Money from Budgets are Sexy and then bought by John from ESI Money in 2017. Every weekday, the site features three of the best posts from the personal finance blogging realm. An email is also sent out with the featured posts to its large subscriber base. If you’re a personal finance blogger, you likely already know about Rockstar Finance. If not, you should get to know it. The huge number of daily visitors to the site and the large number of

How FIOR Can Save You From the FIRE

In 2017, Lisa at Mad Money Monster coined the term FIOR in her blog post, F.I.O.R. – Financial Independence Optional Retirement. And you know what… she nailed it. The premise of her post was that a lot of folks become excited about what the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) community stands for and they head down a similar path. However, not everyone needs to jump ship and retire early. Lisa and her husband, for example, are on the road to financial independence. But he has no intentions to ever quit his job and she’s realized she’s really after options. She wants the option to keep working if she wants… or quit if she decides to at some point down the line.