Racism and Privilege - My Naivety is Astounding!

Racism and Privilege – My Naivety is Astounding!

29 Comments / General Thoughts / /

This post is truly a break from the norm for me. My knowledge of racism and privilege is both limited and skewed. I’ve never thought of myself as a racist or even privileged before. However, my eyes have been opening slowly to a world I wasn’t seeing – one that’s slanted in favor of white people like myself. I’ll be honest – this is a subject that I don’t feel comfortable addressing. As a white male, I’m hesitant that I’ll […]

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My Homeschooling Review After One Interesting Year

11 Comments / Kids, Education, Guest Posts, Life in Early Retirement / /

After a year of teaching Faith ourselves (mostly Lisa), she was nice enough to give us a homeschooling review. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Lisa and I were both blessed enough to retire from our jobs. I left my job at the end of 2018 after 20 years in IT. Then in 2019, we sold everything and moved to Panama with just two suitcases each. We decided not to get residency here yet until we’ve had a chance

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Our Planned Trip Back to the U.S. from Panama…

22 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Life in Early Retirement, Panama / /

Oh, don’t you worry, this planned trip is just a visit to the States – we’re not ready to move back from Panama just yet! Crazy times we’re living in aren’t they? This pandemic has probably affected every one of us in one way or another… it’s kind of insane when you think about it. At the end of March, we had decided we would take our chances here in Panama rather than head back to the U.S. It was

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Do You Need to Speak Spanish Living in Panama?

28 Comments / Panama, Geoarbitrage, Life in Early Retirement / /

If you’re an English-speaker in a country like Panama and don’t speak Spanish well, you’ll find yourself saying things like this quite a bit to strangers: ¿Habla usted Inglés? or ¿Hablas Inglés? Both sentences are asking “Do you speak English?” with the first being a little more formal. Either iteration tends to get the point across though… you don’t speak Spanish well and you’re praying the other person does. Generally here in Boquete, Panama, the response will be “no”… and

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Personal Finance for Kids... Here's a Way to Teach 'Em!

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

8 Comments / Kids, Education, Product and Service Reviews, Saving, Spending / /

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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My Test Run of Medical Service in Panama Went Awry

My Test Run of Medical Service in Panama Went Awry

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

Living in a foreign country means it’s in your best interest to learn the ropes. One of those ropes I wanted to become familiar with was the medical service in Panama. I wanted to see how things flowed and have an idea of costs that were involved. I wanted to know what happens when you need to go to the hospital here. If an emergency should happen while we’re here, being a little familiar with how things work here could

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How We Use a VPN for Streaming & More While Abroad

How We Use a VPN for Streaming & More While Abroad

6 Comments / Product and Service Reviews, Life in Early Retirement, Panama, Travel and Vacation / /

If you’re like many of us, you’ve been spending a heckuva lot more time at home during this pandemic. And right now, streaming services are busy providing entertainment to folks at home. But living outside the U.S. generally warrants a VPN to access that same entertainment. I’m sure you’ve heard that term “VPN” before, but even if you’re not very technical, I’m going to get you on the right page with what you need to know. Today I’ll talk about

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5 Years as a Blogger - Is It Time for a Change?

5 Years as a Blogger – Is It Time for a Change?

63 Comments / Blogging, Life in Early Retirement / /

This week marks five years for me as a blogger. For some that’s nothing – just ask J.D. Roth, Jim Wang, and ESI Money who are just a few personal finance bloggers who have been around for ages… and they’re all fantastic! For others though, five years might seem like a lifetime. I’ve heard statistics that most blogs fail within 6 months or that 95-99% of blogs fail each year. I’m not going to link to any of these articles,

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Is This Stay-at-Home Thing a Taste of Early Retirement?

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

Stay at home.  Those might end up being the most spoken words of 2020. This COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic has caused a whirlwind of change in an instant.  Businesses have had to figure out how to adapt quickly or close, unemployment has reached record numbers, and social gatherings have all but disappeared. On top of all that, a large number of people have suddenly become telecommuting employees.  And many surprised parents became homeschooling teachers at the drop of a hat. Some people

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House Hunters International (Panama) – Jim, Lisa, & Faith

38 Comments / Podcasts and Other Appearances, Geoarbitrage, Life in Early Retirement, Panama, Travel and Vacation / /

Any House Hunters International fans out there?!  Of course, you are! Anybody a fan of Jim, Lisa, and Faith (that’s us!)?  Ok, fine – maybe not of me, but at least Lisa and Faith?  Hopefully, you are – that’s why you come to this site in the first place, right?! How about Panama?  Maybe even specifically Boquete?  Yeah, that’s us, too. But wouldn’t it be even more fun to squoosh all those cool things together and come up with something

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