We Moved Our Health Savings Account to Fidelity!

25 Comments / Investments / /

I recently completed a transfer of our health savings account (HSA) from Health Equity to Fidelity.  Today, I want to tell you why I made this move and explain the process. First off, if you aren’t familiar with health savings accounts, they’re one of the most valuable accounts you can have in your arsenal.  I’ve talked about how an HSA is the best bang for your buck in that the account belongs to you and not your employer. Unlike a […]

We Moved Our Health Savings Account to Fidelity! Read More »

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

6 Months of Early Retirement… We’re Now Homeless Read More »

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

Guest Appearance on the ChooseFI Podcast Read More »

Global Entry - Why You Need It and How to Get It for Free

Global Entry – Why You Need It and How to Get It for Free

14 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Panama / /

Global Entry was something pretty foreign to me at this time a year ago.  We love to travel, but most of it has been domestic here in the U.S. The biggest exception to that are the cruises that we love to take.  But here’s the thing – all the cruises we’ve been on are considered closed loop sailings.  That means that we departed and returned to the same U.S. port when the trip was over. It also means going that

Global Entry – Why You Need It and How to Get It for Free Read More »

How to Get a Million Dollars for Your Nest Egg

How to Get a Million Dollars for Your Nest Egg

14 Comments / Saving, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Investments, Motivation, Real Estate / /

By early 2017, we had finally built our net worth up to over a million dollars.  It was a great feeling to reach that milestone, but it didn’t really change things for us – we just continued to follow our plan. When I left my job at the end of 2018, we had a net worth of about $1.1 million and, thanks to the bull market still pushing ahead, it’s roughly $1.2 million right now. I’ve written a few posts

How to Get a Million Dollars for Your Nest Egg Read More »

The Downsides of Moving to Another Country

The Downsides of Moving to Another Country

39 Comments / Panama / /

Although we’re ecstatic about this new adventure we’re embarking on, it’s worth noting that there are some downsides of moving to another country. That’s right – in just a couple of months in August of 2019, we’ll finally be making our move to Panama.  It’s exhilarating and just a little scary at the same time. We’ve been preparing for this for several years now, but wanted to reach FIRE before we made it happen. It’s crazy to think that this

The Downsides of Moving to Another Country Read More »

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

Why Not Keep Working and Saving? Are You Stupid? Read More »

Relocating to Panama - Awesome Apps We're Using

Relocating to Panama – Awesome Apps We’re Using

20 Comments / Panama / /

Relocating to Panama has become a much bigger undertaking than we anticipated.  In an earlier post, I discussed some of the tasks we’ve been working on as we get closer to the day of our move. Today though, I thought I’d lighten things up and talk about some of the tools we’ve been using in preparation of the move. My nerdy side loves to find useful new apps and websites and hopefully, you do, too.  More importantly, I love to

Relocating to Panama – Awesome Apps We’re Using Read More »

Homeschooling Research… Aarrgghh!!!!

Homeschooling Research… Aarrgghh!!!!

22 Comments / Guest Posts, Education, Panama / /

With the Panama adventure around the corner, one of the big tasks on the list has been homeschooling research.  Until we decide we want to pursue residency in Panama, we’ll need to leave the country periodically to comply with tourism laws. Because of that, it makes more sense for us to homeschool our daughter for at least that first year.  The good news for me is that Mrs. R2R has taken on the challenge over the past several months of

Homeschooling Research… Aarrgghh!!!! Read More »

That Day I Sold My Coin Collection to J. Money...

That Day I Sold My Coin Collection to J. Money…

23 Comments / Investments / /

Another day where the personal finance community helps each other out.  This time it was with my very own coin collection. As we’re continuing to prepare for our big move to Panama later this summer, we’re cleaning house as much as we can.  Between selling, giving away/donating, and trashing all our stuff, we’ve been plenty busy. Eliminating the big stuff like furniture has been nice.  It’s been pretty quick to go on OfferUp and frees up tons of space.  We

That Day I Sold My Coin Collection to J. Money… Read More »