Living a healthier lifestyle is something we all want. We know we’ll feel better. We know we’ll likely live longer. Heck, we’ll probably even look better! And it’s not like reaching a healthier lifestyle is some complex formula that we just can’t understand. It’s a simple process and we’re all familiar with the gist of what needs to be done: Eat foods that are better for you Get off your butt and exercise more Drink less beer (it hurts just to […]
Should I be concerned that my credit score dropped recently? I mean, after all, your credit score helps financial institutions define your reliability in the world of finance. It’s like your report card to see how you’re doing. A great score likely means you’ll get better rates when applying for a loan. A bad credit score usually equates to a higher rate – if you’re able to get approved at all. I’ve always maintained a good score, even when I
I’ve been running a blog now for almost 4 years and I have a few thoughts on the subject that have been rattling around in my head lately. I probably should be saving this post for my “blogiversary” in a couple of months. But since this was on my mind, I figured I’d be a rule-breaker… yeah, I’m a rebel like that! Running a blog is a unique endeavor. Some folks do it as a hobby and some as a
Saving every penny and pushing frugality to its limit or spending every penny to live for today. How does the Route to Retire family handle their spending? Good news! After a lot of prodding, I think I might have been able to convince Mrs. R2R to do some occasional guest posting. Hopefully, you’ll see some more of these in the mix. She told me she’s hoping to write a post on the process she’s gone through in figuring out homeschooling
The Importance of Balance – Frugality vs. Overspending Read More »
Retirement money is definitely something you shouldn’t be gambling with. But hey, it’s only your future on the line… what could go wrong? I admit it – I love gambling. That’s not something you’d expect to hear from a blogger in the personal finance community, but it’s true. I’m not an avid gambler – I just enjoy some table games or video poker at a casino every now and again. Sometimes I’ll even throw a little bit at a periodic
Another day, another change of plans! This slight change is going to add to our already exciting adventure! As most of you already know, we’re moving to Panama this summer. I retired from my job at the end of 2018 and we’re getting closer to making this happen. In the meantime, we have two reasons we’re waiting so long to leave: We need to wait for our daughter to finish out her school year. We have a vacation planned with
I’ve been using the Empower (formerly Personal Capital) financial software now for the past few years. However, I’ve only been dipping my toes in with it… until now. Quicken’s been my go-to software for just over 20 years. I stumbled on it back in 1999 when I first started at the career I just retired from. I was hired in as an engineer to fight the scary Y2K bug and Intuit was giving away their Quicken 98 software for free as
After 20 Years on Quicken, I’m All-In on Empower (formerly Personal Capital) Read More »
After last week’s post on the breakdown of our net worth, I thought it might be a good follow-up to provide more detail on our drawdown plans… a part II, if you will. “Why?”, you might ask.* I realized that there aren’t a lot of folks in the trenches talking about this subject. Many FIRE sites talk about the strategies of getting to the point of early retirement. However, it seems like there aren’t too many that talk about actually drawing
I’ve been considering providing a breakdown of our net worth for a while now. I’ve held off for a couple of reasons though: Well, I love breaking taboo – if you’d ask my friends, they’d tell you how I tend to say things that seem inappropriate, but are usually what everyone is thinking. It might be some stirring the pot but it gets some good conversation going! When our net worth hit the $1 million mark back in 2017, a
The Breakdown of Our Net Worth Savings & Investments Read More »
Hey everyone – just wanted to let you know about an interview I just did for Tim Pittman at FIRE Stories. FIRE Stories is a newer site that Tim started just this past January. He interviews folks who have achieved financial independence and retired early. His aim is to determine how they got to where they are today, what mistakes they’ve made along the way, and garner advice on how to start adopting the FIRE mindset. I didn’t know Tim when
