How FIOR Can Save You From the FIRE

16 Comments / Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Motivation / /

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 […]

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The #1 Question We’re Asked About Moving to Panama…

37 Comments / Geoarbitrage, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Panama, Travel and Vacation / /

My loyal readers know that we’re planning on moving to Panama in 2020. We’re quitting our jobs at the end of 2019.  We’ll then let our daughter finish out her school year (fourth grade).  And then, yeah, we’re moving to Panama. Sounds crazy, right?  You can say it – you won’t hurt my feelings. What’s funny is that most of our friends don’t have the heart to tell us what they’re really thinking.  We know what they’re really thinking is

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If I Die, Here’s What to Do…

28 Comments / Estate Planning, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

Don’t die.  But if you do, hook your loved ones up beforehand. FIRE isn’t just about your numbers – it’s also about planning for your health and well-being in general.  You go through life expecting to live happily ever after… but I’m sorry to break it to you, #$%^happens. No one really wants to think about this, but it will happen to you.  That’s right, you’re going to die at some point.  It might be decades from now or it

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Guest Appearance on the 2 Frugal Dudes Podcast

Guest Appearance on the 2 Frugal Dudes Podcast

2 Comments / Podcasts and Other Appearances, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

It feels like just a couple of weeks ago, I was telling you about my first ever podcast appearance… oh, yeah, I was!  Well, it’s time for my second guest appearance on a show.  This time around I joined the 2 Frugal Dudes as a guest on their podcast. If you’re not familiar, the 2 Frugal Dudes are Sean Merron and Kevin Griffin.  These are two great guys that aim to help their listeners in the personal finance realm. I

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Why a $5,000 Tax Return Refund is Actually Good News

Why a $5,000 Tax Return Refund is Actually Good News

22 Comments / Taxes and Financial Planning, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

There are some folks out there who are enthralled by the idea of taxes.  The idea of working on their tax return actually excites them every year. I’m far from being one of those people. Taxes… borrrrring! Unfortunately, love ’em or hate ’em, if you’re in the U.S., you’re stuck with doing a tax return every year. There’s a part of taxes though that I don’t really get.  It’s the idea that if you get money back on your tax

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Is Retiring Early Really the Best Thing for Our Family?

Is Retiring Early Really the Best Thing for Our Family?

27 Comments / Guest Posts, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Life in Early Retirement, Motivation / /

Is retiring early really the best thing for our family?  That’s the question Mrs. R2R sought to answer. Since the Route to Retire blog started in May of 2015, I’ve been hoping to get the other side of the R2R equation (Mrs. R2R) to be a part of the conversation here. It’s easy to get the opinion of one person on the subject of financial independence and retiring early.  However, it’s a completely different story to hear what that person’s

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My First Podcast Appearance… DYEB!!

4 Comments / Podcasts and Other Appearances, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

One of my goals for 2018 was to start opening myself up a little more and doing a podcast appearance every now and again. It’s one thing to read what a blogger has to say, but it’s another to actually hear him or her talking.  I know that I start to feel more of a connection with some of the podcasters and guests I listen to. The good news is that I met Pete from Do You Even Blog at FinCon this

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I’m Struggling Right Now

22 Comments / General Thoughts, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Kids / /

I’m struggling.  I’ve been very careful to keep politics and other sensitive issues out of my blog.  We all have our opinions, of course, but I just don’t think this particular blog is the right place for that kind of discussion. So I’m going to try to keep this high-level on that front, but there’s something that’s affecting me deeply right now. Unless you’re living under a rock, you know about the shootings that have been happening in our school

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Why You Truly Need to Get Out of Debt

18 Comments / Debt, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) / /

It’s nothing new to hear that if you’re in the red, you should make it a priority to get out of debt. Let’s face it, debt sucks.  We all know it, but here in the U.S., we just can’t seem to stay away from it. NerdWallet states that the average household that has credit card debt is carrying a balance of $15,654… ouch. And that doesn’t even count other forms of debt – mortgages, car loans, student debt, etc. Ok,

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So You Wanna Write a Book? Maybe I Can Help…

16 Comments / Self-Employment / /

Ever had that thought periodically running through your mind to write a book?  I sure did. Then one day I just decided to do it. I had some great ideas to write a book based on technology.  I’ve been in the IT field as a systems engineer and now the engineers’ manager for almost 20 years now. However, my thoughts for the book were actually focused more on the simpler stuff that family and friends were always asking me about.

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