On one of our two daily walks my wife and I were chatting about how long it's been since I retired.I asked her if it seemed like it had been two years since I retired (almost 2 1/2 now).Or maybe she thought it felt like it had been longer or shorter.She said she it feels like it's been longer than that. I agreed.But not in a bad way. In an "I can't remember what … [Read more...]
Black Friday Chat
Well, it's the day after Thanksgiving and if you're like me, you ate too much yesterday.But that's ok, right? At least once in a while it's ok to overdo it a bit.It was a great Thanksgiving for us and I hope yours was the same.We are all back together (including my daughter who has been home from college for over a week now) which made the holiday extra … [Read more...]
Help a Reader: Trying to Get to Early Retirement
The following is an email I received from a reader a couple months ago.It's a sad tale on many fronts, but also inspirational because of how much progress she's made. In fact, it's quite remarkable IMO.I had her adjust the story a bit and include more financials so she could get advice from the great readers here at ESI Money. So please read it completely and give her … [Read more...]
10 Reasons Why You Might Want to Consider RVing Full-Time
I'm not sure whether I've mentioned it or not, but my parents bought an RV this past spring.They are in the process of selling everything they have and hitting the road full-time.Their goal is to be out of Iowa before the winter hits, but at the rate they are going, I'm not sure it will happen. I see another Iowa winter in their future.Anyway, we've been learning a … [Read more...]
How to Get Up the Nerve to Retire
The following is a guest post from my friend, Jim, at Route to Retire.When some readers here noted they had enough money to retire but were afraid to take the leap and wanted a post on the topic, I knew Jim was the man for the job.Why is that? Because he's right on the edge himself. He is just about to jump into retirement. And who better to write about an issue than … [Read more...]
Retirement Two-Year Update
Wow! Can you believe it's been two years since I retired????!!!!In some ways it seems like yesterday and in others a decade (I can't remember what it was like to work other than "not nearly as good as this"). :)For those of you new to the site, here are the details of my retirement.Since then I've given an update on things every six months just to let you know how … [Read more...]
How I Lost Millions by Retiring Early
I've been thinking about this issue for some time now. And since I had fun digging into my financial independence numbers I thought I'd do a few more math gymnastics to see how much I had "lost" by retiring early.I had considered this idea a while ago, but what prompted me to finally write about it was a conversation with my mom.She and my dad have been working on … [Read more...]
When Can I Retire? When Will I Be Financially Independent? A Retirement Calculator Guide
I get a lot of questions about retirement.This might not come as a surprise to you since I write so much about the topic.Most of the questions are one of these two: 1) When can I retire? (Yes, literally that simple.) and 2) I don't think I have enough to retire. What do you think? (This is really just another form of the question above.)I have penned several posts … [Read more...]
Is Retiring on a Cruise Ship an Affordable Option?
As many of you know, we lived in Michigan for 14 years.Overall, I liked Michigan (after all I grew up in Iowa, so my expectations of life were low) except for one thing: the weather was the worst!Now some people might chime in with "but the summers are great". Last I checked, summer was three months.Yes, summers there are nice. But the other nine months, not so … [Read more...]
A Castle, A Burned Gift Shop, and a Diner Stuck in the 50’s
One of the great things about being retired is that you can take trips whenever you want to.While my daughter was home on spring break this year, we decided to go see Bishop Castle.For those of you who don't know about Bishop Castle (which is probably most people reading this), here's an overview at their website.Or if you'd prefer a bit more detail, here's the … [Read more...]
