Money…a major need for early retirement, whether you have money or a plan to earn money. It’s the most important factor for early retirement. My father taught me that “a penny saved is a penny earned.” These days a penny can’t buy much, but if you have a lot of pennies it adds up. So how do you save all these pennies? In modern day terms, we’re not saving physical pennies but it’s the idea of finding ways to save…
My first major financial decision…I maximized my 401K contributions from the beginning. 25 years ago I first started working full-time after college and it was an exciting time joining the workforce. On my first day on the job I was handed a bunch of paperwork to fill out. One of the pieces of paper I had to fill out was 401K contribution. What did I know about 401K? Nothing! Fortunately, I knew someone who did and he gave some advice….
You might be wondering…why on earth would I create a blog about early retirement during the COVID-19 pandemic, during a time of financial distress and economic unknown? I asked myself the same question. Would anyone take me seriously? How could I blog about early retirement when people are financially struggling and the real unemployment rate pasts 20%? Here’s what happened. I’ve been fortunate to stay employed and work from home. My daily commute went from 3 hours to 15 seconds….
Welcome to my blog! Lately, I’ve been thinking about early retirement a lot. I don’t know why. Maybe I’ve been watching too many YouTube videos and stories about how folks became financially independent and retired early meaning quitting their 9-5 job. Maybe it’s my desire not to work a 9-5 job anymore. Maybe it’s the 3 hour daily commute. Maybe it’s my desire to spend more time with my family. Maybe it’s all the above. When I hear early retirement,…