I wanted to write about an investment article but with COVID-19 here today, I felt that I should write an article about investing during a time of a pandemic and what I’ve done. Here is a list of what’s going on now COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the economy and forcing over 30 millions people to file for unemployment, numbers not seen since the great depression The federal government has issued multiple stimulus packages to help the population…
Money is your friend; money is your enemy. Ever since I was young, I was never good with money. Like many kids I had a piggy bank. When it gets full, guess what I do with it. I spend it! Not a great practice when you’re talking about working towards early retirement. What I’ve learned about myself is that my self-discipline is weak and therefore I have to deliberately put myself in a situation to force me to save. I’ve…
Gambling is definitely fun and entertaining. It’s also very stressful especially when you lose money. The gambling I’m referring to are the casino games and betting events, slot machines, Keno, and lottery. How about investments, like putting money into the stock market? Some might consider that as gambling as well. I would agree that it is a gamble to put money in the stock market or invest into a particular company. The biggest difference between the two, that I believe,…
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,…