Several prominent early retirees have shared their challenges with life-changing events to include divorces, major medical surprises, and death of a spouse. While these events have a low chance of occurring for most early retirees, the impact of these events could derail our retirement plans. Some early retirees had to return to full-time employment as their passive income no longer covered their expenses. But others had a strong enough financial picture to weather the significant cut in net ...| Living The FIgh Life
Launa and I celebrated our second anniversary of nomadic travel this month. It has been an incredible life experience so far with so much more to see and do in the world. After letting go of 98% of our possessions and turning our house into our second rental unit, we embarked on a full-time nomadic … Continue reading 10 Things I Have Learned From Two Years Of Slow-Traveling The World Full-time| Living The FIgh Life
The (ability to) retire early part is the primary thing that makes the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) community different from all the other personal finance approaches. We CAN retire early, and we as a community should own it.| Living The FIgh Life
Since my early retirement in 2020, I have noticed several misunderstandings about pursuing financial independence (FI) and retiring early that are frequently perpetuated by FI content creators and their guests. Here are six common myths regarding pursuing full FI and early retirement. While some of these might be true for some individuals or in very specific cases, they become myths when touted as general truths. It is time to debunk several:| Living The FIgh Life
My wife and I are celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary this year (and 38 years of being a couple). While on a public ferry in Luxor, Egypt we quizzed each other on the many other ferry boats we had ridden together. We each remembered examples the other hadn’t. It was a fun walk down memory lane from the British Columbia ferry we rode on our honeymoon to a recent public row boat from the cities of Rabat to Salé across the Bou Regreg river in Morocco [see photo above]. | Living The FIgh Life
On August 28, 2020 at 5:47 pm, at age 52, I declared my financial independence (FI), packed up my personal belongings and left my GS-15 job at the Department of Defense after 9 years of civil service and 20 years of active duty. How was I feeling? As you can see from the below video, I felt great.| Living The FIgh Life
Minimalism has had a profoundly positive impact on my life. I’m healthier and calmer, I have more time and flexibility with money, and I’m more content overall. In an effort to share why I have chosen a minimalist life and why it is so rewarding to me, here are my eight benefits of being a minimalist: | Living The FIgh Life
I used to be a cyclist, gardener, canner, aspiring musician, soccer coach, coin collector, stamp collector, home owner, DIY handyman, and Department of Defense hospitality expert. | Living The FIgh Life
I frequently hear on Financial Independence and Retire Early (FIRE) podcasts and read in FIRE blogs that the RE (Retire Early) part of the FIRE acronym should be dropped. They can’t imagine not working, they say, and besides, they enjoy working.| Living The FIgh Life
“I want to be happy” was how I replied when asked as a youth what I wanted to be in life. Likely inspired by our country’s Declaration of Independence, I bought into the enticing desire of achieving full happiness. It doesn’t work that way.| Living The FIgh Life
