Wandering Money Pig - A journey of early retirement and FIRE (financial independence retire early)

Things we buy becomes an item someone may not even want... Will Rogers:  “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.” My wife and I are recent early retirees as of August 2020 at age of 51 and 48.  We sold our home of 14 years at the end of August.  Before closing our home on August 24th, we literally went through hell to get rid of our belongings as we weren’t moving to another house or rental.  Instead, we were going to live like nomads, traveling to various locations for a month (or more) around the eastern part of the US, and to spend time with our family. Between the time our home was put up for sale in early July and closing, we spent 5 rough weeks trimming our stuff.  I will say this was one of the most challenging periods my wife and I went through together... Even before deciding to retire early, the idea of downsizing or minimalism always appealed to us.  We got hooked on TV sho...

  Cedar St. Park, Emerald Isle, North Carolina  My wife and I are recent early retirees at ages 51 and 48.  We’ve been slow traveling with our traveling companion Toby, a 13 pound Pomeranian dog since our early retirement in August 2020.  We’ve visited several destinations on the eastern parts of the United States including Ocean City (Maryland), Atlantic Beach (North Carolina), Claysburg (Pennsylvania), the Poconos, and others.  We’re planning on living this way in the near foreseeable future. Previously in my blog, I had written a post on how to retire on $100,000 ($100k).  If you missed that post, please click here .   In this post, I’d like to share my thoughts on retiring on $200,000. When I was researching financial independence and retiring early during my late thirties, one of my favorite search topics was exactly this one:  How to retire on $200k.   I knew looking for answers on how to retire on $100k was not going to be easy.  ...

   View of downtown Ottawa, Canada  My wife and I had the privilege of visiting Ottawa when we resided in New York City.  Ottawa is the capital of Canada, and it certainly shows, from its majestic Parliament Hill, the Ottawa River, and world class museums.  Bordering the city of Montreal to the east, and US border to the south, Ottawa is derived from a native Algonquin word for ‘odawa’, which means to trade.   Ottawa is home to nearly 1.4 million residents.  Its main economic driver is the federal government, which accounts for majority of jobs.  Close second is the high technology industry, which earned Ottawa the nickname ‘Silicon Valley North’.   Located about 460 miles northwest of New York City, it took us about 9 hours to arrive there.  The highway we chose, the I-87, is one we’ve taken many times to travel upstate to the Catskills Mountains, Lake George, and Canada. We left early around 6 am on a Saturday morning so we can arrive ...

  Chameleon adapting to its environment! Albert Einstein:  “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” My wife and I are recent early retirees at ages 51 and 48.  We’ve been slow traveling with our traveling companion Toby, a 13 pound Pomeranian dog since our early retirement in August 2020.  We’ve spent a month or longer at various destinations on the eastern parts of the United States. In this post, I’d like to share my thoughts on importance of adapting to change for life and for FIRE (financial independence retire early). What is adapting? Online dictionary defines it as ‘ make something suitable for a new use or purpose; modify .’ I define it this way...Life is constantly changing.  What was, will never stay that way for long.  Things we do to hold on to the status quo will eventually make us unhappy when they don’t stay the same.  When we can’t deal with that change, then life becomes difficult... When we work at a job and we’re let g...

  Classic Room at the Borgata, Atlantic City My wife and I have been going to the Borgata hotel and casino since its opening 18 years ago thanks to my dad.  My dad had a loyalty/player’s card which allowed free hotel stays (comped rooms).  We couldn’t resist free hotel rooms when my dad asked if we wanted to go! Fast forward to now. I now have a loyalty/player’s card that I use to take my parents to the same hotel for free.  Funny how roles switch...My dad used to treat us to free rooms, so now I’m treating him...Favor returned! Borgata Hotel & Casino was built in 2003 to huge fanfare when it opened.  Costing then $1.1 billion, it rivaled the best hotels in Las Vegas and New York City.  It features 2000 rooms, outdoor / indoor pools, a spa, a buffet, 3000+ slot machines, and many high end restaurants. Since its opening, it added the Water Club (a boutique hotel) in 2008 at a cost of $400 million, which added another 800 rooms to the available room capa...

  Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii  Mark Twain:  “The loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean.” My wife and I are recent early retirees at ages 51 and 48.  Since our early retirement last August (2020), we’ve been slow traveling with our traveling companion Toby, a 13 pound Pomeranian dog.  We’ve spent a month or longer in Ocean City (Maryland), Atlantic Beach (North Carolina), the Poconos (Pennsylvania), Claysburg (Pennsylvania), as well as several other attractions on the eastern parts of the United States. In this post, I’d like to share our experiences of living in Hawaii and the pros and cons. In the year 2003, my wife and I decided to move to Hawaii.  We had lived through 9/11 while working in Manhattan (New York City).  I worked one train stop away from the Twin Towers and my wife worked in midtown (35th Street).   9/11 would have a huge impact in our lives. After 9/11, we didn’t like working in the city.  We sure didn’t ...