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

  Our trip to Niagara Falls and Toby enjoying his visit! Unknown:  “Retirement is wonderful if you have two essentials:  much to live on and much to live for.” The month of August marks our one year anniversary of our early retirement!  Wow, how times flew by… It seems like only yesterday that we sold our townhome, got rid of around 90% of our belongings, and started our nomadic lifestyle.  It’s hard to believe that was a year ago! When we set out on our journey after retiring, we wanted to travel more and spend more time with family.  We think we’ve accomplished both those goals. This is a quick rundown of our travels during the previous year: End of August - September :  Moved down to North Carolina to our brother’s place to establish domicile, then went to see our parents in September October :  Spent a month in an Airbnb rental in Ocean City, Maryland  November :  Booked a short trip to Bushkill, PA area for my mom’s birthday and spe...

  Beaufort Waterfront, North Carolina  Lao Tzu:  “Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” My wife and I have been traveling with our Pomeranian, Toby, since our early retirement last August.  Since retiring, we’ve spent time in various destinations on the eastern parts of the United States, and we look forward to exploring more destinations in our foreseeable future. In this post, I’d like to share my thoughts on the notion of ‘not caring’ to see how this helps achieve the goal of financial independence and retiring early. Growing up, I was always a bit different.  I didn’t like following a trend or buy something just because everyone said I should.  I, not anyone else, have to really like something for me to pursue that.  No one else could make me like something... When Sony Walkman (Google that if you’re younger than 40) came out in the early 80’s, my best friend bought one (actually, his mom bought it for him). ...

  Rainbows over the Niagara Falls, NY Mark Twain:  “One frequently only finds out how really beautiful a really beautiful woman is after considerable acquaintance with her; and the rule applies to Niagara Falls, to majestic mountains, and to mosques-especially to mosques.” During the month of June 2021, we booked a month long stay at a rental in a western New York town of Ellicottville, using Vrbo.  During this month long stay, we visited so many wonderful places, one of which was Niagara Falls State Park. Our previous visit to Niagara Falls was with our friends 19 years ago.  It had been a long time and we were looking forward to visiting it again. On a warm June weekday, our pack (myself, my wife, and Toby, our Pomeranian dog) set out to Niagara Falls State Park.  My wife prepared lunch, snacks, and drinks so we can eat at the park. We left early around 8:30 a.m. from Ellicottville hoping to arrive there by around 10 a.m.  We didn’t want to scramble for a...

  Shopping at high end stores Dr. Steve Maraboli:  “A sense of entitlement is a cancerous thought process that is void of gratitude and can be deadly to our relationships.” Welcome back! In this post, I’d like to share my thoughts on the dangers of entitlement to your happiness, as well as dangers of entitlement to your financial independence. Let’s first define what entitlement is: Entitlement is defined as the fact of having a right to something or the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges and special treatment. Throughout my early childhood until I turned 20, I felt entitled.  I believed the world owed me something for all the perceived ‘wrongs’ it has done to me.  I thought I was deserving of everything because the world made my childhood unhappy and difficult.   I thought, wrongly, that just because I had a tough childhood, that something good had to happen.  This toxic thought process took hold of me in my teen years... I had classic ...

  Toby enjoying himself at Port Jefferson, NY! During the month of March and May, my wife and I (and our Pomeranian Toby), visited our family in New York.  Because it had been over a decade(!) since my wife and I last visited Port Jefferson, we decided on just that on two different occasions. My first trip (when I was in my teens) was made possible by my buddy Jimmy, who grew up in Long Island.  I remember visiting there to see the beautiful sights, and that good memory stayed with me all these years! We took our mom and our sister, along with Toby, to Port Jefferson on a Saturday in March.  Even in March, the place was crowded.  We couldn’t find parking anywhere near the Harborfront Park.  We instead drove further on and found a spot in the Port Jefferson Public Beach and Dog Park. This actually worked out great because Toby was able to freely explore the area right in front of the parking lot! I can tell he was totally excited to visit a new place.  ...

  Living with less! My wife and I were watching a documentary by two well known minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemu recently.  We were fascinated by their journey to become minimalists, to live with less, and to thrive. Our journey to live with less coincided with us preparing for our early retirement.  Even though we retired in August 2020, our journey to live with less, actually started around 2019.   In 2019, my wife decided to quit her job of 10 years.  That year, we decided to really tighten our budget.  We stopped buying stuff that wasn’t needed.  Out went shopping for clothes, knickknacks, household items, Toby’s (our Pomeranian) toys, and others… We trimmed our budget to live with less that year.  Little did we know at the time, but this practice to live with less, actually helped prepare us for our early retirement the following year. To prepare for our early retirement in August 2020, we pared down our belongings to aro...