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

  Shavers Lake, West Virginia  Michael Landon:  “Whatever you want to do, do it now.  There are only so many tomorrows.” My wife and I have been retired early since August 2020.  During the early stages of our retirement  journey, we like most early retirees, were still apprehensive and at times doubtful about our decision.  Had we made the right decision?  Were we too young to be retired?  Will things work out ok?   We couldn’t have known how we would handle our early retirement until we were actually living through our retirement.  It took about two months for us to realize we had made the right decision.  We needed to see our plan work itself out before we could proudly say that we had made the right decision. After living our early retirement for the past 14 months or so, we are happy to report we are enjoying and fully embracing our decision to retire early.   Just recently, I received bad news that one of my coworker...

  Wildwood Park, Harrisburg, PA Robert G. Allen:  “How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case.” Recently, as I was helping my brother-in-law choose investment types for his retirement account, it got me thinking.  It got me thinking, more specifically, which investment types would work for FIRE (financial independence retire early) crowd as well as anyone else who are interested in taking advantage of the power of the stock market. In this post, I’d like to discuss this valuable tool (actively managed funds) for FIRE (financial independence retire early). As I had previously discussed, many FIRE movement followers have used index fund strategy as the primary method of reaching financial independence.  I, for one, am also a big proponent of this strategy.  The value of an index fund is in its simplicity and low expenses compared to other type of funds.  Another value of index fund is the propens...

  Point State Park, Pittsburgh, PA Andrew Carnegie:  “Pittsburgh entered the core of my heart when I was a boy and cannot be torn out.” My wife and I had visited Pittsburgh during our cross country trek in 2003, going from New York City to Colorado, then back to New York City.  Pittsburgh was our last stop on your circuitous 3 week cross country trip. We stayed over for one night at a downtown hotel, then walked over the Smithfield St. Bridge to Station Square area for sightseeing (Duck Tours) and for some dinner.   We had some fond memories of that short but fun filled day in Pittsburgh and were super excited to be heading back there during the month of July. In July, we had stayed a month in the town of Indiana, PA, which is located about an hour and 20 minutes away from Pittsburgh.  We couldn’t pass up the chance to visit Pittsburgh area again, this time with our little fur ball, Toby. We prepared our lunches, snacks, drinks and food/water for Toby as usual, ...

  Grey Towers National Historic Site, Milford, PA Albert Einstein:  “Once you stop learning, you start dying.” The above quote from Albert Einstein is one of my absolute favorite quotes of all time.  It underscores the importance of needing to learn constantly to adapt and survive.  Humans, just like animals and plants, must learn constantly to adapt to their environments.  In this age of technology where industries and technologies are evolving constantly, it’s even more important now, to learn and adapt. In this post, I’d like to discuss my thoughts on learning and education to achieve your goal of financial independence and retiring early. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon.  My family was poor growing up in Seoul, South Korea and we were poor when we immigrated to the United States in 1981.  In South Korea, we lived in a tiny one room rental with a small kitchen for a family of four.  It didn’t have any appliances:  No refrigerator, no sto...

  Downtown Indiana, PA For the month of July 2021, our slow travels took us to Indiana, Pennsylvania.  Indiana is perhaps best known as the hometown of Jimmy Stewart , the famous movie star, war veteran, a noted nice guy, and as the home of Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) .  Before planning our trip to Indiana, our knowledge about Indiana was admittedly very limited, but we were excited to be exploring a new town. We arrived at our AirBnB on Philadelphia Street, which is the main thoroughfare.  We parked in front of our Airbnb rental to get the keys to our rental from our host.  After getting our instructions on the best way to start unloading our belongings (via the back entrance/stairs), we proceeded into our apartment. We were pleasantly surprised at how spacious the apartment was.  We had two bedrooms with 4 huge windows in each room, with views of the downtown area.  I preferred to open all 4 of the blinds on the windows, while my wife pr...