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

  Money is one of the top reasons for divorce in America  Egyptian proverb:  “If you marry a monkey for his wealth, the money goes, but the monkey remains as is.” Money matters is usually listed as a top 10 reason for divorce in America.  Why is handling money so difficult?  Isn’t love enough to overcome a trivial thing like money? Well, not exactly… The older we get, the more difficult life gets.  We simply have way too many financial obligations and responsibilities.  We have student loans, credit card bills, mortgages, rents, personal loans, car payments, and the list goes on and on and on… I think most of us really don’t worry about money matters prior to college.  Most of us will probably open a credit card for the first time while in college.  I know none of my friends (nor I) had credit cards in high school, but that changed in college… The opening of a credit card is the beginning (for most of us) of our credit history.  Now, jus...

  Toby meeting a friend at Hawn’s Overlook, PA During the month of August, our slow travels took us to central Pennsylvania, to Altoona.  During our stay, we got to enjoy our cozy trailer home rental that was refurbished with modern 'decor, and best of all, had a covered porch, which we really loved. We got to explore nearby area attractions like the World Famous Horseshoe Curve, Headache Hill Scenic View and Fort Roberdeau .  We were happy to revisit several parks near the town of Hollidaysburg, which we had visited during our month long stay in the town of Claysburg, back in April.   It almost felt like a homecoming when we revisited places like Chimney Rocks Park and Natureworks Park.  We felt nostalgic and felt good coming back.  After covering all these places though, we wanted to find other destinations that were within a two hour drive from Altoona, so we can be back before dinner time. I did plenty of research on where we should see and came up wi...

  Getting rid of stuff after someone is gone is hard work… Albert Einstein:  “Out of clutter, find simplicity.  From discord, find harmony.  In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.” After my mother-in-law passed away, our family got together to get rid of things that she had accrued over her lifetime and her husband’s lifetime.  Even though they had lived in a small one bedroom apartment, we couldn’t believe how much we needed to get rid of. Besides the large furniture, there were the usual suspects:  kitchen stuff, photos, memorabilia, clothes, and left over food items.  They had two refrigerators, the second of which sat in the living room, which was always an eyesore.   It needed all of our efforts to discard, or reuse still good food items like beans, rice, and various condiments.  During this process, I wondered, “ Why do we have such a hard time getting rid of things?” I think anyone who grew up poor has a tendency to want things...

  New Year’s upon us; time to set your goals for the coming year! F. Scott Fitzgerald:  “It’s never too late to become who you want to be.  I hope you live a life that you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.” As I write this post during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I can’t help but think things over.    2021 was a great year for our pack (my wife, myself, and our Pomeranian Toby), and also a challenging year. 2021 was a great year as we successfully lived through our first full year of early retirement, happy and unscathed!  We didn’t argue over how we should live our retirement, nor where we should live for a month or longer.   Things worked out fairly smoothly.  We tackled an AirBNB problem (noisy neighbor) head on during the month of April in Claysburg and we managed to not pull each other’s hair out during couple’s spats!  All in all, we got through major/minor problems t...

  Ocean City Fishing Pier during sunset, MD Martin Luther King Jr.:  “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Last week of December 2021 marks the one year anniversary of this blog.  I had created this blog for two reasons:  1) give my nieces/nephews (and anyone else) useful information on how to reach financial independence and to retire early and 2) document my travels as well as anything else that comes to my mind after retirement so readers can have a better understanding of what to expect after retirement. I didn’t think anyone (outside of my family) would actually read any of my posts when I first posted my blog, but to my surprise, people started to read them!  For that, I thank you readers.  It gives me so much motivation when I know someone out there is reading what I write, which hopefully can help them in their journey to FIRE (financial independence retire early). One other reason why I started this blog was becaus...