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

  Stock market will fluctuate.  Keep invested at all times. Warren Buffett:  “If you aren’t willing to own a stock for ten years, don’t even think about owning it for ten minutes.” Recently I was reading a finance article that reported how more than 60% of people who sold stocks during the pandemic market crash of 2020, regretted their decision.  Many of the people who regretted their decision were the ones who got out of the stock market but never went back in, as the market rebounded. For many of these people, sitting on the sidelines with cash, turned out to be a bad decision.  If they had stayed the course, the market would’ve recovered all its losses in about 4 months.  Instead, many lost money when they sold when stock prices were lower during market sell offs in February/March.  They then lost more money when the stock market rebounded by July, but they were not invested to realize those gains… In this post, I’d like to discuss why it’s importan...

  Murrells Inlet Marshwalk, SC Our pack (my wife, myself and our Pomeranian Toby) was very fortunate to spend 3 months in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina from December 2021 until February 2022.  When we were researching for a place to stay via AirBnB or Vrbo, we couldn’t believe our luck at finding something that was near Myrtle Beach, that also allows dogs. The last time we visited Myrtle Beach was in November of 2003.  We had sold our condo in New York City, and was getting ready to leave for Hawaii.  Before leaving for Hawaii, we wanted to visit popular East Coast destinations like Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head Island, Orlando, Miami, Key Largo, and Key West. We had made a quick stopover on our way down to Orlando (and on our way up to New York) that November.  We rented a one bedroom condo high rise and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay overlooking the majestic ocean laid out in front of us. We always had fond memories of Myrtle Beach area as we ate some delicious J...

  “Shop ‘til you drop” is not going to help with finances... Thomas Jefferson:  “Never spend your money before you have it.” One of the most important things to reach financial independence and to retire early, requires the discipline to not shop for unnecessary things.  Without this under control, the path to financial independence will no doubt be incredibly harrowing. In our consumer driven culture of buying things with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like, is something all of us are ingrained into from early on in our culture. As soon as we’re able to watch television, we’re bombarded by commercials to buy the latest cool cereals, snacks, drinks, toys, and experiences.  I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons dispersed with incredible amount of commercials.  Admittedly, I did enjoy those ‘Tony the tiger’ cereal commercials, or anything featuring Bugs Bunny and company! Looking back, how could a child, like me, not be brainwashed and sw...

  Our Pomeranian Toby  Mark Twain:  “Heaven goes by favor.  If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” On a cold and rainy day in March (2022), my wife and I said our final goodbyes to our beloved Toby.  Toby had been suffering from failing liver and kidney functions for some time, and we realized we had to let him go when he just stopped eating for 5 days. Toby had been losing considerable weight, and when we measured him in early December (2021) at a veterinarian’s office, he weighed just under 9 pounds.  He had weighed around 13 pounds about a year prior to that, at his last checkup… Immediately after that vet visit in December, Toby had shown improvements with help of medications, suddenly eating much better.  He showed marked improvements for the next two months, looking happier, gaining bit of weight, and being more alert. In retrospect, we think the medications he was taking, gave us two additional, precious months to spe...