Our third year anniversary of our early retirement: A journey of FIRE (financial independence retire early) and our observations/thoughts…
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| The Narrows, Zion National Park, UT |
Ernest Hemingway: “Don’t you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you’re not taking advantage of it? Do you realize you’ve lived nearly half the time you have to live already?
August marks my wife and myself’s third year anniversary of our early retirement. It is amazing how quickly three years went by when looking back, and this past year has been, without a doubt, the best one so far, thanks to our epic cross country road trip going from North Carolina to California!
To be able to do something for three years is meaningful and fulfilling in any endeavor, but to be able to retire early, is definitely something else. Like anything, we’ve had our ups and downs during our three years, as life happens, but overall, we’ve had the best of times in our personal journey of FIRE (financial independence retire early).
Our first two years went by in a blur, with us needing to make multiple adjustments to our newfound freedom and independence from the rat race. If our first two years were spent adjusting to nomadic lifestyle and adjusting to a pattern of traveling 8 months out of the year then spending 4 months with our family, then our last year deviated significantly from that pattern.
We stopped booking month (or longer) stays using AirBnB or Vrbo after August (2022), and instead, stayed at hotels and motels during our cross country trip. These were our reasons: 1) our Toby (our Pomeranian dog) went to dog heaven in March 2022, and we felt the time was right to venture out of the East Coast for the West Coast, and 2) we both got tired of staying at AirBnBs that were too far away from most popular destinations.
For example, during the summer of 2022, we spent 2 months in northwest corner of the state of Maine, practically at the end of a civilization where a drive to the coast would take roughly 3 hours. Our one month long stay in Vermont didn’t help either as it was about the same: middle of nowhere and very isolated. We actually longed for civilization after staying 3 summer months in New England…
Our decision to venture out on a cross country road trip was a great idea, as we finally got to experience multiple national parks, which we’ve been meaning to for the longest time. There’s no better time to travel than right now, when we actually can, financially and physically. It also helped that we were no longer constrained by time, thanks to our early retirement.
My motto in life is this: Do something you love right now, when you can. Don’t wait, as the opportunity may never come…
Here are some of the highlights of our past year:
- October 2022
We needed to replace our leased Chevy SUV around that time, and we bought(not leased) a Mazda CX-5 SUV late October. Due to supply chain shortages, we paid close to sticker price unfortunately, but we had prepared for the worst.
We knew going in, that the vehicles were in short supply, and we were really being flexible with our vehicle choices. We looked at several options (Honda CR-V/HR-V, Subaru Impreza/Forester, Mazda CX-30/CX-5). Lucky for us, Mazda CX-5 was available on the lot, and we bought in on the spot.
With the new car in place, we were ready for the cross country road trip!
- November 28, 2022 to February 9, 2023
- 11/28 - 11/30. We left North Carolina for South Carolina for a 2 night stay at my ex-colleague’s place, catching up with her and also our neighbors at the AirBnB in Murrels Inlet, South Carolina, who we got to know.
- 11/30 - 12/7. Spent 7 nights at Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi, enjoying excellent food, especially Cajun and seafood, while taking in some local history and culture.
- 12/7 - 12/9. Spent 2 nights in New Orleans, Louisiana, our second trip there together, walking around the French Quarter, and savoring delicious Cajun/Creole food.
- 12/9 - 12/11. Stayed with our nephew and toured the city of Houston, Texas
- 12/11 - 12/16. Spent 5 nights in the city of Galveston, Texas; toured the famous downtown area but stayed mostly indoors as we felt like it; ate mostly supermarket food from Kroger’s Supermarkets adjacent to our hotel
- 12/16 - 12/18. Spent 2 nights in San Antonio, Texas, sightseeing the Alamo and the famous River Walk
- 12/18 - 12/20. Visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park and stayed in the town of Carlsbad, New Mexico.
- 12/20 - 12/23. Visited White Sands National Park then stayed at Albuquerque, New Mexico. Visited Petroglyph National Monument and Old Town in Albuquerque.
- 12/23 - 12/24. Stayed 1 night in the town of Holbrook, Arizona after visiting Petrified Forest National Park the same afternoon.
- 12/24 - 12/27. Stopped by at Meteor Crater National Landmark, then headed for Page, Arizona for 3 nights. Visited the unforgettable Antelope Canyon, Glen Canyon National Park, and Horseshoe Bend near Page.
- 12/27 - 1/1. Stayed 5 nights in Moab, Utah and finally visited Arches and Canyonlands National Park.
- 1/1 - 1/3. Stayed 2 nights in town of Torrey, Utah and visited Capitol Reef National Park.
- 1/3 - 1/6. Stayed 3 nights in town of Panguitch, Utah for Bryce Canyon National Park.
- 1/6 - 1/9. Stayed 3 nights in Springdale, Utah for our favorite national park, Zion National Park!
- 1/9 - 1/13. 4 nights at the Bellagio (Las Vegas, Nevada) free thanks to my MGM Rewards Gold Status
- 1/13 - 1/15. 2 nights in Laughlin, Nevada at Avi Resort; visited Havasu City, Arizona and saw the London Bridge.
- 1/15 - 1/17. 2 nights free at Sycuan Casino Hotel in San Diego, California thanks to MyVegas Rewards.
- 1/17 - 1/19. 2 nights free at Pauma Valley Country Club (Pauma Valley, California) compliments of my buddy Carlito; visited nearby attractions nearby
- 1/19 - 1/23. 4 nights at the Delano (Las Vegas) free again thanks to my MGM Rewards card.
- 1/23 - 1/26. Stayed 3 nights at Aquarius Casino Resort in Laughlin, Nevada; tried local foods in Bullhead City, Arizona and walked Laughlin’s River Walk.
- 1/26 - 1/30. 4 nights at the Aria Hotel (Las Vegas) again thanks to my MGM Rewards card; visited Death Valley National Park and revisited Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
- 1/30 - 2/1. 2 nights in Flagstaff, Arizona; visited Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
- 2/1 - 2/2. One night stopover in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
- 2/2 - 2/3. One night stopover in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
- 2/3 - 2/6. 3 nights free at Gold Strike in Tunica, Mississippi again thanks to my MGM Rewards card.
- 2/6 - 2/9. 3 nights in Gatlinburg, Tennessee; visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
- February 9 until middle of August
Stayed with family in New York and North Carolina, going back and forth. Thanks to all the money we’ve overspent during our cross country trip, we needed to hunker down and clamp down on our spending the rest of the way.
As usual, we took day trips or shorter overnight trips with just the two of us, or with our parents during these months. It was still cheaper than laying out the $1300 or more we typically spend on month long AirBnB stays.
Not spending money on housing for those months really helped balance our budget for the year. We’re grateful we have a family that allows us to stay with them as needed.
After completing the third year of our early retirement journey, here are some of our thoughts and observations on retirement, finances, budgeting, and more:
- Taking that 2 and a half month long cross country trip made a huge dent in our budget for the first half of the year
The final tally for that trip ended up costing about $4,000 over our normal budget for the first half of the year. It wasn’t unexpected, as we knew staying at motels and hotels would cost more than a typical AirBnB rental for a month, and needing to eat on the road (and not preparing our own meals) would cost much more. Add to that, the price for gasoline to traverse the huge landmass that is America and various entertainment costs (admission fees, activities fees, buying gifts for family/friends, etc.), all added up.
Going in, we knew lodging costs would at least be lower thanks to my MGM Rewards Gold card. Having this card allowed us to get a total of 21 free nights at various MGM Resorts properties in Biloxi (MS), Las Vegas (NV), and Tunica (MS). On top of that, we got 2 free nights using MyVegas Rewards at Sycuan Casino Resort in San Diego, and we got a total of 6 free nights thanks to our family/friends (South Carolina, Pauma Valley, Houston).
All in all, we spent little over $3,700 on lodging for the cross country trip spanning over 2 and a half month. We thought we did pretty good on that. If we compare this to our typical lodging budget the previous year, we ended up spending about the same for a 3 month period. *We spent around $1,300 per month on average at AirBnB the 2nd year.
Other costs for the trip include:
- Gasoline $900
- Food $2,400
- Entertainment $3,000
- Miscellaneous $750
- Despite going over our budget for the first half of the year, we managed to balance our budget the second half of the year!
The months we spent with family before and after our cross country trip really helped. The month of October we stayed with our family, saving us money on lodging for that month. The previous 2 years, we had booked AirBnB stays for that month. We also stayed with family during the months of April, June, July, and August, months during which we normally would use AirBnB.
That $4,000 over budget was balanced by end of August! What a relief!
I had preached the importance of budgeting from the get go, and this shouldn’t be overlooked. Everyone should practice it every single month. If you overspend on one category, try to cut down on another category. For example, if you had a car repair which busted your budget by $300 for that month, cut down on entertainment, buying clothes, and/or find ways to save money on things like car insurance, phone bill, cable/internet bill, etc.
We did something similar to above in that we stayed with family to balance our budget. Because we had done so much traveling and getting new stimuli during our long cross country trip, we didn’t mind staying at our family’s places, satisfied with doing a day trip or shorter overnight trips.
Life is all about finding a balance: if you spend too much one month, go easy the next month. We all must practice self discipline and putting off wants to balance the budget. There is no easy way, no magic pill. Sacrifice may be a dirty word these days for all those social media influencers going on exotic vacations constantly, but without it, you can’t be financially independent…
- Our dearly departed Toby, our Pomeranian dog, gave us the opportunity to travel anywhere…
We really owe it to our baby for giving us the opportunity to take this epic cross country road trip over the winter. We never would’ve made it work if we needed to search for accommodations that cater to pets.
Of course there are plenty of motels/hotels/AirBnB options out there, but in most cases, the cost is usually higher when traveling with pets. Because we didn’t need to pay extra had we had Toby, we were able to make this work.
We truly believe it was something he would wholeheartedly recommend for us if he was looking down from doggie heaven, knowing how much we all loved to travel…
- Third year of early retirement gave us more options when it comes to finding lodging
After Toby was gone, we started doing more cultural activities, like visiting museums and attending classical music concerts. We also started staying at hotels much more starting July of last year.
For example, we visited Quebec City, Montreal, Washington D.C. and Springfield (MA). Each time, we stayed at hotels, really enjoying all that each city has to offer. We visited plenty of museums, attended a jazz concert, toured the city, and really enjoyed rejoining civilization.
All these activities were truly fun and welcoming after staying almost off-the-grid (well, at least it felt that way to us) during our summer months, away from most civilization. Since those overnight trips to various cities, we really appreciated hotel/motel’s simplicity, amenities, and convenience.
We didn’t have to worry about cleaning our AirBnB when leaving, we didn’t have to worry about cooking our meals, or we didn’t have to worry about safety. These were things we had missed about hotels/motels.
Since August 2022, we did not use AirBnB or Vrbo like we did for the first two years of our early retirement. It somehow worked out that way for year #3.
We’re kind of glad, as we got somewhat tired of AirBnB. The cost was the best part about AirBnB but other than that, it no longer had many appealing features. We’re well aware of AirBnB customers’ complaints of tacked on costs, the unreasonable request to do chores when leaving, sometimes downright uncomfortable interactions with hosts, or with safety.
We’ve experienced some of these complaints ourselves during our 2 years of using AirBnB/Vrbo. I’m sure we’ll continue to use them, but maybe less than what we used to. The cost is still a major benefit of using AirBnB when booking month or longer stays. We’ll see…
- We still love our slower life after getting off the rat race
Some people are just born to constantly move, to search for new challenges, or continue to work to validate their self worth. I, on the other hand, feel none of these things since calling it quits in August 2020.
I am perfectly happy lounging inside our family’s place, at an AirBnB, or at hotel/motel. On days we don’t travel (which is much more than days we do travel), my wife and I enjoy the simple joys of life these days: no need to get up in the morning to go to work, no need to live with deadlines, no need to stress about work or people that cause stress.
Life is simple and we’re taking our time enjoying the simple things in life ever since we retired: listening to the sound of rain & sound of thunderstorms, playing with our family’s pets, exercising, reading books, writing, listening to music, eating delicious takeout foods on a weekday, and going grocery shopping on a weekday when it’s much less busy.
To some, these trivial things may baffle them and they may ask if this is all there is to early retirement. Early retirement is different for everyone. If your idea of early retirement is constant international travel, staying at fancy hotels, shopping ‘til you drop, and eating the finest foods, then you need to hit a huge lottery to live that way.
Early retirement is only possible when you can control your spending and spend not more than 4% per year (or less) of your nest egg. If you need to spend like a celebrity, then you’ll need to amass millions upon millions of dollars to afford that spending.
It comes down to what you can do, what you’re willing to do, and what type of lifestyle you want to live in retirement. If you can live a modest lifestyle, enjoying simple things in life like we do, then early retirement is possible. If not, you’ll need to work longer, save up much more to maintain that lifestyle, before retiring.
Ask this simple question: Would you work until you turn 65 (or later) to have enough money, retire like most people, then have less active years to enjoy that retirement, or would you rather work until you amass roughly 25 times your yearly spending, retire early, then have more active years to enjoy that retirement?
- Tough stock market/bond market downturn in 2022
Stock market and bond market hit its apex in November 2021 during the post-Pandemic boom, then started crashing all year last year. If you’ve been following this blog, you know I’ve always preached the importance of an emergency fund.
We put this important pillar of healthy financial life into practice last year. We reduced the amount of bonds we sell each month which provides our monthly income, and used our emergency fund to supplement our income.
By doing this, we’re hoping to make our bonds last longer. And who knows, by 2024 the bond market may turn around, at which point we’ll go back to selling our usual amount of bonds each month, without touching our emergency fund. We’ll see. Always improvise, adapt, and overcome.
- Rebound of the stock market has been spectacular while bond market still has ways to go…
If there’s one thing that’s been true for all the past stock market crashes, it’s that they all recoup its losses to go higher. I placed my hope that this time it would also be the case, and I was right.
Since January, all the major stock market indexes regained roughly 20% or more. In the case of NASDAQ, it regained over 37% as of end of July. It doesn’t mean it has recouped all of the losses of 2022, but it does mean things are looking up!
One thing that is really really important when investing is to think long term. Don’t let a crash ruin your portfolio. Don’t sell when it’s crashing. Use emergency fund during those times like we have. Consider a crash as an opportunity to buy stocks at discounts instead.
US stock market is the greatest stock market in the world, and it will always be. Just let the ingenuity, creativity, and the passion of American companies to work for you. Invest in American companies for the long haul, use index funds, have emergency fund, keep buying during highs and lows of the market, budget, and you’ll be all set.
Crossing my fingers to see what the second half of 2023 will look like for the stock and bond markets…
- Inflation was a pain, but getting better
During the summer months last year, price of gasoline was near $5 in New England! Because we travel so much, price of gasoline was painful for us and it hit us in our pockets in the worst way.
Price of food was not much better, especially up in New England. We paid close to $5 for a bag of onions, $4 for dozen eggs, and many restaurant prices were out of control.
Despite all that, we lived through it by careful planning and adjusting, and prices eventually got better 6 months later. We hoped price of gasoline during our cross country trip would be around $3.50 per gallon, and we got our wish! In some states like Texas, we paid $2.50 per gallon, even.
Inflation really dug into our pockets (and probably most Americans not named Rockefeller, Carnegie, or Bloomberg). Lucky for everyone, it is getting better as we speak.
Like I always say, adapt, improvise, and overcome.
In conclusion:
Our third year of early retirement finally got us to the American South, Southwest, and West. It was such a great trip full of memories that will last a lifetime…
We pulled this off in the middle of one of the highest inflationary periods in the United States. With savvy planning, adapting, and adjusting, we were able to balance our budget for the year despite the money-draining cross country travel. We will always miss our Pomeranian Toby, but thanks to him, we were able to finally take that road trip and live like kings and queens (when staying at high end hotels) during that trip.
The high inflation wasn’t planned but the downturn in stock market was. We correctly predicted a crash would come sooner or later, and planned before our retirement to get our emergency fund in order. Thanks to that move, we were able to pull through with just a scratch, but we made it.
Life is full of challenges, trials and tribulations. It’s up to us to plan for the worst, but hope for the best…
Keep up with us on our continuing journey through our early retirement and thank you for reading!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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