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

  Mortgage is usually the primary method of accruing net wealth Welcome back!  In this post, we will be covering the importance of a mortgage.  This is the eighth in a series of financial tools to master.  If you’ve missed any of the previous posts, please see the links at the bottom of this post. Buying a home is typically the primary method of accruing net wealth for most Americans.  It is for most people, the biggest purchase they’ll make in their lifetime.  According to a recent Federal Reserve study, average homeowner has 40 times the net wealth of an average renter.   There are three main reasons for this discrepancy.  First reason is homeowners are ‘forced to save’ each month when they’re paying the mortgage.  Even if first few years’ payments are negligible in reducing the principal amount that was borrowed, over time, the principal amount will be reduced.  Second reason is home may appreciate in value over several years, whereas renting does not.  Lastly, third reason is the p

  State Capitol, Harrisburg, PA My wife and I have lived in the state of Pennsylvania since April 2006 until our early retirement in August 2020.  Pennsylvania has been great to us as it allowed us to retire early (thanks to a steady job) and also because we got our traveling companion Toby, a 13 pound Pomeranian dog in Pennsylvania. There are many places I want to write about Pennsylvania in the upcoming posts, but I think I’ll start with Pennsylvania’s capital, Harrisburg. Harrisburg sits on the Susquehanna River and is home to around 50,000 residents.  The downtown is not huge like say Philadelphia, but it packs many neat attractions within a square mile radius of downtown area.  It offers sights and attractions found in many large cities, but with the charm of a small town.   Harrisburg played a vital role in the Westward expansion, Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution.  Many of the sights and attractions pay tribute to the city’s proud history.   Due to its relative proximity

Good credit equals financial security! Welcome back!  My name is Jake and I’ve been retired since August 2020 at the age of 48, thanks to the FIRE (financial independence retire early) movement. This series ‘financial tools to master’ was created for the benefit of anyone who’s never gotten any finance education in school or from parents (like me).  I also created these posts to help my nieces and nephews in their quest to become financially knowledgeable and eventually to become financially independent. In this continuing series, I’d like to go over the importance of having good credit.  If you missed any of the previous series, please see the links at the bottom of this post. What is credit? Credit is the trust which allows one party (the lender) to lend money or resources to another party (the borrower) where the borrowing party does not need to reimburse the lender immediately.  The borrower is obligated to pay back the money or resources at an agreed upon time set by both lender a

  View of Montreal from Mount Royal During the 20 plus years my wife and I lived in New York City, one of our favorite places to visit was Canada.  We visited Canada five times or so together.  We visited Montreal (twice), Ottawa, Quebec City, and Niagara Falls.  Canada will always have a place in our hearts for all its natural beauty, the warm friendly people, the delicious food, and LaBatt Blue beer! Home to over 4.2 million inhabitants, Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, Canada.  It’s set on an island near the St. Lawrence River, and it’s named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill at its center.  Montreal is the largest primarily French speaking city outside of Paris, France.  About 60% of the population can speak both French and English. Montreal started out as a French colonial missionary settlement in the 16th century, but soon became a fur-trading center thanks to the St. Lawrence River.  Montreal was the largest city in Canada until Toronto took that d

Emerald Isle Boating Access Area, North Carolina  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:  “Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.” Welcome everyone!  I’m a recent early retiree at the age of 48.  My wife and I (and our Pomeranian dog) have been slow traveling across the eastern parts of the United States and we’ve been spending time with our family since last August.  In this post, I will lay out my principles for how I try to live my life.  These beliefs are what made early retirement possible for me. This is my ‘ Early Retirement Manifesto ’. Principle One: Get rid of debt!  No debt is good debt.  The so called ‘bad debt’ including credit card debt, personal loans, and car loans are bad.  But so are so called ‘good debt’ including mortgage and student loans.   The LESS debt you have, the faster you’ll be financially independent.  It’s never good to pay someone else (credit card companies, banks, car finance/l

Sunset at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina  I have been retired since August 2020.  My wife, myself and our Pomeranian dog have been traveling since we sold our home around that time.  We retired early to accomplish two main goals.  One was to spend more time with each other (including our Pomeranian), while the other was to spend time with our family (parents, siblings, nieces and nephews). So far we are successful doing both of these.  We’re not sure where we will be traveling to next, but it’s been fun so far since retiring.   In this post, I would like to share my thoughts and observations on the pros and cons of early retirement.   Pros of early retirement: Have plenty of time :  Time used to be something I never had enough of.  Sunday evenings would be spent getting ready for the coming work week.  This meant getting lunch and snacks ready.  Monday mornings in particular, were hectic.  I needed to get up at 6:40 am to get ready for work, then be out of home by 8:15 am.  Work from 9

Birds Sunbathing! My wife, myself, and our Pomeranian dog have been traveling to various destinations in the US since our early retirement in August of 2020.  We did extensive research on the best option to stay long term (month at a time).  At the end, we settled on Airbnb sublet over other travel booking websites due to their cost and   better rental choices.   Using Airbnb sublet, we stayed at Ocean City, Maryland and Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.  We feel we got a fair deal at both locations.  Ocean City cost $865 while Atlantic Beach cost $1000 per month.  ***Please check out this post ‘Slow travel during the pandemic...’ here . Please see below for our top tips on how to save money when traveling. Tip: We’re currently doing slow traveling.  This means we’re booking one month at a time or more to stay at one location.  What this allows through Airbnb sublet, is that it reduces the cost of renting vs booking few days or a week at a time.  Whereas a short term booking may cost $75