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

  Cape Lookout National Seashore, North Carolina  Welcome back!  My wife and I (and our Pomeranian dog) have been slow traveling across the eastern parts of the United States since our early retirement in August 2020.  We’ve spent a month in Ocean City, Maryland and spent 3 months in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. It was during our 3 months trip to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina that we got to see all the hidden gems nearby, including this one, which is about 8 miles east of Atlantic Beach.   As usual, I looked up on Google to search scenic spots near me and came up with several choices.  This one was the one I decided due to the close proximity to Atlantic Beach.  We wanted to come back to our place before lunch time... The drive on NC Route 70 is such a joy!  I love the bay and ocean views all around.  The views really open up whenever we’re crossing a bridge, affording a better view of the surrounding areas.   It took us about 15 minutes to arrive at our first destination:  Beaufor

  Beaufort Waterfront, North Carolina  My wife and I are recent early retirees at ages 51 and 48.  We’ve been slow traveling with our traveling companion Toby, a 13 pound Pomeranian dog since our early retirement last August.  We’ve spent a month or longer in various destinations on the east coast of the United States and we plan on continuing our travel schedule in the foreseeable future. The question “how much to retire?” is something I asked myself for years before my own retirement.  I must have spent hours searching online for this same question.  If you also asked this question, then I know why.   It might be because you’re tired of the rat race, where you’re going through your life like an automaton each week, except you can’t seem to get out of this rut.  You don’t enjoy your job, or you’re no longer happy doing the same thing different day... It might be because you want to travel more.  It might be because you think there’s more to life than working, paying the bills, taking

  View of Mountain Creek from inside the condo When my wife and I lived in New York City, we had visited Mountain Creek in New Jersey, to ski there several times.  Mountain Creek is the closest ski resort near NYC at just over 50 miles or so.  We made good use of that relatively close distance on our yearly trips.   We had skied for about 6 years.  The year 2002 was our last trip to any ski resort to enjoy this winter activity.  The following year (2003), we had moved to Hawaii.  No more skiing from that point on! It was a wonderful feeling to revisit Mountain Creek after all these years.  I still remembered driving on I-80 West, then taking Route 23 to get to the mountain.   For this trip in early March, we went with my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law.  We had stopped by at a supermarket near Fort Lee (NJ), to do some grocery shopping for this one week trip.  We purchased close to $200(!) in groceries.  Everyone has to eat, right?  Especially me!  I mean, look at the name of my blo

  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