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

  Credit cards are an important part of financial life! Welcome back!  This is a ninth in a series of financial tools to master.  If you’ve missed any of the ‘financial tools to master’ series, please see the bottom of this post for links! What is a credit card? Credit card is a payment card issued by an issuing financial institution to enable the cardholder to pay for goods and services with the understanding that cardholder will pay back the amount. Why do I need a credit card? Credit card is perhaps the easiest way to build credit history.  By opening one up, then using it, you can start to build a good credit history.   Credit card is useful when buying an expensive item as it typically doubles the manufacturer’s warranty.  It’s also useful when traveling, as most airlines and hotels would prefer you use a credit card, and not cash. What are the dangers of using a credit card? Like anything in life, a credit card should be a tool you learn to manage.  Used correctly, you can earn c

  Statue of Liberty, New York City I’m a recent early retiree at the age of 48.  August 2020 was when I decided to forgo regular paychecks to travel and spend more time with our family.  We have been living like nomads since August, and we’ve been slow traveling across the eastern parts of the United States.  We are followers of the FIRE (financial independence retire early) movement. My wife and I both grew up in New York City.  I spent 22 years in NYC, and my wife spent 20 years there.  We went to schools there, worked there, and entertained ourselves there.  We still visit our family who are still living in NYC and its surrounding areas (Long Island) on a regular basis, now that we have time on our hands! We always wondered what makes New York City what it is.  We couldn’t help but come up with these 3 things:  Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island, the Empire State Building, and Times Square.   These places are where we would take someone if someone was visiting from out of town.  It is p

Money growing over time! 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 retirement in August, 2020.  In between our travels, we’ve spent time with our family in North Carolina and New York City. In this post, I’d like to share my perspective on the question ‘ retiring on $100,000 .’ This was a question I asked myself many times in what seems like a lifetime ago.  Around 2009 or so, I was searching for answers on how I could retire early and get off the rat race. I started asking this question along with ‘how to retire early’, ‘get off the rat race’, and ‘how much do I need to retire.’   I’m not going to sugar coat this answer.  Retiring on $100,000 is not going to be easy.  Believe me, I thought through this question and researched it thoroughly.  I asked myself what I could do, if there’s anything that can be done. I thought maybe, if I really reduced my expenses per year that

  Ricketts Glen State Park, PA In the 14 years my wife and I lived in the state of Pennsylvania, no other park had such an immense appeal than the Ricketts Glen State Park.  We took numerous trips to Ricketts Glen State Park even though it was over 2 1/2 hour drive from where we lived near Philadelphia.  Ricketts Glen State Park will forever be our absolute favorite park in the state of Pennsylvania! Located about 140 miles northwest of the city of Philadelphia, Ricketts Glen State Park encompasses 13,193 acres in Lucerne, Sullivan, and Colombia counties.  Ricketts Glen harbors the Glens Natural Area, which is designated a National Natural Landmark.   It was one of the most scenic places we’ve had the opportunity to see in person, and rightfully so.  It boasts a beautiful Falls Trail which is the main centerpiece of the state park.  The visit to Ricketts Glen State Park wouldn’t be complete without hiking at least parts of the Falls Trail. The Falls Trail affords views of the glens and

  Leonardo Da Vinci:  “Life without love is no life at all.” My wife and I are recent early retirees at ages 51 and 48.  We have been on this journey to reach financial independence and to retire early for the past 10 years or so.  We finally reached that on August 2020.  Since August, we’ve been traveling to various locations in the eastern parts of the United States with our companion, a Pomeranian dog named Toby. In this post, I’d like to share my thoughts on the importance of a significant other’s role in reaching financial independence and to retire early. My wife and I met in college in New York City.  I remember telling her that she looked like the partying type (she was pretty!)  I loved her reaction when I told her that (she couldn’t believe I had said that to someone who just met).  I had literally met her for the first time in the second floor cafeteria that day.  I guess I wasn’t very socially aware... For whatever reason, I just knew she was someone I could see myself marr

Zion National Park  Zion National Park is Utah’s first national park.  It encompasses 229 square miles and is located in southwest corner of the state of Utah, in the town of Springdale.   Zion National Park is 163 miles from Las Vegas, NV and it should take about 2 hours and 45 minutes by car.  Zion is world renowned for massive sandstone cliffs, slot canyons, and for hiking trails.   My wife and I drove on an early Friday morning during our stay in Las Vegas, to Zion National Park.  Let me start by saying the drive to Utah is incredible.  After about 30 minutes of driving outside of Las Vegas city limits, the roads really open up.  The speed limit will reach up to 75 miles per hour. Our rental car for the trip, a Mustang convertible, was more than up to task for our drive there.  When the roads got curvy, Mustang was ready for action.  It was planted to the road and it had more than enough juice to get to passing speeds on the wide open roads.  I will always remember the beautiful vi

  Ringing Rocks Park, Hollidaysburg, PA Recently, I heard from my niece with some awesome news that she managed to pay off $10,000 in student loans!  I congratulated her on her awesome achievement at her young age of 21!  Frankly, at her age, it’s not uncommon to spend, then spend some more, to live the ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out) lifestyle. I take partial credit as I always tried to teach her about finance, but this was mostly on her.  She still has to make the decision to follow through on her commitment to do this.  And for that, I am very proud of what she was able to accomplish! The question to pay off debt vs saving for retirement is a very popular question that most seriously financially minded people would surely have asked at least once in their journey, to achieve financial independence. In my opinion, the short answer is:  you should pay off debt and save for retirement.  You can’t ignore one or the other, as both are equally important... This is what I’d like to suggest: