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

  Grayden Paul Town Park, Beaufort, North Carolina  George Bernard Shaw:  “You don’t stop laughing when you grow old.  You grow old when you stop laughing.” Whenever we mention to anyone about retirement or early retirement, the most popular option people ask about, seems to be RV (recreation vehicles).  A variant of RV’ing is ‘van life’, which takes the RV concept but it goes even more extreme, in that the space is even smaller with less amenities compared to an RV.   For awhile, we’ve been following the tiny house movement thanks to hit TV show ‘Tiny House Nation’, which showcases people downsizing to a home about 1/10th their current home!   We also thought about house sitting wherever possible for some time. In the end, we chose slow travel using services like AirBNB and Vrbo, to stay a month or longer at one destination.  Below are our reasoning behind why we decided this way and our reasons for/against each lifestyle option: RV (recreation vehicle): We seriously considered buying

  Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford, CT In early May, we took our family to Preston, Connecticut for our mom’s birthday.  Why did we choose Preston?  Well, it was absolutely the best option available that had fantastic views from anywhere in the house! We were searching for any AirBNB rental for two nights in any of the tri-state area that borders New York.  We searched Long Island, upstate New York, and New Jersey, but we didn’t see anything that blew us away. We found a rental in Preston, Connecticut which did just that! We set our search criteria to fit under around $200 per night (fees/taxes included).  This house went a bit over that at $220 per night, but boy, it was worth it!!! We left early to do some light grocery shopping from a supermarket near where our mom lives.  We bought some water, drinks, snacks, and meals, then headed out via the Throgs Neck Bridge. We were excited to take a mini vacation and have some quality family time!  We all commented on how beautiful the

  Letchworth State Park, NY My wife and I (and our Pomeranian Toby) have been slow traveling since our early retirement last August.  We rely on AirBnB or Vrbo when we travel, and this past April was no exception. We chose a monthly rental via AirBNB in the month of April, in a town called Claysburg, Pennsylvania.  The rental was a studio unit that has a bed, a futon, full kitchen and a private bath. On the day of our arrival (April 1st), we were greeted by snow falling at the condo.  It was a beautiful sight to behold! We checked in with no problems and slowly settled in.  The next three days were uneventful.  We did our usual unpacking, then we went shopping for food from a nearby supermarket the following day.  We enjoyed the sights nearby and were having a good time at a new location. By Monday of the following week, our luck had changed for the worse.  The neighbor upstairs did what sounded like to us, either deep cleaning and renovating! We heard loud music blasting, while heavy

  Point Park, Johnstown, PA In the month of April, our pack (myself, my wife, and our Pomeranian dog, Toby) stayed a month in the town of Claysburg, Pennsylvania.  It was during that stay that we decided to venture out to a nearby town of Johnstown, PA. Johnstown is perhaps best known for the bursting of a dam in 1889, creating a flood that killed thousands of people.  It created a media frenzy back in the day, and the event was later dubbed “the Johnstown Flood.” Today, the events of the flood are commemorated at the Johnstown Flood Museum.  The documentary which is viewed at the museum, tells the heartbreaking story of the events of the flood. With this limited knowledge of Johnstown, we headed out on a beautiful day in mid April.  There was no major highway from Claysburg to Johnstown, so we took multiple country roads.  The roads took us down and over mountains revealing magnificent views of the valleys below. We saw farms miles out in the distance, and we saw plenty of huge windmi

  Riverview Park, North Carolina  My wife and I are recent early retirees at ages 51 and 48.  Since August of last year, we’ve been traveling with our Pomeranian dog, Toby, to various destinations in the eastern parts of the United States.  We plan to continue living this nomad lifestyle in the foreseeable future. On August 24th of last year, we had closed on our home we had lived in for 14 years in Pennsylvania.  After the closing, we headed down to our brother’s house in North Carolina that same day.  Our SUV was packed to the brim as we had to stuff all of our remaining belongings that day.  Our closing that morning was at 9:30 am, and we were still packing our stuff until about 8:45 am! We set off to our brother’s house which would take us about 9 hours from Pennsylvania.  It was a hot sunny August day, and our poor Toby was having a hard time due to the lack of space in our SUV.  We had to put his bed (and him) at the bottom footwell area of front passenger side, which made both T

  Emerald Isle Boating Access, North Carolina  Ovid:  “Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” During our journey through life (and financial independence), we needed to find a right balance of work/life to get us through.  Stress is one of the most destructive forces that can ruin everything in life.  It can ruin your mental health, finances, and relationships.   In this post, I’d like to share with you my thoughts on the utmost importance of destressing in achieving financial independence, but also in living your life day to day.  Without having the ability to destress or unwind, you’ll have a hard time enjoying your life.  Over time, stress will eventually lead to health issues, feeling burnt out at work, and myriad other mental health related issues... My mom always said growing up, that I was a very calm baby.  I rarely fussed over bedtime or for food.  She said I used to cry a bit when diaper needed to be changed, but that was about it.  Even when bathing, she