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

  Letchworth State Park, NY After my wife and I (and our Pomeranian dog Toby) visited the Niagara Falls State Park during our June trip to western New York, we thought we had seen the greatest state park anywhere.  I was wrong!   As much as we loved Niagara Falls State Park for all its grandeur and the greatest falls anywhere in the US, we both fell in love with Letchworth State Park.  We would put Letchworth State Park on the same level as Niagara Falls State Park. Letchworth State Park is in the Genesee region of New York, and is known as the “Grand Canyon of the East.”  It was chosen as the best state park (2015) in a poll by the readers of USA Today.  The park is known for three major waterfalls, whitewater rafting, Genesee River, hot air ballooning and hiking.   Little did I know at the time of our trip planning to Letchworth State Park, but we had actually visited the park exactly 25 years ago, with our good buddy Charlie.  He went to school near Rochester (NY), and he introduce

  Island of Oahu, Hawaii  Robert Holden:  “Happiness is free, there are no conditions.” When my wife and I lived in Oahu (Hawaii), one of our favorite pastimes was going to the beach.  I mean, who wouldn’t want to go the beach in Hawaii?   There are so many world class beaches on the island of Oahu alone:  Waikiki, Kailua, Sunset, Lanikai, Ala Moana, and so on… We would pack lunches and refreshments, then take two beach lounge chairs to these beaches for a day of swimming, snorkeling, taking naps, eating, enjoying the views, and watching the sunset. When we lived there, we thought life couldn’t get any better than a beach day in Hawaii. We both loved the beach, especially the first month we had moved to Oahu.  We would go to Waikiki Beach every day, as it was only a 4 block walk to the world famous beach, from our apartment rental. It would be after breakfast to enjoy the rising sun, when there are much less tourists out in full force.  It would be after lunch to swim at the beach, the

  Downtown Ellicottville, NY When my wife and I were searching for a suitable location during the month of June, we came upon Ellicottville, in western New York.  We knew monthly rentals in beach areas during the summer months would be exorbitantly high, so we tried to stay away from beaches as much as possible. Ellicottville fit the bill!  It was in western New York, which we haven’t been to in well over 18 years, since our move to Hawaii from New York City. We have to admit, we didn’t know much about the town of Ellicottville when we booked it via Vrbo.  We weren’t sure what to expect to find there, or what attractions were nearby… Our worries were overblown.  We found so many things to do and see around Ellicottville!   We left on a Tuesday June 1st, from our parent’s place in New York City.  It was a beautiful morning for a road trip! As usual, our SUV was packed with our belongings, as we needed 3 months worth of stuff for the summer months.  June would be in Ellicottville, July w

  Grow your money! My wife and I are recent early retirees at ages 51 and 48.  Since our early retirement in August of 2020, we’ve been slow traveling with our Pomeranian dog, Toby.  We’ve visited destinations such as Ocean City (Maryland), Atlantic Beach (North Carolina), Claysburg (Pennsylvania), Ellicottville (New York), and we see ourselves continuing to travel in our foreseeable future. In this post, I’d like to share my tips on putting away money towards retirement accounts, like the 401k and the IRA/Roth IRA. When we started this journey to become financially independent, there were few pivotal moments that altered our path.  Had we not chosen to increase our savings rate from measly 3% in the beginning of our journey, to eventual 24% by the end of our journey, we probably wouldn’t be where we are today.   To achieve our goal, constant corrections, like increasing our savings rate, were needed along the way.  Lifestyle changes, like spending less, that would allow this to happen

  Beautiful scenery on I-80 Pennsylvania  My dad was the one who was instrumental in instilling in me the love of the open road.  One of my favorite childhood memories was going on road trips with my dad, my brother, sometimes my mom, and  my dad’s friends to places like Washington D.C., Luray Caverns, Philadelphia, Longwood Gardens and Atlantic City. As a child, I loved looking out the car to the ever changing scenery around me.  I loved how the landscape would change from the concrete jungles of New York City, then to open areas right outside the city. I would marvel at how many trees would start to appear once we cross over one of the many bridges and tunnels to leave the city behind. All the wide expanse of farmlands, the hills which would eventually become mountains the farther west we go, and the sparkling bodies of water, would fill me with awe and wonder. I loved when I would lie down on the back seat then look up at the top of the window to see highway light posts moving into