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

  Getting rid of stuff after someone is gone is hard work… Albert Einstein:  “Out of clutter, find simplicity.  From discord, find harmony.  In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.” After my mother-in-law passed away, our family got together to get rid of things that she had accrued over her lifetime and her husband’s lifetime.  Even though they had lived in a small one bedroom apartment, we couldn’t believe how much we needed to get rid of. Besides the large furniture, there were the usual suspects:  kitchen stuff, photos, memorabilia, clothes, and left over food items.  They had two refrigerators, the second of which sat in the living room, which was always an eyesore.   It needed all of our efforts to discard, or reuse still good food items like beans, rice, and various condiments.  During this process, I wondered, “ Why do we have such a hard time getting rid of things?” I think anyone who grew up poor has a tendency to want things, then keep them forever.  I was the same wa

  New Year’s upon us; time to set your goals for the coming year! F. Scott Fitzgerald:  “It’s never too late to become who you want to be.  I hope you live a life that you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.” As I write this post during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I can’t help but think things over.    2021 was a great year for our pack (my wife, myself, and our Pomeranian Toby), and also a challenging year. 2021 was a great year as we successfully lived through our first full year of early retirement, happy and unscathed!  We didn’t argue over how we should live our retirement, nor where we should live for a month or longer.   Things worked out fairly smoothly.  We tackled an AirBNB problem (noisy neighbor) head on during the month of April in Claysburg and we managed to not pull each other’s hair out during couple’s spats!  All in all, we got through major/minor problems together and came out on the other side rela

  Ocean City Fishing Pier during sunset, MD Martin Luther King Jr.:  “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Last week of December 2021 marks the one year anniversary of this blog.  I had created this blog for two reasons:  1) give my nieces/nephews (and anyone else) useful information on how to reach financial independence and to retire early and 2) document my travels as well as anything else that comes to my mind after retirement so readers can have a better understanding of what to expect after retirement. I didn’t think anyone (outside of my family) would actually read any of my posts when I first posted my blog, but to my surprise, people started to read them!  For that, I thank you readers.  It gives me so much motivation when I know someone out there is reading what I write, which hopefully can help them in their journey to FIRE (financial independence retire early). One other reason why I started this blog was because I wanted to write to satisf

  World Famous Horseshoe Curve, PA My wife and I (and our Pomeranian Toby) spent a month in a cozy AirBNB rental in Altoona for the month of August.  Because we had stayed in Claysburg (about 20 miles south of Altoona) 4 months prior, we felt nostalgic to be returning to central Pennsylvania. We remembered the beautiful scenery including mountains, valleys, lakes, and incredible roads that dot the landscape!  As we were heading to Altoona from our month long stay in Indiana (PA), we were looking forward to seeing and experiencing all of these things again. There’s something very reassuring about knowing an area.  I know where the stores are, where the restaurants are, and where the main roads are.  This makes for an easy and comfortable way to travel.   Of course, I personally enjoy exploring NEW places.  I love driving on new roads, experiencing new views, and any new stimuli (like a dog?!?).  But even for me, I do enjoy the feeling of nostalgia, that feeling of coming back to a famil

  Love the solitude! Stephen Hawking:  “Quiet people have the loudest minds.” When my wife and I embarked on our journey to achieve financial independence and to retire early, we read often how other FIRE (financial independence retire early) movement crowd achieved their FIRE.  The more we read, listened to podcasts, watched videos on all the successful FIRE movement crowd, the more we got the sense that many of them, were introverts. It got me thinking, “ What is it about introverts that seem to help with FIRE ?”   In this post, I’d like to share my perspectives on this matter. So, what are some of the traits of an introvert? Reflective and self-aware Listens, rather than talks Does not enjoy group settings  Enjoys being alone Compassionate leader Thinks before speaking Observes/analyzes Makes quality partners/friends How do these traits help with financial independence and retiring early?  Although not all of the listed traits help with FIRE, I do believe many of them do.  Here’s ho