2019 Year In Review

2019 was a year of change and planning for our future.

After stumbling onto the F.I.R.E. movement and realizing we didn’t need to work into our 60’s, or even mid 50’s as we had always planned, we started taking our finances more serious. We cut back quite a bit on our spending and increased our savings rate nicely. We have never been able to accomplish a 50% plus savings rate because we have always had a sizable lifestyle and also took on the equivalent of a second mortgage with our RV. However, we did manage to move the needle in the right direction after cutting some costs and scaling back on frivolous spending.

On the downside, sort of, when I decided to move on from my job and start our business our savings rate went down to almost nothing for the last quarter of the year. Hopefully this is just a small set back as the business grows and contributes more to our finances. Continue reading “2019 Year In Review”

Financial Independence and Mortality

Sometimes little things occur and bring a renewed focus and a reminder of why we work to achieve financial independence and the life of freedom that comes with it.

I have had several of these moments over the last few years. They usually occurred in the corporate setting where I was just plain tired of the daily rat race. Many times I realized I was missing important events our son was involved in exchange for being miserable at work. It’s never a good feeling to have to choose work over family because financially you have no choice.

Recently I had another one of these moments, but this one was different and much more emotional. Maybe the holiday season had some additional influence but it hit me hard. Continue reading “Financial Independence and Mortality”