The U.S. stock market was in a record-long bull run at the close of 2021. Despite some wavering in the fourth quarter of 2021, it mostly still was chugging along. Then I FIRE’d at the end of the year. . . . And apparently ruined everything by doing so. Sorry, fellow investors! Da’ bears See,…
Clear and Present
I FIRE’d for lotsa reasons. Most are the same as those for many others in the FIRE community. To not have to work (for someone else). To have control of my schedule. To be able to focus on leisure and health as much as I wanna. And so on. No one reason seemed particularly more…
Environmentalism on FIRE
People confuse me. Americans confuse me. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m confused. Easily confused. Why am I bringing this up you ask, Dear Reader? Well, because I’ve long thought about how FIRE and lowering one’s carbon footprint go (or at least can or should go) hand in hand. That’s because…
Poor Man, Rich Man
A few weeks before this blog post was published, Fox News unceremoniously fired Tucker Carlson, the host of Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight television program. Effective immediately. Shooting stars Adore Love him or despise hate him, Carlson was maybe the shiniest star in Fox’s universe. By the time of his exit, Carlson had become a powerful…
The Thrill Is Gone
“Wow! What a setup!,” I thought. I get to do only the type of work that I generally enjoyed during my working career. I have a cap on the number of hours I’ll work that I set and that’s so low that I can easily do the work and not have it materially impinge on…
We’re Playing Different Games
I and the rest of The Family live a good life. I count my lucky stars every time I think about this. We’re financially secure, live in a nice home in a beautiful part of the world, have our health and good family and friends, and do fulfilling things daily. To boot, (at least for…
Grace Period
I’ve written quite a bit about what I hoped to do, experience, and achieve once I FIRE’d. Also, on what’s actually happened on that front. One thing I didn’t have on the list—in part because I didn’t think to put it there, but also because I was a little ashamed sheepish about putting it there—was…
Expense Report
We in the FIRE community are nothing if not numbers obsessed and cheeky looky-loos when it comes to other peoples’ financials. We loves us sitting down with a nice craft beer cuppa and poring over someone’s spending/savings report and net worth numbers. But most bloggers in the space don’t disclose actual numbers. Like me! So,…
Why Do I Do It?!
Several weeks ago, I typed penned a post titled, “What Did I Do?!,” in which I gave a general download as to what I did during my first year after FIREing. As things turned out, I did a fair amount of work during the year. Hey, retirement police! I’ve always said that it was FI…
How Do I Do It?!
To the casual observer, this blog no doubt seems like a sputtering, nonsensical jumble of letters well-oiled machine. A word-spilling force of nature. A content-spewing juggernaut. Perfectly reasonable conclusions. In reality, it’s kept a-tickin’ by a team of ornery, ill-paid gnomes your impressively lazy and dim-witted humble blogger. And one of the major responsibilities the…
