Category: General

Paying It Forward – An Early Retiree Case Study

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I was recently asked to write a guest post for the Can I Retire Yet? blog about my journey to financial independence and what I have done since my early retirement at the end of 2015. This post required a lot of personal self-reflection where I discuss my early Money Mindset, some major inflection points in my financial journey, enlightenment from an unlikely source, and ultimately finding my path to financial independence. Post retirement, I did not have any specific Continue Reading →

Learning the True Value of Financial Independence

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Over the past five months, during which I have been absent from posting on the blog, I have had a number of significant life experiences. My father passed away after a long battle with cancer, my daughter graduated from high school and then went off to college – my wife and I are now “empty nesters.” Experiencing these life changes has caused me to reflect on the value of financial independence. When my wife and I originally embarked on our Continue Reading →

Who Let That Lifestyle Creep In?

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Frankly, we did – guilty as charged. Many of you may already know what Lifestyle Creep is. For those who don’t, it’s when your standard of living keeps pace with (or potentially exceeds) any increase in your household income. A funny thing happened on our way toward financial independence. After my wife and I finished paying off all of our debt, we did as planned. The extra money no longer going toward debt repayment was put towards savings. And this Continue Reading →

A Financial Fresh Start

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For the past few years I have been volunteering my time co-hosting a financial literacy series at our local library in Crested Butte, Colorado. This program, called Common Cents for Colorado, was made possible by a grant from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation through Smart investing@your library®, a partnership with the American Library Association. The main program series consists of a 5-Part Seminar Series covering the topics of: Goal Setting & Financial Planning, Key Investment Concepts, Retirement Savings Vehicles, Common Investment Types, Continue Reading →