Awesome! Archives - Page 5 of 8

A Night at the Focus Group

June 20, 2016 JustinRoG Awesome!

When I received a call one evening promising $75 in exchange for participating in a two hour focus group, I figured “easy money”. It turns out it’s not only easy money but a fun time if you’re into observing humans and watching the industrial marketing machine at its finest.

At the end of May I left the house a couple minutes past 5:00 pm destined for the office building where the focus group session was being held. Since I was traveling during rush hour I allowed a few extra minutes to reach my destination that, according to Google Maps, was supposed to be 12 minutes away during normal traffic.

I’ll be honest. I hardly ever drive in rush hour traffic (I’m retired). The drivers next to me gently reminded me it’s hell, or at least a scalding hot version of purgatory. Within a mile of my house, my minivan was almost the victim of insane aggressive driving not once, but twice. Where are all these people going in such a hurry? I bet commuting is the worst part of the work day for a large minority of employees.

One Thousand Days of Early Retirement

May 23, 2016 JustinRoG Awesome!, Financial Independence, Lifestyle

1,000 days ago I retired early without really knowing it. When I walked in the office on the morning of August 26, 2013, I didn’t know it would be my last day of work forever (probably). I suspected something might happen to me on that Monday because another coworker was suddenly and unexpectedly terminated the previous business day and housecleaning often happens in clusters.

I spent the first hour of that day catching up on emails from the previous week that I missed while I was on vacation in Chicago. Then I jumped on a quick 9:00 am conference call to discuss the financial model for a new toll road proposed for the southern part of town. Then BOOM! The boss walked in the door with a fistful of bad tidings.

Mrs. Root of Good Jumps Into Early Retirement!

February 15, 2016 JustinRoG Awesome!, Financial Independence, Lifestyle

I’m looking over her shoulder at 4:30 pm on a Thursday while sitting in our home office. A quick last check of her emails. A moment’s hesitation. Is this really it? A click on the X in the upper right corner of the screen. Fade to black.

Ten years of work culminating in that final click on the X in the corner. One chapter of Mrs. Root of Good’s life is over. Turning the page to a new chapter, she finds the rest of the script unwritten. Her biggest worry becomes the emptiness of all that white space spread in front of her.

For over a month, it’s been a done deal but I’ve kept it a secret. Unlike the last time she resigned, no negotiation this time around. She said in her resignation letter it was time to move on. She is now officially free from the 9 to 5 work schedule.

Looking in the Rearview Mirror

December 15, 2015 JustinRoG Awesome!, Blog Updates

Here we are at the tail end of 2015. I wanted to pause and reflect on where we are today and what we’ve been up to during the year.

I started out 2015 with a post asking Should We Conceal Our Wealth? This post got a lot of social media shares because it addresses a concern that faces those who are accumulating wealth while trying to fly under the radar undetected.

Then I explained Why We Chose The Worst School In The District.

How We Reached Financial Independence In Our 30’s

November 30, 2015 JustinRoG Awesome!, Financial Independence, Personal Finance

After posting the Zero to Millionaire in Ten Years post a few weeks ago, there’s been a huge amount of traffic visiting Root of Good (hello, new readers!). The article received top billing at Rockstar Finance (thanks, J Money!). Business Insider loved my story so much that they reprinted it and it’s received close to a million views in the last two weeks. My own article has been shared over 400 times (that I know of) on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, and the Business Insider article has probably been shared thousands or tens of thousands of times.

Along with great attention comes inane comments. It’s the Law of the Internet. Check out the comments at the Business Insider article if you don’t believe me! I put together a response to a few of the frequent questions and comments generated by the Business Insider article.

Tis the Season of Thankfulness

November 24, 2015 JustinRoG Awesome!

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving in the US, so I’d like to take a moment to briefly reflect on what I’m most thankful for.

We are days away from hosting almost 30 people for Thanksgiving at our house. I’m very thankful we have ample wealth to pay for all the food and fixings without putting a dent in our budget. I’m also thankful we don’t have to work so that we have plenty of time to cook all the good food we’ll be enjoying. I’m thankful that both of our immediate families live in town, making getting together a lot easier and less stressful for all.

Going on a Cruise Part 4 – The Food!

October 26, 2015 JustinRoG Awesome!, Travel

I’m all out money saving cruise tips, so here’s a picture post of the different types of food you can enjoy on board.

We thought the food was pretty good, but not everyone agrees. The food varies from cruise line to cruise line, ship to ship, restaurant to restaurant, and even night to night. It’s possible we’ve had a string of good luck with the food on the five cruises we have taken so far.

We really enjoy the variety of dishes because we get to experience things we don’t routinely cook at home.

Mrs. RoG’s First Attempt at Early Retirement

September 21, 2015 JustinRoG Awesome!, Financial Independence, Lifestyle

She did it. She finally did it! On September 1st Mrs. Root of Good formally resigned from her job.

After composing the resignation email at home the previous weekend, she lingered in anguish at her desk on the morning of September 1st with her mouse hovering over the send button. She was very nervous when it came time to email the official resignation letter to her bosses. Was it the right choice? Was it the right time? Will she regret the decision later?

SEND. If not now, when?

It is done.

But there is more to the story of course!

Celebrating Two Years of Early Retirement

August 24, 2015 JustinRoG Awesome!, Financial Independence, Lifestyle

Wow, two years into early retirement. What have I accomplished? Everything and nothing.

When I entered early retirement by ditching the working world, I was still focused on keeping busy. Productivity, accountability, setting goals. All stuff you have to do when you’re on an annual performance review cycle. I shared my early retirement to do list in my “First Month of Early Retirement” post almost two years ago.

Should Our Family Drop From Two Cars To One?

August 17, 2015 JustinRoG Awesome!, Lifestyle, Personal Finance

As Mrs. Root of Good’s retirement date comes closer, we have to revisit the question of whether we should get rid of one of our cars and become a single vehicle family.

First, let’s ponder the significance of the auto. Cars are an oxymoron. They are an incredibly convenient way to travel from point A to point B very quickly. However, owning and maintaining a car isn’t convenient at all. I’m approaching the question of whether we should drop to one car from this vantage point: convenience versus inconvenience and cost.