Lifestyle Archives - Page 8 of 18

Caribbean Castaways: One Month in Freeport, Bahamas

August 21, 2018 JustinRoG Lifestyle, Travel

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be shipwrecked on a deserted island? Would you get bored? Would you starve? Die of dehydration?

Or would you thrive and prosper in your newfound isolation and make the most out of your (hopefully) temporary stay on the beach?

In a roundabout way, our one month trip to Freeport, Bahamas was inspired by this thought experiment. What would life be like in a relatively isolated section of a Caribbean island? Crystal clear water. White sand beaches. No people. No nearby restaurants or entertainment.

Are we crazy to voluntarily shipwreck ourselves in such a predicament? I don’t think so. But we aren’t complete gluttons for punishment. We made sure to book a place with air conditioning and wifi (it is the 21st century after all).

July 2018 Financial Update – Home Again!

August 6, 2018 JustinRoG Awesome!, Financial Independence, Lifestyle, Personal Finance

It’s early August and we’ve been at home for about two weeks after spending a month vacationing in the Bahamas during June and July. Summer is flying by incredibly fast because we have been so busy!

Our oldest two kids just wrapped up two weeks in summer camp. The whole family has enjoyed lunch, dinner, or play dates with several groups of friends that we haven’t seen all summer. Back to school shopping is mostly done. And school starts in three short weeks!

In the meantime, our lazy investment portfolio continues to be busy as well (in a very hands-off way). Our net worth shot up by $46,000 during the month of July to $2,084,000. Spending was particularly low at $1,389 while income remained strong at $4,361 for the month.

I Retired at 33 By Tracking Every Dollar I Spent

July 12, 2018 JustinRoG Financial Independence, Lifestyle, Mailbag, Personal Finance

“JM”, a new commenter on the blog, left a great comment asking about tracking spending and how that helps you get to Financial Independence.

“Do you track all your monthly spending, no matter how minute? Did this help get you to Financial Independence? And how?” -JM

The quick answer is yes, I did track all spending down to the dollar while working towards FI. And looking back, tracking everything I spent was pivotal to accelerating my journey to FI.

June 2018 Financial Update – Bahamas Edition

July 5, 2018 JustinRoG Financial Independence, Lifestyle, Personal Finance

We’re living it up in the Bahamas on vacation right now! I’m taking a break from the waves, sun, and sand to provide the regular monthly financial/life update. At this point we are half way through our one month stay. Although there isn’t much to do here beyond swim in the ocean, play in the pool, and walk along the canals and marshland, we’re having a good time. We brought lots of books and the wifi and air conditioning are top notch!

Did our finances have a nice month too? In June, we did well from a cash flow perspective with income from investments and the blog exceeding our expenditures. Income was $8,867 while expenses were only $3,554. The stock market wasn’t very kind to us in June, so our net worth dropped by $16,000 to $2,038,000. There’s still enough money in the investment accounts to keep me smiling in the Bahamas!

Amsterdam’s Cheese Museum and Bike Parking Garages

June 12, 2018 JustinRoG Lifestyle, Travel

The final stop on our nine week, fourteen city summer vacation across Europe brought us to Amsterdam, Netherlands for a quick three day stay before flying back to North Carolina (and home!).

While in Amsterdam we explored canals and rivers, centuries old streets and buildings, and some more modern spaces like the iconic OBA Amsterdam Public Library.

Read on to find out how we wrapped up nine weeks in Europe!

Loneliness – An Unfounded Fear in Early Retirement?

May 29, 2018 JustinRoG Financial Independence, Lifestyle

“I never want to quit working because I’ll be socially isolated and I won’t be able to make new friends.” Is this a legitimate concern or one of the worst objections to early retirement?

There is reason in worrying about loneliness in retirement but it’s not a good reason to work forever, especially if you don’t like your job! Getting out of a stressful work situation will make you a nicer, better person and therefore more likable and friendly.

If work is your only source of friends and social interaction, then perhaps it’s time to broaden your social network and look for friendship in other places.

Koblenz, Germany, Eltz Castle, and the Mosel and Rhine Rivers

May 21, 2018 JustinRoG Lifestyle, Travel

The thirteenth (and next to last) stop on our nine week, fourteen city summer vacation across Europe brought us to Koblenz, Germany. The city of Koblenz sits at the confluence of the Mosel and Rhine River in the western part of Germany.

After spending most of the previous eight weeks of vacation in urban settings, we decided to give rural living a shot for a week. We rented a spacious three bedroom apartment in a country house in the village of Mariaroth about 15 minutes from the center of Koblenz.

While staying near Koblenz, we visited the Eltz Castle, several villages in the Mosel and Rhine river valleys, and toured downtown Koblenz during what turned out to be a rather rainy week for us.

The Wall and The War: Exploring Berlin, Germany

May 14, 2018 JustinRoG Lifestyle, Travel

As we near the end of the review of our nine week, fourteen city summer vacation across Europe, our twelfth stop brought us to Berlin, Germany for a week of history, culture, food, and friends.

Berlin was everything I expected and then some. Great summertime weather, nice people, minimal crowds, easy transit, good food, all with low prices (for a major European capital city). I’d certainly rate Berlin a hidden gem on this basis. My naive hypothesis is that Berlin is still a city in transition following World War II devastation and the post-war sundering of Berlin into East and West halves by the former USSR and the western Allies.

The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and Germany reunited as one country shortly thereafter in 1990. In today’s Berlin there are ample reminders of the turbulent past century in the form of museums, memorials, and preserved segments of the Berlin Wall. Though it’s hard to imagine anything bad actually happened when you’re sitting in a placid city park or strolling down the quiet riverfront. Then you catch a glimpse of pockmarked walls and columns on old buildings and that makes you wonder if those were caused by bullets or an exploding shell that barely missed its mark.

April 2018 Financial Update – Busy Times!

May 7, 2018 JustinRoG Financial Independence, Lifestyle, Personal Finance

April was a blast! It was also an incredibly busy month. We helped out at the kid’s elementary school by chaperoning a field trip and running the school’s spring carnival raffle. I spent four days at CampFI Midatlantic where I presented “How to Develop an Early Retirement Budget”. JD Roth stopped by the house for a few hours before heading up to the camp. The whole family did a staycation for spring break. We assembled a couple more bicycles for us adults. To close out April we threw a big birthday party for our six year old. I’m pretty sure I was less busy when I was working!

In financial terms, April was a good month. After a couple months of losses, our net worth reversed course and climbed by a modest $9,000 to $2,033,000. Our spending remained low at $1,977 which was just a tiny bit more than our April income of $1,837.

March 2018 Financial Update – Spring is Here!

April 9, 2018 JustinRoG Financial Independence, Lifestyle, Personal Finance

Another month of early retirement is in the books! March was a busy month for us. The weather is finally nice around Raleigh so we enjoyed more time outdoors. The kids had fun too, with our youngest going on a field trip to the children’s museum that we chaperoned. Our older two children bought themselves bicycles and have been out and about riding on these warm spring days.

Financially, March was a repeat of February. Due to downward movement in the stock market, our net worth dropped by $32,000 to a still-respectable $2,024,000. Our income of $5,659 far surpassed our spending of $2,025 which means our cash stash continues to grow slightly.