I wake before dawn each morning and stumble out of my warm bed and into the cold morning for money. I leave my wife and kids for most of the day in its pursuit. I give the best hours of my life to a corporation in exchange for it. And then at the end of the week I don’t even get to lay my hands on the money I’ve been working for. I don’t get to see it or feel…
After what felt a brutal winter by California standards, warm weather has finally arrived in the Bay Area. And with that, the year is nearly half over. Where has the time gone? My youngest is nearly six years old. My oldest is finishing third grade. I will be turning 40 this year. My wife is on the upward trend in her career. We are still working towards early retirement, though it feels as though the future is hazier in regards…
Outside of the house’s front window my green Chinese Vespa knockoff leaned over on its kick stand gleaming under the San Diego sun. The dining room table where I sat fingering the label to my beer was full of paperwork. I’d orchestrated a complex and huge logistical masterplan for my months long trip through Europe and Asia. Trains picked. Hotels booked. Flights purchased. Little did I know at the time that this would lead to me to retiring in my…
I’ve always been attracted to the allure of international stocks and bonds. They get a bad rap these days, and for good reason if we look back over the past decade and compare them to the S&P 500. What draws me towards international markets is as easy as one word: diversification. Boiled down, proper investing is all about solid diversification. Why not invest in economies of other countries that are on their way up or matured with lower valuations? Why…
I recently returned from a voyage to the apex of American consumer culture. The place is about as opposite to FIRE as one can get. A place where money flows like a smooth yet powerful river in one direction. A place where fanatics roam around freely displaying their allegiance to “the” corporation with tattoos, branded clothing (including custom homemade shirts), and accessories of all sorts. It’s Disneyland of course, the happiest place on earth. So here it is. Here’s my…
It started with the lawn mower this summer. It wouldn’t start. I changed the spark plug and filter and it still wouldn’t start. So then I tore apart the carburetor and cleaned the injectors. The mower started, albeit reluctantly. Over the holiday weekend the lawn mower died again. After dozens of pulls on the starter, I gave up and rolled the old red workhorse into the garage. I sat there for a while, staring at the machine. Debating internally whether…
The two minute walk from my job site office to my construction site is along a leafy well known downtown street in the East Bay. Restaurants and bookstores line the road on each side. A popular university is nearby. My walk is like crossing through another dimension where in the span of moments I encounter the entire social economic spectrum of our country. Street people. Drug addicts. High school students. Graduate students. Immigrants. Blue collar workers. Foreign students. Millionaires. Babies….
While the 2022 bear market viciously mauls my portfolio, I’ve made a pretty conscious effort not to look at my net worth during the last few weeks. I handled the 2020 bear market pretty well, though back then FIRE seemed so far away and the Bear attack so fast—over before I knew it. And the other bear market, 2008, was brutal, but my net worth was the last thing on my 25 year old mind back then. Now that I’m…
From the time I get up each and every morning, I’m inundated with choices. The most important choice happens to be my very first choice: Do I get up thirty minutes early to make lunch and coffee at home? Or sleep for a few more wonderful minutes and eat out for lunch? What’s the difficult decision here? Forcing myself out of bed at 4:30 AM to make lunch is the harder choice for me. Will $15 bucks for lunch and…
It’s summer and my favorite time of year in the Happily Disengaged household. Summer is an easier time to do things outdoors while spending less money, and in general, is the most frugal time of year for us. Backyard grilling is cheap. Biking and hiking don’t cost much (except for the gasoline consumption). Next weekend we’re going camping. Yesterday I went rafting down the American River. I’m intermittently fixing things around my house, last week for example a toilet began…