April 2019 represents the one year anniversary of my wife and I paying off our last remaining debt, our mortgage. This was a big decision for us and the decision came after many hours of reading, watching, discussing and constantly revisiting the same assumptions and concerns over and over again. Credit goes to my wife for really throwing down the gauntlet and setting high … [Read more...] about One Year Anniversary of Being Debt Free
Personal Finance
Lessons Learned from the 2008 Recession
“After all, you only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out" Warren Buffett Real estate, investing, and cash, my biggest lessons of the 2008 and 2009 recession. In 2008 and 2009 we had one nasty recession. Watching banks like Bear Sterns go under while the stock market was going down 700 points seemingly every day was a wild ride. At the time, my wife and I … [Read more...] about Lessons Learned from the 2008 Recession
Retirement Number as a Percentage of Income?
Some of the big brokerages suggest that your income in retirement should be a certain percentage of your pre-retirement income. Usually I see a range of 75 to 85 percent. So if your pre-retirement income is $100,000, then you would need $75,000 to $85,000 in annual income in retirement, at least by this way of thinking. What’s wrong with this? The most obvious … [Read more...] about Retirement Number as a Percentage of Income?
Considerations for Calculating Healthcare Costs in Early Retirement
For the last couple of years, one of the biggest blind spots I have had in planning for financial independence has been healthcare costs. I’m not concerned about runny noses, scrapes or bruises, but rather major illness and injury, and more specifically, protection of wealth. One of the top (if not the top) reasons people go bankrupt is medical costs. Even if you maintain a … [Read more...] about Considerations for Calculating Healthcare Costs in Early Retirement
Paying off the Mortgage Part 2
In my first post on this topic I described my decision and how I weighed the pros and cons. In this post, I describe the thought process and strategy I used to actually pay off the mortgage. Paying off early, the long approach In researching how to go about paying off the mortgage, the most common method I came across was a long-term approach to paying off early. … [Read more...] about Paying off the Mortgage Part 2