After I decided that I wanted to pursue financial independence in 2015, I had a laundry list of things I needed to research and learn before retirement. However, luckily I had 10 years to figure it out 🙂 . Even though that 10 year timeline became 5 when I retired in 2020, it turned out to be plenty of time to figure out all the minutiae of HOW I would actually take this leap.
2021 is coming to an end – and it feels weird 🙂 . But I’m going to brush aside my weird feeling that my brain is still stuck in 2020, believe my calendar is correct, and soldier on. Continue reading “How I Made $11,520 While Retired In 2021”
I randomly do Instagram AMAs in my Stories when that specific urge hits me. In a deviation from my norm where I embrace the “Anything” part of “Ask Me Anything,” the last one I did had a theme: Nomad Life. However, despite me setting parameters, people kept asking about my money and how I manage it. Continue reading “How I Manage My Money In Retirement”
Similar to finance, before I started my path to financial independence, taxes baffled me. And when something baffled me – I didn’t want to do it 🙂 . I had classic “If I’m not naturally good at it, what’s the point?” syndrome. Continue reading “Credit Karma Tax Review: A Free & Awesome Filing Service”
Another month of early retirement down and another intro where I express disbelief that time is flying so fast 🙂 . 2021 also seems to be going by faster than 2020, but maybe that’s because I’m used to pandemic quarantine life now…or maybe I’m just inviting the gods to prove me wrong in March – Please no 🙂 ! Anyway, fingers crossed this March is lightyears better than the last one. In the meantime, let’s get into what I got up to last month.
Continue reading “The Month Of Birds: Early Retirement Month 5 (February 2021)”
Reality is setting in y’all. I feel similar to how I did right before we moved across the country without a house, job or knowing basically anyone on this side of the country. I had made the decision and I knew it was the right one, but it was still terrifying. I was leaving the best job I’d ever had behind, along with the best apartment I’d ever had and all the friends I’d made in my adult life. I was petrified. Continue reading “6 Months To Retirement: This Is Starting To Feel Real”
I love reframing how I view the world. A tax reform bill passed near the end of last year so taxes have been in the public eye for a bit now. Though I don’t agree with exactly how my tax dollars are spent I do not mind paying taxes. Every time I’m on a public road or see one of our public transit lines expand I think about how my money helped build that for myself and the community. This feeling is heightened when I learned that a 4 lane highway costs over $1 million PER MILE to build. Wowza. That’s a lot of cheddar. Continue reading “I Pay More In Taxes Than I Spend Annually”
“I AM A GOLDEN GOD!!!” That’s what I kept screaming after I did my taxes, unassisted, for the first time tonight. It also happened to be me and my partner’s anniversary – the perfect time to run some numbers :). Despite how annoying and seemingly redundant our tax forms are I was so excited that I was able to do it on my own! Continue reading “2016 Taxes Conquered!”