How Have I Changed After 1 Month of Public Blogging?

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Hobbies, Musings

As some of you know, I’ve been writing this blog privately for 3.5 years. It was on the internet, but couldn’t be found or read by others. It served as a way to catalog my journey to financial independence: to show what I was thinking, feeling and what steps I took to accelerate my journey. For those years I found it really helpful to see what Past Me was thinking and feeling in different situations. It’s been great to see how I’ve changed as a person while approaching this goal. Continue reading “How Have I Changed After 1 Month of Public Blogging?” →

Another Retirement Prequel

by A Purple Life, posted in Early Retirement, Jobs, Musings, Travel

Our living room view in Ecuador

My trip to Ecuador allowed me to explore more of my possible early retired life and try to discover who Retired Me might be. There are a few goals I have for retirement that I tried to accomplish during this trip, such as:

  1. Go to sleep soon after sunset and rise with the sun
  2. Watch the sunrise and sunset as much as possible

Continue reading “Another Retirement Prequel” →

Half A Million Together and Keeping Finances Separate

by A Purple Life, posted in Early Retirement, Finance, Net Worth Update, Relationships, Spending

We finally did it! After saving intentionally for almost 4 years we reached a new milestone: my partner and I have amassed half a million dollars together. I can hardly believe it. This is a special number for me because it’s the amount I need to retire. Now I know what you’re thinking: Why doesn’t he just give you his portion so you can retire now? I’ve wondered the same thing! 🙂 Continue reading “Half A Million Together and Keeping Finances Separate” →

I Pay More In Taxes Than I Spend Annually

by A Purple Life, posted in Musings, Spending, Taxes

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” →

Planning to Pull the Early Retirement Trigger

by A Purple Life, posted in Early Retirement

There’s a fork in the road – It’s decision time.

I am a serious candidate for One More Year Syndrome. I know this. Major life changes are scary and my dislike of unknowns and my discomfort with change just adds to that. When I moved across the country to a city I’d only visited once without an apartment, job or friends (except 1 who lived relatively far away) I was terrified. The night before I told my boss, who at the time had given me the best job I’d ever had, I actually (TMI WARNING) threw up I was so scared. But I did it – I told her and I knew I had to because we had a locked-in end date: The end of our lease. NYC apartments don’t usually allow month-to-month leases so we were either renewing and staying another year or leaving before August 1. I had a set end date. Continue reading “Planning to Pull the Early Retirement Trigger” →