Bonus Nachos

Musings about early retirement with no fixed address

Category: Early Retirement (Page 6 of 6)

My Kate Moss Retirement Plan

April 17, 2019 / / 6 Comments

It will probably not shock you to learn that growing up, I didn’t care much about supermodels. Of course they were attractive, but eyeing a magazine cover in the grocery store checkout line is about as close as I got to knowing anything about them. I could put a name with a face, but that’s about it. I was not into fashion then and not much has changed with age. As such, I only know two things about Kate Moss. The first is that she was extremely skinny. So skinny that even the President of the United States decided to comment on it. (This was back when it meant something for a President to address an issue, unlike the verbal diarrhea we’re subjected to on a near-daily basis now.)

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Stumbling to the Finish Line

April 6, 2019 / / 8 Comments

When preparing for a marathon, most runners follow a strict training program. Starting a few months ahead of time, they begin with runs of a few miles and eventually build up to a peak of around 18 miles before ramping back down before race day. Unlike people running a shorter race like a 10k, it’s not recommended to actually run the full distance while in training. That 26.2 miles is too hard on the body and requires too much recovery time. The idea is that when race day comes your legs will ache, your lungs will burn, and your feet will scream, but you’ll rise to the occasion using adrenaline and willpower to get through the final stretch to the finish line.

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Why I Count On Social Security

March 22, 2019 / / 13 Comments

There’s a recurring theme in the media that Social Security will not be around for much longer. Anytime SS makes the news cycle for any reason, multiple discussions pop up about why it’s doomed. According to a 2015 Gallup Poll, over half of the working public expects to receive zero dollars from Social Security. Especially within early retirement circles, there seems to be a misguided badge of honor to plan a retirement without any SS payments. For a bunch of people who analyze numbers and build spreadsheets for fun, I find it dumbfounding that any of them would voluntarily decide to ignore all pertinent data and plan for zero. Especially because the result of ignoring Social Security is several extra years of unnecessary work. I’m not sure whether this is rooted in general anti-government sentiment or simply good old fashioned pessimism, but the idea of collecting nothing is completely unfounded.

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Finding the Courage to Quit

March 15, 2019 /

Deciding to embark upon retirement in our early 40s can be a scary prospect. As many, many people like to point out, there are numerous risks associated with that decision. The stock market is due for a crash. Our money may have to last 60 years. Economic signs point to a recession. The uncertainty of self-inflicted trade wars, foreign policy, government dysfunction, and [insert current event here] means that the future is bleak. We could be forced to go back to work with a huge resume gap or work a crappy job when we’re old. Quitting in our peak earning years means we’re giving up money and safety when it’s the easiest to amass both. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

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A Random Day Off

February 12, 2019 / / 8 Comments

As someone who loves to travel, I have always cherished each and every vacation day.  I view them as precious gifts. They are definitely not to be wasted, misused, or arbitrarily cashed in.  Using one at home means that I can’t stay that extra day in France or Mexico or Vietnam. As such, I can’t remember the last time I burned a vacation day that wasn’t connected with a trip.  But considering that I will have no use for these in the very near future, I broke my rule the other day. For the first time in at least a decade, I took a random weekday off for no real reason.  And it was glorious.

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The Year of the Dragon

February 5, 2019 / / 6 Comments

Growing up we didn’t eat out often, but when we did my family liked to go out for Chinese food.  In particular, my grandpa Herbie was fond of it. I’m not 100% sure if my dad liked the food as much as we did, but he was always willing to go because it allowed him to crack the joke that “if you fart, you’re hungry again” after the meal. When you add in the fact that it was reasonably priced, tasty, and of course came with free cookies, it checked all of the boxes to keep both the adults and the kids happy.

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A Series of Fortunate Events

January 14, 2019 / / 14 Comments

It was the winter of 2003, just before Christmas, and the decorations were out in full force along the Magnificent Mile.  All of the stores displayed the top gift items of the season in their impressively decorated front windows.  Street musicians and carollers filled the air with festive tunes. I was still a young man, fresh out of college, only 18 months into my career.  Each weekday I exited the subway and walked down the iconic Michigan Avenue to my cubicle on the 19th floor of the John Hancock building, where I had gotten a job working for the 3rd largest insurance brokerage in the city.  And I was about to be laid off.

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What Did You Want To Be When You Grew Up?

December 16, 2018 / / 3 Comments

I have a hard time remembering exactly what my answer to this question was when I was a kid.  I’m sure a frequently repeated answer was professional basketball player. When I was young, my dad was a high school basketball coach so we watched and played A LOT of basketball.  Unfortunately, my growth spurt stopped at 5’11”, my jump shot never quite developed as much as I’d hoped, and since I’m not quite as quick as Isiah Thomas, the NBA ceased to be an option.

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