Blog Posts
Our 2022 Expenses
Early retirement isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, especially when you have to deal with what I like to call “The 4 Horsemen of Early Retirement.” Specifically, running out money, losing your identity, losing your friends, and dealing with inflation. Because we’ve lived through multiple market downturns in the past 8 years of retirement and built a solid recession-proof portfolio, I wasn’t afraid of the first horsemen. And we managed to slay the 2nd and 3rd, by building whole new author identities, and an amazing community through Chautauqua and the digital nomads. But this past year, the 4th horsemen reared its […]
Our 2022 Portfolio
Happy 2023, everyone! While I have no idea what 2023 will bring, it would be pretty hard for it to match last year’s casserole of crazy. Inflation, war, spiking gas prices, and the fastest interest rate increase in history made last year a true head-spinner. Personally, I’m rooting for 2023 to herald in that goddamned “Roaring 20’s” we were promised when the pandemic ended. Well, as you know, we here at Millennial Revolution know how to party. So of course FIRECracker and I spent New Year’s Eve knee deep in spreadsheets so we could write this post. So without further […]
Can You Buy Happiness?
I went to the mall the other day to pick up some family Christmas presents, and boy was it packed! What happened to all the doom and gloom in the media, complaining about inflation and recession fears? Apparently, according to research conducted by Ipsos, who surveyed participants from Asia, North America, South America, and Europe: “85% feel excited about celebrations and one-third on average feel more excited than last year. For many the party must go on, with Germany, the US, and the UK leading the way in saying rising costs will have no impact on their celebrations.” So, I […]
Which Way Is The Economy Going in 2023?
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Charles Dickens used this phrase to describe 18th century London in the opening to A Tale of Two Cities, but it could easily be used to describe today’s economy. Depending on who you ask, we are all going to be fine, or we could be sleepwalking into a massive recession the likes of which we have never seen before. Predicting the future direction of the economy has never been an exact science, but I’ve never seen a year like 2022. Remember in January, when the big debate on […]
What I Learned After 8 Years of Early Retirement
Back in 2015, I struggled with the idea of early retirement. I thought after escaping my cubical prison I’d be gleefully cartwheeling out of my office, but things didn’t quite go according to plan. The evening after I officially gave my notice, I started feeling this weird tightness in my chest and it was getting hard to breathe. I waited and tried to ignore it, thinking it would just go away but it didn’t. Before long, negative thoughts started ricocheting in my brain, and no matter how many times I looked at my spreadsheets (yes, they are my soothing security […]
