Just when you think you know enough to manage your finances, comes along a new wrinkle: the Roth IRA conversion. Until recently, I had a yeoman’s understanding of the Roth IRA. A few years back I toyed (dangerously) with converting some Traditional IRA investments to Roth, though with a relatively small amount of money (less […]
Why Being a Handyman Is a Rewarding Semi-Retirement Gig
So much for midday naps nestled in a gently swaying hammock. I somehow managed to fire up a handyman business that’s consuming more and more of my time. Did I lose the plot? I imagined Early Retirement as a relaxing and carefree escape while chiseling away the years in a cubicle. This whole handyman nonsense […]
Is Early Retirement a Cure for Stress? Yes and No.
Way back in the fall of 2016, I wrote one of the first posts on this blog, “Early Retirement Due to Stress“. At the time, I had planned to be done with corporate monkey-poo by the spring of 2020. Just three and a half years to go, I thought back then. Even though it took […]
Financial Tweaks to Make Before Early Retirement
It’s a glorious spring day in the Twin Cities. I’ve got a curbside table at a nearby coffee shop with serviceable patio furniture for writing. Gotta love early retirement. The last time I biked down to a coffee shop to write a blog post was back in the spring of 2018, nearly six years ago. […]
How I Retired at Age 50
About ten years ago, I hatched a plan to quit Corporate America and abandon my cubicle by the spring of 2020. I was oh-so-ready to hang it up in March of that year, but as soon as the pandemic lockdowns swung into place, an uncertain world put the “big plan” on hold. Much bigger fish […]