Browse Month: September 2018

Mother Nature Gets Her Revenge!

Home SolarLast month, I posted about how the sunny and dry weather in July led to the most productive month ever from our home solar panels.

Apparently, Mother Nature believed I was gloating and needed to be punished, because our solar energy production fell dramatically in August.

Our rooftop solar panels produced almost 30% less energy in August than they did in July. Although our power consumption also declined, as the air conditioning didn’t have to work quite as hard as it did the month before, we still had to tap into some of the solar energy credits we’ve been saving up for next winter since April to keep our electric bill as low as possible.

Continue Reading

Russians Don’t Want Their Pensions Touched Either!

Early RetirementWe’ve recently written a lot about the U.S. Social Security program and the long-term funding problems it faces. We’ve outlined the problem, talked about potential solutions, and discussed how I’m thinking about Social Security in the context of our quest for financial independence and early retirement.

While it won’t solve any of our domestic problems, it’s interesting to note the U.S. is not the only country where demographic changes are having a major impact on how politicians are thinking about retirement.

Last week, Bloomberg posted an article noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin has faced criticism at home following a proposed plan to raise retirement ages in his country he originally announced in June.

Continue Reading

How I’m Thinking About Social Security and FIRE

Retiring On My TermsOver the past few weeks, we’ve taken a look at the Social Security program’s future funding problems, as well as a number of potential solutions that could close the coming funding gap.

Today we’re going to get more personal, and discuss how I’m thinking about Social Security as we continue down our path towards financial independence and early retirement.

I’ve written in the past that I haven’t factored any potential Social Security benefits into the framework I’ve developed to measure our progress during our quest for financial independence and early retirement.

But I’ve also mentioned I do expect to eventually receive something from the Social Security program when I am old enough to claim retirement benefits.

So how do I explain this seeming contradiction?
Continue Reading