Browse Month: July 2019

Should I Coast to Early Retirement or Run Hard To The Finish Line?

sport-1201014_1920As I noted in our latest Quarterly Financial Scorecard, we’re getting close to making financial independence a reality.

We’re now two years away from my target early retirement date. And barring a major downturn in the stock market, we should hit our net worth goal early next year.

But even in a best case scenario, that means we still have another 24 months of long commutes, late nights, countless meetings, office politics, and stressful deadlines ahead.

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Q2 2019 Financial Scorecard: Halfway To Financial Independence?

IMG_4082After a setback late last year, 2019 has been good for the ROMT family’s finances.

During the second quarter, we continued to make progress on each of the three metrics we are tracking on our path towards early retirement and financial independence – net worth, 529 account funding, and passive income.

The resilient U.S. stock market was the primary driver of our good results. The S&P 500 rose by 3.8% in the second quarter, as strong performance in April and June offset a decline in May. During the first six months of 2019, the S&P 500 climbed 17% – its best first half performance in 22 years! As the second half of the year begins, the U.S. stock market is once again near all-time high levels.

It has been two years since we introduced our quarterly financial scorecard, and with our target early retirement date now just two years away, our recent progress has me believing we may really be halfway to financial independence!

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Was Solar Worth It? The Numbers After Two Years

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It’s hard to believe, but we’ve had our rooftop solar panels for over two years now.

Which means we now have two years of data to analyze as we consider whether or not home solar energy was really a wise financial decision for our family.

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