Browse Tag: Personal Finance

Preparing for the Tsunami: How Our Pursuit of FIRE has Helped Us During the Pandemic

We’ve spent a lot of time over the past several months preparing for the dreaded “second wave” of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic to hit, and it appears that time has arrived. New cases are at record levels in the U.S. and around the world, the number of deaths are climbing steadily, and shutdowns and restrictions are increasing. With the Northern Hemisphere just weeks away from winter, it’s looking like many of us are in store for a long, lonely and scary holiday season.

It has been a difficult year, spent mostly isolated from family, friends, colleagues and neighbors. We saw my family once over the summer, and we haven’t seen Mrs. ROMT’s family in almost a year. If anything, the next several months may be more challenging than the last eight months have been. Upcoming celebrations for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s are going to be different. Our state has recently increased restrictions on out-of-state visitors and banned gatherings of more than one household. While enforcement of these measures doesn’t appear stringent right now, we have no interest in pushing the envelope. Hopefully by next summer we’ll be through the worst of the pandemic, and, God willing, will be healthy and able to catch up on lost time in person with family and friends.

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Q2 2020 Financial Scorecard: Time For a Change in Plans

My employer recently went through a round of layoffs. While my job was safe, many of my colleagues, and millions of Americans, have lost their jobs over the past several months. COVID-19 cases continue climbing in many parts of the country, massive social changes are taking place, and what seems like one of the most important presidential elections of my lifetime is just four months away.

The world has changed a lot in 2020, which has caused us to rethink our plans around our pursuit of early retirement and financial independence.

Part of me has been tempted to use the massive uncertainty as the impetus to walk away and focus on what’s most important to us.

But the more rational part of me thinks it would be crazy to abandon a good paycheck until we have a much better idea what life in the United States might look like in 2021, 2022, and beyond.

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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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Q1 2019 Financial Scorecard: Back on Track!

When we last reported on our finances at the beginning of the year, the results were not good. The worst quarter for the stock market in almost seven years resulted in our net worth moving in the wrong direction for the first time since we started posting our Quarterly Financial Scorecards here at Retiring On My Terms.

Fast forward three months, however, and we seem to be back on track.

The S&P 500 Index returned more than 13% during Q1 2019 – it’s best quarter in nearly a decade! While the U.S. stock market is still a bit below the all-time high set last September, the strong returns so far this year have been great for the ROMT family. We made progress over the past quarter on all three of the metrics we are tracking on our path towards early retirement and financial independence – net worth, 529 account funding, and passive income.

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Solar Energy Update: We Made it Through the Winter!

Image by David Mark from Pixabay

The early spring weather in our part of the country has been cold, with occasional snow and ice.

But when the weather hasn’t reminded us of winter, it has often been sunny.

Which has been great for the production of our rooftop solar panels!

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How Long Does it Take for Dividend Income to Grow Exponentially?

I’ve been earning income for over 30 years, and maintaining copious financial records for close to two decades.

As a result, I’ve accumulated a lot of information on my finances.

Most of the time, that information sits in a filing cabinet or on my computer’s hard drive.

But every once in a while I actually use it.

As we get closer to financial independence and early retirement, I’ve spent more time thinking about passive income. Since this blog has literally generated less than a penny per hour in earnings, passive income for the ROMT family consists primarily of interest on our savings and dividends on our investments.

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How Tax Reform Impacted Our Pursuit of Financial Independence

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

As we get closer to April 15th, there has been a lot of discussion around the impact of 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on U.S. taxpayers.

Not surprisingly, much of that discussion has been politicized.

Rather than jumping into politics, we’re going to look at the facts. Specifically, we’ll examine how the new tax law impacted our family’s pursuit of financial independence in 2018.

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ROMT’s “FIRE Prowess” Scores for 2001 to 2018

Image by David Mark from Pixabay

Two years ago, blogger The Green Swan introduced a metric called the FIRE Prowess Score.

“FIRE Prowess” went viral among those seeking financial independence and early retirement in 2017. Many financial bloggers, including yours truly, wrote about our FIRE Prowess Scores back then.

Since I’m finishing up my taxes, I’ve pulled together the information needed to determine my score for last year. I’ve been keeping thorough financial records for years, and enjoy tracking how my “FIRE Prowess” has changed over time.

I’m disappointed The Green Swan blog is no longer active, but their work lives on with this update!

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Dumb Financial Decisions: The Wrong Way to “Pay Yourself First”

Image by Goumbik on Pixabay

Many personal finance experts stress the importance of “paying yourself first.”

According to Investopedia, paying yourself first means automatically saving a portion of each paycheck. Money is routed from your paycheck directly into a savings or investment account. Before you begin paying monthly living expenses or making other purchases, you’ve already put some money into savings.

One of the simplest ways to pay yourself first is routing a portion of your paycheck into your employer’s 401(k) plan. I’ve done this ever since I started working. The savings I have built up in my 401(k) are a major reason we may have a chance to pursue early retirement! As an added benefit, many employers match a portion of your 401(k) contributions.

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Solar Energy Update: Do Your Job

Head Coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots has a simple mantra for his football team.

Do Your Job.

The mantra has worked well for Belichick and the Patriots. The team has won six Super Bowl Championships this century.

With less than a month of winter left, our rooftop solar panels appear to have done their job for the 2018-2019 season.

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