The Beginning…

If I had to put my finger on it, this all started one day when I wanted to go on my first vacation. As a newly minted college grad with very little dependencies or recurring expenses, and a decent starting job, I had some money to burn.

Like many my age, the goal was to travel, and the further away from my current location, the better. Ideas of where to explore danced around in my head before settling with the idea of Italy. Rome was a fascinating city filled with great food, fascinating history and interesting locations to explore, and the coastline was abundant with other small towns and cities offering the same.

The first hurdle was to determine the price. Between airfare, hotels, cooked meals, and then adding prices of excursions for a 1-2 week stay, it quickly tipped the scales into the ‘thousands of dollars’ range. Still fully entrenched in the ‘broke college student’ mindset this became an immediate deal-breaker. I had to find a cheaper way.

Turning point

Even with a budget airline and out of the way hotel, staying for 1-2 weeks just felt too short to be worth it. It wasn’t enough time to really explore and get to know the locals or allow you to fully entrench into the culture. I know enough of myself to confidently say that ‘backpacking across Europe’ was not for me. Renting an RV appeared just as expensive as the hotel, then had the problem of parking. Plus with my job there was no way (at the time) to work remotely for extended periods while you traveled.

Nights spent googling and researching eventually merged with another curiosity-turned-dream of mine – What about a boat? Something big enough to live on that could serve as a floating hotel – anchored outside any city of my choosing. It did not take long before the ‘romanticized’ idea of traveling everywhere full-time while working or living aboard a boat became my sole focus. The next problem, was paying for it.

Boats are not cheap, both to purchase and to maintain. There is also the problem of work. At the time, my job did not offer any option to work remotely. Everything had to be done in an office. This meant my savings needed to be fairly considerable to allow me to take off. Problem was, who wants to go back to work full time in order to build your budget back up if you just spent a year cruising the Caribbean or exploring the many harbors of Europe?

Financial Independence

This is where FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) comes in. The thought is you can save (and invest) enough money to allow the returns from those investments to pay for your lifestyle in perpetuity. A general rule of thumb is multiply base expenses by 25. So if you expect to spent $40,000 in a year, you need at least $1,000,000 invested to provide it.

Anyone who has traveled the FIRE path knows that its not quick. Instead, it is a long, drawn out, grind, that requires a constant focus and commitment to setting your future up for success. I’ve been on the path for many years now, and still have a few more to go. Finding something to do, that doesn’t break the bank, is key, and thus where this website comes in.

In an attempt to help pass the time until I can cast off my requirement on a more traditional 9 to 5 – I write my thoughts, concerns, and strategies which help to keep me on the path.