Count me in too - we are based in the UK and are planning a family (2 parents plus 3 kids) trip, inter-railing around Europe for 2-2.5 weeks in late October/November. Usually the preserve of students, inter railing is now becoming popular with grown ups!
I love the idea of broadening the pool of stories and examples through collaboration. Count me in as a contributor, and I look forward to reading other stories as well.
I appreciate the detail in which you talk about these topics. I tend to procrastinate making plans for a theoretical future, but your essays are very practical and get me thinking about action items. My husband and I have an annual planning meeting after Christmas every year and I’m very excited to bring some of the ideas I’ve heard from you.
Like a financial planning meeting, or an "all around" kind of thing? I'm a little embarrassed to say that I've never thought of doing this with my wife. We talk about these things, of course, but not in a structured way.
We do a little bit of everything -- reviewing our spending for the year and refreshing our budget for the new year, planning weekend getaways and big vacations, prioritizing household projects and other big spending items, etc etc.
I confess we’re better at the annual planning but less consistent with the quarterly check ins throughout the year.
Hi Rocco, I like your idea. Count me in as a contributor from time to time once you get rolling. BTW, I plan to start a Substack newsletter of my own in the near future, where one topic will be combatting isolation and loneliness among those over 65 through various models of shared housing. I would love to have you as a guest contributor to that as well. :-)
Love the idea and I hope to contribute from Puerto Rico, where I am spending the holidays. One of the things I love doing when visiting a place is just browsing through a local newspaper..especially the advertisements...even if I dont speak the language. I find it interesting to know what a lb of meat costs in the place versus back home..what does a can of soup cost..a new car...just some of the regular stuff people buy.
Additionally, we usually eat at small mom and pop places when traveling rather than large restaurants in hotels. It gives us a much better sense of the local culture, we meet interesting people (mostly friendly) and the quality of the food is almost always better. Google reviews are usually a safe bet in terms of choosing good places to eat. Has to be a 4* or higher.
One financial habit that I have always considered critical for financial independence is to regularly track one’s income and expenses. sounds very boring and mundane..however this is the core to being successful in retiring early...One needs good data to review, to understand and then to make better financial choices. Services like Mint make it easy to track one’s finances. Although my preference is good ole Quicken...been using it for about 20 years now.
More to come from PR over the next two weeks. Cheers!
Count me in too - we are based in the UK and are planning a family (2 parents plus 3 kids) trip, inter-railing around Europe for 2-2.5 weeks in late October/November. Usually the preserve of students, inter railing is now becoming popular with grown ups!
Count me in. This sounds like something that could go in any number of interesting directions!
I love the idea of broadening the pool of stories and examples through collaboration. Count me in as a contributor, and I look forward to reading other stories as well.
I appreciate the detail in which you talk about these topics. I tend to procrastinate making plans for a theoretical future, but your essays are very practical and get me thinking about action items. My husband and I have an annual planning meeting after Christmas every year and I’m very excited to bring some of the ideas I’ve heard from you.
Like a financial planning meeting, or an "all around" kind of thing? I'm a little embarrassed to say that I've never thought of doing this with my wife. We talk about these things, of course, but not in a structured way.
We do a little bit of everything -- reviewing our spending for the year and refreshing our budget for the new year, planning weekend getaways and big vacations, prioritizing household projects and other big spending items, etc etc.
I confess we’re better at the annual planning but less consistent with the quarterly check ins throughout the year.
I love it! We need to follow your example. Our vacation planning is anything but done in advance.
Hi Rocco, I like your idea. Count me in as a contributor from time to time once you get rolling. BTW, I plan to start a Substack newsletter of my own in the near future, where one topic will be combatting isolation and loneliness among those over 65 through various models of shared housing. I would love to have you as a guest contributor to that as well. :-)
Love the idea and I hope to contribute from Puerto Rico, where I am spending the holidays. One of the things I love doing when visiting a place is just browsing through a local newspaper..especially the advertisements...even if I dont speak the language. I find it interesting to know what a lb of meat costs in the place versus back home..what does a can of soup cost..a new car...just some of the regular stuff people buy.
Additionally, we usually eat at small mom and pop places when traveling rather than large restaurants in hotels. It gives us a much better sense of the local culture, we meet interesting people (mostly friendly) and the quality of the food is almost always better. Google reviews are usually a safe bet in terms of choosing good places to eat. Has to be a 4* or higher.
One financial habit that I have always considered critical for financial independence is to regularly track one’s income and expenses. sounds very boring and mundane..however this is the core to being successful in retiring early...One needs good data to review, to understand and then to make better financial choices. Services like Mint make it easy to track one’s finances. Although my preference is good ole Quicken...been using it for about 20 years now.
More to come from PR over the next two weeks. Cheers!