Plato and Aristotle

The Real World and Integrity

Every once in a while things just click, that the many strands of thought and experiences you’ve had suddenly develop a pattern that you had never grasped before. I realized this in several aspects of my life recently, but one that I want to talk…

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Man relaxing

FIRE on the Cheap

What are the best ways to improve your life with the least amount of money? The FIRE movement is about much more than the 4% rule, compounding returns, and house hacking. It is in large part about how to create a low stress, meaningful life…

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Man alone in the dark

Failure to Launch

“I’m a grown adult. It’s my money, I earned it, and I’ll do what I want with it!” A friend of mine shouted these words recently when he dropped a bomb on me: he was thinking of moving out of his parents’ house. This is a…

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Contemplation by Thomas Couture, 1875

Is Early Retirement the Moral Thing to Do?

I was reading an article on The Green Swan recently, and blogger JW’s article Why The Government Doesn’t Want You To Retire Early which struck a chord with me. JW argues that of the US governments $6.5 trillion in revenue, 2/3rds of this comes from the…

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Financial Independence through Temp Work

Financial independence through temp work – a statement that makes people question your sanity! How in the world can taking a short-term job with low pay and crappy healthcare help you get ahead? No matter what the wage is, it’s only half of what the…

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What Makes This Blog Different

I love books. This is ironic since one of my earliest childhood memories is my Mom teaching me to read – and I absolutely despised it. Whenever she’d bust out yet another pack of flashcards with words to memorize I’d desperately want to flip the…

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My Goals & Strategy

I’m posting this on a rather inauspicious day, but since this blog will be focusing on achieving financial independence I have to detail at some point my overall goals and starting position. These are ambitious goals,even intimidating goals now that I have them staring back…

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Let’s Begin

Hello everyone, welcome to this site! My name is John and I am writing this blog to detail my journey from cube dweller to financially free retiree.  I am presently 31 years old and would like to retire by age 40 in 2026. I’ve been…

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