Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I am preparing for a bikepacking trip and I am browsing reddit for info, the bikepacking group. Maybe search for similar groups. Thanks. Unfortunately the DOD blocks websites like reddit so I am utilizing the collective wisdom of this crowd. And thank you all for the input. I'll take a look at the ...

@jacob: I am on a ship currently away from my home in Japan and will not have the opportunity to pack stuff up and mail it. Plus it takes about 21 days for mail to go from Japan to US. @Jean: when I bought my gear years ago (I am guessing it is now 15+ years ago) there were not so many brands. When ...

I am heading to Vermont in May. Instead of staying in hotels for the entire 10 days I thought about doing some camping. My thinking is that a foregoing 4-5 nights in a hotel should pay for my camping equipment bought new in VT at REI or some other outdoor store. I have a lot of camping and backpacki...

I’m apparently a few days late to the party… but oof, Huberman is looking pretty bad these days huh? I’ve long found him a bit too narcissistic for my tastes and his podcasts and recommendations to be more hype than substance, but this is a whole other other level. Really brings to bear the questio...

I'm curious if you have ever grown more cynical after seeing things from different levels? Maybe this was/is just a military thing for me, but I'd say that there were times when seeing things from a higher leader's perspective was more demoralizing than anything else because I realized that the inc...

I have a hard time relating to this as someone who's never played the career game but it's crazy to see how attached people get to the identity their job gives them. They then look at others who happened to climb higher on the corporate ladder - not even necessarily being better or smarter but perh...

Just to be clear, box spreads do not require you to independently juggle four different options legs. Yes, there are four legs but it is traded as a net credit/debit depending upon whether you are short or long. To execute the trade may take 10-15 minutes as you slowly walk up or down your limit pri...

@Veronica I don't know of any books on it although once you understand the mechanism of it it becomes pretty straight forward. So maybe a book on options would be the best place to start. They are very similar to an Iron condor except both the put and call spreads use the same strikes. Yes, they can...

Bucket 1 was VTI and chill + cheaply purchased leverage (margin loan on equities from interactive brokers) for more VTI and chill. When interest rates went insane I paid off that debt with income and have since purchased $NTSX for cheap leverage with interesting downside protection (5x levered bond...

My two person ERE book club I somewhat haphazardly reconnected with a person I had met while living in San Antonio 15 years ago. We had only met once so I didn't know much about her except that she was an interesting, science fiction fan and lover of live music. But I recently discovered she has th...

Nice update: nothing dramatic and steady progress toward goals. I am envious of you being able to perform Bach. When I was a young man I loved the St. John Passion (as we call in English). That would be the type of choral music I would like to be involved in if I had any singing talent.

-Random thoughts on striking out A beautiful 245-acre property in Vermont came available last week. It had everything I wanted: lots of water with the Lamoille River running through it, about 30 acres of cleared land with rich soil that had been used as a garlic farm, 2 miles to the Lamoille Valley...

A very productive month on the net worth front. It is always satisfying to see the number go up. And while you still may be behind where you were at 16 from a monetary perspective, you are far ahead with your career capital. Now, you just need to turn that into financial net worth and let it compound.

Well, I turned the big 5-0 today. I thought I would be more depressed than I am. Perhaps my grandmother passing away last week inoculated me against any self-indulgent lamentations over getting older. I sat down and thought about what would make this, the 51st year of my life, a “win”. I listed five...

@dutchgirl Living in Spain does sound lovely but the way the seas are throwing our ship around tonight (and it is a big ship), I don't think I am wanting to extend another year here. I can always vacation or live in Spain after the Navy. As an alternative to extending here, I could go to Djibouti fo...

Anyone with experience living in Spain? My detailer presented me the opportunity for an assignment in Rota, Spain if I was willing to extend my assignment on this ship for another year. While another year at sea isn't the most amazing prospect, an assignment in Spain is highly sought after in the Na...

Which is the same as playground politics (and probably all else politics?). This signifies of importance of children having a lot of group socialisation, as otherwise they have to learn those dynamics in adult life, where stakes are much higher. I wonder if this has placed the last century's school...

Interesting discussion that demonstrates to me the differences in work culture. When I read this I ask myself "what's the big deal"? Someone emailed at 5pm and CC'd the boss. I get emailed at all hours with the CO/XO cc'd all the time. I just choose what to respond to, at the appropriate t...

That sounds like a lovely time. I should probably utilize my close proximity to countries such as Thailand and Vietnam to explore that part of the world. I appreciate deliberate pace of your travels with lots of reading by the pool. It was only a few years ago that I learned that travel isn't a race...

Random update: With 48 hours in Okinawa, I have been working on catching up with some financial bookkeeping. I even managed to get my taxes completed. With numbers in hand, I was able to update my income and savings rate numbers: 2023 Net Income: $211,354 2023 Savings rate: 69.3% That seems like a ...