The Financial Independent One

I stay away from these issues on my blog, but the climate has become toxic and something needs to be change. I recently visited relatives in another state. This was days after the midterm elections were over and done with, but many campaign signs still remained visible.   The first one to catch my eye was for county sheriff.  The incumbent won; Many people I spoke to voted for him. Their decision was solely based on his position on gun control; Not whether crime went down, or he cleaned-up the streets. His effect on crime rate apparently had no bearing on the opinion of many voters. Another one that piqued my interest was one for a congressional hopeful.  It seemed that the only thing many knew said candidate was their opinion on abortion. Not much more about their platform; not that they could tell me. These topics have been hot-button issues for quite some time and were usually deciding factors, discriminators so to speak, but as of now it seems that these

One morning I woke up and realized it, so I just packed up my stuff and moved out.  It was over; she knew it and so did I.  Hit me like ton bricks;  no fight, just a long and deafening silence. If I had to pay someone else’s mortgage, at least help with it, then it would be family. So I moved into the unfinished and long forgotten apartment. Finished it up and all parties ended up quite happy. They now had rental property and I had a place to live at a very reasonable, actually below market rate. The time to put my needs first, ahead of others' wants had finally arrived. I was not becoming selfish or  irresponsible; I simply prioritized and really got on track. Working 40+ years so that I could finally retire had always seemed rather pointless. I had started contributing the maximum allowed by the IRS into my 401K and soon thereafter learned that I could actually retire at the age of 59 ½ and start withdrawing from the plan without incurring any penalties. That beca