FIRE.113 What a Morning

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Life In FIRE example. Today is Saturday. Yes, I know in FIRE “every day is Saturday.” But today really is Saturday and my morning was typical, but this specific morning, I took specific notice of its amazement.

Today I woke up feeling nicely rested after sleeping in a little. I woke up naturally. It was bright outside, and I glanced at the clock (microwave clock in the kitchen to be exact, no need for a “clock” in my bedroom anymore) and it was 7:07. That seems like a nice time to wake up and start my day I thought.

Phase 1:

I proceeded with my normal waking routine—I stopped my sleep app on my watch, checked my morning heart rate with my phone, then did a one minute Heart Rate Variability test to see if my “numbers” matched my feeling of “great.” Yep, all was well.

Inserted thought: I am very interested in my “numbers.” As I’m sure many of the FI people are as well. But in this case, the “numbers” are my health numbers, not financial numbers. To get additional, many say, more detailed and accurate health numbers/results, I plan/hope to purchase an oura ring to see how my night’s sleep—as well as its associated data—is reporting. I believe that nothing is more important than my health, and I tend to believe in technology and that hopefully, the technology helps get good data on my health.

Phase 2:

After getting a good numbers report [I just had the thought of how movies show stockbrokers (“market makers”) checking the overseas trading activity first thing in the morning—TOTALLY different “numbers]… So, anyway, after checking my numbers I laid in bed for a few minutes to just relax, think about my life’s amazingness, and just find some serious gratitude. In some ways, I feel I should do some meditation to calm/center my mind, but to be honest, in that moment—most morning moments—I don’t want to clear my mind of the wonderful gratitude I’m feeling. I prefer to feel and try to amplify the gratitude inside me.

This is where today was different than most days. Today is a “recovery” day from exercise/training. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve purposely built in two days per week to give my body a chance to avoid a 60-90 minute exercise session and let everything calm down, let the cells build themselves back up to allow me to have a great strong day/week/month/year/life. But today, the idea of doing an extra 6 mile run popped in my head. This extra exercise activity is pretty rare, especially in the last couple of years.

Phase 3:

I followed my normal morning protocol of making my green tea and letting it steep while I go outside and sit in my spa. Sitting in my spa in the morning is what I used to call “my commute.” It was the time where I was alone and prepared to tackle the day. Now, it’s just the final phase of my morning routine.

It just occurred to me that having “phases” for my morning seems ridiculous. It seems overly structured. It’s really not either of those—instead, it’s just the process I’ve fallen into over the years. I guess even a book like The Morning Miracle has a similar idea for a personal structure.

So my new fine-tuning of phase 3 has been to sit in my yard after the spa and read some more and look at the pool and the “mountains” by my house. Lately, I’ve noticed lots of birds chirping away. A strangely peaceful scenario they build. On some days I can see, and hear, people hiking on one of the mountain trails in the distance. I’ve also noticed fewer planes flying overhead—maybe that’s why the birds seem louder. It’s just a nice 10-15 minutes of “gratitude part 2.”

Bonus:

After lounging I went inside and grabbed some running shoes, got wired up (tech geek), and headed out the door to run. I didn’t know this when I was in phase 2, but it was nice and cool outside, 72 degrees to be specific. This was a surprise because it was 96 degrees yesterday. I headed out for my run into the cool and actually cloudy neighborhood, choosing a different route than normal while finding some surprising spring in my step.

It was a nice run, a really nice run. I saw couples, families, dude packs, and dogs out moving about. They were on their bikes, or running, or walking, just being active (note: October and March are peak season for people being active, the hardcore hammerers see this seasonal change).

Other extra:

My wife decided at 10a that she wanted to take the convertible mustang “around the block.” You know they need their exercise too, right? You’ve got to keep the muscle cars moving. For some reason, she often wants to do these car activities on the weekend (“weekend driver?”). I prefer to take the muscle cars out mid-week, mid-day, specifically in the first half of the off-peak 9a-3p window. Either way, it was a nice drive cruising around the neighborhood/area. I was even able to scout out a new 6-mile bike/pedestrian path they will be opening next to a new freeway. So muscle car exercise=Kevin reconnaissance activity.

Once back home we took on some home tasks and got some life organizing underway. There’s never a chance that I will be fully caught up on everything I need/want to do, or even close to being caught up. That’s probably why I’m never bored in FIRE. I always have over one-hundred things on my to-do list. The list is not even stressful because I can do the items whenever (if-ever) I want. Is “if-ever” a word? I don’t know for sure, but I think I really like that new word. Wow, turns out ifever may be an actual word. Check-Kevin is a little smarter today…even if I sound like a 13-year-old girl if I say that out loud.

As of now, it’s just after 1p and today has been fantastic. I plan to do some more stuff/tasks/messing-around, but I never know what the rest of the day will bring. I just know that it was a rare cloudy neflix-on-the-couch type day. I’ve yet to have a netflix-day even 6+ years into FIRE…

Do you have a routine? Specifically a morning routine? Do you update and improve your routine? Do you stop and think about your routine and the goodness you have in your life?

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice. I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be. You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

FIRE.112 AC/BC

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How will you be After Covid (AC)? How is your life different—better—than Before Covid (BC)?

Most of us long for the return to a (mostly) BC lifestyle. A life where we can go places and be around people without the concern of a possible deadly virus lurking nearby waiting to attach to our cells.

Most people I know have thoughts—some even a list—of what they are going to do AC. They’ve been storing up multiple “when I can, I’m going to…” items. That makes sense. That makes sense now, but also made sense BC. Shouldn’t everyone always have a list of things they want to do–a list of things they love to do?

What I wonder right now is, how have you made yourself better during Covid? Yes, I know there were thousands of articles/posts/stories about taking advantage of lockdown and doing something good, great, or amazing. Then after a few months, I saw posts lambasting productivity posts and how they were often just a popularity post rather than a true hope to motivate people to do great things.

I can say that I’ve done a few cool improvements in my life. I can say my wife has bettered herself as well by taking music lessons, etc. But of course, neither of us had grand plans to write a novel or create some new business venture.

I would say that during lockdown we really concentrated on having stable, solid days. Making sure we had some structure to our lives. We implemented replacements to many of our BC activities (home spinning bike, home gym workout, better webcams, more time on Kanopy, Great Courses, Curiosity Stream, etc).

I also found the time to help others, most often it was through using zoom for online meetings and making sure people could come together to get some inter-personal communication.

I wrote earlier about my experiment with Intermittent Fasting and the surprising results. I spent time sitting (or running/biking) and thinking about the good things in my life. I’ve always had a sense of gratitude, but this year, as much as other years, I’ve tried to be even more grateful for my life.

Early on I wrote about working to Make Progress. Grow. Learn. Improve.

At this point (maybe halfway through the pandemic?) I give myself about a “B” for the whole.

I really wish I could give myself an A-, but I found that I improved on many things, and sat back and reflected in gratitude (which is a nice plus in itself).

I have more I can improve on, and I will, but I have no plans to go out all and become some super-person. Actually, I’ve never had that goal, and “you are who you are.”

I have been making my AC list of things to do. Some of them I should have done BC, like two trips to visit old friends and explore a little, but that’s OK. I believe we’ll all be safe and can meet up again.

We did some projects around the house. Some projects were planned and others were not. We just decided to go ahead and get some stuff done. Get to work on some things.

I really have learned—not because of the Covid, but in general—that life can change at any time with a visit to the doctor, for yourself or your family/friends. Enjoy your days NOW!!!

FIRE.111 IF Lockdown…

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IF locked down, how would you voluntarily change your routine, yourself?

I decided to experiment right BC. That’s Before Covid.

I tried a random eating schedule starting at the beginning of March, a couple of weeks before lockdown. I decided to try this hip Intermittent Fasting thing—“program”—and see IF I noticed anything. I thought I would use an intermediate level of 16:8 (16 hours fastings:8 hours eating)—versus 20:4, 18:6, or say 12:12.

I thought this schedule would be really hard for me since I had previously used the “eat small meals all day long—every 1-2 hours—to keep blood sugar consistent” to help me lose 140 pounds over 2 years. Eating “every hour or so” was my whole “one pound per week for two years” plan. I had been eating a little bit every hour or so for over 20 years. It would be a pretty major change for the morning hours.

It’s strange, with my IF plan, I just ate the same foods as always but in a more compressed window. I ate pretty much the same calorie content as I always had.

My new schedule was: eat from Noon-8p (Fast 8p-noon). I would eat the same foods, just eat my breakfast oatmeal at noon, then often something else at 1 or 2p. Dinner around 4, 5, or 6p. Snack at 8pm. As I got used to the schedule, I now don’t eat my breakfast until 2p or even 3p on some days.

Somehow this schedule produced amazing results. I actually cannot believe the results. More specifically, I cannot believe that it’s pretty easy to stick to my 16:8 (noon-8pm). Yes, I know, that some studies suggest that starting the evening fast by 6pm or even 4pm is more metabolically efficient, but that’s not acceptable for my style.

My scale results were starting at a good 176 pounds and smoothly dropping to a consistent 170ish. The weight loss was about 1 pound per month. I’m actually fine at the 175 range +/- 3 pounds.

Note: I did change my gym/weight lifting/resistance training routine from 2x/wk to 3x/wk because I had the option to fill my hockey/swim day since businesses were closed.

As for workouts, I did more running, biking, and weight lifting so far this year, than any other year. I always thought I had to have sustenance to get through my 60-90 minute workouts, but that turned out to be false. I feel pretty good during my workout and after. I do think my performance/power level is a little lower than the past because I’m on the downhill side of 50.

I had a cool surprise during lockdown. With the addition of a 3^rd resistance day, my musculature has gone up significantly, even when using a few dumbbells and rubber bands at home. I really thought not eating meat (for the past two years) and growing older was the reason I lost a noticeable amount of muscle…and maybe it was, but adding a little more frequent effort (let’s be honest, I push myself kind of hard for an hour with the resistance) was plenty to bring back a really good muscle tone. [could that restored/created muscle be a significant factor in my weight drifting and staying lower?]

It’s safe to say that 1) I have more muscle than when I started. 2) I’ve proven I can do full cardio and weight workouts without morning fuel (not sure if I’m burning glycogen or fat) and 3) ALL my clothes— some that I’ve had for 20 yrs—all fit looser 6 months into lockdown.

IF you were tracking your body, IF you made a simple change, IF you tried Intermittent Fasting, what do you think would happen for you? I have to say, all of my millennial friends, and the older medical podcast folds I listen too (talking health and lifespan), may all be correct. They said IF was great, and I have to say, for me, so far, it’s worked out well. I’m not sure that I’m going to stop my noon breakfast schedule.

FIRE.110 Aging out….50!

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So this year I left my 40s.

I left the decade of being “not really that old yet.” Of course, being 40-something is NOTHING like being 30-something. Yet, being 40-something still gives you a little sense that much of the world lies ahead. After completing your 50^th year, you realize in every way you are on the downhill slide to “poof.” There’s no way you can truly avoid the truth of the “downhill.” It’s very clear you are in the second half of a century.

Am I leaving 40s or entering 50s? For me personally, I’m entering my 50s. I’ve finally “grown into the man suit,” especially related to my thinking. Funny thing, I don’t—nor have I ever—wear suits…especially in FIRE. I mean, I barely wear socks now thanks to Sanucks.

I’ve always been older than my age. I’ve always had older friends, I was a college professor when I was 21, I worked as an umpire for Little League Baseball when I was 12 and my classmates we on the field, and lived a mentally older thought driven (cautious?) lifestyle. This age/decade is going to fit me fantastically.

Experience

I also like the fact that I have enough decades (as an adult) to be a little wiser and have many, many experiences to base my thoughts around. I also love that none of those experiences can ever be taken away from me.

At this point in life, some may realize they care less about what everyone thinks. Wait, maybe that’s only me? Yet, I believe the odds of pleasing everyone are lower than the odds of winning the lottery, especially in this age of Twits. It’s important to be true to yourself and hopefully, you are a good, caring, helpful, productive person. Doesn’t that seem like a good way to live your upcoming half-century?

Normalness is different for everyone

For normal folk, retirement is 62, 67, 70?, etc. Early retirement is 60. Really early retirement is 58, 55. Super early retirement may be 50…an entire decade+ earlier than normal.

There is an AMAZING feeling of having so much time to tackle activities and passions. Anything…everything, is available for you, if you only go for it and grasp the adventure ahead. I know this is the case based on my 6 years of activities in FIRE already. Note: I may learn a different perspective in the future, but for now I operate with amazement, each and every day.

I would like to say thanks to Joe at Retire by 40. I saw his blog when I was 40 and ready to leave work. I thought “wow, other people have this same plan, position, and passion.” I could have left work at 40 but I loved my job and stayed 3 more years. No need to rehash those posts here.

So, for some, their 40s are a significant time to optimize the growth phase. They can grow in life, income, spending, but hopefully saving as well. The 50’s are often considered your highest earning years. That’s an important consideration to deal with when considering turning off the direct deposit spigot. However, if you’ve “lived like no one else, so you can live like no one else-Ramsey” then you can let “your army of dollar bills march off to work each morning so you don’t have to-TheMoneyGuy(s) or Mr Money Mustache.”

I’ve noticed changes in myself

Before, I absolutely enjoyed meeting and discussing personal finance with everyone. People in their 30s or even 20s had interesting ideas. You could see the fire in their eyes when they realized the opportunities ahead (yeah, I saw the pun). The lesson of living your smart lifestyle and not living your income-to-the-max is so empowering. It was great to see others grasping hold of this concept.

Once you’re past the big 5-0, you’ve become an old dude (on the outside…well, maybe inside too?)

You care more for your specific life/time. You don’t want to waste 30 min, or an hour+, doing something that is not in your core interest. (see how I shortened my typing a little there, without using U R 4, etc)

You get the sense that you’re moving on, or have moved on from some interests, tasks, actions, even discussions. Sometimes you realize the discussions are similar to one’s you’ve heard many times before and chose not to participate in (Twits)—maybe because they seem to never lead to a resolution, or even progress.

I wonder if that is “aging out” or “aging up” or “giving (something) up” or something entirely different. Maybe it’s refocusing onto new matters or more perceived important (to you)-matters. Maybe it’s a Rewire of yourself. It’s a very interesting time of introspection.

FIRE.109 FIRE Summattire

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As the temperatures rose during our quarantine/lockdown it became apparent—for some reason— that clothing options for the hot FIRE season could be anything I chose for the moment. More specifically, there were very, very limited activities outside the home requiring full public dressing.

The interesting item of clothing seemed to be the “zoom shirt” required for zoom video conferences. Now, since I don’t work, this wasn’t a big deal. Yet, I still had to find presentable shirts for zoom calls that I chose to attend. The good news was that any random pair of shorts worked fine, even if I had to get out of the chair and leave the room while on camera most shorts seemed acceptable

Much of my day required clothing that was acceptable for intermittent pool-dunks to cool off and splash around.

Apparently one day I was wearing a more-discombobulated collection of clothing that prompted my wife to ask “what are you wearing now?” My answer was simply “my summattire.”

Of course, after decades of living with me, my wife often just shakes her head and walks away. I’m assuming she realized that my selection was fully applicable to the situation of the day. But, as I type this, I’m wondering if her actions were based on my clothing or my newly crafted word?

My point in this post is simple: sometimes when you are living the great life, things just fall into place in the manner they were meant to be: no rules, no judgment, at least internally. Let your summer loose.

FIRE.108 Your Butterfly after Isolation

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How will you emerge from your time inside, your lockdown isolation, your quarantine, your cocoon?

Did you/are you growing yourself (and your family) into something beautiful upon emergence? I sure hope you are not the opposite—sitting around depressed at what you cannot do. Instead look at the opportunities that have arisen while in lockdown:

The appreciation of most everything. Starting with the amazingness of life itself. It’s not often we actually stop and think about being a living being. A growing, aging, energy source in the universe. Of course not, we’re too busy rushing around to our next task/obligation required by our lifestyle. However, with current isolation requirements, many of those external obligations are not required, or even possible.
The appreciation of those around you. Those who you share your days with and are so much of your life’s energy.
Enhance those around you. What can you do each week (or each day if you’re an over-achiever) to make someone else’s life better?
Everything that you have at this moment.
Everything that you do not need at this moment.
Enhance your life space for yourself and those who enjoy the space along with you.
But most importantly, the opportunity to work with the most complicated item in the known universe, your brain. This is an amazing time to enhance your wondrous possession. If not grow your brain, maybe take some time to calm your mind.

I had a random realization with my body. I’ve been quite fit and strong for the past 20 years. Interestingly I recognized a noticeable loss in muscle/muscle mass over the past year or so. I thought it was because I wasn’t eating meat, yet still getting plenty of plant protein.

I had been doing two full-body strength sessions since 2000. I had great results for 19 years. Because of lockdown, I bumped up my resistance/strength training to 3 times per week since my hockey/swim options were eliminated. It was amazing to me how the 3^rd week or so I began noticing better muscle structure.

I really started to think about how a process can become less impactful if it’s the same old process (routine) time after time if there are external forces—in this case (most likely) AGE.

If I’ve learned anything over time it seems quite simple: “be better than yesterday.” It just seems these simple words could make a huge difference to everyone.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice. I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be. You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice.

FIRE.107 OShRE

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After spending so much time hanging out with FI geared people I feel like the Financial Independence and self-accountability strategy is common and held by many strong people.

I’ve told my story about my FIRE day and how I gave my job to a 63-year-old co-worker who was laid off the previous year. How they were upended in their income-generating ability from a megacorp and how they found it impossible to gain new employment at their advanced age.

I realized they are quite the opposite of fiRE. They are now retired, but without the FI. They are Oh Shit Retirement Early (earlier than planned).

NOTE: I started writing this post a few months ago when I was taking stock of my interaction with cohorts. In the past two months, the ~~nation~~ world has been placed on coronavirus related lockdowns. In that time—as early as week 2—there have been thousands of news reports and articles in the US showing the disastrous impact of a (temporary) loss or lowering of income.

There are “rent strikes” and mortgage skipping activities all over the place. There are long lines of cars at the food bank distribution locations (see videos of nice/new/even luxury vehicles in line). The ramifications of this disruption/disaster are far greater—and much faster impacting—than the great recession in 2008-2009.

The wondering of—did people learn from the last income/economic problem? Did we as a whole put more money away into emergency funds? Did we decide the great recession was so scary financially that we didn’t want to go through that stress if at all possible? I’m seeing so many reports to the contrary.

Inserted Paragraph: So here we are; MILLIONS of people laid off from work. Additional MILLIONS of people with reduced income through partial furloughs/reduced hours. There are even articles stating some/many employers will not rehire the same people once they begin rehiring workers. Will companies try and pick the best employees looking for work? Why wouldn’t they? Where will this leave the “less” desirable workers?–the less-skilled, the higher paid, the older workers nearing the end of their career? Are there tons of people about to be OShRE?

Original Paragraph: There are a lot of articles, statistics, and podcasts sharing that many people (baby boomers) who want to (need to) work longer, to age 70 or even longer. There are also many statistics showing this plan does not always work out as they wish. Many people lose their jobs before they want to stop working and throw them into the Oh Shit stage of life.

My original thoughts about people thrust into retirement before they were ready (are many people never financially ready?) has turned into a shocking panic for so many:

10,000 turn 65 each day * 60+ days of this working crisis = 600,000+ people

I would love to leave this post with an idea to help—and idea to make a difference, to make something better. It may come down to being there to help those folks:

Take stock in their situation.
For them to understand their balance sheet and net worth statement.
To understand their true historical spending each month/year.
A way to know the exact position of their financial status.

Then, and only then can a plan be drafted to see how the future may lay out. A plan showing how financial activities project over the course(s) of the future. What is possible, and what seems not-possible. A plan. A goal. Some options. Hope.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice. I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be. You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice.

FIRE.106 Quarantiners Can’t Be Choosers

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Oh, how life is different in the midst of a global—craziness—pandemic. How the most superficial of our consumer activities change so drastically, causing a dramatic effect on our acquisition of goods (and services).

Are we essentially reduced to being beggars locked in our own homes? I’ve learned to be thankful—so very thankful— that items arrive at my home for consumption. Often the items are not my initial or primary choice, but that’s OK. ~~Beggars~~ Quarantiners can’t be choosers, or can they?

There have been times over the past four weeks of quarantine—social isolation, lockdown, introversion activation…actually, my almost normal daily lifestyle—where we’ve wanted something and it’s just not really possible to get the item or service. We have learned to shift and pivot to make do with the available options presented to us.

We have learned to pre-plan our purchases even more so than we normally do. This allows us to build in the shipping/delivery delay that seemed to be significant in the first month and lessoning with recent orders.

We have learned to select a backup item, just in case the initial item is unavailable. For example, if we want organic bananas or avocados, we add a few conventional items to the cart. We end up with either none, one or the other, or both…quarantiners can’t be choosers. It’s all good. We’re happy with any items that arrived (I am now the owner of two jars of a strange-tasting Sunflower Butter product— quarantiners can’t be choosers).

I needed an outdoor spa repair. It sounds quite superficial but sitting in hot water for a few minutes does good things for a person, for a soul. [see: 28, 34, 59.60, 63]. Luckily, I was able to find some techs and an electrician who were working—said they were SUPER busy right now—to come over and do service calls. They all made good money providing 6, 12, and 36 minutes of work at my home. I was able to get service and in a few days and a trip to Lowe’s, a working 300-gallon happy zone. I didn’t realize how much not having my standard routine of super-zen time (“commute time”) changed my daily routine.

So, this all leads me to the thought of trying to figure out a safe plan and process to help support the businesses that support me. A way to pull together ideas to help the business that we’ve supported, and enjoyed for years and years.

As the stay-at-home orders transition to limited-release protocols, not everyone will be in a financial position to pay for goods and services. There have been so many salary impacting decisions that flowed so deeply into the supply chain that it will take time for everything and everyone to get back onto a balanced footing. We are planning to do our part, to identify those businesses that we use, and get into a safe (masked) action to engage in transactions. Interestingly, one of the first actions will be bringing my mom’s dog to the groomers for her nail trimming. Sounds superficial, but not to the groomers, or to our “good-girl.” This is assuming the groomers can survive their shutdown.

If you’re not already, plan, and support those who you care about, as soon as you can, safely. If we don’t, they may not be available for us in the future and the “quarantiners can’t be choosers” may shift to a “post quarantine options may change forever.”

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice. I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be. You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice.