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24 Months Of Early Retirement in 24 Pictures

April 10, 2019 by Mr. 1500 Days 17 Comments

This Saturday will mark the two year anniversary of my departure from formal work, I’ll have much more to say on that next week. In the meantime, enjoy some juicy photos.

2017

April: I left my job on 4/13. A week before my last day, I stopped in the Chicago office for one last trip.

Cloud Gate at Millennium Park

May: Mrs. 1500 and I visited the Penny Planters in Florida.

June: The family took a road-trip to the Midwest. In Minnesota, we made a house call to the Physician on FIRE.

July: We went to Maine where we caused mischief in Portland.

August: Mrs. 1500 and I went to Scotland where we visited with a Mad Fientist.

September: PopUp Business School in Longmont:

October: San Diego for a conference.

November: I went to the Pacific Northwest where I hiked Olympic National Park with a friend:

December: Las Vegas!

2018

January 2018: Camp FI Southwest.

February 2018: There must not have been a lot going on as this was the best I could come up with.

Beer to keep warm during the cold, Colorado winter?

March 2018: We headed off to Portland where I ran my first (and probably last) half-marathon. Before the race, we drove up the Oregon coast.

Canon Beach

April 2018: We headed to New Mexico to the Trinity Site.

May 2018: The Berkshire Hathaway meeting in Omaha is always a blast.

June: Cuba!

July: We spent the 4th of July holiday with the Waffles on Wednesday couple. Since it was a Wednesday:

August: I went to Minnesota to visit with relatives and attend Camp FI Midwest.

September: FinCon! BeerCon?

October: Greece!

November: St. Louis! I went to see Matt Talbott perform a living room show.

December: Florida again!

Lovely Sanibel Island

2019

January: Camp FI Southwest.

See the trend?

February: Girl Scout cookie chaos.

Selling cookies in front of the pot shop. When in Rome…

March: For spring break, we stayed put. Except Voodoo Donuts. And holy hell, these aren’t cheap, but soooooo worth it.

We Didn’t Sit Still

I’m surprised by how much we moved around. While I like travel, I need to constantly remind myself to find my joy at home. Experiences are great, but the day-to-day life is where most of your time is spent. Don’t take it for granted. At least some of the excessive travel was probably a reaction to having a free schedule for the first time in my life.

We were going to take a big trip in March, but then we called the whole thing off. It was good to spend some time with the girls at home. No moving around to different hotels constantly. No fights in the backseat of the car. No cranky kids from excessive site-seeing.

So yeah, we’ll lay low for a while. We’ll enjoy life at home. Walk and bike. Watch sunsets over the mountains.

With an occasional donut.

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Filed Under: Early Retirement Tagged With: travel, Vacation, voodoo donuts

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Yyz says

    April 10, 2019 at 8:38 pm

    “Push Butt” is genius! Did she come up with that? I’ll see that on every crossing button forever now

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      April 11, 2019 at 7:18 am

      Her dad has a sophisticated sense of humor…

      Reply
  2. Mrwow says

    April 11, 2019 at 12:17 am

    That’s an awful lot of beer!!! And other goodies!
    Looks like. Hell of a 24 months to me!!

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      April 11, 2019 at 7:18 am

      I’m tired!

      Reply
  3. Lisa says

    April 11, 2019 at 5:35 am

    Who says retirement is boring?! You’re certainly keeping busy! It looks like you, the family, and the dinosaurs have had lots of fun.

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      April 11, 2019 at 7:18 am

      Yep, not boring at all. I probably need more “boring!”

      Reply
  4. Financially Fit Mom says

    April 11, 2019 at 6:22 am

    Wow , 2 years went fast, huh?! Looks like you’ve had a great time. Out of everything though…orange cardamom…that is intriguing and seems like an oxymoron for a porter. A summer ale maybe, but a porter? How was it?

    Do you have a favorite of the trips? Not counting the people you visited or met because that would probably be an unfair question, but based on the location and/or activities, anything stand out on top?

    I wonder if I squeezed and orange and mixed in some cardamom and strained it into the Black Butte Porter currently taking up space in my fridge….
    Financially Fit Mom recently posted…Marketing for the (Momentary) WinMy Profile

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      April 11, 2019 at 7:48 am

      Orange Cardamom! That operation was in the Physician on FIRE’s basement, but I don’t remember trying that particular beer. I guess that I need to make another house call.

      Favorite! I didn’t include these two, but I liked NYC more than I thought I would (Central Park is spectacular and so is NYC food!) and Vermont was incredibly beautiful. I like the latter so much that I’m going back there this summer…

      Reply
  5. Team CF says

    April 11, 2019 at 7:36 am

    Nice visual, you guys have been busy!
    Enjoy the donuts 🙂
    Team CF recently posted…Creative ways to FIRE soonerMy Profile

    Reply
  6. Jamie V says

    April 11, 2019 at 7:59 am

    I gotta say, this recap..man, this recap hit me today. I remember when you posted some of those pictures because that day/month was where we currently were, time-wise! I feel like those were not 1 or 2 years ago. They can’t be. Because I swear I just lived through reading and seeing them them freshly posted maybe half a year ago or less. Time has been flying my friend, and most of what I remember of my time is a bunch of stress and snowballing medical problems from that stress. :/ (Also, happy 2 years!!!! Got any big plans in store for the next 2?)

    Reply
  7. Joe says

    April 11, 2019 at 8:15 am

    You’re living it up! That’s great. Your early retirement looks ideal. Enjoy.
    Joe recently posted…What is Your Financial Superpower?My Profile

    Reply
  8. James says

    April 11, 2019 at 8:32 am

    Not related to your latest post but would love to hear your thoughts on this piece John Oliver did on mobile home park ownership and investors and how it relates to your own experience investing there. I’m sure not all investment groups are the same and there’s a good chance he chose his facts carefully for shock value and entertainment purposes so I’m not trying to point a finger or anything, just interested in your reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCC8fPQOaxU

    Keep up the great work with the blog!

    Reply
  9. Mr. Bo Dangles says

    April 11, 2019 at 8:39 am

    Super cool! It’s posts like this that remind me of my Why. I can’t wait to be as free as you are!
    Mr. Bo Dangles recently posted…Bo’s Basics IntroMy Profile

    Reply
  10. Cathleen Cooks Stuff says

    April 11, 2019 at 11:42 am

    An amazing amount of travelling and attending FI conferences- along with some dirty-minded pictures. I always imagined my first year or so in FIRE would just be me at home, knitting and shit. Except I can’t knit. Maybe recording a “swearing chef” cooking show. That I would probably show no one.
    I am living vicariously through other people’s travels, without having to sit on the plane or in a car for hours on end.
    Cathleen Cooks Stuff recently posted…Driving an electric car is like the journey to financial independenceMy Profile

    Reply
  11. Mr. Tako says

    April 12, 2019 at 3:00 am

    Wow you guys really travel a lot! It seems like you’ve been constantly on the go for the past two years.

    Impressive, but I suspect it’s also tiring!

    Here’s to the next two years! 🙂

    Reply
  12. Jim says

    April 12, 2019 at 4:13 pm

    I love the visuals. Nice timeline on the past few years.

    Reply
  13. hoadondientu says

    April 18, 2019 at 10:20 pm

    24 pictures beautiful. Thanks for that

    Follow me at: https://einvoice.vn/

    Reply

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Freedom!

My goal was to build a portfolio of $1,000,000 by February of 2017; 1500 days from the birth of this blog (January 1, 2013). And hey look, I’ve since retired!

Investments only (primary home excluded)
1/1/13 (The Start): $586,043
1/1/14 (1 Yr Later): $869,635
1/1/15 (2 Yrs Later): $987,351
1/1/16 (3 Yrs Later): $1,057,961
1/1/17 (4 Yrs Later): $1,257,128
1/1/18 (5 Yrs Later): $1,527,701
1/1/19 (6 Yrs Later): $1,549,440
1/1/20 (7 Yrs Later): $2,035,040*
1/1/21 (8 Yrs Later): $3,379,746**
1/1/22 (9 Yrs Later): $4,762,642
1/1/23 (10 Yrs Later): $3,112,821

2023: Investments only
1/1: $3,112,821

Overall
2023 investment gains: $0
Investment gains since 1/1/2013: $2,526,778
Net worth***: $3,342,821

* The big jump between 2019 and 2020 was partly because we bought another home, but kept the previous (much more expensive) one as a rental. We have since sold it.

** Tesla.

*** Includes our primary home equity in addition to our investment portfolio.

Finally, we still have about $290,000 in mortgage debt (which I love!). No regrets about the debts!

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