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Thankful To Be Thankful

November 23, 2022 by Mr. 1500 Days 9 Comments

Oh crap, not another crappy-happy-sappy Thanksgiving post.

Stay with me friends; this won’t be too mushy.

It’s been over 5 years since I quit my job and I still haven’t quite adjusted to FI life. I was considering this the other day after cursing out the fingerprint reader on my phone. Fingerprint readers have been pretty much useless to me lately. It’s because I’ve doing a lot of physical labor lately and my fingers are torn up and dried out. A fingerprint scanner will typically work for a week and then I have to reset it. I wear construction gloves when I can, but they get in the way.

But, I’m not complaining. I willingly signed on for these projects.

Fortunately, I also play hard. Last weekend was pretty great. I went to the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and saw the Smashing Pumpkins, one of my favorite bands:

The next day, I headed over to the Petersen Automotive Museum to catch the new Tesla exhibit:

Finally, I went to Hermosa Beach which is completely awesome:

Thankful To Be Thankful

When I quit my job, I kept right on working. The work is different, but it still consumes vast quantities of my time. 5+ years later, I haven’t let up. But I’m finally at peace with slowing down.

When I first quit work, I wouldn’t have allowed myself to go to the gym for 3 hours or walk for that same amount of time. It was a luxury I wasn’t comfortable with allowing myself to enjoy. I’m not sure why, but there I was.

But now, I’ve finally calmed down. I have the Project House to finish and then some work to complete on the home I live in. Then, I’ll give the tools a rest. Instead, I’ll work on the podcast, Spanish, and a new website project that I’ve been thinking about for years.

I’m thankful that I own my time. I choose to do what I do and that makes all the difference.

I could get all mushy and tell you that I’m thankful for my family, my friends, and my community. I am, but all of that is pretty boring and well-worn territory. Most of all, I’m thankful that I have so much stuff to be thankful for. Much of it was enabled by FIRE.

If you’ve already FIRE’d, I hope you’re as satisfied with life as I am. If you’re not quite FIRE’d, I hope this post gives you confidence in your plans (just remember to enjoy every day!).

Finally, for those of you who I’ve met in person, thanks for being willing to meet up with an awkward dude who deep down is still a little terrified of other humans. For those of you who I’ve yet to meet, I look forward to seeing you. And everyone, be good to yourself and each other.

Life is great.

More 1500 Days!!!

You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:

Mile High FI podcast:

  • Listen on Apple, Google, YouTube, and Spotify

Also here:

  • Facebook: Facebook group and page
  • YouTube: My channel is mostly devoted to home improvement, but I have some other material coming up soon too.
  • Instagram: Pretty pictures of dinosaurs, sunsets, and nail guns!
  • Twitter: Spontaneous, often insane, ramblings
  • Coworking space: On the surface, MMM HQ is a coworking space. Look a little deeper and you’ll see that we’re really building community. The members of MMM HQ are some of the finest people I know.

And one more thing! Here’s a timely comic from my great friend Arik! See his Instagram feed for more of his awesome work!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Arik Peterson Dad Comic (@dads_are)

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Filed Under: Something Completely Different Tagged With: FIRE, thanksgiving

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Steveark says

    November 24, 2022 at 5:20 am

    You are a great example of living a rich life. I feel like I’m not awful at it myself these nearly seven years since I had a real J.O.B. I was grateful I had an enjoyable career and equally grateful that life after work is so full and so fun. Have a wonderful holiday!

    Reply
  2. Tech says

    November 24, 2022 at 7:23 am

    Happy Thanksgiving!

    Yes, there is a lot to be thankful for. I think it is very healthy for our mental health to remind ourselves about these things. Keep enjoying life!

    Reply
    • Arik says

      November 25, 2022 at 8:37 am

      I’m thankful for Mr and Mrs 1500. They are awesome people andale the works a better place. Keep up being awesome!

      Reply
      • Arik K Peterson says

        November 25, 2022 at 8:38 am

        Oh and I’m thankful that one day I’ll check my comments or errors before I post them.

        Reply
  3. MindspeaksFi says

    November 24, 2022 at 5:07 pm

    Happy Thanksgiving Carl, Mindy and girls.

    Reply
  4. Gabriel Garay says

    November 25, 2022 at 4:17 pm

    You’re a great guy and I love your spirit. I am grateful for people like you in this world. You inspire me.

    Reply
  5. snowcanyon says

    December 1, 2022 at 9:45 am

    Yay! Glad you had an awesome time. Did you AirBnB or hotel points or??

    Looks a-ma-zing.

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      December 4, 2022 at 11:27 am

      Airbnb! I’ve shied away from them recently because they seem to cost more than hotels, but this was one was pretty cheap and a minute walk from the sand. No brainer!

      Reply
  6. Investmentsoup says

    December 6, 2022 at 9:04 am

    Great perspective, hope you and you’re family have a great Christmas and a fantastic 2023. Love the pics of your travels, thanks for sharing!!

    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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Investing is risky business. The information contained on this site is for informational purposes only. As with all matters financial, proceed with caution. Do your research and seek professional advice.

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