T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 6

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #6!

Here are some things I really like and that you might too.  

Finance Articles

11 Months on the Retirement Glide Path – Here’s What We’ve Learned – “We seem to have the time to do the things we want to do and I have to say that being able to spend our wages on fun life things is a pretty good place to reside.”  Freddy is learning that perhaps life is not quite a shit sandwich, at least not all the time.

I have heart disease. GOOD. – “Junk food is engineered to be addictive. I’m no fiend for the stuff, yet I continue to eat more than’s good for me despite knowing I shouldn’t…”  ERD is one of the better writers in the FI space although he doesn’t post very often. I love this post which is (again) a reminder that without health what’s the point.

Video

Winter is coming and I will be ice climbing very soon.  Ice is beautiful, you may not want to play in it like I do but trust me you’ll find beauty in this video.

Who’s Inspired Me

At age 93 Ernie Andrus became the oldest person to run/walk across the country.  He’s a WWII veteran and obvious badass.  So after two years of “retirement” from that, he missed the striving, he missed getting after it.  So earlier this year at age 95 he decided to do it again, in the other direction. 

Yeah.

This dude reminds us that us FIRE folks don’t seek to retire from life, we seek to retire from W2 jobs that might not be our life’s mission so we can do other stuff.  For me, like Ernie, I’ll keep seeking to do epic shit.  I’ll never stop wanting to get better, and will embrace discomfort and struggle.

Here’s a cool video about Ernie.

What I’m Grateful For

The Potomac River.  I enjoy water sports as much as climbing and cycling, and the Potomac is where I get my ya-ya’s out.  Winter doesn’t stop me either.  So if you see a dude stand up paddleboarding on the Potomac this winter, it’s likely me and my identity will be given away 🙂 

Lyrically Speaking

I am older now
I have more than what I wanted
But I wish that I had started
Long before I did
And there’s so much time to make up
Everywhere you turn
Time we have wasted on the way 

From “Wasted On The Way“, by CSNY

If you’re reading this blog chances are you have more than what you wanted, well, definitely more than you need.  This was always on of my favorite CSNY songs partly because it’s easy to play on guitar and mostly because the lyrics are just steller. It’s one of those songs that takes on deeper meaning and resonates more as you get older. 

It came on when I was running the other day and it struck me how this verse applies to personal finance.  Compounding is a big deal and made me really really wealthy, but many of you out there discovered it later in life.  You probably wish you had started investing long before you did.  You might think there’s so much time to make up, time that you wasted on the way.

Start today, and have patience.

Miscellaneous

To Delay Death, Lift Weights – “Strength training in a gym and doing bodyweight exercises seemed to confer roughly equivalent benefits. So you don’t necessarily need to heave around large quantities of iron.”  Hey frugal folks, you don’t need to waste money on a gym and you don’t even need weights. I’ve never belonged to a gym and likely never will.

The Evolution Of Human Cooperation

Opinion: I was Once A Socialist, Then I Saw How It Worked – “Human capital-building is like nutrition: It’s something you have to attend to every day.”  Brooks is a friggin great writer