Its been a busy year and we’ve been absent from the blog for awhile. When I posted last in June of 2018, I was 7.5 months pregnant. The last 6 weeks were pretty rough, and any activities beyond showing up to work and helping my husband care for our then 1 year-old daughter fell by the wayside. Maddox James was born late July 2018, and...
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What is a mini retirement? The concept of a mini retirement has been attributed to Tim Ferriss from his book The Four Hour Work Week. The idea basically means taking extended time off of work to relax, reboot, indulge, and/or explore the world, instead of waiting until retirement age. Mini retirements can occur multiple times throughout a person’s career, if planned correctly. You can always...
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If you’ve been dreaming of a life aboard a sailboat, but haven’t done much to get yourself there, consider the following 5 steps in building and maintaining a budget that can help you achieve your dream. Start today. Remember: You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time. Define your goal. How much do you need to save up? What is your timeframe? ...
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During the month of June, the Countdown to Sailing crew (and countdown to baby!) are engaging in a variety of activities outside of regular work and play. In addition to Lizzie celebrating her 1st birthday this month, we are soaking in the sun and backyard pool fun. Here are updates on what we’re studying, buying, doing for fun, trading in our tastyworks acccount, and what...
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I was talking to a friend last week, and the topic of where we picture ourselves someday came up. She mentioned that she’d love to live on a beach, in a hammock, drink in hand, with a cabana boy fanning her with palm leaves. My response was, “That sounds amazing. What are you doing today to work towards that goal?” She looked at me like...
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This month the Countdown to Sailing Fund Savings Meter went from $20k to $91k, with the following categories of growth: 1. We made deposits into the brokerage accounts of $4,000. 2. Earnings of $2,160 from combined stock, options, mutual fund, and cryptocurrency trades & investments. 3. A one-time addition of home equity was added this month of $65k. This is the value of the home...
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How I Trade Options My favorite options trade is selling the vertical put spread. I use the Tastyworks brokerage because the fees are low and the platform gives me a visual guide that is not available anywhere else in the world. By using small amounts of capital, I can place a low risk trade, collect premium, and close the trade with a profit in a...
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Mike and Brittney, the crew at Family at Sea kindly answered some questions for us regarding the sailing life. They lived aboard an Olympic Adventure 47 with their three young children and sailed to the the Berry Islands, the Bahamas, and other tropical destinations. As someone who is infinitely curious about the experiences of other cruising families, I appreciate their candid responses to my questions. ...
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Retirement at 65 seems to be a concept accepted by most Americans. In fact, few question that they have alternatives. Early retirement to many means 60 or 55. Rarely do we hear about Americans with middle incomes choosing to save up and leave the corporate life at a younger age. In the United States today, the middle class has accepted its lot in life: -Go...
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In this post I outline 5 traits that I believe are consistent among most sailing families. These combined traits are what set them apart from a typical American family, and make them suited to live a life that is quite different from the norm. Adventurous. Jobs fill your pockets, but adventures fill your soul.” – Jaime Lyn I like the urban dictionary’s definition of adventure:...
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