It’s been a few months since our last post, Our 2022 Game Plan: Re-emerging from the Ice. As you can see from this post’s title we've been quite busy. We went to Puerto Rico, I got COVID, we wrote our third book, and we even got to meet the Mayor of Oakland! 

In our 2022 Game Plan post, we laid out a number of goals for the year in the categories of Projects, Health, Connecting, and Finances. While not perfect, we’ve actually met or exceeded many of our goals, and expanded on some of our future targets. 

Here’s what we’ve been up to…

 

Travel

We had been putting travel into the Projects bucket, but it really needs its own category. Travel is such a major aspect of our FIRE life. There are so many trips to plan and so many places to go!

Here were our original travel goals for 2022:

• April: Savannah, Charleston, NYC and New Jersey
• September: FinCon 2022
• November: Italy 
• Bonus trip: Caribbean island for some beach time

 

Here is how those plans have changed and grown:

• April: Savannah, Charleston, Puerto Rico, NYC & New Jersey
• September: FinCon 2022, Aruba & Bonaire (SCUBA certification)
• December: Antarctica, Argentina, & Brazil
• Bonus trip: Rio to Barcelona cruise, South Africa

 

April - May:

We were successful with our April trip, and we even added two weeks in Puerto Rico. We were inspired after eating at a Puerto Rican food truck in our neighborhood! While the whole 5-week trip was wonderful, the PR leg was the highlight. 

We explored the entire island for the first week, and then spent several days on Vieques and Culebra (little islands off the eastern coast). We got around these island on rented golf carts, marveling at the pristine beaches and wild horses roaming everywhere.

At one point, we had an entire beach to ourselves, so we decided to do a little skinny dipping and nude sunbathing. Ah, paradise!

September:

We are still on for FinCon 2022 in Orlando, and I will be speaking on a panel about writing books. (If you'd like to attend, you can use the coupon code DYLIN10 to get $10 off any FC22 pass). We plan to combine it with a trip down to Aruba and Bonaire, where we’re hoping to  get our SCUBA diving certification.

 

December - ??:

The trip to Italy has been replaced with an even more epic trip to Antarctica, Argentina, and Brazil! We’ll be heading down in December, and it may turn into a many-months long odyssey.

We’re looking at tacking on a trans-Atlantic cruise from Rio to Barcelona, and possibly even a trip down to South Africa. This could become a 5-continent adventure, so we’ll see how it unfolds!

 

Projects

Fortunately, Allison and I haven’t had to do a “work project” since we FIRE’d at the beginning of 2015. Nowadays, we create our own “projects” for fun, inspiration, and challenge.

Other than our travel plans, these were the other two Project goals we set for 2022:

• Book #3 -- We were in talks with our publisher about writing our third book. 
• Declutter -- Start getting rid of unwanted stuff.

Here’s where we are with these (and a new) Project…

 

Book #3 

Success! We finished writing the book in early April, went through the editing process, and it’s currently in the design phase. So far, it looks great!

This book was the most difficult of our three books to write. “Start Your FIRE” just flowed out of us, since it was about a topic we know so well. “Investing for Kids” was much more of a challenge, because we really wanted to make it fun, interesting, and factual all at the same time. 

Book #3 covers a lot of territory in a relatively small amount of space, and it required a lot of research to ensure accuracy. Hopefully we did the topics justice!

We still can’t talk about the title or content of the book yet. When it’s ready, we’ll be making a big announcement and reaching out to our loyal readers to help out with the review process. Currently the book is slated to be released on September 6, 2022.

 

Declutter

Sadly, this project is still a work in progress and probably will be for a while. At some point, we hope to either rent out or sell our condo (see Finances). That’s when we’ll step up our decluttering efforts! 

 

New Goal: Learning Spanish (& Portuguese)

Since we’ll be traveling for several months in South America, we wanted to brush up on our language skills. We’re using Duolingo, which is free (they also have a premium option) and super easy to use.

I have a basic understanding of Spanish, so I’m trying to increase my fluency. Allison studied French in school (and spent a semester in Lyon), so she’s new to the language. I’m also trying to learn Portuguese at the same time, since we’ll be in Brazil for about a month.

No matter how much we learn, more is better than less. And it’s fun and challenging to learn new languages! Hopefully we’ll learn enough to be able to converse with the locals.

 

Health

Being fit and healthy is probably our most important overall goal. Without good health, everything else falls by the wayside, so we work hard to stay healthy and in shape. That being said, things don’t always work out perfectly. 

 

COVID-19

We avoided getting COVID for over two years despite two big road trips. We had done a 2-week road trip to Oregon and Washington and a 10-week road trip covering 41 states.

Our luck ran out at the end of our recent trip to GA, SC, PR, NY & NJ. Everything was fine until we got to NYC and started going out to restaurants. They were crowded and nobody was wearing masks. I felt awful on the flight home and tested as soon as we walked in the door - ugh, a positive result!

Fortunately, since I’ve been twice vax’d and boosted, my symptoms were relatively mild. It felt like a really bad cold or flu for a couple days and then improved quickly. Allison somehow didn’t even get it, despite never isolating from me. Go figure!

 

Goals Achieved

The good news is that we’ve been achieving all the other Health goals we set for ourselves:

• Muscles - going to the gym regularly
• Mental Health - meditating, getting into nature, staying positive
• Maintenance - good sleep, health eating, regular doctor appointments

For cardio, I swim three times per week, and Allison and I are very good about walking every day. We usually walk for about an hour and cover at least 2.5 - 3 miles, sometimes more. 

My cholesterol numbers (HDL, LDL, and ratios) have all improved over the past several years. Since my diet hasn’t changed much, I attribute it to more exercise. Our advice: always keep moving, everyday. Get your blood flowing and your muscles flexing!

 

Inspiration

If you need a little extra inspiration to improve your health and fitness, we found a great book. Check out “Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy - Until You're 80 and Beyond.” 

Authors Chris Crowley (70 years young when he first wrote the book, and 85 when he revised the latest edition) and Henry S. Lodge do a great job explaining how to stay fit and healthy into your later years. It’s already inspired us to ramp up our exercise and fitness regimens so that we can keep living our best life! 

 

Connecting

Human beings are naturally tribal creatures. To increase health and happiness, we need to regularly connect with other people. Studies have shown human connection increases life satisfaction, mental health, and even physical well-being.

Our 2022 goals for Connecting were the following:

• Say Yes to Friends & Family
• Social Groups
• Re-engaging with our Community

How did we do?

 

Saying Yes

We have been pretty good about this. As planned, we met up with nine women who Allison had been Zooming with the past 1.5 years. They finally all met in person for the first time when we were in Savannah, Georgia. They even allowed me to tag along on the last day, which was great!

Then we got together with family and old friends in New York and New Jersey. It’s wonderful to be able to pick up right where we left off, no matter how long it’s been.

Now that we’re back in the Bay Area, we keep trying to make it a priority to see people. Whether it’s over a coffee, a dinner, or just a chat in the neighborhood, these connections are all so important to maintaining mental health. 

 

Social Groups

We haven’t done this yet, so we’ll keep it as a goal. The idea is to find a group of people to get together on a regular basis for dinner, drinks, hiking, or whatever. 

Another way to do this is to join an existing group or sign up for a class. I could see us doing something like a cooking class, taking golf lessons, or getting back into yoga. You kill two birds with one stone: enjoy an activity while also meeting and socializing with others.

 

Re-engaging with our Community

We’ve done pretty well connecting with our neighbors, especially since Allison and I are both on our building’s Social Committee. We have fun events like this month’s Warrior game watch parties in our clubroom and a Summer Cookout. We also meet and chit chat with our neighbors in our gym, our pool, the lobby, and outside in our ‘hood. 

We also made a new unexpected connection. A local elementary school teacher reached out to us about her 4th and 5th graders. She enrolled them in The Stock Market Game and used our book “Investing for Kids” as part of her instruction. 

Amazingly two of her students came in 1st and 2nd in Northern California! We were invited to speak at their award ceremony, and we all got to meet the Mayor of Oakland. Seeing these bright kids get excited about investing has inspired us to try to do more for financial literacy.

 

Finances

Ironically, now that we’ve been FIRE’d for so long, we don’t think or worry too much about our finances. However, I still do monitor our investments regularly, and we occasionally rebalance or experiment with new investments. 

Overall now it’s more about enjoying the fruits of our labor and being more mindful and generous with our wealth.

Here were our 2022 Finance goals:

• Spending on Experiences
• Giving More
• Re-evaluating Where to Live

And here’s how we’re doing with each…

 

Spending on Experiences

Most of our spending on enjoyable and unique experiences happens during our travels. 

Due to the expensive price tag, we didn’t think we’d get to Antarctica quite so soon. However, Allison’s dad, aunt, and uncle decided to join us, so that made the decision easier. Uncle Art wants to get to all seven continents before he “takes a dirt nap,” and Antarctica completes his goal. What a perfect way to combine Travel, Experiences, and Connecting!

While we’re in South America, we’ll be traveling throughout Argentina and Brazil, and we may finally get to Easter Island. All of these excursions cost money, but we feel it’s well worth it!

 

Giving More

Being more generous and donating more is something we’re trying to work on and improve. After decades of being frugal with much of our spending, it’s hard to shift into spending and giving mode. However, we feel it’s important to give back and help others. It’s not only good for the world, but it makes you feel better as a person!

We donate to causes we care about, mostly around animals and feeding those who are vulnerable or disadvantaged. As we get more involved in financial literacy, we’ve been donating our time and our books to kids and schools. We’re also quick to help out people we know whenever they’re looking for donations for their favorite causes.

 

Re-evaluating Where to Live

We have been thinking about where to live a lot lately. We really want to start doing more long-term travel (thus the big upcoming trips). 

Our mid-term goal (over the next year or so) is to rent out or sell our condo. We would keep our California residency but spend most of our time traveling around the world. The thought is that we would stay at Airbnbs for 1-3 months at a time in various cities and countries. 

It’s a little scary making that leap, but it seems like a worthwhile endeavor for a few years. We’ll see if we can pull it off! (This would involve a lot of decluttering, which is a constant struggle for Allison!)

 

Conclusion

Overall, I’d give us a B+ on our goals so far for the year. We’ve hit many of them, surpassed a few, and come up short on others. 

The beauty is that nobody else is grading us or evaluating our efforts. All of these goals are simply for our own benefit and self-improvement. If we get bored or tired with any of these goals, we can simply come up with new ones! 

The only challenge is that sometimes there are too many options, and that’s when you have to get more focused. These are First World problems, so here’s to having too many options and lots of time to choose!