This site is focused on the personal finance needs of anyone who is thinking about retirement or early retirement. Anyone who is interested in financial independence and financial freedom will find value here.

Hello and thanks for checking out my blog! First off, I go by the moniker "Cubert". Early Retirement, powered by Financial Independence, also known as “FIRE” — that’s the real premise of this blog. My career in technology has had its ups and downs, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve had a nagging itch to take on passion projects. Effectively, I just wanna be my own boss.

Musings from an international school teaching couple about investing wisely, retiring early, and living an adventurous and rewarding life. Learn about our journey towards early retirement and some steps to take to reach financial independence. Follow along on our adventures and be inspired to create some of your own experiences. And discover ways to find purpose during early retirement and how to give back to our world.

So many of us in our 50’s, 60’s and beyond find ourselves with meager savings, debt, and few opportunities for a secure retirement. We want to get our financial houses in order, ever at this late date. Yet we don’t want to sacrifice for years to reach FI. Too late for that! We’re committed to living meaningful, interesting, full, and fun lives – now. Is it possible? Follow my journey as I work towards financial independence and explore the changing meaning of “aging well.” I’ll share wisdom from the triumphs and challenges of other late bloomers as well. Together, we can do this!

This is a blog about my journey towards financial independence/retiring early in Australia, with the aim of continuing to earn a high passive income after attaining FIRE. Many blogs in this sphere are focussed on financial independence through extreme savings and a fairly lean income at retirement, and are often directed towards those with a low to average income during working life. Those blogs are still great and that style of FIRE is completely valid! However my aim as a higher income earner is to try to attain financial independence while enjoying the journey there, as well as setting myself up for a very comfortable life after retiring from work – sometimes referred to as FatFIRE, though I prefer the healthier sounding term coined by Aussie HIFIRE. This blog therefore will be about my journey towards this goal – and the optimisation to my lifestyle that will still be necessary to achieve it!

Hi there! I’m Michelle and I live in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. As you may have guessed from the site name, I’m a boomer. I was born at the very end of the baby boom. I am married with two daughters – one in college and one in high school. I have worked in the financial services industry for 30 years and I’m passionate about all aspects of physical, mental and financial wellness. I firmly believe that if everyone makes just a few small changes, we can have a positive impact on the planet. The goal for my blog is to share positive thoughts and simple ideas you can use right away to make a difference.