It has been a full two years since my last post on this blog. And yes, the blog was already barren for several years before.
What happened during this period?
In late 2005, we took a long expatriate assignment working in Asia. The original three-year term got extended a couple of times as career opportunities presented themselves and we enjoyed the company of extended families (yes, both my wife and I grew up in China) and the bi-lingual environment for our son.
In late 2012, we finally decided it's time to have our son, then 11, benefit from learning and growing in the culture of the other superpower of the world. So, we moved back to the States (and Seattle specifically) and restarted our American life. I am still with the company I worked for over 15 years, and my wife dedicates herself in getting our son and house in good shape, while enjoying her hobbies like piano.
While heavy workload and relative disconnection with US-related financial life discouraged me from regular blogging, my passion for personal finance remains throughout the period. For one thing, we keep faithfully tracking our financials; now our Quicken file contains over 26,000 lines of data chronicling our financial transactions since June 2002. I'm still an avid reader of personal finance publications like Morningstar, CNN Money and Kiplinger's Personal Finance.
So what's next? As our family net worth grows, we've reached a point where our diligent savings and prudent investments have put the final financial freedom within reach in THIS decade. And personally, I feel regained energy in sharing my learning along the journey and connecting with individuals with the same interest thru social media. I look forward to building on top of the 1,200-strong posts in this blog since 2003, and take it to a new level.
So, here comes My Personal Finance Journey: Act II.