Welcome to The Simple Bachelor!

Hi all!

I've been interested in living a simple life and early retirement for several years now. Recently, I've discovered the world of personal finance blogs and found several of them to be quite fascinating. I've decided to try my hand at one.

It's early in the process, and I'm sure this blog will be an organic beast, evolving as it grows, but my current vision sees it concentrating on simplicity and early retirement as the main themes, with frugality, food, and personal finance as frequent topics. Many of my posts will be colored by the lens of confirmed bachelorhood.

I'll start off by telling you a bit about myself. I just turned 44 a few days ago. I grew up in a large family (7 kids) in rural Nova Scotia. My parents were simple and frugal folks and I was obviously influenced by them. I studied engineering in university and have been employed in the construction industry in Halifax Nova Scotia since graduation. Working for small companies, I never had a company retirement plan, so I started saving for my retirement a year or so after beginning my first job. At first my retirement plan was unfocused; but in the past four or five years I realized my mortgage would soon be paid off and I had to decide what to do with the excess cash that would free up. My retirement fund was the obvious answer. As I studied where I was financially and where I could be, I came to the realization that I should be able to retire by age 50. Since then, I've spent a lot of time refining my plan and have adjusted that down to 48.

With that as a starting point, let's dive in. Don't be shy with questions or comments. I'm looking forward to this experience, and hope it's an enriching one for both myself and my readers.