I’m not much of a handyman, but I just installed an automatic window box & flower pot watering system in front of our house. Our flowers are exploding! Before I retired, I imagined getting a part-time job at Walt Disney World watering the flowers at one of their resorts in the morning. I met a guy who did exactly that at the Wilderness Lodge. Still, … Continue reading Irrigation Magic
Many people worry that they will be bored or isolated in retirement. My experience has been the complete opposite. I have more time for friends & activities than I have ever had. Apparently, I am not the only one. I ran across a great survey of retired people in America from TransAmerica’s Center for Retirement Studies and it’s clear that almost every retired person surveyed … Continue reading Retired? Get Happy
Today was our big Fantasy Football Draft Day—for the 37th year! It’s a little hard to believe we have been playing that long! When we started doing this, we were young guys keeping track of players with newspapers, box scores, pencils, and calculators. Today our league has an online auction draft, multi-year contracts, waiver wires, salary considerations, and no free-agent signings once the season starts. … Continue reading Kickoff 2026
Most of us spend years obsessing over investing, allocations, withdrawal rates, and our retirement timing — but we also need to think of relationships as their own line item in the retirement plan ledger. Throughout life, school, work and parenting quietly hand you a social life for free — you hang out with buddies after school, go to lunch with work colleagues, and catch your … Continue reading Investing in Friendship Circles
There’s probably not a lot new in this chart for most readers, but I thought it’d be a good reminder on a Friday morning … The author of the infographic (Ooma) did a nice job thinking about the key expenditures for seniors. There is more detail on the data sources & state ranking in their website. While it’s relatively easy to compare the cost of … Continue reading Retiree Cost By State
We’re fortunate to live in a really nice neighborhood with great neighbors. I recently saw a post online where readers were asked “what’s a sign you live in a very nice / expensive neighborhood?” These are the top 30 responses … As I think about our neighborhood developments – our home in MN and our vacation place in FL – I’d say we have almost … Continue reading Nice Neighborhoods
I laughed when I saw this. Certainly speaks for me … Have a great weekend … ! Image: Magnific Continue reading Self-Checkout
I just got back from a long weekend, driving 888 miles around the state of MN in my Jeep. I was continuing my quest to reach all 68 of the state’s parks – I’m now up to 55. Along the way, I also stopped at a variety of roadside oddities, historical places, and interesting sights. It’s the 7th trip I’ve taken like this since I … Continue reading “Completeness”
Are movie theaters back in vogue? Crowds have returned to big screens in droves over the last few weeks behind Toy Story 5, Michael, and The Odyssey. The release of Spiderman: Brand New Day set new box office records this weekend. I went with my son & his friends last nigh for the 9pm show. Related: Spiderman Leads Box Office Record Weekend After a brutal … Continue reading Box Office Is (Sort Of) Back …
My wife sometimes worries that real-life stores are going to go away as we order more and more things on Amazon. A couple years ago I graphed out how often we order from Amazon and it was certainly our most-shopped “store”. The number of deliveries we get from them has gone up since then. On average, the Amazon truck is coming to our house every … Continue reading Cash Register Comparison
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