Our son headed back to college this weekend – ending our ‘No Responsibility January’ – and starting his Spring Semester. Among other things, this means we need to call our insurance agent this morning and take the car insurance off the vehicle that he drives when he is home. Car insurance runs about $900 annually for the 2004 Acura TSX that he drives when he … Continue reading Car Insurance Rising Fast
They say on a large, international flight – maybe only one passenger in first class is paying full fare. The rest are on award tickets, big corporate discounts, or upgraded from regular seats because of their frequent flyer status. I had first-class flights as an executive perk for many years at MegaCorp, but rarely had myself actually ticketed that way when I traveled. I was … Continue reading Easy Credit Card Travel Hacking Success
This weekend, the final four NFL teams will face off to see who will meet in Super Bowl LII. Despite the decline in TV ratings – which experts attribute more to key markets shifting with team fortunes than perceived lack of patriotism – the Super Bowl remains the most visible & celebrated sporting event of the year. We live in Minnesota’s Twin Cities of Minneapolis … Continue reading Would You Vacation At The Super Bowl?
If you are looking for one reason to NOT retire early, I would suggest you study the cost of individual health insurance. I knew this would take a jump when I left MegaCorp a few years ago, but given the politics messing up this market, I continue to be astounded at how it has gone. You can see from the chart below that our health … Continue reading Health Insurance – Biggest Concern for Early Retirees
We’re back to “No Responsibility January” at the Fire Station. Last year I noted that January has become a pretty chill month for us with me not working, my son off from college, and my wife no longer working her part-part time job. While it seems like the rest of the world is back to school or work – we’re just goofing off. With time … Continue reading “No Responsibility January” & Travel Planning for 2018
Is it time to rebalance your early retirement portfolio? With the Dow Jones breaking 25,000 this week (I remember when it broke 1,000!) – and after posting 37% growth since the 2016 Presidential Election – maybe it is time to look at your balance of stocks, bonds, and cash and ensure that you have not become overweighted in equities? The year 2017 was a great … Continue reading Dow at 25,000 – Time For A New Year’s Rebalancing?
“Staying busy in early retirement?” people ask me all the time. Yes, I guess I can say that I’ve found literally MILLIONS of things to do, since I chalked up a healthy 4,548,220 steps in 2017. How do I know? Well, about 6 months before I quit working in 2016, I started tracking my daily activity. I’ve kept track of it every day since – … Continue reading 4,548,220 Steps to 2018
At the end of the year, the media is full of retrospectives on the top news events and celebrity stories, so with that in mind, I set my thoughts to what are the biggest news happenings that have affected people on their journey to financial independence and retiring early (FIRE) in 2017. Here’s my list (in no particular order) … TRUMP BUMP – The stock … Continue reading Top 7 FIRE News Stories of 2017
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