Since it’s the very last day of 2018, I thought I would simply recap the top articles in terms of readership that were posted here this year. It’s amazing to see the thousands and thousands of visitors coming to the site every month and not be thankful that the unusual lifestyle decisions that we have made for ourselves are now encouraging others to follow a … Continue reading New Year’s Eve – Top Articles 2018
The week between Christmas and New Year’s have always been one of my favorites. I used to always take the week off of work – and enjoyed time off of school before that. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever held any responsibilities between the start of Christmas Eve and the last play of the New Years Bowl Games. Three years ago, just before I … Continue reading Between Christmas & New Year’s Day …
In addition to writing a couple articles a week for this site every week, I also enjoy writing a Christmas Countdown that I post on my personal Facebook feed. I’ve posted my ’25 Ads of Christmas’ for a number of years and feature vintage advertising with great illustration.
This year, I did something different: I researched 25 ‘Classic Toys’ and wrote a little bit about the history of each. Just as I shared last year’s countdown here (LINK), I thought I’d collect this year’s and share it here too!
M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S !
🚂 Classic Toy Countdown #25 – In 1905, Joshua Lionel Cowen first circled Christmas Trees with his electrified Lionel Train. Wind-up trains had been popular for decades, but Lionel made Christmas “unforgettable” and became a toy people continued to play with into adulthood!
📷 Classic Toy Countdown #24 – Revealed at the 1939 World’s Fair in NY, the View Master modernized stereoscopic viewers. Originally sold through high-end specialty photography stores with travel & history reels, View Master reached major toy status with a landmark Disney licensing deal.
What’s the cost of true love at Christmastime? According to the English carol ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ and the financial experts at PNC Bank in Pittsburg, it is $39,094. That’s up just 1.2% from last year, according to their annual study. They’ve done the ‘True Cost of Christmas’ analysis each year back to the 1980s. They somehow research each of the 12 items mentioned … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – What Do The 12 Days of Christmas Cost?
We had the great pleasure of enjoying Christmas in July this last summer by visiting ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ in the West Bank. For me, it was the highlight of our two weeks in the Holy Land. Since we are now just a week from Christmas, it would be a perfect time to share some of our experiences there. Visiting the city is pretty … Continue reading FIRE Travel – O Little Town of Bethlehem
It’s just a couple weeks to Christmas, so I thought I would send out a quick link to reviews I previously wrote on helpful personal finance books. If you know someone interested in FIRE (financial independence & retiring early), I highly recommend any of these books: Making The Most Of Your Money, Jane Bryant Quinn The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley & William Danko Affluenza, … Continue reading Holiday Book Suggestions for FIRE Enthusiasts
The holidays are a time for roaring fires and cozy Christmas dreams. Yet, the last few weeks have been far from that in the investment world as Wall Street grapples with big drops in S&P 500 value, a bond yield inversion, and global economic uncertainty. While I’d rather be writing about a ‘Santa Claus Rally’ – instead we are closing out the year in negative … Continue reading Playing with FIRE is Playing with RISK
One of the things that I’ve learned about early retirement is that you have to make your own ‘current’. You can’t expect to be carried along with hundreds of other people by the the ‘stream’ that comes with the highly-planned cadence of work or school. I wrote earlier this year about the schedule I keep from day-to-day in this POST. I also noted that it’s … Continue reading A Year In Beer – Dive Bar Tuesday
I was honored to have our journey to FIRE (financial independence & retiring early) featured in our suburban magazine this month. My friend, Samantha, suggested they interview me for a feature in their December issue because people that ridiculously walk away from a perfectly good career before they are 50 are pretty unusual. 🙂 I tried to use the opportunity to help people see that … Continue reading Welcome Neighbors! – Our Journey To FIRE
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