How much does it cost to add a pet to the family? Like most things, the answer is “it depends”. We looked at dogs that would be close to free and ones that cost more than $3K before inviting Riley into our house. Then there is the cost of vet visits, supplies, dog food, and grooming. I found this helpful survey online that surveyed 1,300 … Continue reading How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?
I guess it is a good time to be a retiree living off investments. Wall Street is loving the CV19 rebound and loose money policies of government & central banks. The S&P 500 is now up an amazing 83% since last year’s CV19 low point on March 23rd, 2020. Globally, stocks are at an all time high. Still, forgive me if I’m more than a … Continue reading Negative Outlook Amid The Exuberance
Someone posted a curious question about real estate investments in an online forum this week. They wondered if anyone had ever reached a financially comfortable early retirement “without investing in real estate”? They held the hypothesis that real estate is one of the primary routes to FIRE (financial independence & retired early). I thought the question was a bit odd. While I always surmised that … Continue reading Added Real Estate Investment Risk?
No long post today! Just a remembrance that today – April Fool’s Day – is the fifth anniversary of my FIRE escape from MegaCorp. Five years – has that gone fast! Related: Last Day EVER At Work There will be no ‘service anniversary’ gift to pick out of the MegaCorp premium catalog today. I have a few clocks, a watch, and telescope from anniversaries past. … Continue reading Anniversary Gift is Time
Our new puppy Riley has brought something to our household that’s been missing for the first 5 years of our early retirement: a regular bedtime. Related: Daily Schedule In Early Retirement I haven’t really gone to bed at a consistent time since I was working. Sometimes it’s 10:30p, sometimes it’s way after midnight. On vacation in Florida the last two months, that stretched to 1am. … Continue reading Barking Up A New Bedtime
Right on schedule – an amazing 32 years after starting at MegaCorp – pension and retiree health insurance information have arrived just before my 55th birthday. It’s like a golden piggy bank that was hidden away years ago has made a triumphant return. Related: Ringing Up MegaCorp I still have to dig into the health insurance information a bit, but the immediate surprise was that … Continue reading MegaCorp Pension Arrives
The newest member of the FireStation Family is Riley, a 14-week old ‘Teddy Bear’ Bichon-Shitzu. We’ve been planning to get a dog for some time, but I purposely didn’t write anything about it until after we made our decision. Whether or not to get a dog has been a long deliberation process at our house going back to when our son was little. Since the … Continue reading The Life Of Riley
It’s been a busy week since returning from Florida. The “administrivia” of life doesn’t stop because you go on vacation for 6 weeks. For the first 3 days of the week, I ran around town, made a lot of stops, and completed numerous errands that had been waiting. I’m glad that I could do them all on a weekday when other folks are working … … Continue reading ‘Administrivia’ of Life
We got home for our 6+ week Winter Summerland trip yesterday and quickly unpacked from the flight. It’s amazing how you can be away for that long with just a few bags (although we brought home 1 more bag than we left with). Some friends were surprised that we flew to Florida instead of making the drive in our own vehicle. We were a bit … Continue reading Drive or Fly?
When I rejoined the Apple Watch club last year – after 4 years without wearing a watch of any kind – my son warned me not to become “a slave to closing your daily fitness rings”. He knew that I can be a goal-oriented fanatic and closing one’s daily rings can be addictive. How right he was … I was off to the races soon … Continue reading Slave to the Rings … or Master?
