If you travel internationally a lot, you may have what I have: little ziplock bags with extra bills & coins in foreign currency. I probably have a hundred US dollars worth of Japanese Yen, Israeli Shekels, UK Pounds, Czech Crowns, and EU Euros from trips we’ve taken over that last 10-15 years. It seems that at the end of each trip I have local currency … Continue reading Funny Money
I written a lot about early retirement feeling like a second childhood. Living in ‘kidulthood’ – without the obligations of work – means enjoying childish activities with the resources and smarts of a grown-up. Related: Living In Kidulthood One area that it is important for me to grow up is in my eating habits. Though I worked for a food company for 24 years, I … Continue reading Suddenly … Salads
We had a frosty beverage with an old friend recently that we had not seen since before I stopped working 4 years ago. He was astounded that I had retired early and asked if we had made any lucrative investments to make it happen. I told him that our investment strategy had been pretty vanilla – simple index funds in our 401ks and after-tax brokerage … Continue reading Keep Savings Simple
We’re about halfway through our Florida Snowbirding experiment and so far it has been wonderful. It is quite a bit different than any other trip that we have taken for a few reasons, but most all of them have been pleasant surprises …. STAYING PUT – Unlike most trips of a week or more, we aren’t packing up and moving at all. We moved into … Continue reading Snowbirding Surprises
Consumer confidence is a big part of the economy’s ongoing performance. If people believe that things are going well, they are more likely to go well. It’s not a perfect correlation, of course, but it is better than the opposite. With that in mind, I was encouraged to see the latest numbers from Gallup on how Americans are feeling right now. They polled people on … Continue reading Americans Feeling Positive About Their Financial Positions
Anyone who has read this blog for a while, knows that I’m pretty tenacious about hitting my fitness ‘step goal’ each month. I hit my goal of averaging 12K steps a day 42 out of 43 months since I early retired in early 2016. Then I had my heart attack on 12/26. I hardly moved for a couple days and missed my mark for December. … Continue reading FIRE Fitness Goals Evolving
Paul Simon lamented “all the crap I learned in high school” and I tend to agree with him. I wasn’t a great student, but most of the coursework wasn’t great either. Much of it was too specialized or abstract to have value to most students. A new North Carolina state requirement is putting a personal finance course into their classrooms. I think this is terrific. … Continue reading Financial Literacy In The Classroom
