We’re enjoying a sunny trip in the Caribbean right now with our son who is off from college. We left right after New Year’s, so I never got a chance to look at our final spending numbers for 2018. That said, I ran across this interesting chart from JP Morgan’s Consumer Expenditure Survey that looks at how much people spend annually as they get older, … Continue reading Lower Spending As You Age
With the New Year underway, I thought it would be a good time to give an update on our (very) small Bitcoin investment that I have written about several times. Reading the headlines, you would assume that the bottom has fallen out of the cryptocurrency market. Like many things, that is a matter of perspective. Each morning, I get a notification on my iPhone signaling … Continue reading Bitcoin – Has It Dissolved Yet?
We are off for sunny weather on our third year of “No Responsibility January”. Our son is off of college for the whole month, so each year we’ve taken the opportunity to escape from the bitter Minnesota winter weather and enjoy a beach trip. I’ll share more on our 2019 travel plans in a few weeks, but for now I thought I would reflect on … Continue reading FIRE Travel – Magical Miami
While I am always sorry to see the old year end, from a financial perspective I’m excited to see what the New Year is going to bring. The year 2018 closed in an ugly way for the markets with Q4 investment returns affected by slowing global economic growth, rising interest rates, and tariff uncertainty. It was the first year in a decade when there were declines … Continue reading New Year, New Markets
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.
