This past Saturday marked an amazing 8 years since I told my boss I was quitting for a life of early retirement. As my wife often says, “the days & weeks are sometimes slow, but the months and years fly by.” Related: FIRE Milestones – Formal Resignation Notice This weekend, as I contemplated where those 8 years went, I thought about the many blessings that … Continue reading Eight Years Doubled
Our home state of Minnesota regularly shows up at the top of the list of states with the highest taxes in the USA. A few years ago, Kiplinger’s named Minnesota – not California or New York – as the country’s “Least Tax Friendly State”. As many Minnesotans have left the state for low taxes & warm weather in Florida, many have suggested we join them. … Continue reading Department of Residency
After 2+ weeks in fancy Palm Beach, we are back in the Orlando area at our favorite Margaritaville Resort. It’s the 5th year in a row we’ve snowbirded in Orlando for the month of February. This year, we’ve decided to try something new. We’ve always liked the theme parks here and we’ve now invested in a Disney Annual pass. Normally, we pay as we go, … Continue reading Mickey Mouse Club …
We went to the Hollywood FL Hard Rock Casino this weekend to check out the Guitar Hotel. While we were there, I put a bet down on my Green Bay Packers – who easily covered the 10.5 point spread, despite losing to the 49ers. You can bet on all the games at the Hard Rock Sports Book: NFL, NCAA, NBA, NHL, and MLB. One thing … Continue reading Betting The White House?
This chart pops up on the internet now and then – and just got updated. It shows how much prices have changed since the ‘turn of the century’ for a number of categories. No surprise, Healthcare and College Tuition have grown much more expensive. They far out pace every other category on the chart, including wages, housing and food. Other things have dropped in price. … Continue reading Retiree Inflation Exposure
We’ve left the below-zero cold of Minnesota for our annual Winter Summerland escape… Florida. We flew down a couple weeks ago and are renting a Beach Jeep & Bungalow in Delray / Palm Beach County. On the flight down, I noticed this Fortune article with some good news. It suggests Gen Z is fundamentally changing tipping practices. How? They aren’t doing it! Even at sit-down … Continue reading Tipping Trends & Palm Beach
We are almost 2 weeks into 2024 already. My goal to get financially organized to start the New Year 2024 has already failed miserably. We did our annual ‘Round-Up Day’ a couple weeks ago, rebalanced our portfolio for last year’s gains, but otherwise haven’t done too much, financially speaking. Instead. I’ve goofed off and been playing with public domain Mickey Mouse memes. Reader Bob, a … Continue reading Starting 2024 Strategies …
We watched the Golden Globes on TV last night and I was surprised by how many movies I haven’t seen in the movie theaters. I looked up how many movies we went out to in 2023 and it was only 4. 2023 Movie Theater Tickets: Oppenheimer, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Indiana Jones: Dial of Destiny, & Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense Re-Release That might … Continue reading Movie Theater Musings
Happy New Year 2024! Just a quick post this Friday morning to update you on my “investment” in three beer passports last year. I’m heading out to a couple breweries tonight with my son & a buddy, to redeem my #62 & #63 “free” beers. The beer passports cost $25 each, so I needed to claim at least $75 worth of beer – about 13 … Continue reading My Best Returning Investment …
Happy New Year! Before we get too far into the new calendar year, I wanted to look and see where we finished 2023. The stock market had quite a bounce back in 2023. After a -20% loss in 2022, the market jumped +26% this year. That nets out to exactly flat (+0.0%) over the full two-year period. Quite a volatile ride. Over longer periods of … Continue reading 2023 Bounce Back Year
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