It’s hard to believe that we are well into Year 3 of the CV19 pandemic. While cases & fatalities are about the same as this time last year, the lead headlines have moved onto the economy – particularly inflation and unemployment. The jobs situation is a bit of a question mark to me. The unemployment rate is very low, mostly as a function of less … Continue reading Pandemic Impact on Early Retirement
We were at a wonderful garden party at our friend’s house recently. It was fantastic. The kind of elegant party you would see in a Southern Living or Sunset magazine spread. Great food set on lovely tables (with splendid linens) overlooking a lush backyard in summer’s full bloom. In the backyard, I noticed the host’s collection of colorful bird houses that are photographed above. They … Continue reading Something Fun To Come Home To …
Have you ever paid for your roof to be replaced? Ever? We haven’t. We’ve lived in houses for 30+ years and never once have we paid for a new roof. Three times the insurance company has on our behalf. Never have the roofs been more than 13 years old. The economics of home insurance don’t make any sense to me. I spoke with a lot … Continue reading Have You Ever Paid For A New Roof?
I met a former MegaCorp colleague for a beer on Monday. He’s not someone that I worked with directly, but we had a lot of friends in common. He said he had heard about me from others at MegaCorp and had been reading this blog. He is in his early 40s and well on his way to FIRE. He was talking about ‘FIRO’ … Financially … Continue reading What Do You Do With Your Time?
I really screwed up. I pushed my body too hard a few weeks ago – tennis (3x), softball, and biking – and by Friday morning, when I got out of bed, my back was stiff and sore. I’ve rested it for a couple weeks, but it continues to be aggravated. I’ve come to believe that our bed – now 13 years old – is part … Continue reading Most Important Furniture Purchase?
We’re having a successful ‘repair season’ this Summer in terms of productivity & financial standing. In Minnesota, a year’s worth of exterior home repairs gets shoehorned into the 6 months from May through October to take advantage of the good weather. Right now our neighborhood is awash in a wave of roofers, siding companies, concrete sealers, landscapers, and painters. Salesmen – often the owners of … Continue reading Summer Repair Season
Our son has been in Paris the last few weeks and he mentioned how inexpensive the city seems to be. Much cheaper than things seem to be back home in the USA. That surprised me as my perception has been that Paris is usually on the more expensive cities to visit. Then, I saw that the Euro is trading especially low against the US dollar … Continue reading Cheapest Time To Travel In Europe?
I’ve had my ebike for almost 2 years now and am still recommending them to friends. Mine is a ‘class one’, pedal-assist ebike – which gives you a nice boost as you go – but not an all-out throttled bike. Unboosted bike riding had started to lose its appeal for me. I had only ridden my pedal bike a total of 65 miles in the … Continue reading eBike Update
Almost everyone has heard of a ‘bucket list’, but have you ever actually put one together? We did. About 20 years ago we sat on our big living room sectional and made a list of about 120 things we wanted to do. I was surprised that we could come up with that many experiences. We were just a few years from 40 years old at … Continue reading Bucket List Adventures
It’s hard to find good financial news lately, so today I thought I would take a step back and look at a longer period of time. It’s easy to get get caught up in the day-to-day headlines, but if you are going to reach financial independence and retire early (FIRE), you have to be focused on the big picture. The chart below shows the S&P … Continue reading Taking The Long View
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