Today we are heading home from our trip to England & Scotland over the last few weeks. It was a terrific trip that took us from the Roman Baths of Bath, to the halls of Downton Abbey’s Highclere Castle, to Old Town York, and into Scotland for a full week – all the way up to Inverness. My wife’s Dad’s family is from Scotland, so … Continue reading FIRE Travel – Edinburgh, Royal Scotland
We are traveling in Scotland this morning, so just a quick post on the personal finance of traveling. Like most people, we charge almost everything we can when we travel. We keep a small amount of cash for small expenses, but otherwise charge away. One of the questions you inevitably get when you are paying for things with a card is “do you want to … Continue reading When In Rome, PAY As The Romans Do
My wife and I are on vacation in Great Britain this week. She read in the newspaper that the average English government worker gets 28 days of vacation a year. Almost a month! While that seems like a huge amount relative to the United States, the below chart shows how many average hours are worked across a number of developed countries. You can see that … Continue reading No Vacation Nation?
We went to the Minnesota State Fair about a week ago and enjoyed all of the greasy food, unique exhibits, and saw Stevie Nicks in concert. Our State Fair, which lasts for 12 days, is the second biggest fair in the United States with attendance of almost 2 million people. One thing the fair excels at is getting those 2 million people to spend money. … Continue reading What’s In Your Wallet – Cash?
Chicago, Illinois is known as the “City of Big Shoulders”. While it is in the middle of the introverted American midwest – it thinks big and carries itself as a hardworking blue-collar city. Little cultural pretense, yet world class sights and amenities. We’ve been to Chicago many times but hadn’t been there on a family vacation for almost a decade before we went for a … Continue reading FIRE Travel – Chicago, City of Big Shoulders
Labor Day weekend brings an end to summertime and a return to work and school. While this is the second start to Autumn in which I’ve enjoyed having no job, I definitely can still relate to the ridiculousness that happens in the workplace. Instead of giving you a post this morning, I thought I would just share these work memes to get readers off to … Continue reading Summer’s Over – Back to Work
We dropped our son off at college yesterday to start his sophomore year. Naturally, I am reflective this morning about him and his adventures. He really had a productive summer. He worked part-time at a retail store and took three summer classes to get ahead on his Bachelor’s degree. My wife an I were astounded at how responsible he is. We met when we were … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Back To Campus
Before I left MegaCorp last year, I had the chance to speak with a room of 20 of our newest MBA recruits who were in a leadership development program for the company. While I was wrapping up my career, most of them were just a few years into their career. I was giving them an update on a digital marketing initiative taking place across the … Continue reading “50% Rule” To Retire In 20 Years
My closet has a big hole in it. Last weekend, while getting home from a weekend trip, I noticed how many dress shirts I have clogging my closet. I decided it was a good time to go through my former work attire and “declutter” my wardrobe. While I did some major decluttering immediately after I retired, I didn’t really touch my work clothes. … Continue reading FIRE Station FUN – Decluttering Work Clothes
The Economic Policy Institute recently published some charts focusing on the state of retirement savings among working families in the United States today. I’m not sure what they determine exactly constitutes a ‘working family’ – since most Americans live in 1 or 2 member households – but assuming the definition is reasonably broad, the data was interesting. It showed the amount of retirement savings that … Continue reading Millionaire Status in FIRE – How Does Your Savings Stack Up?
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