It’s been quite a few years since I commented on Independence Day. If you value the freedom and autonomy that come from reaching FIRE (financially independent & retired early), you probably have an American flag flying in front of your house this holiday weekend. Related: Freedom For Our Nation & For Ourselves Unfortunately, our government representatives are letting our economic freedoms slip. The Heritage Foundation … Continue reading Our Economic Freedom
With the start of June, we’ve arrived into Glorious Summer in Minnesota- and peak lawn mowing season. At the FIRE Station, we’ve also made the full jump to an electric lawn mower. When my folks moved to a senior apartment a few years ago, I bought my Dad’s Snapper Electric Mower. I used it now and then, but mostly relied on my trusty, gas-powered Toro. … Continue reading Quietly Moving To Electric
It seems every generation wants to dump on the next one. Or, the one before it. Boomers complain about Millennials and Millennials say, “OK, Boomer”. Millennials say Boomers left the world a mess and Boomers say Millennials are ruining the world with their decisions. The irony of the situation is that the Boomers parented the Millennials themselves. (I’m a Gen X’er and our son’s a … Continue reading Gen Z Growing Wealth: The Kids Are Alright
Our preseason softball practice was cancelled this week due to rainy, windy weather in the low 40s. While other parts of the country are already enjoying golf and baseball opening day, we are muddling through April. We’ve had some nice days in the 80s, but also below freezing temperatures and snow. Our unpredictable ’Spring Showers’ season is meteorologically frustrating. People are anxious to get outside, … Continue reading Cold & Rainy
I was ordering a beer at the Margaritaville pool the other day and commenting on the run of great, sunny, +80-degree days we are having in Central Florida. (Far different than back in Minnesota where it was -14 degrees this morning). The waitress commented that her “off day” this week is Friday, and that “with my luck, it will probably rain that day.” (Perhaps she … Continue reading With “My Luck …”
This may be the shortest post that I have ever written. It’s one of my first experiences with artificial intelligence. If you haven’t heard of ChatGPT yet, it’s an artificial intelligence (AI) program that seems to be a real breakthrough. To test it out, I asked 5 common retirement questions and am posting the ChatGPT answers. All were copied word-for-word, from the first answers provided. … Continue reading ChatGPT Retirement Advice
I often complain how slowly the future has developed. When I was a kid, I thought by 2022 we would all live in streamlined skyscrapers, have parks under glass bubbles, and monorails whooshing us around the city. Our life isn’t quite that seamless and elegant today, but sometimes incredible change happens right in front of us and we don’t even notice. This sign I saw … Continue reading Easy To Forget How Far Things Have Changed
I’m cheering for gridlock tomorrow on Election Day. As a political independent and small government advocate, I prefer when the two major parties can’t convince each other to provide costly solutions to problems government almost never can solve. We came close to gridlock two years ago. The Georgia Senate seats went to a special election and the Democrats won both of them, giving them a … Continue reading Forecasting Gridlock & Better Days
Northwestern Mutual just published their 2022 Retirement Planning & Progress study. It’s not a surprise that people are quite worried about the huge drop in their retirement accounts & soaring inflation over the last year. As a result, people are concerned their savings are way behind. Still, this chart was quite surprising to me. It shows that almost one-half of Americans have no idea how … Continue reading Ignorant Is No Way To Go Through Life
It’s a golden age for retirement in many ways, but especially with the internet. I’m not honestly sure I could have happily early retired before the advent of the World Wide Web. I’m not kidding. I seem to have a constant need to be plugged into some kind of information source 24/7 to keep my ADHD mind busy. Even pre-internet I was a big fan … Continue reading World Wide Boredom Buster
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