No, I didn’t retire from writing about retirement. If you didn’t notice, MrFireStation.com went offline on Monday and it took me a few days to figure out what happened. Thanks to everyone who let me know about the problem. There were many of you – which was strangely gratifying. I initially had no idea what happened and my web hosting company doesn’t have the best … Continue reading Back Online … !
Every year, PNC Bank calculates the “true cost” of the Twelve Days of Christmas. I wrote about it 7 years ago, when the twelve gifts, bought individually, cost $39.1K. Link: FIRE Station Fun – What Do The 12 Days of Christmas Cost? Link: PNC Bank – Cost of Christmas I’m not sure where you would procure most of the gifts in the Victorian musical fantasy, … Continue reading 12 Days of Inflation
I was surprised to see WalletHub’s 2025 ranking of almost 200 markets for “best area to retire”. Link: Best Places to Retire It caught my attention because Orlando – where we are hanging out at our vacation place right now – was ranked #1 in the country. It was 1 of 4 Florida cities ranked in the Top 10 with Miami, Tampa, and Fort Lauderdale. … Continue reading Best Places to Retire?!
No, that’s not the Ghost of Christmas Future in the picture today. That hooded AI villain is supposed to represent a cyber-attack! MrFireStation seems to have been attacked last week over Thanksgiving. Helpful reader and Doberman-like guard dog, Klaus Wentzel, noticed last week that his comments have been blocked. I found them in a “pending” bucket. He wondered if website traffic had ground to a … Continue reading Under Attack?
Happy Halloween! Candy prices are up this year, but we’re still splurging on the full-size chocolate bars. We switched to the big bars 10 Halloween’s ago – the year I early retired. My AI research tool thinks that the price of Halloween candy has roughly DOUBLED since 2016, so you might think we’re cutting back. No, our stock market investments have gone up … Continue reading Happy Halloween Splurge
Splurging has been a theme in these posts recently, and what better place to put that into practice than Las Vegas. I spent 4 nights in Vegas two weekends ago and did my best to put a small dent into our savings. First, I arrived earlier than my buddies and checked myself into the resort spa for a massage. Next, I gambled worry-free on … Continue reading Speedy Splurge
I am waking up in Las Vegas today – realizing that I didn’t post any thing yesterday. I was busy spending money and making bad bets here in Sin City / Glitter Gulch and certainly don’t have any helpful personal finance advice from that experience! When I went to the Flamingo Hotel gift shop to buy a T shirt or a deck of cards as … Continue reading Work Anniversary in Las Vegas
An online group recently discussed the question “what are some ways that you SPLURGE or treat yourself in retirement?” Over 740 people responded to the question with many saying that a lifetime habit of pinching your pennies for the future is a difficult habit to break. Far and away the top comment was “More Travel” – especially upgraded with first class seats, 5 star hotels, … Continue reading 80 Ways People Splurge
Everyone hates the idea that Congresspeople are using their positions to gain secret information to make investments. Political insider trading has been made illegal several times (usually after a damning CBS 60 Minutes broadcast), but later Congresses have either changed the laws or eliminated the penalties. You may have heard that some plucky entrepreneurs have decided to create ETFs that attempt to mirror the Congresspeople’s … Continue reading Insider Investment
Some people run triathlons, climb the world’s great peaks, or cycle across the country to raise money for charity. Me? No, I do dumb stuff no one else cares about. Yesterday, I did a dumb Disney thing. I slept in until about 10am and then decided I should go hop through all 4 parks at Walt Disney World in one day. Why? Because it’s there, … Continue reading Silly Feats of Endurance
MrFireStation 