This is a money & lifestyle blog, but I don’t actually post about actual money very often. Like real coins & bills! I’m excited to see that starting tomorrow, the US Mint is releasing a full set of America 250 / Semiquincentennial coins for circulation. I’m not sure how many they are stamping out, but I’ll be looking for them in my change right away. … Continue reading America 250 Coins
My uncle posted this meme online this morning. I don’t drink coffee, but I sometimes think I would enjoy starting to. My wife seems very relaxed in the morning having her coffee cup in hand – and it gives her a boost to get going. Despite not taking in much caffeine, I do move a lot. My Apple watch says that I walked 1,343.2 miles … Continue reading How’s Your Miles Per Coffee?
Last year, we went on a Viking River Cruise of the Danube. We really enjoyed it. I wrote about buying into the “drinks package” on the first day of the cruise – and how I was up late on the final night “getting my money’s worth”. My wife didn’t drink enough to cover her investment in the drinks package, so overall they MADE money on … Continue reading Cheers to Junk Mail
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
MrFireStation 