A year ago, we took the plunge and bought annual passes to Walt Disney World. This week, we doubled-down and also bought a pass to Universal Orlando. I guess we are becoming fully-fledged Floridians now. The Disney passes really paid out over the last year. We needed to use them at least 8x to payout the cost … and boy did we. We went to … Continue reading Doubling Down …
We dropped a package off today at the ginormous Marriott Orlando World Center. I recalled seeing a TV segment on the opening of the resort in the 1970s when I was a little kid and Walt Disney World opened. The lighted elevators that go up the side of the hotel tower were peak innovation for the day. We dropped the package, peeked around the hotel … Continue reading 15 Things We Hate Spending Money On
We’re down in Florida this week – hiding from the bitter, cold weather in Minnesota. Some friends of mine say that I’ve “gotten soft” in my retirement lifestyle, but they are often the first ones to complain about the Winter weather. Wintering in the Sunshine State might seem like “soft living”, but I feel like I’ve already checked enough boxes of hearty Winter adventures to … Continue reading Bold North Adventures
This is a big week at the Fire Station. It was 10 years ago that I set up the site and published my first post. That first week, I had 9 visitors with 28 views. I think most of the views were from me & my son! The concept of FIRE – Financial independence and Retiring Early – wasn’t brand new at that point, but … Continue reading Ten Year Anniversary
Today is the last day of 2024 – New Year’s Eve. It’s been a second very good year for investment markets and we’ll start seeing tomorrow if we are going to get a “three-peat” performance in 2025. Here are some of the predictions I’ve seen that will impact retiree finances in the New Year … Overall, it’s a pretty positive outlook for the economy & … Continue reading New Year’s Predictions
As I do every year at Christmastime, I countdown the days with posts that celebrate the season. This year’s countdown focused on classic holiday TV specials. I tried to line up many of them in the exact date in December that they originally aired …
Hope you enjoy, Merry Christmas!!
🎅🏻 25 Days to Christmas: Aired on Christmas Eve, 1964 – in the first season of Bewitched – Samantha takes a skeptical orphan to see Santa at the North Pole in “A Vision of Sugar Plums” (S1:E15)
❄️ 24 Days to Christmas: Dr. Robert Hartley spends Christmas Eve 1975 in the hospital in “Bob Has His Tonsils Out”. Set in snowy Chicago, this is one of many Christmas-themed episodes of the Bob Newhart Show (S4:E15) …
🎁 23 Days to Christmas – The Simpson’s have done dozens of holiday episodes, but “Marge Be Not Proud” is the highest rated. Marge copes with Bart shoplifting at Christmastime. (S7:E11) …
🎅🏻 22 Days to Christmas: “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” premiered on television on 12/10/1984 on NBC. December 10, 1984. It’s one of the highest rated adaptations among dozens of Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” on IMDB …
Sending Christmas cards used to be a huge part of the holiday season. Families would sit down together, write personal messages, and mail cards to loved ones. I even used to sell engraved Christmas cards door-to-door in the Summer when I was in grade school. Still, the tradition is waning. According to the US Post Office, the number of Christmas cards sent through the mail … Continue reading Christmas Cards: A Tradition Gone By?
Apologies to Clement C. Moore … ‘Twas a Sunday in December, as day turned to night. Not a worry was stirring, all felt just right. No work tomorrow, no Sunday night dread. Just watching the Packers pull ahead! The TV was glowing, a warm, steady light. The Christmas tree twinkled, so peaceful and bright! There were no emails to answer, no meetings to plan. Just … Continue reading ‘Twas A Sunday In December
I went deep down the Social Security benefit timing rabbit hole this week. I built a little spreadsheet to look at SSI lifetime benefit at different “start ages” and added in the value of taking SSI pre-age 67 and investing it. These are my currently projected benefits from the MySocialSecurity website. I assumed a conservative 3% investment return on the early dollars. You can see … Continue reading One More Look At Early SSI …
I was chatting with a friend & neighbor recently about Social Security. Paul has just turned 65 and was thinking of jumping on SSI early (his full retirement age is 67). He thought the advantage might be that he could get “locked in” to a benefit before the government potentially cuts back SSI benefits for wealthier households. In thinking through the situation, I put together … Continue reading Social Security Revisited
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