I drove my Jeep home from a 1,700 mile ‘Circle Tour’ of Lake Superior yesterday. I took the little Jeep from Minnesota’s North Shore into Ontario, Canada, across the great locks in Sault St. Marie, west along Michigan’s ‘Yooperland’, and through a small corner of Northern Wisconsin that leads back to Minnesota. It was a charity road rally with 30+ vehicles cruising as a colorful … Continue reading Jeep Off To Market
How do you say “I’m retired” without saying it? Simply be patient when you are faced with a delay. Early retirement changes our relationship with time and people seem to notice right away. I made a couple stops the other day that proved this out. I was at the dental office and the hygienist said the dentist was going to be delayed a little bit. … Continue reading No Worries. No Hurry.
I ran across these two charts recently and couldn’t help but scratch my head at what is going on in this country. This first chart shows healthcare spending. It’s been steadily growing +5.8%/year on average over the last 20+ years. That’s a whopping 2.4x the rate of overall inflation. The steady growth in healthcare spending stands at odds with political promises that came with the … Continue reading Healthcare Woes
The media keep telling me that inflation is moderating, yet the 4 bags of groceries we bought at SuperTarget today cost $189. What’s going on with inflation?? I’m not the world’s savviest investor, but I’ve done all right. I’ve always looked to the 10 Year Treasury Yield as a decent indicator of what is expected with inflation over the longer term. As you can see … Continue reading What’s Really Going On With Inflation?
When we were in Italy last week, we stayed in a colorful little beach town just north of Venice. Caorle is a charming resort town of 12,000 that rarely sees American visitors. Our hotel on the beach said they had only one other American couple all summer. The town has a delightful little Old Town area with shopping and restaurants. At 12:30p each day most … Continue reading Pausa Pronzo
We just returned from our 11th trip to Europe and I keep finding new tricks to make the travel more comfortable. I could probably write a long post on travel hacks that I’ve learned, but today I’ll share a simple one … NEW SOCKS. Before we left for our 16 day trip to Europe this month, I bought two 8-packs of comfy new socks on … Continue reading Socks Make The Trip 🙂
We got to Europe last week and on the first day had a great lunch with another American couple we were paired up with at a garden table. Alex was an accountant from Albuquerque who was often in Europe, with an American client in Germany. Before the bill came, I asked him to remind me what the tipping custom was. He said to simply round … Continue reading The American Tipping Contagion
Numbers, numbers, numbers. Even though my career was in brand, new product, and corporate strategy, I was always very good with numbers. Sometimes people would think I had a finance background. I could tear apart an income statement, market research survey, pricing/margin structure, marketing budget, or ROI better than most. I remember that I could very quickly – almost instantly – add, subtract, multiply, divide, … Continue reading Mathematical Acuity Lost
Summer ended suddenly in the Midwest. We went from 95+ degrees every day on Labor Day weekend, to cool days in the 60s & 70s immediately after. Kids are back in school, our neighborhood pool is closed, and trees are beginning to change color. With families tied-down with homework, school activities, and Friday Night football games, it is the perfect time to get away for … Continue reading Shoulder Season Travel Time
We went to 5 concerts in the last 5 weeks and they have all been outside … and terrific. It’s warmest in August in Minnesota, but that makes the evenings perfect for being outside. ⁃ Rick Springfield – MN Rib Fest ⁃ Minneapolis Symphony – @ Bandshell ⁃ The Jayhawks – @ Bandshell ⁃ Rare Form – Local Faves ⁃ Duran Duran – State Fair … Continue reading School Night Concerts
