We had a nice sit down with our financial planner last week for our ‘annual check-up’. As you can imagine, the update was very good given how well the markets have been doing, despite the pandemic. I honestly believe that I couldn’t have been luckier to pull the trigger on retirement 5 years ago. Since then, the stock market has been on a tear, … Continue reading Great Returns & Market Observations
We were supposed to find a new everyday vehicle for my wife this month, but we haven’t gotten out to any dealerships yet. In the meanwhile, I signed a monthly lease for this nearby storage garage to hold a new ‘fun’ car for me. I have an SUV for everyday needs that my son and I bought in North Carolina a few years ago. I … Continue reading The New Branch Office
MegaCorp announced significant layoffs last week .. again. In fact, both of the Fortune 500 companies I worked for have had significant job cuts this year, despite weathering the pandemic pretty well in 2020. I am years away from the two MegaCorps now, but it is still tough to see colleagues let go after long careers. Combined, the two companies cut nearly 5K employees – … Continue reading MegaCorp Affinity Waning
Everyone I know keeps quite busy in early retirement. It might in fact be true that early retirees are even more busy than they were when they were working. Summer, which gloriously exploded this week in MN, is an especially busy time. Whether it is the season or my age (I turned 55 back in April), I am finding myself too busy to accomplish everything … Continue reading Reading Goals – Abridged
I spent yesterday – Memorial Day – getting ready for an upcoming meeting with our Financial Advisor. We’re sitting down Friday for the first time in more than a year. We usually meet and do a ‘check up’ one time a year, but last year we skipped it due to the CV19 pandemic. Before our annual meeting, I give him a summary document of all … Continue reading Annual Portfolio Check Up
Friends we know recently asked us, “How do you manage your finances as a couple?” My wife answered: “Big Numbers and Little Numbers.” That IS how we do it – she manages the household checkbook and monthly bills (little numbers). I manage investments and annual tracking (big numbers). It’s not about importance – they both are important. It’s just what we are good at. She … Continue reading Big Numbers, Little Numbers
They say that a puppy is a ticket to immediate exercise, but our 3-a-day walks of the new pupper have surprisingly been a ticket to something else …. getting to know our neighborhood in a completely new way. We thought we knew the neighborhood well already. We’ve lived here for almost 11 years and have met everyone up-and-down the street at one time or another. … Continue reading Neighborhood Tour Guide
It was soon after my first MegaCorp pension check arrived in the mailbox that the latest CPI report was released with the most price inflation we’ve seen in more than a decade. My new pension payment is fixed – no cost of living adjustment – so I immediately had visions of it being quickly consumed by this monetary beast that has been lying in wait … Continue reading Inflation On The Way?
I might have mentioned before that my wife and I don’t really keep a household budget. We used to be very, very diligent about it, but over the years we just stopped. I could tell you what we roughly spend each month, but not without actually adding it up. I only really know if we are spending too much by looking at our long-term net … Continue reading Budgets & Big Purchases
I’ve often said that if I hadn’t had a job that required me to go into the MegaCorp office every day, I might have worked much longer. As everyone has learned during the CV19 pandemic, people are happier when pretending to work from home. 🙂 Related: The Onion: Working From Home With the CDC announcement yesterday that vaccinated people can now safely go back to … Continue reading Return-To-The-Office?
