Everyone loves the holidays – unless you are Ebenezer Scrooge – but it is quite the BUSY time of year. Especially since the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year is one week shorter than last year. This is now the fourth year since we made our FIRE escape that I have been able to enjoy holiday activities untethered to a job 50+ hours a … Continue reading Savoring The (Shortened) Season
This Wednesday, the high temperature in Minnesota where we live will be 0F degrees, while in Orlando FL it will be a balmy 82F. While our home, family, and ‘life’ are here in the cold, we’ve decided to engage in some ‘weather arbitrage’ and escape to Florida this winter. I wrote about Snowbirding a few years ago with the advice of my friend Russ and … Continue reading Snowbirding Practice 2020
Awhile ago, I wrote an article and did a survey looking at the value of corporate perks one gives up when heading into retirement. People mentioned expense accounts, sports tickets, fitness club memberships, and other things. Related: Irreplaceable PERKS One thing that didn’t get mentioned was ‘corporate apparel’. You know, those MegaCorp branded shirts & gear they often hand out this time of year? It … Continue reading Corporate Apparel
I think we’ve made it! The biggest concern that most early retirees have is how they will manage the cost of health insurance between leaving MegaCorp and gaining retiree benefits or Medicare eligibility. It’s a topic I’ve provided many updates on over the last 5 years because health insurance is an expensive and dynamic market. This is the last year of open enrollment where we … Continue reading Health Insurance – Open Enrollment
I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving yesterday! We had turkey and watched some football at my brother & sister-in-law’s nearby house with our broader family. Wonderful day. When we were there, we got into the annual conversation about the Thanksgiving turkey, how much it weighed, and how much it cost this year. It got me thinking that most people do not probably realize what an … Continue reading Turkey Economics
I love the change of seasons from month-to-month in Minnesota. Winter, spring, summer, or fall – there are always unique and interesting things to do that capture the spirit of the season. Over the last few years of early retirement, November has become ‘hunting season’ for me – hunting through antique shops for vintage, Shiny Brite ornaments from the 1940s – 1950s. These vintage treasures … Continue reading Shiny Brite ‘Hunting Season’
A MegaCorp friend and I are trying to plan a happy hour to catch up, but as is often the case for many these days, she is stuck getting ready for a ‘big meeting’. I can easily remember the meeting-to-meeting work life of MegaCorp and how I might go to 8, 9, or 10 meetings in a day. In between small meetings, I would be … Continue reading Pointless Meetings Are ‘Therapy’?
The S&P 500 is up a whopping +24.4% so far in 2019 and many investors are feeling giddy. Despite tariffs, politics, and slow growth in Asia & EU, the American economy continues to chug along. Hooray for growth! It’s not hard to forget that people were quite pessimistic coming into the year. Goldman Sachs had predicted markets to only be up “modestly” in 2019, with … Continue reading Financial Markets Check-In
When we first reached ‘millionaire status’ I was pretty excited. As I wrote later, while our inflationary world doesn’t mean we live like Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, or other millionaires of old, it still put us in the top 0.56% of the world, in terms of wealth. Related: FIRE Milestones – Reaching Millionaire Status I hope it’s not too crass to compare oneself to see where one … Continue reading Historical Millionaires, Billionaires, and Trillionaires
I’ve written before about the fun of going on weekly ‘field trips’ and checking out a museum or taking a behind-the-scenes tour. One of the benefits of a FIRE lifestyle is having the time to go experience – and learn about things – you wouldn’t have had time for when you were working. Today, I’m taking a very literal ‘field trip’ down to Iowa and … Continue reading Fall Field Trip
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