Some folks that are retired find it helpful to get ‘business’ cards printed up with their name, address, phone number, and email address. A retired friend recently gave me his. I wasn’t even a big fan of handing out business cards when I was at MegaCorp, so I would have never thought having them when you are not working was a ‘thing’. People say they … Continue reading Who Are You?
Many are calling the COVID-19 crisis the end of the FIRE movement (financially independent, retired early). The narrative is that no one can now afford to retire early since the market fell apart last month. Many expect that we’ll see a huge number of people retiring much later, but I don’t think that will be the case. First, the average age of retirement has not … Continue reading Time To Put Off Retirement?
I started looking at the topic of America’s growing debt before the coronavirus pandemic spread. Across all age groups, debt has been accelerating rapidly for the last two decades, and I’m sure it has gotten much worse now. This chart, from a CNBC article, shows the magnitude of the debt problem, with perhaps the greatest growth happening among older Americans … As the chart shows, … Continue reading Debt Has Spread Like A Virus
They say that all of the cable & streaming channels are getting a big boost during the COVID-19 shutdown. Everyone is at home and looking for something to watch on TV other than the grim nightly news. I like watching TV and we have a few series that we are watching regularly now, including ’Outlander’, ‘Survivor’, and ‘LEGO Masters’. We even started watching the absurd … Continue reading TV Time?
Our son was involved in Boy Scouts and earned his Eagle Scout rank. At the time he was in Scouts, the Wall Street Journal ran an article that called Eagle Scout projects the “largest single youth-service project in history” and that they had touched “every community in America in an important way”. Discussion of the Scout’s tradition of service came up recently when I was … Continue reading Lifestage of Service
Truthfully, CV-19 quarantining isn’t that much different than early retirement life. Sure, you can’t go out to eat with friends, weekly sports leagues and activities are cancelled, and the TV news is hideous to watch, but we can still get out and take walks, work on projects at home, and other daily diversions. Life is only boring if you are boring! Like many Americans, I’ve … Continue reading A ‘Much Too Early’ Prediction …
It was good advice. I had it written in a cell at the bottom of the first budget spreadsheet I put together thirty years ago: “Keep 3-6 months spending in an emergency fund. More if you smell layoffs coming.” We had just gotten married, we were watching every penny, and we viewed it as an important first step. We took the emergency fund principle from … Continue reading Locked Up
As expected, the financial markets are having a very crazy week. Starting Monday, with a shocking -3,000 point DJIA drop (-13%), the week was filled with volatility. It wasn’t the environment I expected to find any opportunity in, but on St Patrick’s Day (Tuesday), I think I found the ‘Luck of the Irish’. Longtime readers have heard my woeful tale of crashed MegaCorp stock options … Continue reading Lucky Inflection Point?
It’s hard to know even what to say this morning. I’ve heard that “every bull market is the same, but every bear market is different” because they are triggered by a unique economic disasters. That’s certainly the case now as I fear the market will open today with another 1000 point drop based on the DJIA futures. While these are unique times, they are causing … Continue reading Advice From A Century Ago
I really thought the stories about people hoarding toilet paper were just jokes until I went to our local Walmart yesterday. It’s not just toilet paper – hand santizer, hand soap, all-purpose cleaner, soup and other canned goods are selling fast. Panic buying for the COVID-19 coronavirus is in full swing. Since folks working toward FIRE have a penchant for being prepared, I’m guessing many … Continue reading Emergency Preparedness – Why Not?
