There is very little I can add to this remarkable story but it made me smile … According to the New York Post, Art Mason, who lives here in the Twin Cities, is retiring from his job working the McDonald’s Drive-Thru at age 89. He started working there 30 years ago after being retired just 3 months from the factory job that he worked at … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Man Retires From McDonald’s at Age 88
Having just turned our income tax paperwork over to our accountant, I thought it might be good time to put in a plug for Health Savings Accounts – my favorite, tax-advantaged place to invest money right now. You might be puzzled by the thought that a Health Savings Account is a great ‘investment’ vehicle, but that’s really how you might start thinking about them. If … Continue reading Investing In Health Savings Accounts
Some friends I play softball with in the summer got together for our ‘Winter Meeting’ the other night. We don’t talk too much softball, but enjoy a few beers and catch up on what’s happened in our lives since last August when we played our last game. This year, we started chatting about getting our income taxes pulled together. Some guys had already filed their … Continue reading Taxes – Too Complicated for DIY
The media and politicians love to plant the seeds of discord between generations. Younger generations are alternately presented as either victims of the current power structure, and/or helplessly unprepared or unwilling to live in the “real world “. I have found that nothing is further from the truth. Younger generations tend to be smarter, more diligent, and better prepared for the futures than the generations … Continue reading Millennials May Prove To Be The Best Generation With Their Finances
At MegaCorp, I worked with a Finance Director who use to quip that “good numbers make good meetings”. He was right – when sales and profits are up, meetings and decisions come easy. It’s a good time! While we have always been long-term investors, the living is easy when the market and our portfolio are growing as well. While we are only two months into … Continue reading Early 2019 Bounce In The Market
We’re having a very snowy month in Minnesota. We’ve gotten over two and a half feet in the last couple weeks and have cracked the list of the State’s ‘Top Ten Snowiest Months’. This is still with 8 days left in the month and two snow systems lined up to come through in the next week with more wintery fun. Flashback: Frosty, Frigid Fun – … Continue reading Plowing Through Time Wasters
When I was a kid, I enjoyed many beautiful summer days inside watching game shows and sitcom reruns. I watched so much TV, my older brothers would joke that I had a ‘TV tan’. While I played organized sports – baseball, football, and basketball – I was more the indoor-sy kind of kid and happy to plop down in front of the screen. I guess … Continue reading The Sun Always Shines on TV
I’ve been late in ‘closing the books’ for our finances in 2018. With tax preparation season on us, I’ve spent a few hours this week trying to figure out exactly where things ended last year so that I can effectively pull together our tax statements. I also taken opportunity to recalculate the historical probabilities of our overall FIRE plan. The financial markets ended 2018 badly … Continue reading Recalculating FIRE Odds
Yesterday morning, I got up about 45 minutes before we left for church. That was plenty of time to get ready, have breakfast, and even shovel most of the snow off the driveway before we left. When I was working, I would get up 30 minutes before I had to leave and that meant I was always rushing around. Fifteen extra minutes makes quite a … Continue reading An Extra Fifteen Minutes Each Morning?
A few years ago, returning from a trip to Scotland, we found that we paid a substantial premium on some Scotch we bought there. Instead of getting a bargain for buying it at the distillery and bringing it all the way back to the US, we paid about 40% more the experience. So, on our recent cruise in the Caribbean, we decided we would to … Continue reading Booze Cruise Bargains?
