Some say not to ignore the LITTLE things each day because you might discover that they are really the big things in life. I have written a bit about some of the big things that have changed in our life since retiring early last year. The BIG things are the easy things to notice that aren’t to hard to figure: I am a lot more … Continue reading The Little Things In Life
We declined on rejoining the boat club we belonged to for the last five years and now that the weather has jumped up into the 80s, I’m wondering how much we will miss it? Financially, it certainly was a terrific deal. We paid $3K a summer and had unlimited uses of a terrific fleet of speedboats, cruisers, pontoons, and water ski boats. I wrote in this … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Boat Life
Many people are concerned about the impact of the Baby Boom generation will have on stock market returns. The fear is that with so many people retiring at once – and cashing out their retirement accounts – Wall Street is sentenced to lower than historical returns over the next 15-20 years. Baby Boomers, currently aged 53-71, according to Pew Research, are half into retirement … Continue reading Baby Boomer Retirements Won’t Hold Down Market Returns
Roger Moore, most well-known for his seven movies as James Bond, passed away earlier this week at age 89. It was a long, grand life for this military officer and well-known actor, who in addition to acting served as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations/UNICEF and was knighted by the Queen for his charitable work. Moore was the Bond that i grew up with in … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Bond On Life
Readers that know me know that I spent my career working for MegaCorps and largely running branded food businesses. My job was leading a team to figure out the best way to get consumers to choose our soup, yogurt, granola bars, or frozen pizza over our competitors – which included the low priced store brand. With TV advertising, cents-off coupons, new flavors, sponsorships, “new & … Continue reading FIRE Savings – Store Brand vs. National Brand Products
One of the funny things about being retired early is that people are always suggesting jobs that you can do. People say, “Oh, you should get a job as a golf course ranger,” or “With your extra time, you could get a side hustle flipping houses”. Many people focus on what you have given up – a job – and forget all that you gained. … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Gaining Work?
We live in the suburbs and every year our city has a city-wide garage sale weekend that raises money for the local Lion’s Club. It’s an amazing event with hundreds of garage sales across the city – dozens in every neighborhood you drive into. They say that over 5,000 people come to our city for the event and it is not uncommon to see several … Continue reading Garage, Yard & Tag Sales – Love Them & Hate Them
When people learn that I retired early, they will almost always enthusiastically ask “what it is like to not go to work?” In response, I often say “Truthfully, it’s the best job I never had.” That answer is always worth a quick laugh, conveys the truth of the situation, and provides me just enough ‘cover’ to then change the subject to weather, sports, politics, travel, or … Continue reading FIRE Station Funny – Conversation Pivot
I visited with a friend over a beer last week and we discussed a lot of things, including – inevitably – national politics. As I wrote in my election day post about what the next President needs to do, I argued that the most important issue is government out of control spending. Rein in the spending, and you rein in the government. My friend argued that it … Continue reading FIRE Politics – Seize The Rich?
Most of 2016 did not bring a lot of growth in the stock market. It wasn’t until Election Day that the S&P500 really took off with gains of +15% behind the so-called Trump Rally, which seems to hinge on corporate and individual tax cuts and simplification. Heaven knows how the Federal government is going to pay for all of that (more about that in next … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Calculating Returns
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