Life Was Financially Better … When?

Internet memes get posted by the millions each day and most of them aren’t worth the time you spend looking at them. That’s why today’s post is pretty silly. I saw this dubious meme tonight and got suckered into analyzing it five different ways. There are a lot of dimensions to the claim in this meme – time, inflation, houses, cars, college – and for … Continue reading Life Was Financially Better … When?

How Dumb Are College Students?

It’s graduation season. In Minnesota, that means backyard high school graduation parties every weekend from late May through June. Most of the graduates that we know are heading off to college this fall. Let’s all hope for their sake that they learn some useful things. I’m not sure that is actually the case. A study out this week says that the average college graduate in … Continue reading How Dumb Are College Students?

College Savings / 529 Plan Check-In

Our son’s J-Term from college ended yesterday. He’s been out of the classroom since just before Christmas and will be starting his Spring semester today. It’s hard to believe the he’ll be finishing his Junior year in a few months and he has already started to interview for summer internships. I thought this might be a good time to look back on how the 15 … Continue reading College Savings / 529 Plan Check-In

Autumn On-Campus – Lifelong Learning Classes

Autumn is in the air and for the third straight year, that finds me back on campus. One of the most interesting things I’ve been able to do in Early Retirement is take university classes on a variety of subjects. Two years ago, when my own son was just starting college himself, I took advantage of a university parent’s program to take Freshman Sociology. It … Continue reading Autumn On-Campus – Lifelong Learning Classes

Old Guy On Campus – Early Reflections

Several weeks ago I wrote about being back on campus and auditing a Sociology class at our local university, where my son is a freshman this year.  The school has a ‘Parents on Campus’ program that allows parents to take up to two classes each semester for free.  Before starting the class, I realized that it probably would be awkward to be a fifty year … Continue reading Old Guy On Campus – Early Reflections

“What Does Your Dad Do For A Living?”

For today’s Mr.FireStation post, I decided to turn the space over to my 18 year old son who starts his freshman year of college on Wednesday.  Just as MRS FireStation posted her perspective on our early retirement a few weeks ago, I thought it would be interesting to hear from the other member of our nuclear family.  “What does your Dad do for a living?” … Continue reading “What Does Your Dad Do For A Living?”

FIRE Station Fun – Learning Independence

Today is the day that our only child leaves for his freshman year of college.  It’s a big day that we’ve been looking toward since we brought him home as a newborn baby more than eighteen years ago.  It is with deeply mixed feelings that we send him off – happy to see him growing and getting to do amazing things, but also sorry to … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Learning Independence