When I was a corporate officer at MegaCorp, you were expected to maintain a certain % of your annual salary in company stock. I forget the exact amount, but I think it was 2-3x your annual total compensation. It wasn’t too hard, given the company had been doing well and we all had stock grants and stock options. Still, as personal finance matriarch, Jane Bryant … Continue reading Looking At Returns Over Time
What’s the temperature down to just 10° F the other morning, I decided to try out mall walking. It seemed like the quintessential retiree activity on a cold winter morning. A friend was supposed to join me, but he texted me that morning to say that 9:30a was “too early” for him. 🙂 When I arrived at 9:30, the mall was still closed. It was … Continue reading Deck The Malls …
“You have maximized your retirement activities better than anyone I’ve ever met! It’s inspiring!” I shared pictures from my latest adventure online last week and a former MegaCorp colleague posted the nice response above. I do try to make the most of my early retirement time and share out my latest escapades – if for no other reason than to evangelize the benefits of FIRE. … Continue reading Quirky Up & Away
What kind of retiree doesn’t play golf? Me, I guess! Despite being the quintessential retiree sport, I’ve been playing less and less. I was in the garage yesterday and putting things away for winter. When I got to my golf clubs, I realized I hadn’t played at all this year. Not once! So many people retire to play golf, it’s surprising I am pulling the … Continue reading Out Of The Swing …
In the world of personal finance and saving for the future, there’s always a new trend that is said to be making waves. The latest one is called “soft saving” – I just heard about it. In “soft saving,” the traditional wisdom of working hard, saving diligently, and retiring early is being challenged by a generation that values experiences and personal growth over accumulating wealth. … Continue reading Soft Saving Approach
Debt is a four-letter word for anyone looking to retire early. In fact, it should be for everyone. Still, despite our relative prosperity, Americans are more in debt than ever. It looks like total consumer debt is 15% higher than it was before the pandemic. All of the stimulus money had only a temporary impact on debt levels … It’s one thing to be sitting … Continue reading Debt Getting Very Expensive
I ran across these two charts recently and couldn’t help but scratch my head at what is going on in this country. This first chart shows healthcare spending. It’s been steadily growing +5.8%/year on average over the last 20+ years. That’s a whopping 2.4x the rate of overall inflation. The steady growth in healthcare spending stands at odds with political promises that came with the … Continue reading Healthcare Woes
The media keep telling me that inflation is moderating, yet the 4 bags of groceries we bought at SuperTarget today cost $189. What’s going on with inflation?? I’m not the world’s savviest investor, but I’ve done all right. I’ve always looked to the 10 Year Treasury Yield as a decent indicator of what is expected with inflation over the longer term. As you can see … Continue reading What’s Really Going On With Inflation?
When we were in Italy last week, we stayed in a colorful little beach town just north of Venice. Caorle is a charming resort town of 12,000 that rarely sees American visitors. Our hotel on the beach said they had only one other American couple all summer. The town has a delightful little Old Town area with shopping and restaurants. At 12:30p each day most … Continue reading Pausa Pronzo
We just returned from our 11th trip to Europe and I keep finding new tricks to make the travel more comfortable. I could probably write a long post on travel hacks that I’ve learned, but today I’ll share a simple one … NEW SOCKS. Before we left for our 16 day trip to Europe this month, I bought two 8-packs of comfy new socks on … Continue reading Socks Make The Trip 🙂
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