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 🙂
Numbers, numbers, numbers. Even though my career was in brand, new product, and corporate strategy, I was always very good with numbers. Sometimes people would think I had a finance background. I could tear apart an income statement, market research survey, pricing/margin structure, marketing budget, or ROI better than most. I remember that I could very quickly – almost instantly – add, subtract, multiply, divide, … Continue reading Mathematical Acuity Lost
Summer ended suddenly in the Midwest. We went from 95+ degrees every day on Labor Day weekend, to cool days in the 60s & 70s immediately after. Kids are back in school, our neighborhood pool is closed, and trees are beginning to change color. With families tied-down with homework, school activities, and Friday Night football games, it is the perfect time to get away for … Continue reading Shoulder Season Travel Time
We went to 5 concerts in the last 5 weeks and they have all been outside … and terrific. It’s warmest in August in Minnesota, but that makes the evenings perfect for being outside. ⁃ Rick Springfield – MN Rib Fest ⁃ Minneapolis Symphony – @ Bandshell ⁃ The Jayhawks – @ Bandshell ⁃ Rare Form – Local Faves ⁃ Duran Duran – State Fair … Continue reading School Night Concerts
There’s increasing pressure on raising retirement ages in the world. Many countries are moving in the direction of raising the retirement age used for their national pensions. Other countries are pretending that their national programs are robust & funded appropriately just the way things are, but they math isn’t in their favor. In the USA, Republican candidate, Nikki Haley, is calling for Social Security reforms … Continue reading Where Are We Heading With National Retirement Ages?
The annual State Fair is a big event here in Minnesota. It is regularly voted the country’s ‘Best State Fair’ and over 2.2 million crowd the fairgrounds on 12 days busy each year. Among the colorful carnival rides, popular grandstand shows, and greasy food-on-a-stick, the fairgrounds have a dozen buildings where Minnesotans compete for ribbons in hundreds of creative, horticultural, and agricultural events. I’ve always … Continue reading Another Quirky Award
It has now been three years since I purchased my e-bike. It continues to be a fun toy that I use more and more. Recently, I reached the milestone of 1000 miles on the new bike. I’m now up to 1,065 miles. The ‘acceleration’ in my usage has been remarkable. My mileage for the last three years looks like this: 200 miles, 400 miles, 450miles. … Continue reading e-Bike Summer
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