I spent the evening of New Year’s Day (observed) tallying up the ugliness of our 2022 year-end financial performance. The returns weren’t great. Not at all. It looks like our retirement savings took a huge dive. Our retirement nest egg fell a whopping -16.9%. That’s much worse than I had imagined. Our losses were all centered in the plunge in our equities. The S&P 500 … Continue reading A Bad Year, A Good Place …
The Big Man – Santa Claus – is back on his throne at our local shopping mall after a two year, pandemic-induced absence. It’s great to see him back. Unlike most guys, I love going to the mall and looking around. A UK study from a few years ago said most guys get ‘fatigued’ after just 27 minutes of shopping, while women don’t reach that … Continue reading Mega Shopping @ Mega Mall
About 10 years ago, I was one of those goofballs you see on the evening news waiting outside a store at midnight around Black Friday for the “big new thing”. Our son was excited for the debut of the Nintendo Wii U game console that was being released that night. I got there at about 9:30 PM and waited for the store to open for … Continue reading Not A Video Gamer
I took Thanksgiving weekend off from writing, but thought I would share this funny bit I saw posted on Reddit recently. It’s perfect for framing life in the ‘slow lane’ of early retirement… An Airbus 380 is on its way across the Atlantic. It flies consistently at 800 km/h at 30,000 feet, when suddenly an Eurofighter with a Tempo Mach 2 appears. The pilot of … Continue reading Slower, Older, and Smarter
It’s been a busy November, but I’ve never been so organized heading into the holidays. I like to load up the month with all of the ‘work’ of the holidays so that I can just goof-off and enjoy ourselves between now and New Year’s. My approach this year was inspired by something I saw used at our metro zoo. I’ve been involved with the zoo … Continue reading Pre-Holiday Organization
I recently ran across this interesting chart that shows how much time people spend with others at different points of their lives. Alone time and time with your partner, children, family, coworkers, and friends. It’s apparently from an annual ‘Time Use Study’ by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At first glance, I was a little depressed to see the ebb & flow of the lines … Continue reading Who Do You Spend Your Time With?
It’s as if the financial press WANTS people to be poorly prepared for a happy retirement. This chart from CNBC – dubiously thought of as a business channel – suggests the amount of savings people should have at different ages before retirement. A friend sent it to me a while ago and I think it’s simply terrible. First, the chart starts with the frequent financial … Continue reading Inadequate Advice for Saving
Northwestern Mutual just published their 2022 Retirement Planning & Progress study. It’s not a surprise that people are quite worried about the huge drop in their retirement accounts & soaring inflation over the last year. As a result, people are concerned their savings are way behind. Still, this chart was quite surprising to me. It shows that almost one-half of Americans have no idea how … Continue reading Ignorant Is No Way To Go Through Life
I’ve always subscribed to the Thoreau quote: “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.” Autumn is perhaps the season with the fullest potential “bucket list” of activities, since the weather is still nice, nature is taking a dramatic turn, and people fall wistfully back into so many family … Continue reading Autumn Bucket List
My son sent me this hopeful chart today. It shows how the stock market has fared following a 25% decline in the S&P 500 over the last 70 years. Of course, as they say, past performance is no predictor of future performance. Still, it is nice to see that big market drops have historically turned back to growth rather quickly. I had hoped that our … Continue reading When Will It Turn?
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