The economy is either strong, or very weak, it seems. Like many things in America, it just depends on your political perspective. According to Gallup, Republicans are +22 points positive about the economy, while Democrats are -80 points negative. If you go back to Biden’s time in office the viewpoints were switched almost perfectly. In Trump’s first term they were flipped again. I consider myself … Continue reading How’s The Economy? It Depends …
I’m glad to see that public schools are taking personal finance seriously. Thirty-nine states now require personal finance as a high school graduation requirement, either as a standalone class, or integrated into another class, like economics. For decades, students sat through economics classes learning about monetary policy, supply and demand curves, and gross domestic product. Those topics are interesting, and they certainly help explain how … Continue reading High School Personal Finance
My son and I were talking about saving & investing and I’m proud that he is a good saver. I know that definitively because I ran across this chart in a news story (I forget where). It gives a good look at net worth by age with 5 year age brackets. I think it’s good for young people to see what others are saving. We … Continue reading Net Worth By Age
We had a lovely Mother’s Day yesterday with my Mom and 2 of my 3 brothers. Our son & his girlfriend also came over, so there was 8 of us for a nice brunch. The flowering crabapple trees in our neighborhood were in full bloom to mark the occasion. It is so nice to get family together. In addition to Mother’s Day, we went on … Continue reading Keep Your Friends & Family Close
A few years ago, I went golfing with the Retired Men’s Club members of our church. Since I was a relatively new retiree – and much younger than the average club member – I asked them to share with me one piece of retirement wisdom on each hole. Related: Life After FIRE – Fitting In The only two pieces of advice that I still remember … Continue reading “Find A Young Doctor”
Thoughtful reader, Klaus, suggested adding “learn something new” to the list of Cyber Advice for Sixty, that I posted last week. I think that’s a terrific idea, so I wondered what kinds of things do people want to learn at this age? It’s obviously a very personal choice, but there must be some commonalities. With the modern miracle of AI, it’s easy to query every … Continue reading What Do Retirees Want to Learn?
I’m having a milestone birthday this month – 60 years old. Turning 60 – after enjoying a full decade of early retirement – feels like a bigger milestone than other birthdays. After all, 60 is the age that many people retire, including my Father and Father-In-Law. It feels like the “early” part of our retirement is now over, but I still have a lot of … Continue reading Cyber Advice at Sixty
Wednesday was Tax Day in the United States as everyone was rushing to get their Federal & State Tax Returns submitted by that date. Ours were finished last Friday and we paid less in taxes than ever – as we lived off cash in 2025 and didn’t sell any investments for a gain. A couple of our investments, including our rental townhouse, had losses. We … Continue reading Pass the SALT on Tax Day
Early Retirement 10th Anniversary reflections from Mrs. Fire Station … It’s been 10 years since I piped in on this blog of my husband’s. When we were having lunch in Washington DC a few weeks ago, he asked me to reflect on my thoughts on the 10 years since we both retired. Related: The Better Half / Thoughts From Mrs. Fire Station I’ll admit … Continue reading Cheers to 10 Years – Mrs. Fire Station
I try to share the good and bad of our early retirement lifestyle in these posts and here’s another bad one. One of my goals in retirement was to learn to play the electric guitar that I bought 6 years before I retired. That was 10 years ago. So, I’m 16 years behind. This reminder popped up on my Facebook “Memories” tab today. I still … Continue reading Out of Tune Goals
MrFireStation 