We’ve been retired for over 4.5 years now and I find myself surprised that it has been that long. People still say I seem too young to be retired, but when you consider it’s almost been 50 months since I went to work at MegaCorp … it feels ridiculous. Where has all the time gone? I find myself really unable to account for the last … Continue reading Where Does The Time Go?
I read through a good online discussion of retirement spending/investment probabilities this weekend. Someone was asking early retirees in a forum if they felt a 90% probability of out-living your retirement nest egg was enough, based on a online calculator like FIREcalc. I’ve written about FIREcalc probabilities before and using Monte Carlo analysis to help pressure test your FIRE plan. It is a great tool. … Continue reading Is 90% ‘Good Enough’ Odds?
My first boss taught me the old adage “if you don’t measure it, you can’t do anything about it.” I have to admit that I am pretty fanatical about counting & analyzing things. It made me effective as a business leader and helped me focus on what was needed to reach early retirement. Just because there isn’t a daily sales sheet or budget to focus … Continue reading Pandemic Spring/Summer Activity
Just a short post today. The weekend was SO busy I am actually happy it is Monday. That’s the way things go in early retirement – the weekends can be so packed with entertainment that Monday is the first time in 3 days that you can catch your breath! This weekend was busy because it was our son’s birthday on Friday and we were also … Continue reading Thank God It’s Monday
Monday Night Football celebrated its amazing Fiftieth Anniversary this week and I enjoyed all the clips of Howard, Frank, and Dandy Don. Plenty of people want to ‘boycott’ the NFL this season, but I’m not going to get into that here. When I was a kid in the 1970s and early-1980s Monday Football was a big deal. I remember doing a speech about how popular … Continue reading Monday Night Football
I recently listened to an interesting podcast with investor Peter Schiff of Euro-Pacific Capital. He’s the guy that earned the title ‘Dr. Doom’ when he correctly forecast the housing bubble that led to the Great Recession. He wrote a book about it two years before it happened. Schiff – a self-described libertarian capitalist – did a 3 hour interview with Joe Rogan recently. He raised … Continue reading Bubble Economy?
Last fall, my friend, neighbor, and reader, Jeff, was retiring from his MegaCorp job and told me about a retirement plan he came up with to visit every State Park within three hours of our town. It was one part of his ‘Not Bored List’ and a good cross-training endeavor since he is also a marathon runner. Related: Pre-FIRE ‘Not Bored List’ I’ve never been … Continue reading Hiking Into Fall
My son and I returned to the movie theater this past Monday for the first new feature we had seen since late February. It was strange and novel to be back in front of the big IMAX screen with 100 decibel sound for Christopher Nolan’s time-travel thriller, Tenet. We love going to movies and see about 30 new ones a year. Most are in theaters, … Continue reading The Great Movie Return
During the Democratic National Convention two weeks ago, news slipped out that Joe Biden was developing a new tax plan that would rollback benefits for 401K plans. He even had his Economic Advisor speak to it at a panel event at the convention. Like many ‘progressive’ initiatives, this one involves reducing or eliminating 401K tax benefits from higher income households and transferring that benefit to … Continue reading Keeping Up With Election Proposals – Taxing 401Ks
I made a big stack of buckwheat pancakes for myself yesterday, topped it with real maple syrup & berries, and added a glass of orange juice. It’s a repeat of the breakfast that I had the morning I walked away from working and into the wonderful world of FIRE (financial independence & retired early). Related: FIRE Milestone – Final Day: Blasting Into Retirement It only took … Continue reading Big Breakfast
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