We’re about halfway through our Florida Snowbirding experiment and so far it has been wonderful. It is quite a bit different than any other trip that we have taken for a few reasons, but most all of them have been pleasant surprises …. STAYING PUT – Unlike most trips of a week or more, we aren’t packing up and moving at all. We moved into … Continue reading Snowbirding Surprises
Anyone who has read this blog for a while, knows that I’m pretty tenacious about hitting my fitness ‘step goal’ each month. I hit my goal of averaging 12K steps a day 42 out of 43 months since I early retired in early 2016. Then I had my heart attack on 12/26. I hardly moved for a couple days and missed my mark for December. … Continue reading FIRE Fitness Goals Evolving
Since folks know that I write this personal finance blog, people have been interested in the financial side of the sudden surprise of my heart attack. While not all of the numbers are in yet, it looks to be less expensive than I thought. It seems like I often read about people racking up tens of thousands of dollars of medical bills when something serious … Continue reading How Much Did That Heart Attack Cost?
Every four years is a ‘quadrennium’. I’m not sure if there is something special about a four year cycle, but universities, leap years, Olympics, Presidential elections, and many other things are set up on the cycle of a quadrennium. Unlike Picasso, I can’t imagine learning to paint like Raphael in just four years, but I guess a lot can be accomplished. This week is special … Continue reading Four Years Is A ‘Quadrennium’
A survey in a recent online group asked early retirees if they work with a professional financial advisor. I was surprised to see that the great majority (about two-thirds) of folks did not. While I always tell people you need to be knowledgeable enough to be your own primary financial advisor, it’s nice to have a professional financial advisor as a secondary resource. That is, … Continue reading Do You Have A Financial Advisor?
We had a corporate doctor at MegaCorp who politely reminded people that if they are over 35 years old, you are much more likely to pass away from a heart attack than anything else. You can see it on this infographic form the UK’s National Health Service (2015): Still, I was surprised by my heart attack the day after Christmas. Many people have asked me … Continue reading Have Some Heart
It was a cool moment. When my father retired in 1993, he made a gesture out of taking off his watch at his retirement party and saying that he would never wear a watch again. I thought that was very provocative, so in 2016, I did the same thing at my own retirement party. I had a couple nice watches, including the first-generation Apple Watch, … Continue reading Times Up?
I always say I’ve lived a charmed life. Great family, good health, and many blessings. This past holiday week was also charmed, but in a very different way, as I was fortunate to survived a holiday heart attack that caught me completely by surprise. I was playing tennis with my good friend Russ the day after Christmas, looking forward to a post-match , end-of-the-year beer, … Continue reading The Big One … Almost
Just last week I wrote about the Oklahoma Christmas Lottery and how life-changing the million dollar prize would be for most people. Then came the story of the Spanish news reporter – on the right in the photo above – who ‘won’ the $2.4 billion dollar lottery and quit her job LIVE on national TV. Except the ‘Del Gordo’ prize revealed on Christmas Night was … Continue reading How Not To Quit Your Job – Christmas Lottery
Every year for the last 10 years, I’ve posted a ‘countdown’ of vintage Christmas advertising, classic toys, or antique post cards on my personal Facebook feed. A few years ago, I started sharing them here – as a Christmas card of sorts to readers. This year’s Christmas countdown focused on 25 classic magazines featuring the ‘golden age’ of cover illustration. It was a fun countdown … Continue reading Merry Christmas – 2019 Christmas Countdown
MrFireStation 