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
Everyone loves the holidays – unless you are Ebenezer Scrooge – but it is quite the BUSY time of year. Especially since the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year is one week shorter than last year. This is now the fourth year since we made our FIRE escape that I have been able to enjoy holiday activities untethered to a job 50+ hours a … Continue reading Savoring The (Shortened) Season
This Wednesday, the high temperature in Minnesota where we live will be 0F degrees, while in Orlando FL it will be a balmy 82F. While our home, family, and ‘life’ are here in the cold, we’ve decided to engage in some ‘weather arbitrage’ and escape to Florida this winter. I wrote about Snowbirding a few years ago with the advice of my friend Russ and … Continue reading Snowbirding Practice 2020
Awhile ago, I wrote an article and did a survey looking at the value of corporate perks one gives up when heading into retirement. People mentioned expense accounts, sports tickets, fitness club memberships, and other things. Related: Irreplaceable PERKS One thing that didn’t get mentioned was ‘corporate apparel’. You know, those MegaCorp branded shirts & gear they often hand out this time of year? It … Continue reading Corporate Apparel
I think we’ve made it! The biggest concern that most early retirees have is how they will manage the cost of health insurance between leaving MegaCorp and gaining retiree benefits or Medicare eligibility. It’s a topic I’ve provided many updates on over the last 5 years because health insurance is an expensive and dynamic market. This is the last year of open enrollment where we … Continue reading Health Insurance – Open Enrollment
When we first reached ‘millionaire status’ I was pretty excited. As I wrote later, while our inflationary world doesn’t mean we live like Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, or other millionaires of old, it still put us in the top 0.56% of the world, in terms of wealth. Related: FIRE Milestones – Reaching Millionaire Status I hope it’s not too crass to compare oneself to see where one … Continue reading Historical Millionaires, Billionaires, and Trillionaires
I’ve written before about the fun of going on weekly ‘field trips’ and checking out a museum or taking a behind-the-scenes tour. One of the benefits of a FIRE lifestyle is having the time to go experience – and learn about things – you wouldn’t have had time for when you were working. Today, I’m taking a very literal ‘field trip’ down to Iowa and … Continue reading Fall Field Trip
If you are like me, you sometimes see articles in the personal finance press about people who are very young – in their 30s and 40s – who have quit their jobs and declared themselves FIRE’d (financially independent & retired early). Recently, ABC’s Good Morning America ran this piece on a couple who retired very young and the ‘secret strategies’ they want to share with … Continue reading How Long Can FIRE Last?
I sent this picture of a Porsche Cayman S with a ‘NO KIDS’ license plate to my MegaCorp boss a few years ago. He’s a Porsche guy and he and his wife don’t have kids of their own. His reply was insightful … “One wife, too!” I wouldn’t recommend making significant life decisions based purely on dollar and cents, but that doesn’t mean that many … Continue reading No Kids? One Wife?
