My first year of working out of college came with a lesson in corporate culture. It was the day before Thanksgiving 1989 and our Division VP told everyone to head out early that Wednesday at 3:00pm to beat rush hour and get an early start on the holiday. This was before the days of flextime, job-sharing, and any discussions of ‘work/home balance’. Work was still … Continue reading Thanksgiving Freedom From MegaCorp Nonsense
When I resigned from MegaCorp early last year, I brought a bottle of fine Scotch Whisky into my boss’s office to toast my farewell. We didn’t crack it open because he wasn’t feeling well that day and he told me it would have been a violation of company policy. I suppose that makes sense on some level, but believe it or not, it came as … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Drinking On The Job
Are your kids involved in activities that are expensive? I signed up with a tennis club last week so I can continue to play during the winter months. I got 39 matches in this summer (playing outside) and it is hard for me to now pay for something I could do for free under the summer sun. I figure it will cost me about $750 … Continue reading The Cost Of Sports – Not Child’s Play
For the last 6 years I worked at the MegaCorp I officially early retired from, I was a Corporate Officer and had the benefit of getting Executive Health benefits. Since we live in Minnesota, that meant I could go to the Mayo Clinic or a similar program (I usually went to one closer to the office) and be put through a full-day physical once per … Continue reading Work Stress & Health – By The Numbers
On Reddit recently, there was a post in the Financial Independence thread that asked Redditors what retirement “hobbies scream rich people?” That is, what activities signal that someone has a surplus of both time and money? I thought it was an interesting question and relevant to share because I noticed that a lot of the hobbies can be enjoyed by many people at a variety … Continue reading 15 Retirement Hobbies That Scream ‘Rich People’
The stock market has been on an amazing 8.5 year upward trend that is called the second-longest Bull Market run in Wall Street history. Starting after the precipitous drop in 2008 and bottoming out in March of 2009, the current Bull Market run has posted average annual returns of +13% and total growth of almost 200%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ has done even better – up … Continue reading Second Longest Bull Market In History
Friday was the 30th Anniversary of the Wall Street’s Black Monday Crash on October 19, 1987. I remember sitting in college that afternoon and my friend telling me he heard on the radio that the Dow Jones had dropped over 500 points that day (508, to be exact). I was incredulous that the market could drop that much in one day (-22.5%) and imagined that … Continue reading Black Monday Anniversary
After two posts this month assessing the tremendous cost of cars, their depreciating value, and ongoing repairs, I thought I would give partial time to acknowledging the incredible fun of cars. After all, while the financials are negative, they do provide many, many intangible benefits that help make life a joy. Similar to cabin/cottage life, world travel, or owning a speedboat, driving a cool car … Continue reading “Every Day This Man Takes A Vacation”
I’m continuing the discussion from my last post on the cost of vehicles by looking at the differences in the total cost of ownership for different models – basic transportation and luxury vehicles – over time. In April, I analyzed the impact of luxury homes on the number of years someone needs to work and reached the conclusion that trading up to a luxury home … Continue reading Financial Analysis: How Many Years Of Work Would A Luxury Vehicle Cost You?
One of the things I enjoyed about working was coming in every morning and looking at the sales & volume numbers of the businesses I worked on. Each day, we would get a Daily Volume Report that showed how many cases of cookies, canned soup, frozen pizzas, or yogurt cups had been ordered by our grocery customers and every Monday morning we would see how … Continue reading Lifestyle Change By The Numbers
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