The discussion in the comment section after my Monday post this week focused a lot on mortgage rate history. It prompted me to find this graph on 30-year fixed standard mortgages from 1971-2025. I remember the peak in 1981 as we moved that year for my Dad’s job and my parents got a 16% mortgage for our new house. Bad timing. It was quite … Continue reading Mortgage Memories
I was at a wonderful MegaCorp reunion a few nights ago and a few colleagues were celebrating their first year of retirement, or were planning to at the end of the year. A couple friends said that despite a lot of planning, they weren’t entirely confident that their financials were going to hold up to the next few decades of retirement life. Despite having financial … Continue reading Are You Likely To Run Out Of Money?
There’s probably not a lot new in this chart for most readers, but I thought it’d be a good reminder on a Friday morning … The author of the infographic (Ooma) did a nice job thinking about the key expenditures for seniors. There is more detail on the data sources & state ranking in their website. While it’s relatively easy to compare the cost of … Continue reading Retiree Cost By State
We’re fortunate to live in a really nice neighborhood with great neighbors. I recently saw a post online where readers were asked “what’s a sign you live in a very nice / expensive neighborhood?” These are the top 30 responses … Extremely quiet streets Everything looks clean No litter anywhere Houses hidden from road Large private lots Nicely cared-for landscaping Lawn-care crews everywhere Constant home … Continue reading Nice Neighborhoods
I laughed when I saw this. Certainly speaks for me … Have a great weekend … ! Image: Magnific Continue reading Self-Checkout
My wife sometimes worries that real-life stores are going to go away as we order more and more things on Amazon. A couple years ago I graphed out how often we order from Amazon and it was certainly our most-shopped “store”. The number of deliveries we get from them has gone up since then. On average, the Amazon truck is coming to our house every … Continue reading Cash Register Comparison
I got bumped by a woman in a parking garage a few weeks ago. I was in my Jeep and was happy that the bump didn’t cause any significant damage. She actually hit the back of my front tire & fender and then immediately blamed me for it. I started to explain the physics of how that didn’t make sense, but instead just exchanged insurance … Continue reading Car Insurance Rates On The Rise?
We just finished a fantastic long weekend at our Florida place enjoying all of the America 250 festivities. The celebrations & fireworks at Walt Disney World – and our own small-town Independence Day parade (no politicians!) were terrific. Seeing the tall ships in NYC, the time capsule in Philadelphia, and midnight fireworks in Washington DV were also highlights. We visited all of those places this … Continue reading Where Are We At USA?
This is a money & lifestyle blog, but I don’t actually post about actual money very often. Like real coins & bills! I’m excited to see that starting tomorrow, the US Mint is releasing a full set of America 250 / Semiquincentennial coins for circulation. I’m not sure how many they are stamping out, but I’ll be looking for them in my change right away. … Continue reading America 250 Coins
Since I don’t work, I probably follow the news more than the average bear. When you do that, you start to think you know more than most other people. Violating one of my own guidelines to buy index funds for the long-term and not play individual investments for the short-term, I bought $5K of the oil fund BNO a few weeks ago. Every few days … Continue reading A Lousy War Profiteer
