I’ve written before about cryptocurrencies when they were growing, so I thought it only right that I also comment on them when they are falling. Bitcoin is now trading at less than half of what it was at last November. It’s gone from a peak of $69K/coin down to just $30K. That’s a sad drop for a digital currency that was supposed to help protect … Continue reading Are Cryptos Blowing Away?
I’ve had pretty good luck with rental cars over the years. Other than the one time a city bus plowed into my (parked) SUV in front of a hotel in snowy Aspen, I’ve never had a reportable incident. Until this year. I just got back from a board meeting in Michigan, and on the way back to the airport a rock flew up from an … Continue reading Rental Car Curse!
Everyone knows the moment you drive a car off a new dealer lot, you just cost yourself over $10,000 in depreciation. That rule has been true as long as I can remember. Now, something else seems to be happening. Fueled by the post pandemic/stimulus money and car shortage, the Jeep Wrangler that I bought last year seems to have appreciatied at significant rate! As you … Continue reading New Car Appreciation?
A few weeks ago, I published an article about the financial surprise of big repairs and expenses around the house. In the comments, regular reader, Thom, mentioned that he forecasts and accrues for these ‘personal capital expenditures’ – which can occur over years and decades – on an annual basis. The key to his approach is a spreadsheet that lists all of the major components … Continue reading Accruing For Home Repairs – Spreadsheet Download
We’ve been in our house more than a dozen years now. When we first built the house, we had a list of ‘extras’ we wanted to add that stretched out a few years. We expanded our lower level, added a bar, covered & screened in our porch, and worked with our wonderful cabinet-maker on a number of built-ins. At the same time, we bought new … Continue reading Furnishing A Life …
Well, I blew it. I crashed my drone into a tree last week. It fell about 30 feet after shaking loose from the tree and the camera gimbal got damaged. It still flies, but you can’t really take pictures with it anymore. It was the second time I crashed it. The first time, it landed in soft snow and still worked fine. It’s a pretty … Continue reading Down & Out Drone
We had quite the “to-do” list when we got back to Minnesota from our Winter Summerland adventures in Florida last month. We don’t usually keep a list, but we had an unusual number of important things to get done. We got our bills paid (a few a bit late), helped our son move into the new townhouse, helped my father-in-law with estate documents, decluttered/organized a … Continue reading To-Do’s and Taxes
I have to shake my head when I see politicians promoting “free college” and “student loan forgiveness”. College grads are supposed to be smart & responsible, aren’t they? In my view, college students are adults and they voluntarily entered into these loans with the help of the friendly folks in the university admissions department (who try hard to disguise their job as anything but what … Continue reading Driving Away From Debt …
I’ve been worrying about periods of high inflation since I started writing these posts over seven years ago. It wasn’t until these last 12 months that my worries were matched by reality. It doesn’t help that the politicians & media pundits keep trying to put a positive spin on things. The headlines have been ridiculous: Part of the challenge is I don’t know if the … Continue reading How Fast Is Inflation Really Rising?
It’s hard for folks to decide when to make the jump into retirement, so I was intrigued by a recent question on earlyretirement.org asking folks if they wish they would have retired earlier or worked a bit longer? About 65 people answered the question and I tallied the results below (taking out a few responses of people who weren’t retired yet) … – 36% said … Continue reading Earlier, Longer, Just Right?
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