I read through a good online discussion of retirement spending/investment probabilities this weekend. Someone was asking early retirees in a forum if they felt a 90% probability of out-living your retirement nest egg was enough, based on a online calculator like FIREcalc. I’ve written about FIREcalc probabilities before and using Monte Carlo analysis to help pressure test your FIRE plan. It is a great tool. … Continue reading Is 90% ‘Good Enough’ Odds?
I recently listened to an interesting podcast with investor Peter Schiff of Euro-Pacific Capital. He’s the guy that earned the title ‘Dr. Doom’ when he correctly forecast the housing bubble that led to the Great Recession. He wrote a book about it two years before it happened. Schiff – a self-described libertarian capitalist – did a 3 hour interview with Joe Rogan recently. He raised … Continue reading Bubble Economy?
I love cars, but I hate car dealers. Unfortunately, it seems that over-engineered, unreliable electronics are making us more reliant on dealer service than ever. That makes cars more costly than ever. Related: Sports Cars: ‘Every Day This Man Takes A Vacation’ Our sports car recently suffered a blow to its stereo/navigation system. I stopped at the grocery store a couple miles from our house … Continue reading Taken To The Cleaners – Dealer Service
People make investments out of many things that they enjoy as hobbies – classic cars, antique watches, sports memorabilia, and other collectibles. I have a lot of collections of things, but I’ve never viewed any of them that way. One of the biggest collections we have is LEGO models & sets. I have many sets from when I was a kid and we’ve bought & … Continue reading Colorful, Collectible Bricks
During the Democratic National Convention two weeks ago, news slipped out that Joe Biden was developing a new tax plan that would rollback benefits for 401K plans. He even had his Economic Advisor speak to it at a panel event at the convention. Like many ‘progressive’ initiatives, this one involves reducing or eliminating 401K tax benefits from higher income households and transferring that benefit to … Continue reading Keeping Up With Election Proposals – Taxing 401Ks
After seeing the details of Biden’s big tax increase proposal and reading that there is a legitimate chance that Democrats will win the White House and both houses of Congress this November, I figured it would be a good time to accelerate some MegaCorp stock option sales that I could otherwise stretch out to July 2022. I made my big stock move of the decade … Continue reading Cashing In Before The Election
This past Tuesday, my wife and I celebrated our 30th Anniversary with a getaway to Minnesota’s scenic North Shore on Lake Superior. Over dinner on the deck of a lakefront restaurant, we were sharing memories of our wedding rehearsal, ceremony, and reception. They are all distant memories now, but many stick with you from the time they happen. I recalled my Dad’s reaction to the … Continue reading Anniversary Memories
There it is … the S&P 500 is just 6 points short of record territory, despite the CV-19 pandemic. I was chatting about the amazing rebound in the market yesterday with an old MegaCorp colleague and we were both astounded that it could jump back so quickly. He asked what I thought about the stock market right now and what I would do in his … Continue reading Amazing Rebound
When I got my new drone a few months ago, I decided to sell my old one over Facebook Marketplace. I’ve never liked selling things online, but since it was worth more than $200, I figured I should give it a go. Related: What’s Your Time Worth? I posted it on a Friday at about noon and it didn’t take long to generate interest, since … Continue reading Online Selling Hassles
We are blessed to be able to live a comfortable lifestyle in early retirement, by almost anyone’s standards. Our son thinks we are sometimes too frugal, but we’ve enjoyed many vacations, entertainment experiences, and everyday luxuries over the last 4 years. In general, our spending is still in line or even slightly below what we planned for our FIRE escape. Still, like most people, we … Continue reading What Are You Wasting Money on?
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