Early Retirement: Searching For Answers?

I recently Googled the term ‘early retirement’ to see how the media is chattering about this topic. Since I’ve been boring readers with this topic for more than 9 years, I felt I had a responsibility to keep up-to-date with how early retirement is being discussed in the media.  As usual, the headlines were confusing and at odds with each other: “My Dad Sacrificed Everything … Continue reading Early Retirement: Searching For Answers?

Confusing Candidates

The news has been full of economic policy proposals from our two major candidates.  I’ll tell you that I’ve been reading them with interest, but cannot make sense out of either of them.  They are both promising big economic windfalls to their favored protected classes and paying very little attention to the country’s current $35T debt (123% of GDP, up from just 56% in 2000). … Continue reading Confusing Candidates

Online Real Estate Estimates

If there was ever an industry that I thought would benefit from the internet, it’s real estate. These are data-heavy purchases that people want to really research before making a decision. Still, we’ve bought and sold a few different properties over the last few years and it’s difficult to get a good sense of how to price a property without talking to an agent. We … Continue reading Online Real Estate Estimates

My Dad’s Lesson In Interest

With my Dad’s, passing, I continue to reflect on significant memories with him that helped shape my life. One of those memories involves this old, wooden, Bancroft “youth model” tennis racket shown above (with my current racket) and a good lesson in finance. I was about 10 years old. We lived in Hillsdale MI – a small town in the southern part of the state. … Continue reading My Dad’s Lesson In Interest

Higher Education ROI

Colleges & Universities are under attack from a lot of directions lately. Conservatives attack their focus on DEI over merit, and Progressives attack their historical white patriarchy. Students are protesting on campus, taking over school buildings, and making a mess of things during commencement season. Here’s more bad news. The ROI of a college degree is increasingly looking bad. Especially for a graduate degree. A … Continue reading Higher Education ROI

Collectibles – Increasing in Value?

Just in time for Spring Garage Sales, it’s “Collectibles Week” here at the Fire Station. I’ve been looking around our house and trying to think of which things I should keep collecting, and which I should find some new homes for. Today, I am including a list of the “Top 20” collectibles that are INCREASING in value. On Friday, I will publish the list of … Continue reading Collectibles – Increasing in Value?