Our modest experiment in being landlords has ended. Our son – who we were bribing to be our neighbor for the last 3 years – has moved to an apartment in a cool neighborhood of downtown Minneapolis. His new space is much smaller, but in a very slick building close to all of the coffee shops, bars, & restaurants all the hipsters like him like … Continue reading Moving On From Landlording
Our neighborhood in Florida has a weekly “Investment Club” that I went to this past Friday. There were about 15 people gathered when I got there – in the events ballroom of our clubhouse. We started by talking about our 2025 expectations for the stock market’s growth. After two years of incredible growth (+23% in 2024, +24% in 2023), most people were expecting growth in … Continue reading Investment Club
When you move to a new area, everyone shares with you what the “local treasures” are. In the Southeast, that includes Publix grocery stores. Florida loves Publix. Having worked in the food industry and visited Florida for more than 30 years, we were very familiar with Publix, but hadn’t shopped there too much as “locals”. Now that we’ve been doing that, I’m putting Publix on … Continue reading Bogus Publix BOGOs
Just a quick post today to highlight what could be the biggest change for the finances of retired people in a generation … eliminating Federal income taxes on Social Security. After seemingly not mentioning it since the election, Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters yesterday that it is a key part of the budget negotiations that GOP leaders in the House, Senate, and White House … Continue reading No Tax on Social Security?
Everyone is a genius in a bull market, and we’ve had a nice run over the last 10 years. The S&P 500 has grown from 2000 to 6000 over that period of time for a healthy +11.6% growth rate. The last 10 years have been amazing: 2024: 23.3%, 2023: 24.2%, 2022: -19.4%, 2021: 26.9%, 2020: 16.3%, 2019: 28.9%, 2018: -6.2%, 2017: 19.4%, 2016: 9.5%, 2015: … Continue reading Bulls & Bears
It’s a historic day in America. The crazy 2024 presidential election is behind us. Now we’ll see what impact Trump returning to the Oval Office will have on the economy and our investments. Love him or hate him, Trump’s policies and priorities have had significant implications for the economy, taxes, and healthcare—three pillars of a secure retirement. With that in mind, here are five key … Continue reading Trump Inauguration
This is a big week at the Fire Station. It was 10 years ago that I set up the site and published my first post. That first week, I had 9 visitors with 28 views. I think most of the views were from me & my son! The concept of FIRE – Financial independence and Retiring Early – wasn’t brand new at that point, but … Continue reading Ten Year Anniversary
Today is the last day of 2024 – New Year’s Eve. It’s been a second very good year for investment markets and we’ll start seeing tomorrow if we are going to get a “three-peat” performance in 2025. Here are some of the predictions I’ve seen that will impact retiree finances in the New Year … +11.5% – S&P 500 Growth (7-14%) +2.5% – USA GDP … Continue reading New Year’s Predictions
I was chatting with a friend & neighbor recently about Social Security. Paul has just turned 65 and was thinking of jumping on SSI early (his full retirement age is 67). He thought the advantage might be that he could get “locked in” to a benefit before the government potentially cuts back SSI benefits for wealthier households. In thinking through the situation, I put together … Continue reading Social Security Revisited
Who would have thought the Republicans would decisively clean-sweep the White House, Senate, and House in this week’s election? Certainly not the media pundits or the political pollsters. Once again, the “experts” were wrong. Most voters clearly didn’t believe that Biden was “sharp as ever”, Harris was a “new path forward”, or Trump was “Hitler” – no matter how many times they told us that. … Continue reading Betting Election Night
