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
My wife went to the drug store yesterday. She bought 3 small things and came back with a receipt that is 24.875” in length. I measured it. It’s indicative of how desperate some retailers have become in today’s marketplace. I had a similar experience at our local Hallmark card shop. I was there to buy a simple Father’s Day card and the saleswoman kept following … Continue reading Enough With The Offers!
That’s our nice SUV – sitting in the garage of our recently-purchased condo in Florida. We drove it down to Florida a few weeks ago and left it there. Now we need to replace the hole it left in our Minnesota fleet – where we spend most of our time. The big challenge in replacing it is that the automobile industry is in a bit … Continue reading Hole In The Fleet
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
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?
We’re sitting down with our financial planner on Monday for our annual portfolio checkup. The key issue we need to think through is the relative balance of our portfolio between safe/less safe investments and those which are liquid/illiquid. When we bought our condominium in Celebration FL in February, I was a bit concerned our portfolio would be getting a bit heavy in real estate. In … Continue reading Rebalancing Act
I often read articles & posts where young people are bemoaning their financial lot in life. They complain about student debt. The gripe about limited opportunities. The grouse about job prospects. I’ve always believed they were being prematurely pessimistic. Yes, the economy is a bit ‘wobbly’ these days – but there is no crisis. Sometimes it seems everyone wants to play the victim these days. … Continue reading Every Generation Better …
Well, today is Income Tax Day 2024. We came home from snowbirding three weeks ago and rushed to get our paperwork to the accountant so that they could get the forms properly filled out by 4/15 this year. We successfully filed them on Saturday. We didn’t pay much in taxes for 2023 as we usually do, since we mostly lived off cash we had in … Continue reading Income Tax Day 2024
Wow. I cannot believe how high inflation has soared over the past few years. High inflation has been my biggest concern since we early retired. I’ve probably written 15 posts worrying about what may happen to our FIRE plans if high inflation came as a result of the economic Pol-idiots in Washington DC. A few favorites: Cut Those Prices In Half! IRS Changes Don’t Keep … Continue reading Who’s Afraid of Inflation?
File this under “Things I’m Thankful For, But Have No Control Over”. The S&P 500 is off to a blazing start in 2024. Q1 is ending, and the index is already up double-digits (10.1%). It’s the U.S. equity market’s best start since 2019! I know, a quarter isn’t much to be excited for, but the U.S. market has really been rocking for a full decade … Continue reading Two Different Worlds
MrFireStation 