Hope everyone had an enjoyable 2022 Thanksgiving weekend. We had a wonderful week with Andrew being home (along with a visit by Tayler, one of his cousins), and the week before, I got to visit a couple of USNA classmates. More to follow on each of those events. As mentioned on the home page, and Continue reading
Finance/Investment
#57 – Catching Up on Retirement Year #1 (dated Nov 2022)
(OK, it’s been about 3 months since the last comment. Guess I should beg for at least one…) This is just a snap shot of the notable retirement trends in the last few months of Retirement Year #1- since Post #48 dated July 11- life events and considerations for where being retired changes how one Continue reading
#56 – Scams
Been two plus months with no comments…..will keep plugging away! Just got back from visiting my parents again and helping them celebrate Mom’s 92nd birthday. I used to worry about my parents getting caught up in a financial scam- still do. But it recently dawned on me that I now fall into that “primary target Continue reading
#55 – The Four Per Cent Rule
So that last week of September was a bit rough on many folks. Stock markets took a good-sized downturn Hurricane Ian inflicted great damage in Florida Surgeons took a good chunk of cancer from my upper lip We can choose not to dwell on that week and move forward to better things (much easier for Continue reading
#54 – Surgery
Ah, the greatly increased chances of requiring surgery as we get older, yes? Six months ago I had a small spot on my upper lip test positive for Basal Cell Carcinoma, and finally had the surgery two days ago to remove it, followed by reconstructive surgery yesterday. There was considerably more cancer than what showed Continue reading
#53 – Revisiting Social Security
This is a revision of post #15 on Social Security (SS) from early May last year. So much has changed since then which impacts the financial world: Russia invading Ukraine, inflation at levels we haven’t seen in 40 years, interest rates being pushed up to address this inflation, price of oil peaking at > $120/barrel Continue reading
#52 – “How Much Money Do I Need to Retire?”
I really dislike this question. It’s the marketing title of so many articles and other media sources that want to catch one’s attention and educate the intended audience- and often sell them their related financial product. It goes right along with similarly related marketing click-bait: “Will I run out of money before I die?” Guess Continue reading
#45 – FIRE
This post likely won’t impact retirees/almost retirees, but it may very well shed light on the future of their children and grand children, so it might be worth one’s time to learn about the FIRE Movement. FIRE stands for Financially Independent, Retire Early. During related conversations you may hear reference to just “FI”. As Millennialists, Continue reading
#40 – More Thoughts on Part Time Work
This updates an earlier post on part time (PT) work from last May, with four months of retired life added to my corporate knowledge. Of course the original plan was for me to continue working full time for the FAA our first year here in TN, but those plans changed about this time last year- Continue reading
#39 – Thoughts on Estate Planning
Before moving into estate planning, an update on our transition into retirement, now in its fourth month. We’re past the halfway point of April and are still dealing with persistently ugly weather- lots of rain with most temperatures in the 30s/40s/50s, really cutting in on golf opportunities, also preventing us from getting our home landscaping Continue reading