Happy New Year to both of you! OK, being optimistic, HNY to all three of you if you’re reading this in the first days of 2023. The end of 2022 coincides with the end of our first year in retirement- in terms of transitioning into retirement, it was a pretty good year, but for the Continue reading
Retirement
#60 – What’s a Financial Coach?
Today- December 14- is one of those days in Tennessee where it’s going to rain non-stop. I had a list of outside things to do, so now we’re onto Plan B, which isn’t a bad alternative- sit down with a hot cup of tea and draft up the next blog post, while listening to the Continue reading
#59 – Physically Aging
(This is an updated post. See Post #5 for the original) Almost two years ago I spent a couple hours with my parents and an aunt and uncle. The average age between the four of them was 90 (Since then my aunt has passed away). They inspire me, because they haven’t stopped living independently. When Continue reading
#58 – Helpful Conversations
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
#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