Remember 2012

[imoldernu]

Quote:

As 2012 draws to a close, tell us what you will remember most about it - your accomplishments, memorable trips, family events, etc...

Tranquility, Freedom and complete joy for being able to go and do what we want, when we want, and where we want without worry... and, Acceptance for those very minor inconveniences of health and a physical slowing down of activity.

Accomplishments Just being here.

Life is good!

[Sesq]

- Counted all the coins in my 5 gallon jug that I had been piling up for years. Total haul was $1,719.68. Used it to buy a projector and a drop screen for my basement which has been used throughout year for family movie nights.

- Took my wife and kids to Disney World for the first time, caught it just before any magic would wear off for my 6 year old daughter, and while my 3 year old son could do some things.

- "Ran" in Tough Mudder. Mostly walked/survived it.

- Took my wife and kids to Korea to visit a brother-in-law stationed there, visiting my 5th continent.

- started churning credit cards for future travel rewards. Went a little crazy with that, but have booked next year's family trip on points & miles.

- Had the best year yet for the net worth.

Heck of a year, really.

[EllisWyatt]

Great year!

Sold the (now non-)retirement house, changing it from negative cash flow to positive.

DD had our first grandchild, who is the most handsome baby I've ever seen (okay, a bit prejudiced, but that's okay).

Planted over 150 azaleas around the property, had a great citrus crop from the home orchard and basically had a blast walking amuck around the property (used to run amuck when I was younger; now I'm older and wiser and just walk there)

No health issues for self or DW.

Reached a nice financial milestone on Dec 30th.

Life is good.

[Major Tom]

A lot of this is cat-related, so it's going to make me seem like a crazy cat lady but seeing as I live a simple low-budget life and stay close to home, my cats have been very important to me this last year so here goes -

- Lost my kitty companion of just 18 months (at an estimated age of about 4 1/2 yrs). It was very, very upsetting.

- Fostered, and later adopted, a beautiful and very shy 10 year-old muted calico rag-doll kitty. She had been living on the streets with the local feral population but wasn't feral herself. She was having a very rough time out there. In the 4 months since I've had her, she has really started to come out of her shell. It is very satisfying to watch her progress.

- Found a 5 month-old kitten in a parking lot and adopted her. She has turned out to be the perfect companion for my 10 year-old shy cat and has done a lot to help her come out of her shell.

- In a small way, put myself "on the map" in the ham radio community (my hobby) by getting a 2-page article in the new edition of a book published by the ARRL (American Radio Relay League), as well as being mentioned/featured in several ham radio magazine articles. It's not really a big deal but it's new to me, so I'm quite proud of it. One of my homemade radios was picked up and featured by the Make Magazine blog. It's not a huge achievement, but it's nice to have a bit of recognition!

- In my first full year of ESR, saw my portfolio increase by 9.67%, despite withdrawals for living expenses. This is very encouraging, and helps me feel good about my future

- Found cause of regular flats on my bicycle's back wheel, thereby reducing bicycle maintenance budget for 2013. The bicycle is my only mode of transport. It felt really good when I sold my car and my annual cost of transport dropped from several thousand a year to around a hundred

[obgyn65]

Continued to help many patients here and abroad.

Also managed to see my brother whom I have not talked to in many years !

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREd As 2012 draws to a close, tell us what you will remember most about it - your accomplishments, memorable trips, family events, etc...

[utrecht]

Transferred to a different job at work. Went from a detective position in a squad that works only high profile cases to working undercover in the organized crime squad. My nieces and nephews now think I'm cool because I grew my hair long, got an earring, shave only occasionally and wear ripped jeans everyday instead of suits. (Head start on retirement )

My retirement portfolio has tripled since the end of 2008 (including contributions). In 2012 I decided to move my retirement date up. Its now exactly 2 years from now.

Wife is more beautiful than ever and nicer to me than I deserve.

Spring break 2012, my son and I went skiing alone and had great bonding time.

[Lisa99]

WARNING: THIS IS WORK RELATED, so enter with caution

Survived megacorp layoff and turned down an early retirement offer. The offer was so low I would have had to find another job so wasn't worth it.

Then I was made an offer to be a manager that I couldn't refuse. By refusing the odds of my having to work for a doofus in my group was greater than 50/50 so I accepted. Let work/life balance get WAY out of whack and at the end of the year I still got an "Achieves Expectations" for my annual rating...I was expecting better than that. Decided that 2013 will be about doing what I need to in order to get the job done but I won't be working the long hours I did in 2012...there is no payback, monetary or otherwise.

Spent the last two weeks of the year on vacation running retirement numbers, catching on an AA review, etc. It looks like we can move up retirement by 14 months to May 2015...it all depends on the market.

Overall a good year; lessons learned, health is good, early retirement is on track.

[Ally]

All of our best memories include spending time with children and grandchildren at home and on various trips.

We also spent lots of time with our 3 dogs and my cat.

[NW-Bound]

2012 was the year that we made the $10K annual deductible on our health insurance.

And I would have gladly paid the 6-figure cost had we not had insurance, as it saved the life of our young adult son, who was still on our insurance policy. He came down with a rare internal infection, which was misdiagnosed twice, first by an urgent care clinic, then a few days later by a hospital ER. At 3rd trial, they were able to determine the source of his high fever and pain, and admitted him immediately. In another country, or even a remote place in the US, this could have cost his life.

This happened while we were several thousand miles away in an RV trip, and had to rush home. Once proper diagnosis was made, and the proper medication and minor surgical procedure were given, he immediately recovered.

The incidence was another factor for me to stop my part-time consulting work, which I was getting close to pulling the cord anyway due to other reasons.

So, other than averting a major life disaster, nothing exceptional. Oh, and once the smoke cleared, I made another RV trip later in the summer, and made the 4th visit to Hawaii, but to a spot we had not been.

PS. We were very upset with the urgent care clinic and the hospital ER that misdiagnosed him. Later, when we recounted the story with a visiting acquaintance who was on the faculty of a medical school, this man confirmed that it would not be at all unusual for this type of infection to be misdiagnosed in a young person, as it was normally observed in elderly persons.

[REWahoo]

Nothing can refocus priorities like a personal or close family health scare. Glad to hear your son fully recovered.