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In planning our travel to London in May, I came across a sight called Agoda that was offering a crazy good deal on a hotel that someone had recommended. Has anyone ever used Agoda? I'm always leary of a good deal like this but drawn to it too! It does say you can cancel (free) so I'm also...

DH and I are planning a trip to London in May to go to the Chelsea Flower Show. I've not been to London in 38 years and so it's like a whole new adventure. We'll only be at the flower show one day with the other days exploring London and thinking of a couple of days where we take day trips...

I read with interest mountainsoft's question asking if you have an air fryer and do you recommend one? There were all manner of responses from enthusiastic yeses to absolute noes. It brought to mind a bigger question that I find I am asking myself about all the time now..."Do I want to manage...

DH retired in 2020. Nothing has really changed in how we spend money. We receive a pension that is deposited every month. When we have an expense out of the ordinary (a new car), we have simply written a check. But now we are planning on a major home renovation. I know we can afford it...

Netflix just dropped a new 4 part documentary focused on the "blue zones" - the 5 areas in the world where there is an unusually high number of people over the age of 100. Dan Buettner, the host, has researched and written extensively on the topic. Interesting. I find the importance of...

I'm deciding I really don't like to vacuum. :laugh: I was at Costco yesterday and noticed they have a Shark AI Ultra Smart Robotic Vacuum UR2500SR on sale from $399.99 to $319.99. So of course I go online to read reviews, see that Amazon has refurbished ones for less, etc. People love it...

I was having dinner with my sister and BIL last night and she announced that she'd be taking SS next year when she turns 62 and her husband who is a year younger will take it when he's 62. BIL said that if he dies, she will be entitled to 50%. I get all of that. But is there any kind of offset...

I read CoCheesehead's post yesterday in his response to the "3 years into retirement" thread. Thank you, COCheesehead for your thoughts. I'm going to copy it here and then go on with my question... "The social part so far has been easy. We even moved to a new town in retirement. We likely have...

For anyone interested, Tesla just announced a few hours ago that the Model 3 is now eligible for the full $7500 tax credit. Just in case you were wanting to BTD...

I just heard about a service that was formerly called Scott's Cheap Flights, now called "Going" It's a membership service that alerts you to cheap airfare deals. There are different membership levels according to whether you are looking for economy seats or first class. Has anyone used it and...

I'm almost embarrassed to ask this, but what type of investments do you keep in your IRA? We have a Rollover IRA that we set up at retirement that is simply in a money market (we "temporarily" parked it there and that was over 2 years ago). I have cash that I want to use to set up a CD...

Thinking ahead here...Can you help me get clear on something? DH and I are both 60, both retired. My understanding is that we each pick a date and I take my SS, DH takes his, BUT upon his death I then can forgo mine and elect to take 50% of his. Is that correct? Mine is pretty small so...

DH and I are taking a somewhat spontaneous driving trip. We have a window of up to 2 weeks and decided to drive up to Arkansas (Russellville - family memories) and then we will head to Atlanta. Trying to decide whether to go via eastern Tenn. and through Chattanooga or down through Alabama and...

I'm confused. We have post tax contributions to our 401K that I wanted to convert to an IRA. I misunderstood I guess and thought we could roll that entire amount into a Roth IRA. But megacorp said today that, no, I could roll the principal into a Roth but the remaining (and much larger...

DH and I are revisiting our portfolio after 2 years of mostly ignoring it after he finally pulled the plug in Oct 2020. Decided we needed to get clear on what we have and where and to simplify it all. The question for this thread has to do with our 401K. I'm not sure exactly why we're keeping...

I just came across this recent TED talk where the presenter suggests that there are 4 phases of retirement: Here are the phases, roughly paraphrased: Phase 1 - Vacation phase Phase 2 - you feel loss and feel lost Phase 3 - a time of trial and error, trying out new things Phase 4 - a time to...

This has been quite a year! Please be prepared that this is a purge more than anything. I'm not expecting any ideas really. I just need to vent. DH retired just over a year ago. His sweet dad passed away 6 months later at age 80 after dealing with many years of health issues. He and my MIL...

I am so struggling and I'm hoping for some advice here. I'm feeling very overwhelmed with making decisions about whether to get our home inspected for mold. I know that may sound dumb, but honestly this has been such a hard, hard year. Deaths of family and friends, Covid and non-Covid related...

Like many others here, DH and I haven't decided where we want to live. I can't believe that we pulled the plug 8 months ago, wow! That was a great decision so I know we're capable of figuring this location thing out. So here are our current options and here's the plan for figuring it out. I'll...

Last year I switched most of my purchases to the Fidelity Rewards credit card (I love that card) but I missed the deadline and automatically paid for my Citi Aadvantage card which carries a yearly fee of $99. We've had that card 25-30 years...And we have always found trying to renew it for...

I'm reading with interest the thread on timing of taking SS. With DH having just retired this fall, we've decompressed enough to start looking closer at things as we rethink our investment plan, and this has led to a broader discussion, including eventual SS withdrawal age. Can someone explain...

Okay I'm embarrassed to be asking this now but...I will anyway. DH retired last day of Sept and has received a couple of lump sum extras that will significantly increase our income for the year. Is there any obvious thing we should be considering to reduce tax burden before year end? Yes I am...

Woo hoo!!! DH's last day was last Thursday. But with the weekend feeling like any other weekend, today is the first Monday morning of not firing up the computer and it feels GREAT!!! While I closed my part-time practice last year, I still was doing some work up until the pandemic hit full...

We have money in 5 funds in our 401K. The value fund is being eliminated and I need to move that money within the next couple of days. DH is retiring at the end of the month, after which time we plan to roll it into an IRA fairly soon anyway. With the market taking it's current dip, is there...

Lots happening and I'll post some of the upcoming retirement story later. But for now, I have some questions. I was already planning to revisit our 401K selections at about the time that I received a notice stating that the bulk of our options were going away and leaving me with 10 core options...