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Small/Rural City/Town/Farm - cuz that's the way I roll... Definitely not the exclusive resort type area, more like if you've got a clue how to enjoy the outdoors, you'll never need to spend money on any type of "membership" to get your exercise or social interaction. And a cheap cost of living...

i agree - the contrast actually looks appealing, as if one had meticulously planned it that way. If it were me, that would be my story, and I'd be stickin' to it.

We on occasion vacation in Colorado, and booked a ski resort area condo for this year's off season in late July through VRBO. I did some due diligence on the place before booking, including looking it up on the county real estate records online. At the weekly rate for February (other than spring...

Other... by one measure (hourly vs. salary) 15 years of a job, followed by 25 years of a career. But, with similar blue collar roots it was all just a job in my mind. I kind of like my more recent career choice of self-employed FA, even if I only have one client - me.

I don't play the part of an economist on TV, and haven't been to a Holiday Inn for a while, but I do think more data provides perspective. The event list offers notes on possible causation, and the chart below includes 1929-2015 data with inflation and interest rates added. What I do know for...

+1 I find the comparison made between personal and governmental finances regarding the value of debt elimination to be ignoring a major difference, that being: we as individuals have a finite span of existence, and therefore plan our finances accordingly in order to retire - something most...

+1MM Having endured a Cortisone shot into my foot with a needle the size of an Gemini rocket, just about any price to prevent a recurrence of planter fascitis is easier to swallow. :sick:

I had built some new cabinets to replace an island that just wasn't working out in our kitchen with a slide-out pantry, extra cabinets, and breakfast bar. When it came to matching the cabinet doors/drawers of the existing cabinets I was able to find those online to purchase directly from a...

Had an issue with similar/same problem but was able to work through it in TaxAct (downloaded Premium version). We had 4 1095A's because we had individual policies, and I had updated income estimate late in the year. It took me some trial and error to make it work. Under Federal Q&A data entry...

I think it is subject to exaggerated short-term volatility driven by short-term traders playing on the hopes and fears respresneted by today's instant media. But it will always play out in favor of the long-term, driven by the basic stuff, like businesses producing widgets that consumers want...

Spent several hours pushing heavy wet snow into piles...

This thread reinforces my practice of whenever possible avoiding allowing vendors autopay that 'pulls' payments from my banking accounts. Utilities, cell phone, insurance, etc. - I either do one-time payments with CC, or most preferably 'push' payment to them using my credit union's online bill...

Same experience with CFL's being replace by LED's - not having to wait for them to reach full lighting is golden. Can't say as I ever had any issue with the warmth/color of the lighting, as it was a big improvement over the yellowish CFL IMHO. The ones I have installed are 2700K.

I fully understand getting rid of the tub and concentrating on building a useful and enjoyable shower. Did just that when we redid the master bath - removed whirlpool tub that was rarely used and yanked the fiberglass showerstall that had developed cracks in the floor. Built a large showerstall...

I used to make a point of ordering the disk versions, but have moved to downloads as a matter of convenience and in some case it is cheaper as the vendor does not have to deal with postage/handling. Before I will even install a downloaded version though, I save the file(s) to a backed-up folder...

Filed our federal and state taxes. Had the numbers crunched before year end in my spreadsheet model as part of my prior-to-year-end tax planning, so I knew well in advance what the numbers should look like. Waited for the software to be available to make it more official. Notified TaxAct of an...

Forgot to add that I'm considering Life Insurance cash value to be "cash" also. Two old whole life policies on me and one on DW. Not particularly large death benefits on any of these, but more than enough to handle final expenses. Had planned to cash them in after a few years of ER, as I thought...

Just got a call on my cell phone. Had no intention of answering since I didn't recognize the number, and as I was sitting by my computer I punched the number into whocallsme.com and oh what a surprise :facepalm: the number was a reported scammer. Even more surprising, "John" at "Senior Benefits"...

Yeah, that's pretty much the one. Good point about moderation, if I went at that machine now with zeal of my uh, 35 year younger body when I was doing fairly serious workouts I'd very likely be a hurtin' unit. This whole conversation reminds of the concerned look on a medical professional's face...

Enough readily available funds in cash, CD's, & PRU Guaranteed Income Fund to cover withdrawals at current expenses + 3% inflation for a bit more than 5 years. Add in interest & dividends between now & then, probably another year or two, which would be into FRA territory for both of us - at that...

Now, aren't you the boastful showoff! :laugh: What I gave up was relying on someone else's assessment of my worth as my source of income. Now the market balanced by my conservative AA determines my income potential, and I'm quite OK with that. Really don't feel like I "gave up" anything.

With 2015 being our first full calendar year of retirement, we were at 27.9%. Broken down it was 12.7% for HI premiums, 2.8% for dental care, and 12.4% for medical care. Both of us hit our max OOP last year which we don't anticipate doing again, so we hope to improve on that in 2016. And I'm not...

Yeah, that thing about weeds... We've used the upside down hanging tomato planters (just outside the back door on the deck) with [-]some[/-] limited success, maintaining reasonable soil moisture is challenging with variability due to rainfall and hot sunny days. Big Boy tomatoes have great...

It has been years since I've used weight machines for work outs but when I did, a machine designed for back extension helped tremendously. A quick search tells me that those machines are designed to exercise the Erector Spinae muscles. Occasional back pain experienced yet, usually sudden but...

+1 And if the individual or couple are intending to self finance long term care, rather than assuming someone else will pick up the tab, expecting assets be depleted before being able to obtain ACA healthcare subsidy is rather self-defeating.