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SS timing? Can you guarantee you and/or spouse will live another day? Can you guarantee that the politicians will continue to fully fund SS? Can you guarantee that any funds paid out of SS will have any purchasing power? Just my cynical view.

I passed ten a few months back. NO REGRETS! Pissed off at the politicians changing the rules, and otherwise robbing us, but no regrets about retiring at the earliest I could.

Go to the seminar for the free meal. Collect their handouts, and discuss at places like this forum. Get the book The Alpha Strategy and read it. Copyright 1980, almost like a psychic. For us investments to eliminate ongoing expenses has been great. Stop the cash flow bleed and (for now) no...

Breakfast out with the wife. TUE is senior discount at Ross & Goodwill. Typically find some really great deal.

Lifestyle at any stated annual dollar amount depends on the expenses of your retirement zone, your discretionary spending pattern, and “life support” requirements. We retired to a paid for house, solar power, rain collection, lower cost area.

When I took early retirement (2012 – age 57), I went thru my records (packrat that I am) re Social Security (SS). During my total working years the amount that went into SS “on my behalf” was $193,818.88. I did a spreadsheet using the historical interest rates for plain old savings bonds...

We did the IRA real estate a long time ago. Note, as far as distribution, to my understanding you the person can legally be a partner with you the IRA in ownership of a property. So buy it with the IRA, rent it, upgrade it. When you want to start taking it out, say over five years. Each year...

Glad to be in AZ vs our neighbor CA...

A 401k with employer “matching” can be a great deal, but absent such an account a lot can be done with an IRA. When I set up my first IRA (alas, too many decades ago), it was self-directed with Charles Schwab. Something like 20 years ago we migrated to a custodian that allowed greater...

We’re down to two vehicles: 2015 Toyota Yaris (Primary / Wife’s car) 1987 Suzuki Samurai (Beater / “My” vehicle)… It’s got around 250,000 miles on it, and keeps running. I’ve left it set for around six months, and then needed it, and it worked.

Social Security has for its entire history been a tax that supplied a slush fund for the policitians to use, and of (in my opinion) NO benefit to those from whom the tax was taken. I have run spreadsheets that show that anyone subject to the SS tax would have been better off putting the same...

Welcome to the marketplace. People want to sell. People make offers to buy. Deal with it. We've got a home we've wanted to sell for a long time, it is still " on the market"...

When I retired, at the first possible moment I rolled my 401k type account to what amounts to a "real estate" IRA type account. The account owns fully paid for rental homes. Since we do not need the money yet, the rents accumulate in the account, and when there is enough, we make an upgrade to...

Planning for our daughter’s education and entry into her earning an independent living was part of our ongoing financial plan during our working years. We always made it clear to her what was potentially available, and what was coming based on our plan. An aspect of the plan includes assets...

When I took early retirement (2012 – age 57), I went thru my records (packrat that I am) re Social Security (SS). During my total working years the amount that went into SS “on my behalf” was $193,818.88. I did a spreadsheet using the historical interest rates for plain old savings bonds...

Turned 18 just before graduating high school, and went from working part-time in a local factory to full time. Parents separated, mom had no income of her own (or ability to work) so once "child support" ended, so she became my dependent.

Would not the lack of a large asteroid impact make some difference in the rotation rate, vs an earth where the impact took place?

For the past few days, I've only been able to use Google for a search after a reboot of the computer, then only for one or two searches, then it just sets there doing nothing, not even the little circle on my screen that means it's thinking.

I, am a pessimist. What do you believe is happening in the “big picture”? Do you trust the economy, and the source of the pensions are stable? If not, is there some physical investment you would like to make now, that would improve your setting in a collapsing economy?

At retirement, I (again) grew a beard… I couldn’t stand it. I cut it off, leaving a long mustache overhang as a different “look”.

If I could get a payout of the “contributions” made on my behalf with accrued interest at the rate of Savings Bonds, I’d jump at the chance. I even believe I’d accept a single check for the contributions, without interest.

I have transition lenses for those times when I'm only going to be in the sun for a brief period. In particular a problem I have with transitions is that when driving, due to the "shade" of the car roof, the lenses do not really darken that much. I prefer to have a separate pair of...

Before tossing old tax returns, check you social security statement to ensure that the SS account correctly reflects your earnings and "contributions" for the year.

I see none of it as “guaranteed”. Annuity companies can go bankrupt. Social Security can become means tested, or eliminated. Military or civilian government pensions can be cut at the whim of the feds. And of course, our politicians keep creating more currency, making every dollar in your...

June 2015 we “traded in” (dumped) the wife’s 1998 Tracker, around 175,000 miles… It seemed to be spending more time in the shop than on the road… I’ve still got my 1988 Suzuki Samurai, around 250,000 miles… It starts, it gets me around, and handles our “messy” jobs.