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I've been a member of this forum for 3+ years, and had followed it for two or three years prior. It presented lots of (mostly) pleasant discussions about a variety of topics related to preparing for and enjoying retirement. Unfortunately, 99% of threads now are about the coronavirus...

Since the onset of quarantine, many people are buying more online so they're getting stuff delivered more often. But I read post after post criticizing the service from Federal Express: orders not arriving on schedule, delivered to the wrong address, merchandise damaged, etc. It looks to be a...

In a few more weeks I will have abdicated the steady paycheck forever. That means I'll be depending on a portfolio invested in businesses administered by the good people who still go to w*rk every day. However, many of the fine folks here post that their w*rkplaces had become intolerable, and...

2017 was a banner year financially. Promotion at w*rk, last kid done with college, and markets were silly good. With money pouring in like rain, it felt like it would be a quick, easy slide to retirement. It was going so well DW and I jumped on an opportunity to buy our retirement house, even...

I put one of my sisters on "Call Block". Let's call her "Kate". I suspect a professional psychologist (which I am NOT) would diagnose her as "bipolar" or "schizophrenic". Maybe both, maybe more. As an amateur, I can confidently, and without hesitation, diagnose her as a "jerk". Kate went...

In the Old Testament story which coins the term, the implication is clear that we are, indeed, expected to be our Brother's Keeper. The Bible speaks of Abel finding more favor with God than Cain did. However, Genesis is suspiciously silent about whether Abel might also have been a GIGANTIC...

So there I was, rooting through online obituaries looking up a few old friends I'd lost touch with and wondering whether they might still be kicking. Then I entered one gentleman's name and the search didn't come back with a death notice. It returned a local news story from the old town...

I recently had an intensely irritating experience on Nextdoor. I'd been on it for a year or so, and found it modestly useful once or twice. Sadly, that streak came to an end. I posted a comment on a running thread. It swiftly provoked a couple of opposing responses which I can't describe as...

A reorganization at Megacorp is about to clip a 52 year-old friend. They browbeat him into signing a waiver document in return for a severance package, but he's a good 10 years away from being in position to retire. However, management has been completely opaque about the reasons for his...

How long should your retirement last for you to feel it was worth sacrificing for? My own parents have been retired for 27 years, and while they are not now in good shape physically or mentally, most of those 27 they've enjoyed. To earn those 27 years of freedom, they first had to spend 35...

So often I feel like a thread killer. I don't know whether it's because I get to them too late and everybody who's interested has already commented, or because my contribution is too irritating and drives people away, or maybe I just don't express my thoughts clearly and all I've done is...

So many of the Clocking-Out posts here say something along the lines of "My BS bucket just got too full to keep w*rking." There are variations: Megacorp has become dominated by trendy buzzword programs-of-the-month and I'm sick of them so I'm leaving; I used to enjoy coming to w*rk, but it's...

Each year at this time Megacorp mails me the Annual Funding Notice for its pension plan. It's jolly reading, believe me. Especially charming is the bit where it shows the Funding Target Attainment Percentage, which has been sinking for the past three years despite a torrid stock market. Of...

I've been reading a lot of threads here recently which, while fascinating, have been downers. We've been sharing anecdotes of loved ones who careen down financially and personally destructive paths. That we either once did or perhaps still do care about them makes it painful to watch their...

I've seen a host of recent threads related to misfortunes. The term "empathy" keeps coming up in a surprisingly competitive manner. Deliberately oversimplifying, this distills into "If you don't agree with me, then either: you don't have enough natural empathy and therefore are a...

A good friend at w*rk just announced his retirement. Much more in alignment with this forum than I am, he's going out at 52 (I'm 58 and still trudging through TMY). The logical half (quarter? eighth?) of my brain says my buddy's situation is completely different than mine. For one thing...

Is your portfolio beautiful? When you get a statement that shows you have a cozy stash that will see you through your post-paycheck years, do you just like to look at it? Over the years, DW and I have done a lot of home improvement projects. Some of them have turned out surprisingly well...

Every summer for years, my youngest daughter and I collect on the couch to watch "Shark Week" on the Discovery channel. Ever since she was little, she's been fascinated by marine life. She even has a set of bull shark jaws mounted on her bedroom wall. Now that she's grown, we are ready to get...

I had always viewed a cushy retirement as my ultimate career goal, to be enjoyed only after I had attained both a belt and suspenders. The sudden passing of a good friend has just shortened my timeline. He retired last March. I had lunch with him three weeks ago, and he looked great...

Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" as a story of redemption, but he also tells a story about FIRE. The two primary (living) characters, Ebenezer Scrooge and Bob Cratchit, exemplify extremes of retirement done badly. Scrooge, age 60-ish, is beyond FI but, absent the ghostly visits, is on...

The concept of the part-time retirement j*b arises frequently in these pages. Whether it's to keep active, help others, secure some benefits, build a bridge to SS or even just to have fun and score some beer money, there are lots of reasons in its favor. However, I wonder how many ER...

I stumbled across this forum a year ago and have been reading it as a guest, but now it's time to exit the shadows. First, the facts. I am 57, extremely married, with five miraculous offspring. The college years are behind us, although the legacy of educational debt is not. Since everybody...