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  1. 2

    Do You Hide Your Financial Success From Others?

    My husband and I retired at 50 and a ton of my co-workers asked me how. I explained we got married at 30 and both had our own households, and seeing as two people in the same household shouldn’t cost twice as much, we agreed to try to live on one of our incomes. Part of this wasn’t with FIRE in...
  2. 2

    Retiring to a College Town

    We just bought a home in Athens, Georgia for our son to live in while he is in school. Large university in a relatively small city seems to translate into a lack of housing in general. We decided to purchase, in part because the rental market seemed out of whack, and the rent we will collect...
  3. 2

    Real Estate Bubble?

    After looking at the cost of apartments in my son's college town, we decided it would be worthwhile to purchase something instead of renting. We were looking at properties under $250K, which was probably a sweet spot for first time homebuyers. Starting at the end of the year, we would schedule...
  4. 2

    Hiking Kicked my butt!

    I volunteer with a trail club, maintaining a section of the Appalachian Trail. Most of our members are retirees in their 60s and 70s and they are running around up there, hauling tools with them, often several miles into the forest. Because most of our area is designated wilderness, all the...
  5. 2

    Fun "inexpensive" hobbies

    I backpack and volunteer with my local trail club. Gear can cost a bit at the start, but once you have your set up, it's pretty cheap. Occasional expense to get new shoes, but it's mostly free but for the gas to get to a trail.
  6. 2

    Home fitness equipment during Covid (and after)

    We have a huge basement and fitted out a pretty large space as a gym space. We have a squat rack, bench, dumbbells, bars and plates. For cardio we have a stationary bike, treadmill and rowing machine. My husband is a pretty hardcore runner, and tore up our old treadmill. There are several...
  7. 2

    finished basement?

    We bought our house from a couple that was moving into a condo. Inherited their pool table. We've enjoyed it.
  8. 2

    New Construction - Options you wish you had included/those you could've lived without

    So many great suggestions here. I'll go with a couple of little things I've come to appreciate. We have a very large and deep kitchen sink. If there are dishes left in the sink, they aren't visible which is nice. As someone else mentioned, we also did drawers instead of cabinets for most of...
  9. 2

    Cabin fever

    My husband retired at the end of January, following my retirement in April of 2018. I think it has been toughest on him as he didn’t really have retirement routines in place. A lot of people initially struggle with he transition from full time work to retirement, but quarantine has really meant...
  10. 2

    What are your hobbies? Changed in retirement??

    I loved hiking before retirement, but more time has led to a huge backpacking habit. I can take a month and go do a LASH on the Appalachian Trail. I joined the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, and work as a trail ambassador and on trail maintenance. It’s been great to be able to hop in the car...
  11. 2

    Mid 50's or younger... are you counting on Social Security?

    I do not think it's wise to consider SS as part of retirement at my age, unless something about what has been going on in Washington leads you to believe our Congress can do anything the protect it. Deficit is growing. Interest on our debt is becoming a larger and larger percentage of the budget...
  12. 2

    FIREd @ 26, bored to absolute tears!

    If you have a passion for teaching young people about money, consider putting together a program you could teach as a camp or perhaps peddle to an organization like Boys & Girls Club. There are several money management camps offered in our area every summer. If you don’t want to develop your own...
  13. 2

    United HealthCare Tri-Term Plan (non-ACA)

    Thanks for the feedback. I was doing some searching with BBB etc last night and it appears lots of folks had issues with this plan. One of the biggest complaints was that once you have a claim, they drop you. And them dropping you isn’t a qualified event, which could leave you uninsured until...
  14. 2

    No HI benefit; Not ACA qualified; What to expect?

    As someone who has recently navigated these waters (DH and I are 51 and 52, DS is 17) there are a few things to consider as you look at options. 1) if your kids do not live with you or in the same area, it may not make sense to keep them on the plan. As plan availability varies by county, your...
  15. 2

    United HealthCare Tri-Term Plan (non-ACA)

    We will likely not qualify for subsidies, and off exchange this plan will be about $400 per month cheaper than the cheapest ACA plan in our county. It doesn't cover pre-existing conditions for the first year, but that's not a concern for us. We would pay a bit out of pocket for preventative...
  16. 2

    Did Anyone Travel the US for a Few Months after Retiring?

    I'll preface this by saying my husband and I already do backpacking and kayak camping trips where we live in a tent for up to a week at a stretch, so we are perhaps more prepared for minimalist travel. I retired 2 years ago, and my husband retires on Friday! There are a number of places that we...
  17. 2

    New Inherited IRA and 401(k) rules

    it is a fair assumption that we will be passing on some of our estate to our son, and I’m just starting to look at this new rule to determine how it might change the buckets we use when funding our retirement. I’d be interested to hear other’s thoughts...
  18. 2

    Specialty Museums in the US

    You can tour the Fed in Midtown Atlanta. It's a short but interesting tour, and you get a little bag of shredded money. :-)
  19. 2

    Specialty Museums in the US

    If you are coming through Atlanta: 1. National Center for Civil and Human Rights https://www.civilandhumanrights.org/ 2. Atlanta History Center https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/ Includes the beautiful Swan Coach House if you like architecture 3. Michael C Carlos Museum at Emory...
  20. 2

    Specialty Museums in the US

    City Museum is fun for us big kids too. :laugh: We went with our teen and had a great time.
  21. 2

    Silver, bronze, or catastrophic?

    Health Cost Sharing plans or Christian Ministry plans often cover throughout the US. They also cover much less than an A A compliant plan. If you have pre-existing conditions, they will often be existed. They don’t cover as many preventative care visits, and the prescription coverage can be...
  22. 2

    Silver, bronze, or catastrophic?

    If you travel a lot and don’t have pre-existing conditions, you might want to look at some of the Cost Sharing plans. They aren’t ACA compliant, but often have more coverage across markets.
  23. 2

    CareSource

    Fortunately, we don't use doctors frequently, and are okay changing if necessary. Hospital is more important for me. I'm actually going to call some of the billing departments to confirm they are accepting whichever plan we select. I have seen comments that the provider lists are not updated...
  24. 2

    CareSource

    CareSource has joined the exchanges in my area of Georgia this year and their plans are the least expensive options. I understand they are an Ohio based company and wondered if anyone had any experience with them. The other three providers (BCBS, Ambetter and Kaiser) have been in the GA...
  25. 2

    Outback, CR-V, Rav 4, Prius - Help me choose

    I got the 2019 Rav-4 hybrid Limited a month ago (my husband gets Toyotas at cost due to his work and he's retiring at the end of the year - so time to upgrade everything). It is very comfortable, and the various safety features are impressive. I haven't really figured it all out yet, but the...
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