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My wife and I took a three week Viking Ocean cruise from Buenos Aires to Barcelona last March and really enjoyed it. The ships are elegant, the cabins are comfortable and the itineraries are interesting (Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio, Recife, Cape Verde, Casablanca, Malaga, Barcelona). Meals...

My wife and I have booked long rentals (usually one or two bedrooms) numerous times through AirBnb, VRBO and local brokers, never with any major problems, but with some quirks. For example, we've booked 3 or 4 times for a month or two in Paris. All were in Montmartre (the 16th arrondissement)...

As a frequent commuter (for both business and pleasure) to Europe and Asia, I've found that jet lag is pretty much unpredictable. I usually fly business internationally and usually get some sleep, but the issue is the time change as much as the lack of sleep. Often I've flown overnight to...

My wife and I spent most of April in Nice each of the last two years. April is a bit more out of season than September, but it was already fairly crowded, so expect lots of people. There were lots of great apartments available. The first year we rented an apartment through AirBnB or VRBO in...

Had the best soup dumplings ever at a little hole in the wall in Chinatown (also GREAT custard tarts at an artisanal bakery in Chinatown. Wonderful dim sum at (I think) the Sheraton near Orchard Road. Thought Chili Crab was over-rated. Great browsing restaurants off Club Road... Used to be...

Just picked up a one year CD at Citibank paying 4.15%..... Hard to predict where rates will be in a year. If they go up, I'll roll over or add. But if they go down, I expect the stock market will be going up!

Social Security ~10% Indexed Pensions (5) ~ 50% RMDs ~30% Consulting Income ~10%

I'm waiting to see how it works with RMDs and life expectancy based payouts! Says the monthly payments will be made each month on the 15th and that the RMDs will be recalculated based on 5/31 balances (which will result in under withdrawals do to market decline since 12/31.). They say they'll...

72/64 Many trips, totaling 3-4 months Maybe $30-40k in addition to our normal living expenses??? As others have indicated, this is a difficult question to answer. My wife and I spend about 4 months a year in DC, 4 months in FL and 4 months traveling (some of which is for business). Prior to...

My wife and I travel a lot both domestically and internationally and, depending on our needs and where we're going have used a bit of everything for booking! We've used both Airbnb and VRBO for longer term rentals in the U.S. and abroad...this has included three 1-2 month stays in Paris, a...

I have a somewhat similar situation with regard to my eligibility for dual US and Austrian citizenship. My mother was an Austrian refugee who fled from the Nazi's and moved to the US in 1939 (leaving behind her parents who died in a concentration camp). Before my mom passed away (in 1995) she...

I get a federal pension and a federal widower's pension (both nearly fully indexed) and social security (taken at age 70); my DW gets a federal pension (nearly fully indexed) and a pension from an international financial institution (fully indexed with 3% annual increase guarantee) and qualifies...

Are you retired? I think so....finally. When did you retire? 1. At 61 the first time, and moved to Philippines (with my DW's employment). Took a "full-time" job 6 months later that gave me 30 holidays a year, 25 days of vacation and liberal leave without pay, enabling me to play whenever...

A couple of other comments: The circumvesuviano is a slow commuter train with a couple of (confusing) lines that takes a couple of hours to get from Naples to Salerno. It worked well for daytrips sightseeing to Vesuvius and Naples, but had lots of pickpockets at the Naples end and wasn't...

My DW and I spend a couple of weeks touring the Amalfi coast a couple of years ago in mid-June. It was already crowded (presumably less so than in mid-summer), but still wonderful. We spent most of our time hiking (interesting, steep trails), sight-seeing and eating!. We started in Geneva...

I have three retirement accounts, one federal TSP and two with brokers (Fidelity and T Rowe, and started taking my RMD's in 2019. Since each institution calculates my RMD based on their 12/31 balance, I find it easiest to take RMD's from each of the three accounts. The RMD from TSP was easiest...

As a former instructor and avid recreational skier, I agree that the skiing itself is probably better in North America....particularly Utah and Tahoe and Whistler-Blackcomb; and Colorado too (particularly often under-rated Beaver Creek!). But the overall skiing "experience" (long runs, great...

My wife and I (62/70) sat tight in March with a substantial portfolio that was 70% stock, 20% bonds 10% cash, and we feel okay with that. With inflation indexed pensions, annuities and social security more than meeting our financial needs, we felt comfortable assuming some risk in our...

My DW and I are also trying to figure out what to do about investments in these uncertain times! We're both semi-retired, 70/early 60s, and more than meet our basic expenses (and some indulgences) through indexed pensions and social security. At a 4% withdrawal rate, our savings (and...

Great summary! Surprised to learned the site was less than 3 years old when I joined!!!

Why wouldn't you buy it? You want it. You can easily afford it. It doesn't reduce your assets, but just changes how they're distributed. What's the downside???

I don’t think my wife and I would want to live full-time either in FL or in the North. We’re in our early and late 60s and ‘semi-retired’ about 5 years ago, but both continue consulting on the side. We bought a large condo on the northeast coast of FL (near Daytona) about three years ago and...

Embarking in San Juan, disembarking in Buenos Aires, with stops in Barbados, French Guiana (Devil’s Island), Santarem, Parintine, Manaus, Recife, Salvador Bahia, Rio and Montevideo....

And, you may want to read ”The Lost Amazon” by Wade Davis, if you haven’t already.... My wife and I have opted to do the easier version of an Amazon cruise....up the river to Manaus on Viking...

Decisions about where our kids should go to go college and what we (as parents) should pay for are always tough! And you never know whether you’ve made the right one, until it’s too late! As a (former) college professor and father of two successful adult sons, I very much agree that where you...