Thanks for all the specific things I learned about here

[firewhen]

So I just applied for the $100 Fidelity deposit bonus for myself and DW I learned about here. That is $200 found money! Got me to thinking about some of the other money saving and making ideas I have learned of here (not even counting all the more broad-based LBYM knowledge):

Fidelity 2% Visa card
Amex 6% Blue Cash card
Penfed mortgage (got 1.99% 5 year rate about 8 years ago when that was much harder to come by)

Sure there were others but that is all I can think of now. Anyone else have similar things to add?

 

[Dtail]

#1 for me was the discovery of retirement calculators through this site, which allowed me to become comfortable with retiring at 57.

 

[racy]

That SGOTI (plural) know a lot more than me...

 

[marko]

This site has saved--and made--me tens of thousands of dollars over the years....and educated me that I didn’t have to worry about going back to work! So many stupid mistakes I didn't have to make!

 

[gattara]

Learned here that my husband was eligible for disability due to his hearing loss acquired during his Navy days. Decades later, he applied, and got it ... thank you, ER folks!

 

[Out of Steam]

FireCalc has been worthwhile in helping know that the conventional 20-25% stock exposure recommended to retirees was too low and increased long-term risk. I've also learned about Michael Kitces, and his recommendations for relatively conservative allocations right at retirement, and increasing stock allocations later. Both have influenced my actions in the first two years after retiring.

I've also learned about IRMAA and how it would affect the surviving spouse in our case. Doing some Roth conversions to help mitigate that, and perhaps accelerating payoff of our small mortgage later.

 

[Life_is_Good]

I learned about the “72t” section of the U.S. tax code that allowed me to access a small portion of my IRA before I was 59 1/2, PENALTY FREE.

Others on this site pointed out 72t.net as a good place to begin my research.

 

[EastWest Gal]

FireCalc.

The many threads over the year that helped me save on cell and home phone service (OOMA), and other things.

I also learned about sous vide here. So we never go out for steak. Mine is much better.

Ketogenic/low carb diet. A member sent me a PM about it and I did some investigating. For me it has worked fairly well, reducing my risk of diabetes especially. Thanks!

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

I'm most thankful for all the people that posted "jump on in, the water is fine" and those that shared their own journeys as they made the leap. That's my primary motive for the follow-ups I make to my announcement post (a bit of giving back).



The SWFL group really inspired me too when I got to meet them in 2020 right before the world stopped turning and I came down with OMY Syndrome.


I'm also thankful for the moderators for keeping these boards so useful... occasionally they may seem heavy handed but I think they are doing a great job!

 

[ImThinkin2019]

I got help dealing with my FIL who is getting much older and is IMO not as good at driving as he used to be.

Got help with my Dad, finding an MP3 player that a non-computer user could use. After he had surgery I gave him lots of memory sticks with podcasts on them, and he likes them.

Firecalc has always been a very useful tool to give us confidence.

Learned about MYGA's as short term cash holders.

Also learned about recent ibond yields and bought some of those.

Learned a lot of good jokes, some G rated and many R rated.

Found a lot of friends with similar shared interests. We don't all do the same things, but we all believe in LBYM. And helping others.

 

[ksr]

Just recently I made an easy $1000 by applying for and using a Chase Platinum card. I learned about it here.

 

[EastWest Gal]

A moment of great serendipity here that saved us from cancelling our planned trip to California.

I was reading this thread:

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/maximum-miles-and-time-frame-for-road-trips-113358.html

I read walkinwood's post mentioning autoslash.com, which reminded me to make a car rental reservation for next month. I checked it out, but couldn't remember our flight times, so I went to the airline site and entered our confirmation code, and it wasn't there! We had reserved on the phone, using ecredits from a previously cancelled flight. I found my email with the reservation, including seat assignment. Called the airline, the wait was 1.5 hours. When I spoke to the representative, she discovered that the previous agent had set the itinerary and even assigned seats, but never completed the transaction in their system, even though we had been issued a receipt.

It took 45 minutes for the agent to straighten it out today. The price had gone up by $400 since our initial reservation, but she was able to straighten it all out and issued us tickets. I'm sure she had to talk to a supervisor, and I mentioned whoever "booked" our flights last month needs better training and a reprimand.

If it weren't for this forum, we would have probably had to cancel our trip at the last minute.

Thanks walkinwood!