Recent content by chrisaukcam

62 2-3 trips budget $4k, but we always go over. We are frugal compared to everyone else it seems. Maybe $5-6k is what we spend on average. We do airbnb for some trips and also camp in our trailer.

My investment philosophy has been to keep 2 years of income in bonds. That is because the average recession lasts around 18 months. And then keep the rest in stocks. I like to play the market a little so I keep around 80% in etfs and play around with individual stocks with the rest. But like...

Did some buying with some of the mad money in my 401k

The plan is to do the east coast in our truck and trailer next summer. We did a "Wild, Wild, West" trip this year. We will start in the Keys of Florida and work our way up North to Maine. We have found some ocean side campgrounds from various places. But any suggestions on campgrounds along...

Did it today. Submitted my resignation about 30 days ago and today is my last day. It is a lot like any other major event in your life - graduation, wedding day, 1st child, etc. in that there are a lot of unknowns no matter how much you plan, but there is excitement for the future. Even if...

Dayton, Ohio area. Small 32 acre farm. Been here over 30 years and raised 4 kids. Plan to stick around here, but at some point we may do the snow bird thing and go South in the winter time.

What has worked for me is to do 90% into ETF's and mutual funds. Then I play around with the other 10% to satisfy that urge to speculate and take chances. If I somehow lose that 10% then I am still pretty solid with the rest.

So the plan originally was to buy a gently used truck to pull a travel trailer and travel a bit when we retire in February. The stocks rallied well in spring of 2018 and so I saw that we had made enough to buy a new truck from those gains, so that was put aside to make a cash purchase after...

Grasshopper, my mother recently bought a 40 acre ranchette there for her horses. So we are going to spend a week with her.

Hmm my post did not 'take', so I will try again. First a cruise to the Bahamas in February with my son to celebrate our 40th anniversary and my retirement. Then in the spring a trip west with a travel trailer to visit relatives and to sight see. Missouri; Houston; Carlsbad Caverns; Rodeo, NM...

I am crossing the Rubicon, the die has been cast. Notified company on Monday that I retiring as of February 8. Plan to travel out west this 1st year. East coast all summer our 2nd year, then Europe in year 3. After that then I guess we hunker down and see what our next adventure should be.

Sharing this experience for anyone else is going down or is thinking of going down this same road. So back in 2005 my wife was found to be disabled and started getting SSI. She also was eligible for medicare. But she didn't want it - so we kept her on my companies plan. So now I am going to...

I was let go by my previous employer in 2008. Rolled over the 401k into my own retirement account. Somehow there must have been a late dividend or something. Because the company 401k remained open for years with a balance of like 38 cents. It actually gained in value overtime, but was never...

Does anyone invest into money market ETF's? Thoughts on pro's and con's of doing that. Seems like a way to park money short term.

My prediction is that the politicians won't act until they have to - keep kicking the can down the road and only when it is close to a crisis will they act.