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I'm surprised that I made it through March, April, May, June, and finally July without getting Covid-19. I think I can make it another 5 months and into 2021. Good luck to all who have not fallen ill! Good luck to all who have survived, too.

This 15 minute Ben Felix video is getting some traction over at Bogleheads.org: It covers the standard 4%-maybe rule of portfolio safe withdrawal rate and serves as nice reminder for folks whole might not have assimilated the idea.

I thought folks would like to see the ambiguity of covid-19 diagnostic testing in a family of 4. This article describes the testing for covid-19 of a family of 4 in New York City...

I was listening to my John Prine album from 1971 and realized how much comfort music has been to me throughout my life especially going back to touchstone music during tough times. So I got to wondering about what the touchstone albums / artists for Millennials / GenZ and other American...

I expect to come down with coronavirus, so to plan ahead for that ... I now see it as inevitable that I, my wife, and/or my kids will catch coronavirus some time within the next 3 to 6 months. It is going to happen. I no longer see that any amount of gloves, masks, gowns, social distancing...

I'm about to embark on long trip in my car. Suppose I feel bad and find out I have a fever above 102*F. Do I try to drive home as quickly as possible or do I go to a Doc-in-a-Box? About 40 years ago, I ended up with the flu while visiting relatives. They kept me in bed and treated me well...

I found this to be a great article about what happens when a natural disaster happens: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/world/americas/bahamas-hurricane-dorian-relief.html Basically, citizens are angry that there is not instant relief to their plights. They forget about things like the...

I guess I grew up using WD-40 to put as a thin film on metal garden tools to keep them from rusting after washing the mud off of them, but maybe I'm an old fuddy-duddy. Is there something that is more appropriate nowadays in 2019 to use instead? Thanks!

How has YOUR luck been with plumbers? I have a water leak between my water meter out by the street and the house that needs to be repaired. Everybody that I ask for a plumber recommendation gives me 3 or 4 plumbers that they would not recommend, so that's now getting to be upwards of 30...

Last night I used my wife's car for the first time in months. It started sort of odd, but when I got to the take-out place, it would not start. I called my wife and she said, "Oh, yeah, it's been acting funny." Gee, thanks. This morning I replaced the battery and discovered the one in...

So the two ladies in my household won their Fantasy Football leagues at their places of work. Both are employed as engineers in separate engineering firms. What's up with the guy engineers? At least now I don't have to watch football all week until next year.

I'm trying to understand all the brou-ha-ha in the forum created by the actions of the stock market. I have not seen such a large disconnect ever before. There is some talk about recession because of a potential inverted yield curve, but I thought a recession was when all your neighbors lose...

I was in the ER the other day, but not so bad that I met my high deductible for 2018. But now my specialist has recommended that I have a medically necessary procedure or two done although there is no rush to get them done. Has anybody been able to get a very good idea of what they would have...

Anybody else have a rat diced and chopped up by their outdoor AC fan? Last night was the second time this has happened to us in the past 2 years. At first it makes a pretty loud racket as the bones are still stuck to metal by the juicy fleshy hairy bits. I always go out and look to see if a...

This deserves its own thread even though it is related to RunningMan's thread about selling equities and going to a more conservative asset allocation. A very nice article about Recessions, Inverted-Yield Curves, Unemployment claims, the Manufacturing PMI, and Market Timing from our friend Big...

ERN has a new article in the Ultimate SWR series: https://earlyretirementnow.com/2018/02/07/the-ultimate-guide-to-safe-withdrawal-rates-part-23-flexibility/ Basically, going back to work in a job that will replace 30% of your normal withdrawal will rescue a bad scenario. But don't call it a...

Fidelity asked me to fill out a survey for them which ended up mostly about index funds. I had this thought: If Fidelity offered Vanguard mutual funds (and ETFs) for no commission, would you use them? If you were not a Fidelity customer, would you switch to Fidelity? If you were a Vanguard...

I'm here in bed a few days after ankle surgery and reading what was done to my ankle. It was messed up way more than an MRI indicated and needed more repairs than I expected. The orthopedist had warned me, but I'm still bummed because rehab will be much more involved. I had thought that the...

Many years ago I called 911 when my MIL fell and cracked her head open. But what if someone passes away unexpectedly in their sleep?

I thought the election was over.

https://earlyretirementnow.com/2016/12/07/the-ultimate-guide-to-safe-withdrawal-rates-part-1-intro/ I didn't see the above early December 2016 study (Part 1) on the EarlyRetirementNow web blog discussed yet on this forum. How could it not already be posted? Maybe my Google Fu could not find...

I didn't see a poll on who is using a SEPP plan (if you don't know what it is, then you are not using it. :) ), so I thought it might be interesting to have a poll. I have some impressions about SEPP plans, but I won't bias things until the poll has been out there awhile. Thanks for voting...

This is related to an older thread from March 2016: http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/calories-81268-4.html And new research has been published in the prestigious journal Nature: Why yo-yo dieters often can't keep the weight off - LA Times Not suggested yet, but I think it will be: A...

Let's try another "how much cash?" poll with more options to choose from. What is the amount of cash you have as a percent of your invested assets plus any other cash hanging around? The idea is not to count net worth, so leave out cars, houses, other real estate (even if you count real...

Emerging markets equities are up at the moment about 2% and I cannot find any news stories to tell me why. Anybody got a comment? Thanks! Is it just residual from Brent crude's price movement yesterday though there is some retracement today? But ETFs are still trending up here in the...