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I use whatever credit card I have that has no foreign transaction fees via my iPhone’s Apple Pay. There is not that much need for cash in the UK. I am currently visiting now and all I have used cash for was some parking (in theory the machine took phone app payments but I couldn’t get it to...

Typically about $4,000 a year, if I include everything (for the two of us). YMCA membership is $85 per month. A used bike every couple of years for around $1,000. My wife does Barre classes that run around $150 per month (so worth it - she is in great shape!). Tennis court rental in the winter...

I think it tastes pretty much like store bought (so it’s not really cost effective if you can buy it from Costco), although my neighbor swears it’s way better than store bought. The flavor profile does change through the season, which is interesting. I assume the large commercial producers mix...

Maple syrup! With a warm spell we had in early February I started earlier that I ever have, and made a few quarts. It’s on pause again as the temps have dropped below freezing but should be able to get back to it next week. I only have 7 taps on 6 trees so it’s a small operation, but I make...

Good day today - what retirement is all about. Played about an hour of tennis this morning, then went to watch the Thunderbirds air show at a local beach, and then went for a swim in our bay (water is now a pleasant 73°). Air quality was even great today for a change!

I recently changed to Spectrum (which uses Verizon’s network) because they have good overseas rates. It worked well when I was in the UK in January this year - only ran up a few dollars of charges in a week.

We pay $22/day for a daily visit to feed our two cats and empty the litter box. It only takes around 10 minutes so I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Of course there is the travel time but the person who does it lives less than 10 minutes away so still less than 30 minutes total.

I consider myself a car guy but don’t have anything exotic at the moment. We’re a Saab family and currently have a 2009 9-3 wagon, 2007 9-5 wagon and 1992 900 convertible - all manual transmissions. It’s a lot of fun to daily drive a manual car - I used to have a Lotus Elise, which was awesome...

Not sure what's worse on that image - the $50,000 market adjustment or $495 for nitrogen fill!

I have the same quandary. I calculated that the effective marginal tax rate implied by my ACA subsidies is a little over 13% (it changes based on income level, but that’s where it is now). So say I’m in the 12% federal tax bracket, and I pay 4.25% to my state, that gives an effective tax rate...

I retired a couple of years ago but kept working on a part-time basis for my employer. I also picked up some hours from another firm, at a lower hourly rate but with easier and less stressful work. I’m a CPA doing tax work for businesses and individuals so the work is somewhat seasonal and...

Winter and summer views of Lake Michigan from our living room. Love having the change of seasons here.

I’ve been thinking about getting a smart lock but concerned about security - seems like a hacking risk? Has anybody who has recently converted to a smart lock looked into the security aspects and gotten comfortable with this? I was leaning toward just getting one with a digital keypad (non...

My siblings and I are putting together a video of friends and family members wishing my dad a happy 80th birthday (since we can’t have a real, in person party for him right now, of course). What I am looking for is a link I can provide to everybody to upload their videos so then we can download...

Part of the reason we retired early was so we could move away from the city where we lived. It was a mid-sized, Midwestern city with nothing much to recommend it. The only thing keeping us there was our jobs. We were originally planning on moving out West - maybe Colorado or Oregon - but we...

After we ER'd last year, we moved to an area where we used to vacation. This is perfect in every way except for one thing. My wife had planned to do some paid consulting in retirement (as a scientist) but the problem is that there is not a lot of industry here, so not too many opportunities for...

I haven’t really noticed groceries being any more expensive here in Traverse City vs. where I used to live (Toledo). The biggest grocery stores here are Costco, Walmart and meijer and I’m sure their prices are pretty much the same everywhere.

We early semi-retired to Traverse City last year. Love it here! Traverse City is expensive, but if you want some property somewhere a little more rural it gets cheap pretty quickly. Winter: I don’t think we’ve hit single digits yet this winter, but it has been an unusually mild one. The lake...

Unfortunately I don't have any alternative provider here - other than satellite, which is more expensive for slower service.

I'm in an area where I only have one ISP available to me (Spectrum). They keep jacking up the rates and I am currently paying $70 per month for internet service only (no phone or cable). I called them up to see if there was anything they could do but had no luck. I asked about cancelling...

From my reading I can move off COBRA to an ACA plan (and still get subsidies) for any reason as long as I do it at open enrollment time - but this is very confusing so I am happy to be informed otherwise.

So my wife and I need to decide whether to continue with COBRA for 2020 or go with an ACA plan. It seems like the ACA plan should be much cheaper (with subsidies), but I'm nervous about any "gotchas" or other unknowns so I'm looking for the voice of experience on this forum. Our situation is...

I use Aldi for certain things that are significantly cheaper than Meijer, which is my primary go-to supermarket. Mainly produce, yogurts, organic milk and chocolate. But what I really like about them is how quickly I can get out of the checkout. Yes I have to bag the goods myself but it’s still...

I liked the idea of that so I went online and got a quote - which was more than 4 times the price of a Penske or U-Haul for similar cubic footage (including the gas for the truck). I guess it must work better for a 2,500 mile move than a 300 mile move. Thanks for the input.

Thanks for the input - just curious on the preference for Penske vs. U-Haul? The prices seem about the same, just wondering if Penske has better trucks, better service, or something else?