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A daughter and a brother of mine lived in Boise. My wife and I visited there often. Nice university with a great football program (if you can stand the blue turf), low crime, low cost of living (as far as I could tell), close to recreation and scenery, fairly mild winters. Not too bad of a...

Good to hear that you have other ideas. Once publishers can see how you write and how you can get books out the door, they'll come knocking on that door.

As a professional part time writer (over 40 books, 2.2 million copies sold), I have been deducting things for over 20 years: computers, cameras, copiers, supplies, travel all over the world, and even office space in my home. The IRS has never bothered me (knock on wood). But then I've always...

I voted a combination of hard work and luck. Yes, my wife and I worked hard, raised a big family (7 kids), both got a Ph.D., both worked hard at the university, and both enjoyed successful careers with good benefits. But we had ONE HUGE LUCKY BREAK that made the difference financially: In 1989...

I like short posts packed with tons of happiness. Congratulations! Now what? When you go into town to shop or to a movie, try walking around without that silly smile on your face. People will wonder what you're up to. On second thought, keep the smile. :biggrin:

Welcome, Hamilton. Congratulations on your retirement. I don't know anything about the Pru HDL annuity product. You might want to post the question in the financial section of the forum.

It's not as bad as it sounds. First, only your "Friends" can see your mobile phone number--not the general public (You have set your privacy so that only friends can see your info, haven't you?). Second, you don't have to include your phone number in your contact information. Only about 1/3 of...

I have two close friends who are financial planners. Both are well past normal retirement age but can't afford to stop working. Hmmmm. Scott FIREd 7/1/2008

I cannot live without Facebook. All seven of my kids and most of their spouses and many of my 21 grandchildren on on Facebook. How would I know what's going on without FB? I have some extended family and friends who post several messages per day. I just "hide" them, and tah-duh, I don't have to...

Yes, I had anxiety. My main concern--which to some degree is still a concern--was financial. Would I have enough money for my wife and me to live to a ripe old age in comfort and in the relatively high standard of living to which we were accustomed. I am happy to report that after 2.5 years, all...

We spent almost two days in Buenos Aires before the tour, spent a total of three "At Sea" days (days without anything to see except sea), and had shore days in Montevideo, Puerto Madryn, Falkland Islands, Ushuaia, Puerto Chacabuco (in place of Puerto Montt), Valparaíso/Viña del Mar, and almost...

I'm glad I got home in one piece.

I finally got a selection of my photos posted on a public website. This is just about one-tenth of the over 1800 pictures that DW and I took. Click here to see the pictures.

Next up for DW and me: A land tour of Moscow and Norway, coupled with a Scandinavia/St. Petersburg cruise in June.

The smaller ships not only go where no large ship can go, the smaller ones can get up closer to the penguin rookeries and to the icebergs (with and without wildlife). (A telescopic lens and binoculars can make up for some, but certainly not all, of these deficiencies.) One advantage for us on a...

Sorry about the Facebook problem. I'll post a larger group of pictures on a public place when I get back into town.

We have done the Alaskan cruise, which we absolutely loved. The Antarctica cruise was really quite different, some say a lot better, but I loved them about equally. We flew from Dallas to Buenos Aires two days before the cruise so that we could tour the city. We had a good time there. We...

First, I set the Facebook picture album to Public so that anyone, whether a Facebook user or not, could view the pictures. Didn't the link work for you? We were aboard a medium-sized ship, the Veendam of Holland America, which was able to go into some places that the larger cruise ships can't...

Here are some other photos from our Antarctica cruise:

DW and I just got home from this amazing cruise and land tour. Our stops included ports of Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Puerto Madryn (in Argentine Patagonia), Falkland Islands, Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina), Puerto Montt (Chile), and Valparaiso (Santiago, Chile). I can't describe what a...

I deeply admire you and the others on this forum who can live on that amount. You are my heroes.

Happy Anniversary. Can you give us a summary--both financially and emotionally--of your 6 years of ER? I.e., how the heck ya' doin'.

I prefer not to reveal my expenditures :whistling:, but this is the bottom line: 1. After 2.5 years of retirement, DW and I haven't had to go into our 401(k) yet (and won't need to until Uncle Sam makes us withdraw some). 2. We own two homes outright, so we didn't have to pay mortgages. 3. We...

I will take lots of pictures. On other trips, I average about 100 pix/day. Not sure if I'll keep up that pace on this trip, but I'm prepared to do so. I'm all packed and almost ready to walk out the door. I just need to fully charge the batteries for our Cannon XTi, Canon 590A, Kindle 3, Palm...

Thanks. This forum should be helpful and interesting.