A wonderful article - it is often about perspective. Never ceases to amaze me how a person’s outlook on life can twist joy from sorrow, or vice versa! For me - It’s always sunny here in Youngstown, Ohio - even when it’s not! 😎
I was not super aggressive making extra payments on our house in the early years of our fixed rate mortgage; just an occasional extra from time to time. Then about 12 years in I realized I hated having that monthly payment hanging over my head and became laser focused on ridding myself of that burden; I became fanatical and paid it off before we hit the start of year year 15. Since it was a 30 year fixed mortgage it was amazing how the months at the end disappeared from my Excel amortization table with each extra payment to principal. In the end I saved over $130,000 in interest payments. If only I had been paying attention at the beginning, instead of just paying interest! 😉
We have found cruising to be our favorite form of vacation and love the laid back style and opportunity to see the highlights of many places. We have been on 14 so far; all over the Caribbean, several to the Mediterranean, Alaska, Panama Canal, and up & down the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. So many wonderful experiences and for costs that are comparatively reasonable to other styles of travel. We love “only having to unpack once”! 😎
Excellent Article - it reinforces what I have seen in both my family and career. I think work can be an incredibly important part of life and I am fortunate to really enjoy working. Having a good balance of leisure activities is important too, but I have noticed many folks who thrive into old age don’t give up on their work. I sure don’t intend to for as long as possible!
Great article. I have a different perspective on retirement colored by prior generations of my family and experiences in my profession. My Grandfathers worked blue collar jobs and both had farms - side hustles before side hustles were a thing. When they retired after 35 years at their regular vocations, they farmed full time - this continued for decades - my paternal grandfather was still working in his early 90’s. My Uncle is a farmer, still running his full time farm at 80. My Dad retired from his time with the County Engineer at 53 with a pension and worked for a friends farm for the last 20 years plus doing some gentle farming with me on our little place. I am a corporate lawyer, who left private practice to join a clients steel company as general counsel. I now run the place. Many of the lawyers that I practiced with were still actively practicing in their 80’s. I have a side hustle estate planning practice, a small farm, a firearm business and just got involved in a robotics & automation startup that supports the steel company with initiatives to help bridge the labor gap we presently are experiencing. I cannot imagine hanging all of this up anytime soon - not because I couldn’t afford it, but because it would be difficult to explain my laziness to all of these guys! 🤣
One of my favorite Jack Bogle lines, “Don’t do something, stand there!” - here’s to using his wonderful investment vehicle and letting it merrily roll along! 😎
Great article - many people don’t think about this part of the process as thoroughly as the other phases. We have moved all of our larger assets into trusts to avoid the hassle associated with the probate process and I have created an instruction binder with all the estate planning documents: trusts, wills, durable POA, Living Wills, Medical Powers, business , and life insurance certificates all located together. There's also a detailed list of accounts, contact information and access information together in the binder. If I ever get hit by a bus a solid plan has been put in place! 🤪
Great article! Readers may be interested in the interaction between the 403B and 457 accounts. My wife works for a state university and we were able after a little bit of research to get her enrolled in both plans simultaneously. Because the university is a state institution, and a nonprofit each of those plans were available to her And each could be maxed out at the federal level. Unfortunately the HR people at the University were not well schooled in this information and it took a little bit of effort on our part to get it set up. It’s definitely worth it if you happen to be lucky enough to work for such an organization .
Comments
A wonderful article - it is often about perspective. Never ceases to amaze me how a person’s outlook on life can twist joy from sorrow, or vice versa! For me - It’s always sunny here in Youngstown, Ohio - even when it’s not! 😎
Post: Didn’t Make the List
Link to comment from May 2, 2024
“(T)hey got you thinkin' that What ya need is what they selling Make you think that buying is rebelling” 😉 Great Article!
Post: Testing My Faith
Link to comment from April 11, 2024
I was not super aggressive making extra payments on our house in the early years of our fixed rate mortgage; just an occasional extra from time to time. Then about 12 years in I realized I hated having that monthly payment hanging over my head and became laser focused on ridding myself of that burden; I became fanatical and paid it off before we hit the start of year year 15. Since it was a 30 year fixed mortgage it was amazing how the months at the end disappeared from my Excel amortization table with each extra payment to principal. In the end I saved over $130,000 in interest payments. If only I had been paying attention at the beginning, instead of just paying interest! 😉
Post: Matters of Principal
Link to comment from March 22, 2024
We have found cruising to be our favorite form of vacation and love the laid back style and opportunity to see the highlights of many places. We have been on 14 so far; all over the Caribbean, several to the Mediterranean, Alaska, Panama Canal, and up & down the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. So many wonderful experiences and for costs that are comparatively reasonable to other styles of travel. We love “only having to unpack once”! 😎
Post: Making Waves
Link to comment from March 22, 2024
I have that same reoccurring dream - perhaps it is the customary nocturnal mental torture for lawyers! 😵💫
Post: Retirement Dreams
Link to comment from February 20, 2024
Excellent Article - it reinforces what I have seen in both my family and career. I think work can be an incredibly important part of life and I am fortunate to really enjoy working. Having a good balance of leisure activities is important too, but I have noticed many folks who thrive into old age don’t give up on their work. I sure don’t intend to for as long as possible!
Post: Death by Retirement
Link to comment from February 16, 2024
Great article. I have a different perspective on retirement colored by prior generations of my family and experiences in my profession. My Grandfathers worked blue collar jobs and both had farms - side hustles before side hustles were a thing. When they retired after 35 years at their regular vocations, they farmed full time - this continued for decades - my paternal grandfather was still working in his early 90’s. My Uncle is a farmer, still running his full time farm at 80. My Dad retired from his time with the County Engineer at 53 with a pension and worked for a friends farm for the last 20 years plus doing some gentle farming with me on our little place. I am a corporate lawyer, who left private practice to join a clients steel company as general counsel. I now run the place. Many of the lawyers that I practiced with were still actively practicing in their 80’s. I have a side hustle estate planning practice, a small farm, a firearm business and just got involved in a robotics & automation startup that supports the steel company with initiatives to help bridge the labor gap we presently are experiencing. I cannot imagine hanging all of this up anytime soon - not because I couldn’t afford it, but because it would be difficult to explain my laziness to all of these guys! 🤣
Post: Fire Meets Ice
Link to comment from February 10, 2024
One of my favorite Jack Bogle lines, “Don’t do something, stand there!” - here’s to using his wonderful investment vehicle and letting it merrily roll along! 😎
Post: Letting It Ride
Link to comment from February 9, 2024
Great article - many people don’t think about this part of the process as thoroughly as the other phases. We have moved all of our larger assets into trusts to avoid the hassle associated with the probate process and I have created an instruction binder with all the estate planning documents: trusts, wills, durable POA, Living Wills, Medical Powers, business , and life insurance certificates all located together. There's also a detailed list of accounts, contact information and access information together in the binder. If I ever get hit by a bus a solid plan has been put in place! 🤪
Post: Look All Ways
Link to comment from November 20, 2023
Great article! Readers may be interested in the interaction between the 403B and 457 accounts. My wife works for a state university and we were able after a little bit of research to get her enrolled in both plans simultaneously. Because the university is a state institution, and a nonprofit each of those plans were available to her And each could be maxed out at the federal level. Unfortunately the HR people at the University were not well schooled in this information and it took a little bit of effort on our part to get it set up. It’s definitely worth it if you happen to be lucky enough to work for such an organization .
Post: Teaching Myself
Link to comment from November 13, 2023