kristinehayes2014

Comments

• Thank you for this thoughtful comment--it's so true! Just today I've seen a few articles say a market correction was quite possible (even overdue) in 2025. The tariff situation may have just been the trigger to start it. But, of course, any number of other unpredictable events could have started a correction as well. Or maybe such a correction wouldn't have happened for another five years. We'll really never know.

  Post: Reality Check

  Link to comment from April 6, 2025

• I've noticed one odd anomaly with my financial services provider. When I've used their online 'benefit estimator' to see what my future benefits might be, I get some strange results. I really don't trust their estimates at this point.

  Post: Reality Check

  Link to comment from April 6, 2025

• I do something similar with net worth.

  Post: Reality Check

  Link to comment from April 6, 2025

• At this point I'm not contributing to--or drawing down from--my account. So for the next couple of years, it doesn't make too much of a difference to me what the market does. That said, I certainly prefer to see my account balances grow rather than decline.

  Post: Reality Check

  Link to comment from April 6, 2025

• That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!

  Post: Reality Check

  Link to comment from April 5, 2025

• I wouldn't say I feel optimistic, but at least I don't feel quite as pessimistic as I did prior to peeking at my balance :-). It's funny because I have conditioned myself to only look at my account balance if I know it's increased. So when the stock market hits some new 'high', I'll look. But if the market falls for the following three days, I won't look. I won't look again until I know the value will be higher. I am glad I looked today because it wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined. Not great by any means, but not terrible.

  Post: Reality Check

  Link to comment from April 5, 2025

• I suspect the 'stubborn and independent' trait is why the elderly man in our neighborhood is still living alone--even though he probably shouldn't be. One of his children stopped by a few days ago and ended up hauling about 10 huge bags of garbage to the curb. It made me wonder what the inside of his house looks like.

  Post: Kristine Wonders: Does Not Having Children Change How You Plan For Retirement?

  Link to comment from April 3, 2025

• Thanks for your comment. Living in a 55+ community means I see a huge variety of living situations. Within a few blocks of our home, there are adult children living with their parents, elderly men living alone, elderly women living alone and at least one home where two elderly women share a house together. There is also at least one home where two siblings live together. Some of the elderly single people seem quite capable of caring for themselves. Others not so much. I know of one elderly man--who has multiple grown children--who probably shouldn't be living alone. His children live in the area and visit him on occasion, but he clearly has mobility difficulties and some serious health issues. The good thing about our community are the numerous resources that exist for seniors living alone. Meal services, medical transport services and volunteers who will stop by to do welfare checks are all available.

  Post: Kristine Wonders: Does Not Having Children Change How You Plan For Retirement?

  Link to comment from April 3, 2025

• I'm not much of a traveler but if I were... New Zealand would likely be somewhere on my list. A country where the sheep outnumber humans by almost 5:1 sounds pretty ideal to me. Lots of herding dogs too. The fact they don't have any native land snakes is a bonus. A trip to Wales might be cool since it's the original home of my beloved Corgis. I've always loved Montana, especially the area around Helena. I almost moved there when I was in my twenties. My dream would be to own fifty acres and a (well-insulated) log cabin there.

  Post: Where Next? What Next?

  Link to comment from April 2, 2025

• Me too.

  Post: I don’t feel comfortable being “wealthy”

  Link to comment from April 2, 2025