I have absolutely LOVED reading this post! Thank you to all who have commented.
My list (in no particular order):
1) Membership to the local indoor pickleball courts. My wife and I play 3-5 times a week. Great exercise and social connections
2) Milk frother (from the OP!) We have two. We have a Bialetti and make our own lattes every morning.
3) Heated mugs (Nextmug from Amazon). You can take an hour to drink that amazing latte, and it never gets cold. I actually take these out with me too, as I find most places the coffee gets cold too fast
4) We live in Montana, and we now have an electric snow shovel for the front sidewalk and an electric snow blower for the back driveway. So much easier, faster, and way less chance of a back injury
5) We go to the local runners store to buy our athletic shoes. A while ago my wife bought her running shows on Amazon to save money. Ended up creating a stress fracture in her toe due to a not-so-go fit, and that cost $600 and 4 months not working out. Total waste of money saving money!
6) Costco membership. The fuel saves you a ton. I never bother to look at the price of petrol as it's always the cheapest, and, per Consumer Reports, the best. I also like to get my tires done at Costco. Way cheaper.
7) Consumer Reports subscription and the print magazine. I've found that the print magazine brings me to stuff I would never look up. Just upgraded my wife's lip balm to the "best" based on the CR reviews
8) Walmart+ membership. Didn't use it for months, but just figured that getting groceries delivered is VERY nice indeed.
9) Paying to not have to watch ads on whatever platform. Ads are awful.
10) Paying for a month on a particular streaming service for a particular show. We don't go to the movies, so spending $9 to watch amazing shows on Britbox is a steal
11) We have the Delta Reserve AmEx card. We pretty much have to fly Delta out of here, and the card gives you upgrades and, the most important part, access to the SkyClub. We just got our "complimentary" (obviously it's not, as we pay $600 for the card) free companion ticket, and we're both flying first class to Belize for Spring Break.
12) Top quality coats. Being cold is awful. Coats from Patagonia, Black Diamond and Arc'Teryx are stupidly expensive, but very light and very effective, and so very much worth it.
13) We have two old cars. Honda Ody, bought brand new 24 years ago, and now has 275k miles on it. Runs like a dream. I always buy good tires (from Costco) for it, plus have a very reliable local mechanic. The other is a 21 year old Honda Civic, just 105k miles on it. As someone else said, having two cars when at least one is old is just the right choice. Cheap to insure.
14) Good car insurance. I don't want to have an issue if there's an issue.
This is pretty much our exact way of doing things. We have the ridiculously expensive Delta Amex Reserve card, but it puts us automatically in Delta Comfort, and frequently first class. We really appreciate the Delta Sky Club access. Our main vehicle is our Honda Odyssey minivan, bought new 23 years ago and currently with 275,000 miles on it. When we travel, which is a lot, we look for great places to eat.
I just read another HD article about how when you own you're basically paying yourself bond income. Our house is fully paid, so our not-paying-rent bond-like "income" is rather nice.
Hi all! This is a lovely post.
One thing I love to do with these posts on HD is to click the ads. I let it load, then just hit the back button and in back at the post. I figure I'm directing money to JC. Just my good deed each time I'm here at HD
The real issue is that people want health care, not health insurance. I know many people think that they would have health care if we had a single-payer healthcare system in the US. Well, I am here in England right now to visit my 92 year old dad, and on the day I arrived he was taken to the ER (A&E). Almost every non-medical service is outsourced to the lowest cost provider, because no one wants to pay higher taxes. The result of using lowest cost providers is that the first blood test "didn't work" because the provider claimed, wrongly, that there was not enough blood drawn. We saw the nurse take a full vial, and the test requires a drop. So a second blood draw is taken, this time by the doctor. Still apparently not enough to do a test. By now the ER's performance dashboard on the screens for the medical staff is showing 74% of normal, and is very red. The result of that is dad gets released from the ER, the metric literally immediately goes to 76%, and my dad is in the "evaluation center". Still no results from the blood. It's now been 8 hours, so the doctor sends my dad home, without those blood test results. One thing most people think is that a single-payer healthcare system means great medical coverage! Absolutely not the case. Did you know that the average Accountant in the UK makes more than the average NHS doctor? Given the ER dashboard and the inability to get simple blood test results, would you believe that the above-average competency doctors tend to leave the NHS single-payer system for private practice. So we have a two-tier healthcare system here in England. Everyone pays through their taxes for the NHS, and anyone who can afford it "goes private". A can't-raise-taxes single-payer healthcare system means my brother-in-law waited 3 years for his first hip replacement, and 4 for his second. My other brother-in-law "went private" and got one done in 4 months.
When I teach Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation in my 200-level business class, I use Apple as an example of a company that has long ceased to be innovative. Since the iPhone 1 in 2008, Apple and Samsung have been pretty much in lockstep as sustaining innovators: just adding an availble upgrade to their current product.
Where Apple truly, and in my mind solely, shines is in glorious marketing. As for customer service, Apple brings a truly rigid regime to their software that some love because “it just works” and others (like me) hate because it only works the way Apple tells you they want it to work.
Clayton Christensen will tell you that Apple is doomed to fail as it will be out-innovated by a disruptor. It hasn’t happened yet, and it’s hard to see how it will happen, but that’s how disruptive innovation works.
Clayton Christensen also argues that it is not the people in an organization who are the problem (say the ones at Citi), but the institutional procedures and processes that are the problem. How money gets allocated and how people are rewarded is the real issue.
Often the only way to break free of these procedures and processes is to set up a new company.
Costco was a disruptive innovation as compared to Sears (remember Sears?).
Intel was about to get killed, talked to Clayton Christensen, and set up the Celeron processor division doing things completely differently to the rest of Intel. The Intel you see today is the Celeron division.
Clayton Christensen's Innovators Dilemma book is an amazing read if you've not had chance.
Gosh, what a great story! Thank you. We spent three months earlier this year living in Madrid, and took the train to visit several other towns and cities. What a great way to travel. You see more, can read a book with ease, get up and walk around. Lovely.
Would you be asked to say exactly which tour company you went with, please?
I was struggling a bit with what a TIPS ladder is, and how to set one up, and found this Rob Berger video on YouTube to be extremely helpful: https://youtu.be/WMSOdk9Ga_Q?si=3rKtzmKm1P-KAIUo I had thought I'd be doing an annuity ladder, but a TIPS ladder sounds better to me for inflation protection.
I really wasn't quite understanding why you'd buy TIPS and put together a TIPS ladder, but the Rob Berger video on YouTube was absolutely fantastic (it's referenced above)!
I had thought I'd be doing an annuity ladder, but now I am thinking a TIPS later is better.
The video is here: https://youtu.be/WMSOdk9Ga_Q?si=lokOHfQPwD6xlFik
This article is EXACTLY why I love HumbleDollar so much! Real people using their own actual money to secure the retirement they want for themselves, and telling us exactly how they did it. Could you provide a link, please, to the " I also found all the answers to my “how do I…?” questions"? Could you also share why you are doing this at age 63? I had long thought I'd be doing an immediate annuity ladder, but now I am thinking I like your strategy better!
I think what your talking about here relates to the "ikigai" concept, sometimes called "the hedgehog". Ikigai is a venn diagram of the following four things:
1) what you love
2) What the world needs
3) what you can get paid for
4) what you're good at As you cover here, these four things don't always align.
Comments
I have absolutely LOVED reading this post! Thank you to all who have commented. My list (in no particular order): 1) Membership to the local indoor pickleball courts. My wife and I play 3-5 times a week. Great exercise and social connections 2) Milk frother (from the OP!) We have two. We have a Bialetti and make our own lattes every morning. 3) Heated mugs (Nextmug from Amazon). You can take an hour to drink that amazing latte, and it never gets cold. I actually take these out with me too, as I find most places the coffee gets cold too fast 4) We live in Montana, and we now have an electric snow shovel for the front sidewalk and an electric snow blower for the back driveway. So much easier, faster, and way less chance of a back injury 5) We go to the local runners store to buy our athletic shoes. A while ago my wife bought her running shows on Amazon to save money. Ended up creating a stress fracture in her toe due to a not-so-go fit, and that cost $600 and 4 months not working out. Total waste of money saving money! 6) Costco membership. The fuel saves you a ton. I never bother to look at the price of petrol as it's always the cheapest, and, per Consumer Reports, the best. I also like to get my tires done at Costco. Way cheaper. 7) Consumer Reports subscription and the print magazine. I've found that the print magazine brings me to stuff I would never look up. Just upgraded my wife's lip balm to the "best" based on the CR reviews 8) Walmart+ membership. Didn't use it for months, but just figured that getting groceries delivered is VERY nice indeed. 9) Paying to not have to watch ads on whatever platform. Ads are awful. 10) Paying for a month on a particular streaming service for a particular show. We don't go to the movies, so spending $9 to watch amazing shows on Britbox is a steal 11) We have the Delta Reserve AmEx card. We pretty much have to fly Delta out of here, and the card gives you upgrades and, the most important part, access to the SkyClub. We just got our "complimentary" (obviously it's not, as we pay $600 for the card) free companion ticket, and we're both flying first class to Belize for Spring Break. 12) Top quality coats. Being cold is awful. Coats from Patagonia, Black Diamond and Arc'Teryx are stupidly expensive, but very light and very effective, and so very much worth it. 13) We have two old cars. Honda Ody, bought brand new 24 years ago, and now has 275k miles on it. Runs like a dream. I always buy good tires (from Costco) for it, plus have a very reliable local mechanic. The other is a 21 year old Honda Civic, just 105k miles on it. As someone else said, having two cars when at least one is old is just the right choice. Cheap to insure. 14) Good car insurance. I don't want to have an issue if there's an issue.
Post: What Purchases Have Been Worth It?
Link to comment from February 22, 2025
This is pretty much our exact way of doing things. We have the ridiculously expensive Delta Amex Reserve card, but it puts us automatically in Delta Comfort, and frequently first class. We really appreciate the Delta Sky Club access. Our main vehicle is our Honda Odyssey minivan, bought new 23 years ago and currently with 275,000 miles on it. When we travel, which is a lot, we look for great places to eat. I just read another HD article about how when you own you're basically paying yourself bond income. Our house is fully paid, so our not-paying-rent bond-like "income" is rather nice.
Post: Forget You
Link to comment from December 21, 2024
Hi all! This is a lovely post. One thing I love to do with these posts on HD is to click the ads. I let it load, then just hit the back button and in back at the post. I figure I'm directing money to JC. Just my good deed each time I'm here at HD
Post: Forget You
Link to comment from December 21, 2024
The real issue is that people want health care, not health insurance. I know many people think that they would have health care if we had a single-payer healthcare system in the US. Well, I am here in England right now to visit my 92 year old dad, and on the day I arrived he was taken to the ER (A&E). Almost every non-medical service is outsourced to the lowest cost provider, because no one wants to pay higher taxes. The result of using lowest cost providers is that the first blood test "didn't work" because the provider claimed, wrongly, that there was not enough blood drawn. We saw the nurse take a full vial, and the test requires a drop. So a second blood draw is taken, this time by the doctor. Still apparently not enough to do a test. By now the ER's performance dashboard on the screens for the medical staff is showing 74% of normal, and is very red. The result of that is dad gets released from the ER, the metric literally immediately goes to 76%, and my dad is in the "evaluation center". Still no results from the blood. It's now been 8 hours, so the doctor sends my dad home, without those blood test results. One thing most people think is that a single-payer healthcare system means great medical coverage! Absolutely not the case. Did you know that the average Accountant in the UK makes more than the average NHS doctor? Given the ER dashboard and the inability to get simple blood test results, would you believe that the above-average competency doctors tend to leave the NHS single-payer system for private practice. So we have a two-tier healthcare system here in England. Everyone pays through their taxes for the NHS, and anyone who can afford it "goes private". A can't-raise-taxes single-payer healthcare system means my brother-in-law waited 3 years for his first hip replacement, and 4 for his second. My other brother-in-law "went private" and got one done in 4 months.
Post: CLUES LEFT BY A KILLER ECHO WIDESPREAD ANGER AT HEALTH INSURERS
Link to comment from December 15, 2024
When I teach Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation in my 200-level business class, I use Apple as an example of a company that has long ceased to be innovative. Since the iPhone 1 in 2008, Apple and Samsung have been pretty much in lockstep as sustaining innovators: just adding an availble upgrade to their current product. Where Apple truly, and in my mind solely, shines is in glorious marketing. As for customer service, Apple brings a truly rigid regime to their software that some love because “it just works” and others (like me) hate because it only works the way Apple tells you they want it to work. Clayton Christensen will tell you that Apple is doomed to fail as it will be out-innovated by a disruptor. It hasn’t happened yet, and it’s hard to see how it will happen, but that’s how disruptive innovation works. Clayton Christensen also argues that it is not the people in an organization who are the problem (say the ones at Citi), but the institutional procedures and processes that are the problem. How money gets allocated and how people are rewarded is the real issue. Often the only way to break free of these procedures and processes is to set up a new company. Costco was a disruptive innovation as compared to Sears (remember Sears?). Intel was about to get killed, talked to Clayton Christensen, and set up the Celeron processor division doing things completely differently to the rest of Intel. The Intel you see today is the Celeron division. Clayton Christensen's Innovators Dilemma book is an amazing read if you've not had chance.
Post: Too Big to Succeed by Jonathan Clements
Link to comment from December 15, 2024
Gosh, what a great story! Thank you. We spent three months earlier this year living in Madrid, and took the train to visit several other towns and cities. What a great way to travel. You see more, can read a book with ease, get up and walk around. Lovely. Would you be asked to say exactly which tour company you went with, please?
Post: Luxury on Rails
Link to comment from October 3, 2024
I was struggling a bit with what a TIPS ladder is, and how to set one up, and found this Rob Berger video on YouTube to be extremely helpful: https://youtu.be/WMSOdk9Ga_Q?si=3rKtzmKm1P-KAIUo I had thought I'd be doing an annuity ladder, but a TIPS ladder sounds better to me for inflation protection.
Post: Hedging your bet in retirement-dealing with inflation. What’s your strategy? R Quinn
Link to comment from September 29, 2024
I really wasn't quite understanding why you'd buy TIPS and put together a TIPS ladder, but the Rob Berger video on YouTube was absolutely fantastic (it's referenced above)! I had thought I'd be doing an annuity ladder, but now I am thinking a TIPS later is better. The video is here: https://youtu.be/WMSOdk9Ga_Q?si=lokOHfQPwD6xlFik
Post: Laying Down a Floor
Link to comment from September 27, 2024
This article is EXACTLY why I love HumbleDollar so much! Real people using their own actual money to secure the retirement they want for themselves, and telling us exactly how they did it. Could you provide a link, please, to the " I also found all the answers to my “how do I…?” questions"? Could you also share why you are doing this at age 63? I had long thought I'd be doing an immediate annuity ladder, but now I am thinking I like your strategy better!
Post: Laying Down a Floor
Link to comment from September 15, 2024
I think what your talking about here relates to the "ikigai" concept, sometimes called "the hedgehog". Ikigai is a venn diagram of the following four things: 1) what you love 2) What the world needs 3) what you can get paid for 4) what you're good at As you cover here, these four things don't always align.
Post: What’s Your Talent?
Link to comment from August 13, 2024