I had a crazy career but it all makes sense in the rear view mirror. Enjoyed your article. You were pretty smart to go to school on those around you, not everyone pays attention to the lessons around them.
At almost 70, am having those conversations w my 93 year old mother. Your article was so honest and helpful. No perfect solution but good planning cant hurt.
great article. In the comments, DrLefy noted he'd found a local fiduciary in Calif. Does anyone know of something like this that is reputable in the Sarasota area? How does one find someone honest, it's such a position of responsibility.
Yes, those buyouts were even worse and I was lucky to be able to take advantage of both the stay and voluntary exit packages that were sometimes offered. The M&A has also terrible for our local communities that rely on people and businesses paying taxes and for all the young people coming out of school hoping for careers in especially HR, IT and finance that got hacked when the companies tried to "squeeze the value" out of these mergers. Suspect AI will be more of the same.
So sad on the human level. I worked at Maxwell House (general Foods) which got taken over by Philip Morris and then Kraft. I then decided Pharm was better and I went to work for Ciba Geigy which ended up "merging" with Sandoz to become Novartis. I decided food was better and escaped to Nabisco-which then got taken over by PM/Kraft. After being independent for a while I joined Organon which then got taken over by Schering Plough and ultimately Merck. I am now getting a tiny pension from Heinz. I was so very lucky and thrived and with the help of a number of voluntary severance packages, able to retire early with retiree medical. Yes, I know, very lucky. I worked with so many wonderful people who were not so lucky and whose lives were turned upside down and in some cases, destroyed. And the business side of things did not pan out in almost all these M&A.
We have umbrellas but I struggle with the "deep pocket" conundrum e.g. the richer the take, the more the incentive to sue baby sue. In the end we decided on the amount to cover about either half our non IRA accounts OR about half the house. Who knows what's right with insurance. We had to argue with the insurance company to raise the amount on our home owners, real estate in our area is rising faster than I could have imagined. THough it's nice that it's done, does not feel like it's increasing happiness
Fidelity had some sort of digital safe where you can store important documents and provide names of people who can access when you are gone. Assume if the docs are MS docs, you could also password them. I keep meaning to check it out but have not done as of now.
The house is still a 1959 3 bedroom split ~2000 sqft. Just all redone and with a second garage and expanded rooms above. Have you looked at real-estate in your old neighborhood? Might shock you.
Yep, they reaccessed the house to market value, ahead of the 10 year reaccessment. They then have a factor that brings the house inline with the town accessment from 2020. After all this math magic, our bill went up 8k. Now our new accessment can't increase more than 2%. Honestly, fixing up our house, including replacing a 45 yr old GE a/c unit, they don't make them like they used to, made financial sense even given the taxes. No ranches here, almost at any price, and I did not want to commit to lots of far driving. Can actually walk to basics here for as long as I can do that. Its all pretty nuts
Comments
I had a crazy career but it all makes sense in the rear view mirror. Enjoyed your article. You were pretty smart to go to school on those around you, not everyone pays attention to the lessons around them.
Post: Lessons Learned Along the Way
Link to comment from June 27, 2026
At almost 70, am having those conversations w my 93 year old mother. Your article was so honest and helpful. No perfect solution but good planning cant hurt.
Post: Close to Everything I Need
Link to comment from June 20, 2026
great article. In the comments, DrLefy noted he'd found a local fiduciary in Calif. Does anyone know of something like this that is reputable in the Sarasota area? How does one find someone honest, it's such a position of responsibility.
Post: The Financial Stress a Simple Document Could Have Prevented
Link to comment from May 30, 2026
Yes, those buyouts were even worse and I was lucky to be able to take advantage of both the stay and voluntary exit packages that were sometimes offered. The M&A has also terrible for our local communities that rely on people and businesses paying taxes and for all the young people coming out of school hoping for careers in especially HR, IT and finance that got hacked when the companies tried to "squeeze the value" out of these mergers. Suspect AI will be more of the same.
Post: How Deals Hurt Returns
Link to comment from April 5, 2026
So sad on the human level. I worked at Maxwell House (general Foods) which got taken over by Philip Morris and then Kraft. I then decided Pharm was better and I went to work for Ciba Geigy which ended up "merging" with Sandoz to become Novartis. I decided food was better and escaped to Nabisco-which then got taken over by PM/Kraft. After being independent for a while I joined Organon which then got taken over by Schering Plough and ultimately Merck. I am now getting a tiny pension from Heinz. I was so very lucky and thrived and with the help of a number of voluntary severance packages, able to retire early with retiree medical. Yes, I know, very lucky. I worked with so many wonderful people who were not so lucky and whose lives were turned upside down and in some cases, destroyed. And the business side of things did not pan out in almost all these M&A.
Post: How Deals Hurt Returns
Link to comment from April 4, 2026
And vig
Post: Sector Fund by Stealth
Link to comment from March 7, 2026
We have umbrellas but I struggle with the "deep pocket" conundrum e.g. the richer the take, the more the incentive to sue baby sue. In the end we decided on the amount to cover about either half our non IRA accounts OR about half the house. Who knows what's right with insurance. We had to argue with the insurance company to raise the amount on our home owners, real estate in our area is rising faster than I could have imagined. THough it's nice that it's done, does not feel like it's increasing happiness
Post: Financial Happiness
Link to comment from January 24, 2026
Fidelity had some sort of digital safe where you can store important documents and provide names of people who can access when you are gone. Assume if the docs are MS docs, you could also password them. I keep meaning to check it out but have not done as of now.
Post: Financial Happiness
Link to comment from January 24, 2026
The house is still a 1959 3 bedroom split ~2000 sqft. Just all redone and with a second garage and expanded rooms above. Have you looked at real-estate in your old neighborhood? Might shock you.
Post: Property taxes, our schools, our towns and seniors. Shared responsibility.
Link to comment from November 30, 2025
Yep, they reaccessed the house to market value, ahead of the 10 year reaccessment. They then have a factor that brings the house inline with the town accessment from 2020. After all this math magic, our bill went up 8k. Now our new accessment can't increase more than 2%. Honestly, fixing up our house, including replacing a 45 yr old GE a/c unit, they don't make them like they used to, made financial sense even given the taxes. No ranches here, almost at any price, and I did not want to commit to lots of far driving. Can actually walk to basics here for as long as I can do that. Its all pretty nuts
Post: Property taxes, our schools, our towns and seniors. Shared responsibility.
Link to comment from November 30, 2025