All Entries

I paid off the car loan today, about 1.3 years after purchase, to minimize accrued interest but at the same time spread out payments for cash flow purposes instead of paying in full with $ from withdrawn accounts. With that behind me, I should see a big difference in onhand cash month to month.
The only problem is I've misplaced my checkbook and can't find it anywhere. The last time I used it was to write out a check to myself ("Cash") the day before I left for my Vermont trip....
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So finally got irs letter in and it doesnt give us any information except this is your amounts and this is our amounts but not how they figured it out so I am assuming it the social security even though we used their sheet...but whos knows so frustrating like if we made a mistake show us so we dont do the same for next year...
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The days seem to fly by. DH had a birthday this week and we splurged. We went to a restaurant since it was Prime Rib Night. He enjoyed it. I baked him a chocolate cake and also baked cakes for strawberry shortcake so we have having a treat, one one night, one the next. I bought him a small drone. It's not the best, but he will enjoy playing with it. His son is police officer and I guess the city police force is looking into drones to be able to dispatch to different scenes. He...
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Debts
Mortgage -$105,975.02 (-$512.82)Land Loan -$0 (-$3,266.94)Car Loan -$3,731.80 ($0)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$54,560 (+$347)401K +$110,497 (+$3,297)Emergency Fund +$13,042 (-$10,995)Animal Fund +$3,122 (+$16)HSA +$2,325 (+$72)
Overall: -$7,215.04 (This is for March-April)
A weird couple of months. Our "good" car broke again and had to be towed to the shop. At this point, we were about $4k into repairs. Luckily, this time the fix was the same problem and covered by the warranty....
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This isn't finance-related, but maybe you guys might find it interesting nonetheless.
I was out today, roughly between 1200 to 1500 (3pm), and when I got back, I noticed that my front door's deadbolt was unlocked.  It's highly unusual because I basically never forget to lock the front door.  Upon inspection, I also saw this black tape obstructing the front door's latch hole.

While it is theoretically possible that I could have forgotten to lock the deadbolt, I 100%...
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I'm happy to report I had a really fun trip to southern Vermont recently. I took rural back roads headed first to Bennington to check out the exhibit by the equestrian artist father of a good friend of mine, someone I dated many years ago.

When I got there, the door was open but all the lights were off. I called out "Hello?" several times but no one answered. I really needed to use the restroom so I wandered around in the dark looking for it. After that, I just decided to wander...
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Happy May!  I'm hoping we get a nice stretch of spring-like weather where it is warm but not hot.  We've had a smattering of warm days, even a couple of hot ones in April where it hit 90, but the past couple of weeks, it's still been highs in the 50s and 60s for the most part.
Tax season of course is over, but working in financial planning as I do, my work calendar gets busier during tax season but is governed more by the schedules of the two advisors that I do the planning...
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As some of you may know, my son was let go from Amazon (he was a manager, not a driver). He has a family to support, and he is having trouble finding new employment, even though he is making a huge effort. The situation is getting scary.
Now, to back up a little, my ex gave me $6000 a couple of years ago to help me purchase a used car. I promised to pay him back; he kept saying no need, and honestly, our divorce, which was his idea, cost me way more than $6000. So I kept saving...
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I don't know if it's worth blogging about this, but this is just a part of what's going on in my life.
To make this as succinct as possible, I have quite a few Sig P320 pistols.  There are a lot of reasons why I had a bunch of them, but without boring anyone to tears here, the bottom line is when you are an instructor and supposed subject-matter expert, you can't just not know things.  You know what I mean?  Imagine if you are a financial professional, and a client...
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I had a very relaxing week off of work.  
I did not do much of anything, other than a day trip to the coast.  I was planning to visit a more popular stretch of coast but realized at the last minute that the roads were pretty windy and it would probably take 3 hours just to get to our destination (though it's probably just a few miles from where we ended up).  So I went to Plan B.  Which was Sausalito (just north of San Francisco).  We had just been...
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Today when I logged in to do my monthly net worth blog, I realized that for the first time I surpassed $500k with my Vanguard accounts. I have both a Roth IRA & another small brokerage account. I had not anticipated reaching this level for quite some time, but it means that I qualify for Voyager Select with Vanguard. Also, it doesn't seem like anything changes with this new standing. When you reach $1 million you get access to their trust services, for a fee of course.
I'm...
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TSP $1,670,984
IRA $490,420
Brokerage $14,813
Sub-Total Investments $
Savings $6,131
Home Equity $147,000
April 2026 Net Worth $2,329,348
March 2026 Net Worth $2,129,042
Monthly Gain/Loss $200,306
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Better month net worth-wise; we made up last month's lost ground and added $10K. We're now at Coast with a $225K+ surplus! 
I like to go on the calculator and move my retirement age down a year...if I'm still at Coast I make it one lower...see how far I can get. Well I got to retiring at age 60 and was still in Coast!
I don't really know if my spending estimates are accurate. Maybe we're worse off because I haven't factored in how much me and the spouses are gonna spend,...
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If there is one aspect of my life that is kind of stressing me out right now, it would be my health insurance.
Long story short, I kept using this one provider because it had qualified me to see this particular Endocrine/Diabetes specialist that I like.  However, while he was covered last year, apparently he is no longer covered this year.  More specifically, I was told by the doctor's office that my insurance plan was "On pause, awaiting approval".  This was back...
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Last year I started a spreadsheet to count how much I've saved by using paper coupons and digital coupons. From July to September I saved $300.54. Not bad. I didn't buy stuff just to use the coupons. I bought stuff because we used it and the coupons were a bonus. I decided this year to then also add any gift cards I might get through receipt apps, surveys, and blood donations. So, the totals so far this year are:
Coupons: $311.68
Gift cards: $135
I participate in 5 receipt apps,...
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This turned into another TLDR post, but I did include a "Still a Handyman" near the end.  If you want to just see that part look for that label.  But if you would like to hear about travelling across the USA this March - read on...
 
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Travelling across the USA (or: Now I'm a tour-guide)
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Well now that I am retired I am trying to use the time and...
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Tax season was busy so I haven't been on in a bit.  That being said gosh my last post was about insurance.  And this post about insurance.  That same kiddo?  Hit 2 parked cars trying to park between them yesterday.  What can I say?  Except I'm glad she's okay.  I'm glad no one was hurt. It was an ideal accident of hitting two parked cars.  I would never have tried but you know with age comes wisdom of not trying to squeeze in a spot.Oh yeah...
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One of the main reasons why nobody in real life knows I have money is because I am well-aware of how people can start to look at you like an ATM machine if I am not careful.  Often times, the people around me don't mean to do that on purpose.  It's just that everybody gets into a financial pinch once in a while, so out of desperation, they start to ask everyone they know for money, especially with those who seem to have some.
That and I don't actually think I'm rich...
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As quick recap, I actually moved earlier this year.  However, due to all that moving hub bub, a lot of things were put on the back burner until things finally settle down.  One of those back burner things was me switching to a new phone provider.
My old one (T-Mobile) was rather expensive.  However, it was the most reliable provider for where I was living and working at the time.  Once retired, I was finally ready to switch providers, but other things kept...
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I slept so poorly last night. I think thoughts of this morning's early arrival of the power company crew was on my mind.  Would they cut down the tree or leave it to me? Would I be out of power long or not? Would I be able to clean up the mess before taking dad out to lunch today?
I didn't think I slept AT ALL, but my Fitbit said I slept for 5 hours. It doesn't take much to mess up my sleep, believe me.
A crew of 4 arrived (maybe a little overkill, but I assume they had...
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