Fair warning: this is a long post, even by my standards. Hey, it's Thursday, it's a holiday weekend, and (for a change) it's not financial. There's not even any math. But let's get to the post. Ironically for being one of my personal writing milestones, most of this one is written by other people! A couple ...
Jane Gross' mother died in 2003 after several years of declining health. Jane and her brother spent those years moving Mom from Florida back to New York, settling her in one assisted living facility and then moving her to another, working through a number of medical problems, and finally ...
First, some background. As a newbie niche personal-finance blogger I've learned a lot (more) about the seamy financial side of the blogosphere. A whole cottage industry is swapping links and posts for SEO & money, and it's going corporate. I've been surprised to learn how many bloggers have ...
After those last two blog posts, it's time to lighten things up a little. Let's talk about figuring out the "new rules" when your fledgling leaves the nest. Our daughter has given me permission to blog about an e-mail that we sent her a few weeks after she started college. Until she turned 18, her ...
"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." -- Henry Ford A Yahoo! Contributor recently posted an article explaining five reasons why she'll never retire early. She's going to work as long as she can, and well past "traditional" retirement age of her 60s. The author is one of Yahoo's more ...
A reader posted some great questions the other day: What do you think is going to happen with the “retired benefit” debate within the greater context of the DoD portion of the Federal Budget? Will it be another ... slash and burn? What does your financial sense say? The 1990s military drawdown was about the end of ...
I'm writing my first post from our new familyroom. The construction is finished and 99% of the interior painting is done, so yesterday my spouse and I spent a couple of hours moving back in. (We bribed a neighbor's teen at $10/hour to help us haul the boxes and move the big pieces of furniture.) For the last four ...
Conventional wisdom claims that retirees shouldn't carry debt. If you're going to enjoy retirement then you want to minimize your non-discretionary expenses and maximize your entertainment! discretionary spending. However, military retirees (and retirees with annuities) have the “unusual” situation of highly ...
This is the final post on the choices of retirement planners and their strengths/weaknesses. If you're new to this blog (or if you've discovered this post through a search engine) then you might want to read about the problems with retirement calculators. They all have advantages & drawbacks (no matter how well ...
Dad's doing fine in the care facility. He's happy and he's safe. His Alzheimer's symptoms have stabilized with their care. He's coping with his myeloma symptoms and waiting for chemotherapy to start. He's sleeping more than he should (Vicodin for the pain), and he's weak (anemia), and he's losing weight, and these ...
(Today's post was suggested by my daughter, who keeps an eye on Gen Y financial issues...) Shortly after Hallowe'en, MSN put up a scary article about Generation Y needing to save (spoken, of course, in a creepy Dr. Evil voice) two million dollars for retirement. And if that's not frightening enough ...
It's been a while since I've discussed the choices of retirement planners and their strengths/weaknesses. If you're new to this blog (or if you've discovered this post through a search engine) then you might want to read about the problems with retirement calculators. They all have problems (no matter how well they ...
We're military veterans, not financial advisors. We're trying to share what we've learned and to pay it forward – but you have to make your own decisions.
What worked for us will probably work for you, but unfortunately, we can’t guarantee it. Let us know if something’s not working for you, and we’ll try to figure out a better way... Continue Reading...
Doug Nordman