It has only been 4.5 months since GCCjr entered the world, but he is already excited to embark on his first International adventure. He does have two passports after all.
For the past few weeks, he has been practicing his exploration skills as we walk around Taipei. He has become increasingly comfortable sleeping in his stroller in strange and noisy places, and is equally happy with a picnic in the park or lunch from a street cart. Formal dining is still a bit pretentious and boring, however.
He is becoming quite the socialite, and loves flirting with the staff at coffee shops and restaurants. He is content to sit and people watch for long periods as long as he is being held, whether it be by Mom or Dad or a total stranger. Dogs, fire alarms, honking cars, and big crowds don’t faze him in the least. (See Winnie’s Instagram which features a GCCjr photo a day.)
GCCjr thinks he is ready for a travel trial run. For a first passport stamp, we are headed to Kyoto, Japan in 2 weeks for 8 days .
“If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything” – Count Rugen
Eat well. Exercise. Brush your teeth. Cultivate a positive outlook. Get plenty of rest. Everything in moderation (including moderation.)
Along with a regular medical exam, these preventative practices are the foundation of a strategy to live a long, healthful life.
We do a respectable job of taking care of ourselves. Vegetables are eaten in abundance. With no car, walking and biking helps us build both health and wealth. (Recently I’ve increased the intensity by strapping an 8 kg little boy to my chest.) We have no employer imposed requirements or deadlines, so distress is low and eustress is moderate.
We also practice awareness, paying attention to our bodies. I’m fairly certain that when I can easily bike 900 km up and down mountains that I’m unlikely to have cardiac problems.
I wanted to throw up. My body flashed hot and cold, and I could feel the blood thumping in my temples like giant drums. My thoughts raced like wild fire, a tempest out of control.
I kept thinking about what I could do with the $1,000 I had just lost in the stock market. I could have paid down more of my student loans. I could be that much closer to eliminating the PMI on my mortgage. I could just have it in my bank account as an emergency fund.
It would take me weeks of work to regain that money after taxes and normal cost of living. What was I thinking putting my money in something risky like stocks? Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Retirement Ahead – Do You Have Enough Gas? (photo credit.)
When a sign on the highway states Next Gas Station 167 Miles, the ride is a lot more enjoyable when you know there is enough gas in the tank. “I think we can make it” doesn’t quite cut it.
The 4% Rule tells us if our Retirement has enough gas, but we don’t know if we will coast into the next gas station on fumes or if we have enough to drive across the entire country without refueling.
As life expectancy continues to increase and the ERE movement sees people expecting 60+ year retirements, there is need for an improved withdrawal plan.
In this post I outline my own thinking on how to ensure our portfolio lives longer than we do.
In Y2K I arrived in Seattle for a new job and immediately set out to buy a house. I have no idea why; I was just following the rules society had laid out.
I had just received an offer on my Chicago area house for 178k. Houses close to work started at $550k. I was experiencing major sticker shock.
Price forced me to widen my search to nearby commuter communities, where I found a great looking house in a nice neighborhood. It had easy highway access, a nice view from the upstairs office, and was barely in my price range at $292,500. Nearby was a newly constructed office park that would attract potential future buyers, and an elementary school in a good school district was a 5 minute walk up the hill
With a 20% down payment of $58,500, I had just purchased the biggest house I could afford, the smallest house in a good neighborhood. Remaining in my bank account was a lonely $20.
