This post is the latest in a series from friend of the blog, Chris Pascale. While his previous posts were mostly about the often strange intersection between life and money, this one is about fiscal planning. Specifically, it’s about how your plans need to change to remain relevant when confronted with new circumstances. It’s a theme that fits in particularly well with this blog for several reasons: Continue reading
I was at an estate sale. Among the hundreds of cups and glasses, I bought a dozen for $3.
Inside the house, passing a glass-encased wall display of ceramic dolls, I went to the basement. It was wall to wall hardcover popular novels – read once and then occupying shelves beyond the owner’s death. I wouldn’t buy them for a quarter, and the library wouldn’t take them for free. At $20 retail, there was at least $10,000 worth of purchases.
Leaving the basement and seeing more commemorative glass sets for sports teams and other themes, I saw that this was a theme – whatever they had, they had a lot of.
All of it cost money, and each purchase was a trade-off that initially appeared to be cash for a Stephen King book, a New York Mets beer stein, and a fourth coffee maker. Continue reading
Hey folks! I hope everyone is staying safe and sane out there during the COVID-19 pandemic. Grumpus Familias is safely ensconced at our new home in Nelson, New Zealand. We love the place despite the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. I attached a picture of the snow-capped mountains of Mordor that we can see from the hill we live on as proof.
However, more on life in NZ in future posts, because I have another great guest post to share from Chris Pascale. Today’s topic is Making Bold Adjustments which fits perfectly as a subject for this blog. I hope you agree.
In case you’re a new reader, or just don’t remember, Chris is a Marine Corps veteran, a friend of the blog, and also an author. In addition to that, he helped me BIG time by editing my forthcoming book, The Golden Albatross, which I’m happy to announce that ChooseFI Media will publish in June! Stay tuned for more announcements soon.
Concept art from the book! It’s so close to release, I can smell that new book smell.
Back to saying great thing about Chris, though! He is interested in many of the same things I am like personal finance, pension hacking, and family time. Yet, he looks at things differently than me, which means he always has a fresh angle or new topic in mind for the blog. You can check out his other guest posts by going to the Article Index. One more thing, as with all other guest posts on the blog, I supplied the pictures, captions, and what hopefully passes as comic relief.
OK, Chris, take it away …. Continue reading
Happy Thanksgiving to all my U.S. readers! After a long hiatus, I’m back to writing new blog posts. My return just happens to coincide with my favorite American holiday and is in time for my annual Thanksgiving post. Fittingly, I have a long list of reasons to be thankful this year, some of which I will discuss in this article and some of which I will discuss in future ones. But, first things first. Does anyone know how much work it takes to properly retire from the U.S. military after 20 years of service?
The Grumpus Maximus household has a lot to be thankful again for this year.
I can reliably report that it takes a lot of effort if you want to do it correctly. Between Veteran’s Administration (VA) medical appointments, retirement paperwork, turnover with my relief, and a plethora of other tasks, my last few months of active duty just flew by! And then like that, it was over. I say that because in the last month I started Terminal Leave and hosted my retirement ceremony. Continue reading
Greetings again everyone. I’m in the final throws of editing my book, and as such, I haven’t found time to write any new posts. However, I’m close to what I hope is a final product, which means I’ll return to blogging at regular intervals soon!
In the meantime, Chris Pascale threw me (another) solid and wrote (another) awesome guest post. This one chronicles his and his wife’s efforts to teach their kids useful life and financial lessons. All I managed to do was to add pictures and (somewhat) funny captions. Continue reading
I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter. — Winston Churchill
I did something different this week for work. I deployed to a foreign country for a military exercise. I’m writing this post from that country as a matter of fact. It’s the first time since my Afghanistan tour in 2013 that I’ve deployed abroad with all my gear. It’s also the first time since my financial awakening that I’ve deployed. Granted, I traveled multiple times on official orders since Afghanistan and was also stationed overseas for multiple years. However, except for our Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move from Europe to Hawaii, I consider my travel comparable to business trips. There’s something different about packing up all your combat gear that sharpens the mind. As a result, while not a tour to a combat zone, I used this military exercise as an excuse to build my “Death Binder”.
Just for the record, Mrs. Grumpus hates the term, Death Binder. In fact, she won’t let me call it the Death Binder in the house. Instead, we call it the “Financial Binder” or “Financial Folder”. However, I call it the Death Binder when she’s not around. I do that partly because of my love of heavy metal. There’s something about the term Death Binder that makes me want to throw the devil sign up in the air and bang my head while shouting “DEATH BINDER” in my loudest metal voice.
…and I am here to make you think about work and get sad and stuff.
Part of the side effects from my PTS means the wrong damn song, movie, book, or thought can be problematic from time to time. This happened recently. While I was typing an article about pensions and streaming some music, a sad song played over my headphones. That’s not always an issue, except I’d never heard this song before, so I didn’t know to skip it. The song’s subject related to one of the causes of my PTS. As a result, I scrambled for the volume control before tears erupted uncontrollably. Alas, I was too slow. As a result, I spent the next few hours trying to control the flood of emotions that washed over me.
Unlike my previous articles on my mental health and job struggles, this article isn’t about anger. It’s about sadness. In true Grumpus Maximus form though, the article is still relevant to the topics of personal finance, careers, and the Golden Albatross. Yet, much like my Worth vs. “Worth It” article, this story is raw and personal. Even more so than my previous article in fact. If that isn’t your thing, I completely understand and don’t hold it against you. Click away now.
For those who choose to stay, consider yourself warned… Continue reading
My brothers and sister used to call me Charlie Brown because of my epic bad luck. Well before the horrible accident which I touched upon briefly in Unintentional Meander Up Grumpus Ave Part 1, the family knew the only law which applied to me was Murphy’s. Mostly this played out in harmless ways, such as all my toys breaking. If there was one kid in the family whose Christmas toy broke on Christmas Day, it was me. Birthdays too. The phenomenon didn’t stop at the end of adolescence either. In fact, Mrs. Grumpus often mutters that if she’d only known about this “Charlie Brown thing” prior to our marriage, she would’ve re-examined her options.
What can I say Mrs. Grumpus? When you pay Peanuts, you get Charlie.
All joking aside, the “Charlie Brown thing” really cheeses Mrs. Grumpus off because it makes my purchase decisions more complex than they need to be. It also turned me into a cheapskate. In my mind, what’s the use of buying something nice if it’s just going to break? On the plus side, I’m not materialistic. Since material items break easily in my world, I don’t get attached to stuff.
I am sitting at home on Thanksgiving 2017 with a turkey breast on the smoker and some time on my hands to reflect. I find the Grumpus Minimi (pronounced min-EE-my) thankfully entranced with Charlie Brown specials, and Mrs. Grumpus busy making the pumpkin pie. Yes, for this five minutes my life feels like a Norman Rockwell painting (ignoring the Hawaii climate). I have much to be thankful for with respect to my life, this year more than any other. I hope as you’re reading this you feel the same way. If so then I believe our thoughts are aligned with the original intent of this holiday.
We’ve moved on to Paw Patrol apparently.
I’ve always loved Thanksgiving. A day set aside by one of the richest nations to ever exist in human history in order for its citizens to reflect with friends and family on the bounty that life found fit to bestow upon them, always appealed to me. Declared a national holiday in 1863 at the height of the U.S. Civil War, I would also suggest that part of the original intent included a belief by then President Lincoln that we should be thankful despite the hardships life has set in our path. As any student of U.S. history can tell you, my nation has thankfully never again seen such hardship as the Civil War. Continue reading
I’ll admit up front this article won’t be to everyone’s liking which probably isn’t a good way to start out a blog post if you want people to read it. However, there’s a likelihood that some readers will get no more than a few paragraphs in, and question what the hell any of this has to do with Financial Independence (FI) or pensions. They may even think all I’m trying to do is blow my own horn. I’m not, but I could see how it might appear that way if you don’t stick around to the end. Admittedly, I used this post as an opportunity to engage in some much-needed writing therapy. One of my Docs told me it would help to write about events from my career which contributed to my PTS. Thus, dealing with the topic of “worth vs. worth it” gave me the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. I’ll leave the determination of whether I successfully pulled it off up to you. Continue reading