Search found 2059 matches

by GandK
Thu Apr 13, 2023 9:51 pm
Forum: Technical Skills & Tools Questions
Topic: ERE tips to maintain a youthful appearance
Replies: 44
Views: 5027

Re: ERE tips to maintain a youthful appearance

I'll be 50 soon, and my face in repose has no wrinkles at all. Only when I smile can you see any, and those are mild. No procedures, no botox. I used to think I was either genetically blessed or doing everything right. But it turns out that this is probably due to the fact that I've lived my entire ...
by GandK
Thu Apr 13, 2023 9:23 pm
Forum: Resources & Recommended Reading
Topic: chatGPT
Replies: 106
Views: 19617

Re: chatGPT

Ex-programmer bias on my part, maybe? But I am not impressed with, frightened by, or even inclined to parry with ChatGPT or with AI in general. It's just math with words (or with images, or robotics, or driving). Creativity - the spark of the Divine, if you will - is absent from its equation. Foreve...
by GandK
Wed Apr 12, 2023 9:29 am
Forum: ERE Journals
Topic: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)
Replies: 227
Views: 59981

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Is it weird to say my favorite part of your journal is the deer? :D
by GandK
Wed Apr 12, 2023 8:28 am
Forum: Friends, Family, Relationships, and Community Questions
Topic: Dedicated Etiquette Thread
Replies: 39
Views: 7941

Re: Dedicated Etiquette Thread

Probably a "southern thing," but I was told many years ago that unless you are picking your nose, good intentions + polite wording = good manners (where good intentions means pro-other intentions, as opposed to lack of negative intentions). I would now amend this to add "... as long a...
by GandK
Sun Apr 17, 2022 9:25 pm
Forum: Money and Investment Questions
Topic: Excess Money & Charity
Replies: 32
Views: 2719

Re: Excess Money & Charity

I'd just like to point out that one need not give money to a charity to be of use to that charity. My husband, 11yo and I have volunteered full time with a religious organization since the beginning of December, and are on the lookout for our next stint. Early retirement enables things like 40 hours...
by GandK
Wed Feb 16, 2022 8:14 pm
Forum: ERE Journals
Topic: GandK's journal, part II
Replies: 53
Views: 11235

2021's finances, and what homeschooling looks like

Taxes are underway. We didn't spend much. In a home of three, we came in at about 1.4 JAFI apiece, averaged out. Had we not gone to Greece for 3 months, it would have been less than 1 JAFI each, averaged. BUT. I continue to feel like that number is deceptive and that our standard of living is closer...
by GandK
Tue Feb 15, 2022 10:57 am
Forum: Philosophy and Lifestyle Questions
Topic: Enough
Replies: 13
Views: 1638

Re: Enough

Once daily investment income (cash on cash) > monthly expenses, does finance lower in importance? ... I feel more focused than before but with less stress and more diversity in activities. Priorities now: Health> Relationships > Crypto> Original Work. What are your experiences with this shift? This...
by GandK
Sun Feb 13, 2022 5:37 pm
Forum: Technical Skills & Tools Questions
Topic: Bespoke footwear
Replies: 14
Views: 2298

Re: Bespoke footwear

I have this sometimes. Have you ever measured to see if one foot is slightly larger than the other? This happens to me in shoes but never yet when I walk around in my Xero sandals (recommended by someone in another thread). I also wear Xeros now, to solve the sore feet thing. In fact, I took only o...
by GandK
Sun Feb 13, 2022 4:51 pm
Forum: ERE Journals
Topic: GandK's journal, part II
Replies: 53
Views: 11235

Re: GandK's journal, part II

In your reflections and summarizing things for your son I am curious what you have changed your mind on the most in the past 10 years of interacting with folks on the forum? It could be little things or large things. If now sensitive to discuss things, maybe a short PM? Thanks! Interesting question...
by GandK
Sun Feb 13, 2022 12:17 pm
Forum: ERE Journals
Topic: GandK's journal, part II
Replies: 53
Views: 11235

Thoughts on this site, on life and on 2022

After a conversation with my son the other day, I went looking through old threads on this site for a particular topic. In meandering down memory lane, I realized several things. 1. I've been here since 2011. More than a decade. This was a shock... I definitely lost track of time. 2. I've posted mor...
by GandK
Wed Feb 09, 2022 3:26 pm
Forum: Health and Food Questions
Topic: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Replies: 40
Views: 4259

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

I think it's useful to point out that a lot of the illnesses we are worried about in this thread strike a lot more often in the 40+ crowd. For those of us in our 20s/30s that means we have one or two decades to accumulate before a likely issue. Plenty of time to accidentally overaccumulate. Even so...
by GandK
Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:46 pm
Forum: Health and Food Questions
Topic: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Replies: 40
Views: 4259

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

As I'm speaking to a systems-level thinker: The discussions of this topic in the west are usually best understood as death avoidance and/or pain avoidance as opposed to health care, which is a losing game no matter which way one plays it. It also creates perverse financial incentives and sets up sit...
by GandK
Tue Feb 08, 2022 10:11 am
Forum: Philosophy and Lifestyle Questions
Topic: Varieties of Howlie Experience
Replies: 18
Views: 1839

Re: Varieties of Howlie Experience

I can't get past the word "howlie." :oops: I used to live in Hawaii, and a howlie (haole) is their semi-derrogatory word for a white person. It's distracting.
by GandK
Tue Feb 08, 2022 10:00 am
Forum: Emergent Renaissance Ecology
Topic: Principle Sharing
Replies: 12
Views: 2035

Re: Principle Sharing

My fear is that the implied intellectual purity test here would deter people who either aren't yet certain how they want to build their life but would find value in exploring others' points of view, or who are comfortable juggling multiple paradigms without judging between them, from participating i...
by GandK
Wed Jan 19, 2022 10:24 am
Forum: Money and Investment Questions
Topic: Interaction with monopolized service providers
Replies: 14
Views: 1408

Re: Interaction with monopolized service providers

I am following this thread, and the MMM ones, with empathy. I have close friends whose entire career is in rental real estate, and they do not have many properties. Their situation has gradually gone from comfortable to grim. (I also have an extended family member who, when he heard there was an evi...
by GandK
Wed Jan 19, 2022 10:06 am
Forum: ERE Journals
Topic: GandK's journal, part II
Replies: 53
Views: 11235

Re: GandK's journal, part II

Your retirement sounds amazing. The idea of doing volunteer work to help the local community where you are parked makes me feel better about retiring from non-profit work. Your comment made me so happy. Thank you. I love what we are now able to do. Do you yourselves staying there for a while, or ma...
by GandK
Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:01 pm
Forum: Philosophy and Lifestyle Questions
Topic: Part-time long term or full-time short term
Replies: 26
Views: 2422

Re: Part-time long term or full-time short term

Based only on what you've posted, I'd choose the 20 years of part time. Having that extra time would give me a chance to find a better way to make money.
by GandK
Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:27 am
Forum: Technical Skills & Tools Questions
Topic: Methods and examples of highly developed social capital
Replies: 89
Views: 11855

Re: Methods and examples of highly developed social capital

I don't have many strategies for how to care more about others. Partly this comes with age, and with the realization that you can connect with almost any person about something, if only you find the thing. As far as developing social capital, the one thing I've learned to do as an Introvert whose fr...
by GandK
Mon Jan 17, 2022 5:55 pm
Forum: ERE Journals
Topic: GandK's journal, part II
Replies: 53
Views: 11235

Re: GandK's journal, part II

--- TWO YEARS LATER -- We are living the dream! Except for humanity. Our RV is parked in a church parking lot in Lake Charles, LA. We did hurricane cleanup here just over a year ago, and they've asked us to come back and volunteer more. We returned wholeheartedly. They've given us free parking, free...
by GandK
Mon Jan 17, 2022 4:12 pm
Forum: Money and Investment Questions
Topic: Pension, 403b, 457, & 401a? New Job Choices
Replies: 7
Views: 1701

Re: Pension, 403b, 457, & 401a? New Job Choices

I did some Googling on your situation. At first blush it looks like Savers Choice is the way to go. Assuming your percentages are the same as the UC percentages, in either choice (SC or Pension Choice) the state puts in 8% of pay, and you put in up to 7% of pay, on up to $290k. Comparing just those ...