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Indeed, it's good to hear of your progress. I'm now 8 years into early retirement, and still am often reminded about how this us better than working. Good luck to you in your continuing journey. I look forward to the next update.

The Germans will speak English to you, but secretly they will respect your efforts, and you will enjoy being able to read signs send plaques and museum descriptions. Language is a great window into a culture.

I'm proud. 835 days with Duolingo, some Spanish, but mostly French to recover my high school and living -in-Ottawa, Canada French. Today it crossed over to my volunteer work doing tax returns for low-income people over the phone. I completed three returns for two clients complètement en...

Make sure you review what the road signs mean. I started along a road, already stressed from driving a manual transmission car, which I wasn't comfortable with, then realized I could understand the symbols on the signs. I was done. I didn't drive again that trip. Last year, I drove an...

Wow. How much is your house worth? Does $295 seem reasonable to give you peace of mind that you're not going to burn your house down because you want to have a Christmas fire? My house is worth a fair bit more than $295, so I have the chimney swept and inspected every two years, even though we...

VanWinkle: thanks for this information. That's very helpful.

Fee-based advisors? A friend in Los Angeles desperately needs advice on his portfolio of 20 different index funds, ETFs and funds of funds. It's a mess. Understandably, he doesn't want to pay 1-1.25% a year. I want to suggest a fee-based advisor, but it would be useful to give him a price range...

Don't leave on a Friday Seriously. If you leave on Friday, Saturday and Sunday feel like any other weekend. We left on a Thursday. First, you get one last long weekend. Second, we went to a diner on Friday morning for breakfast. As all the worker-bees left for their jobs in the financial...

Check out some other fee-only advisors to see what they charge. That will give you an idea of what a professional advisor would charge. I think you'll find that it would cost a lot kore than your friend who is doing it as a side gig. Then you can decide whether you're getting a good deal at the...

Some interesting ideas here. I had never heard of microwave cookies, but will look for them. The apple trick is interesting, too. The problem is with chemical scents, like Febreze, and perfumes. Some people say, "but my perfume is natural", and it isn't. Actual natural things like food, and...

Thanks for the suggestions. We prefer rooms with wood or vinyl floors as they don't hold the scent. Often housekeeping will spray the carpet or the drapes (I can smell the scent coming from the fabrics). Unfortunately, this means that anything that circulates the air, such as a fan or an open...

Does anyone have tips on travelling with scent allergies? Husband and I are on a transcontinental road trip, and are having problems with hotels that use room deodorizer and scented cleaners. These give him migraine headaches. On previous trips, he has resorted to sleeping on the bathroom...

Your attic sounds like a nice safe place for mice to live. If you manage to trap one family, then it will be vacant, and another family would likely lovely move in, what with real estate prices being what they are these days. And that means more trapping. Unless you have an effective and...

This thread has finally convinced me that the so-called "4% rule" does more harm than good. It isn't a rule: it is a rule-of-thumb. As a starting point for retirement planning, it's not altogether bad. But when people think that it is a substitute for actual retirement planning, it is dangerous...

Do you want to hear about the downside of retirement? You'll have to ask someone else. I don't know anything about that. Since 2016, we've done lots and lots of travel until the pandemic. I made some paintings, which I never thought I'd do -- I was an economist, not an artist. I've had time...

Fair point. Let's see how the Fed responds. In the 1970s, 4.2% would have been considered to be very low inflation.

When the Fed cranked up the (figurative) printing presses to deal with the 2008 Global Financial Crisis to pump trillions of dollars into the economy through quantitative easing, we saw the same predictions of runaway inflation. Why did that never happen? Because in 2013, the Fed responded to...

Anothercog: Am I happier 4.5 years after retiring at 50? Definitely. Although my job was fulfilling and I worked with good people, I have loved living my life for myself. Husband and I have travelled extensively, helped family and friends, and developed new skills. (It turns out that I am an...

Value of the Canadian dollar Don't get confused by the US and Canadian currencies having the same name. There is no reason why the Canadian dollar should ever = US$1. They are different currencies. In the same way, there is no reason that the US dollar should ever equal one euro or one pound...

Wow. Is a comment like the really necessary? I hope that no-one in your family or in my family ends up in an underequipped hospital. I also hope that you enjoy your weekend.

Soldiers use fighting tactics given to them by their superior officers based on research and advice from military experts. They don't rely on hearsay from random strangers. Well, the more successful soldiers don't. And no, the arguments about masks are based on the effectiveness of masks, and...

This is the CDC, not the Administration. The CDC has actual scientists working on this stuff, so I think it is it is a more reliable source of information than anonymous discussion forums on the internet. The World Health Organization, which is not part of the US government, says the same...

Here is what the CDC says about masks: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/prevention.html Wear a facemask if you are sick If you are sick: You should wear a facemask when you are around other people (e.g., sharing a room or vehicle) and before you enter a healthcare provider’s...

We flew to Cambodia nine days ago, a little concerned, but not willing to panic. We had bought masks, but by the time we flew, the experts were already saying that, outside of medical environments, they do more harm than good. We also choose the advice of medical professionals over that of...

Knowledge transfer With your many years of experience, you know a lot of about your work. Don't take that knowledge out the door with you when you leave. Do your colleagues a favour, do the taxpayers of your jurisdiction a favour, do the next generation of workers a favour, and focus on...