Good morning!!!!

[Rich B1]

Happy birthday Sophie

Gas went down from $4.05 to $3.99 locally today. Glad I waited Until this evening to get gas.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Got gas for $3.59 today and didn’t have to go to Taco Bell.

Took off early for financial advisor preliminary meeting. The good news is the back of the napkin calculation says I can probably retire anytime. I thought they would have a more detailed review since I sent in my account balances weeks ago, but this “free” meeting was a sit and talk. Now to decide if I want to pay them to manage my retirement funds, which isn’t cheap. I think the other option was to pay them to create a plan for me and I manage it.
He recommended waiting to collect SS until at least FRA, and using retirement funds to carry over until then, along with a couple retirement annuities I can collect on soon. Apparently future survivor benefits will be reduced if I take the reduction now at 62.
Decisions decisions. I figure I’ll still work a little while yet. Wish I had recorded the session, as a few things I didn’t fully understand or didn’t understand enough to ask questions.
He thought Obamacare could handle the health insurance until Medicare kicks in.

Ate early supper at mission bbq afterwards.

He did say PA and TN did not tax retirement pay, and VA did not tax SS income.

Tomorrow is dads 98th birthday.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

PJ, sorry for wife’s loss of her uncle.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SOPHIE! Hope there are many more!
That BX will be a nice surprise.... does she know about it?

PJ, our condolences to your wife's family.

We awoke yesterday to 4" of snow, then show showers off and on throughout the morning. By afternoon, the temps went into the low 40's and a couple of rain showers melted 90% away.
Then again this morning, 2" of snow overnight! Temps this got high enough to melt most off before noon. Multiple little "storms" or snow squalls throughout the day would suddenly drop temps to around freezing and drop about a half inch.... then melt off.... then dump some more! Supposed to get another couple inches overnight tonight.

Weird weather for us for sure.... This is all heading for you guys in Tx, so hold onto your hats!

Went into town this morning for a Costco run... the bill was under $200, so I got off easy. After unloading the Costco order, headed to Wally World for some other things not avail at Costco.... Another $100. I did notice a pretty dramatic increase in prices on most things.

At least gas dropped a bit more... $3.78 / gal at Costco. I had just above a quarter tank, still cost $60 to top the truck off. I'm glad it wasn't $200 like RNG.

Heart monitor arrived about an hour ago.... Gonna go read the instructions and get it installed.

Everyone stay safe, warm, and out of harm's way!

 

[Wagtail]

Just afternoon all! Cool night at 8C and it's warmed up to a cloudless 20C with a gentle breeze. 0.7mm of rain in the gauge.

Not much else to report, other than the continuing 'putting things back where they belong' as I find them after the soiree. I did go into town this morning for a monthly coffee get-together with area Veterans. I raised the point that Russia waited to start this war after all of us Cold War Vets had retired.

Take care Cobbers!

 

[txdon]

Regular gasoline (87 octane) was down here also at $3.799 at the three closest filling stations. That price is without any hold on taxes.

FireWise brush clearing went well, in less than 2 hours we were finished with today's section. we had to drag all the cutting out from behind several blocks of houses so our chipper could make mulch. Not as big a pile as RNG but impressive for a dozen 60-70 year olds considering some of the branch drags outs were 1/5 mile.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 43ºF for the start, overcast, windy. Windy day, overcast did not clear, and high temp was 54ºF at midnight, made it back to 47ºF during day. Did not see any damage to roof, not a lot of limbs down. Today was a feed the fire day. Was supposed to go to funeral for member of wife's first husband's family, but wife changed her mind this morning. Thought about a ride but too cool and windy. Did get a nap in.
Don hope you and Kyle were not damaged, I think tornado was well north of Bird. sorry about cousin's friend house. Neat pic
Dennis sorry about oil monitor not resetting. hope shed not too damaged.
Randy(wag) sorry about the initial breakdowns. Glad rest of day went well and people helped with cleanup. Sounds like the was a lot clean up and put away.
Roy hope you got dump run complete and winter tires off.
Buppies hope your rain not like our rain.
Drew glad you were able to get your tires.
Bill sorry you did not conserve enough energy yesterday, hope today went better
Billy sorry about the wet places in field, just think of how much cleaning it would need
Oosik good to hear snow gone and warming up
Bird glad you got good rain, only .5 here, and tornado closer than I like.
Ken nice pic and story.
Paul hope trip was/will be safe, good to hear ground firming up.
Phil good to hear all is well in your world.
Don hope ground firm enough after rain. Did you play cards without missing people and did you do ok?
PJ glad no heavy weather, prayers for wife's family at her uncle passing.
Drew glad you got planting done, sorry about grumbling back.
David happy birthday to Sophie, glad doors are done. Hope she enjoyed her dinner.
Randy glad trees got a trim, hope you get mmm on tractor soon
RNG that should look nicer and less fuel for fire, glad you got pistol working.
Thomas hope snow melting picks up and pt job slows down.
Buppies sorry to hear about knee.
Dennis good luck with retirement decision, do you have more health risk with your medical history?
Ted good to hear you got more moisture. No rain for us for a week. hope heart monitor does it's thing easily.
Randy(wag) .7 mm does not really get ground wet here. Hope coffee time was enjoyable.
Don nice pile of cedar trees.
prayer for all, especially Jay/Peg, Kyle's daughter/friend PT from Covid, /mom recovery and breathing, living alone, Bird/aging issues/, Don /mom's pipeline process, Randy/FIL living alone adjustments /MIL Covid /son's FIL death /new cancer surgeries /cataract surgery, Roy /palpitations, /angina , Billy /wife fall, David(moss) /remodel /divorce, Buppies /new skin cancer surgery and recovery, /wife head wound healing, Thomas/gout, Phil /reflux, /wife's eyes, Steppenwolfe/son-auto immune disorder, Grev/wife's eye, Ted/knee recovery/retirement, / passing out issues, /family issues, Doug and wife/health issues/nerve and pain/ wife's eyes /rib, Ken/aunt fall injuries, David(sadamo)/Sophie's new eye surgery follow up, Chris/neighbor's granddaughter and Covid issues, Scaredy/injuries from fall, Paul/ wife's disc issues /dog seizure, Gale and KY/ tornado victims, Mike /5 year plan, Dennis/ brother "alligallyitus" and improving, James /wife's fall and recovery, Drew /brother's wife Covid, PJ /wife's uncle passing, Ukraine war, and Country.
stay safe and healthy you all.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

.
Dennis good luck with retirement decision, do you have more health risk with your medical history?
.

I don’t really know. I do want to be within 20 minutes of a hospital when I do find retirement land.
He also used the 4% rule. Now I’m reading that some people don’t think it’s good to follow. They also say 4% rule was developed on 60-40% stock to bond, but the advisor was saying 50-50 ratio.

 

[sodamo]

Dennis, so much to consider re retirement. Medical coverage likely near top of list these days.

Interesting how advice on SS changes. When I was 62, the word was take it. One of the reasons, in spite of the potential increase by waiting was the potential lost. For example, say you decided to wait until age 70 and were to die at 69, 11 months, you got nothing.
A consideration for taking early was investing if you didn’t need the income. My choice was a bit different in that we chose to use SS to pay down our mortgage. I considered that an investment. While we did use some of investments for the house build, we were also able to reduce that a bit by taking SS. While Edelman favors carrying a large mortgage and ensuring you have the capability to make the payments, I convinced this was preferable alternative for us. There were a couple years we made it tight for ourselves in a cash sense, but of course the money was there, just out of immediate reach. Being debt free may not make us rich, but it is a comfortable feeling that barring the unforeseen, our monthly must pay bills should not be a burden, now or should I take an early exit. I suspect one of these days my advisor might ask why we aren’t investing it, but buying my Mule and now getting Sophie a BX, kinda feels nice. I just tell our son his inheritance will included appreciated assets, appreciated by his mother and me.

To trade off taking investment income while delaying SS, an interesting decision. Moreso if you end up not getting SS. I might ask the advisor to calculate potential to take early SS, invest it and compare the results at SS FRA. Used to be that SS figured most people drew approx same total amount of money regardless of when they started : less $ longer = less $ shorter. There is a survivor benefit aspect to the question as well.

Bottomline is to do what works for you (and family)

Good luck.

 

[sodamo]

Interesting, delicious birthday dinner for wife. We were joined by neighbor lady up the road. She didn’t know it was Sophie’s birthday but had asked Sophie if next time we did lobster if she could tag along, so we included her. She’s a warm hearted, super nice retired nurse and we always enjoy our time with her.

Unplanned part of the evening, after dinner, my truck wouldn’t start. Not even with the jumper battery. 2nd time this week. Tomorrow will be calling the Honda dealer as it is still under warranty, only 14k miles.
Called Honda roadside assistance. Neighbor (Shon) insisted on also calling AAA as she is a 38 year member.
I got a call from Driver saving he was on his way. About 30 seconds later, Shon received a call. Guy asked her if by chance she was with a guy named David? same guy responding to both calls. He arrived about 20 minutes later and promptly jumped the truck. Had a chuckle about getting both calls to same location.
Made it home without further incident.
Dealership call in morning.

 

[sodamo]

Ted, no Sophie doesn’t know yet. Have made it almost 6 months without slipping, came close a couple time. Really hoping to totally surprise her.

 

[daugen]

good morning all
cooler 41 going up to 53 in cloudy weather all day
other than making a trip to apple orchard to get likely last batch of apples, not much planned for today.

a surprise tractor present, how cool!
truly shows the love

 

[wngsprd]

45 going to 66 and rain comes in this afternoon.

Happy Birthday to Sophie! Hope the tractor comes in soon.

Nice clean up job, RNG.

Buppies, get well! ...and be careful.

BEF, good luck on the retirement decisions. It is never a one size fits all situation. For instance, if your SS benefits are higher than your wife's, then waiting to take would not only boost your payments about 8% per year but also her survivor benefits, if you go first. It is sort of like insuring older age. On the other hand, it will require you to live past age 83 to recoup what you will give up from 62 to age 70. Glad you got the Mission BBQ dinner. There are a lot of free models/calculators/info on the internet. I use one reco by The Wall Street Journal called opensocialsecurity.com/

My wife and I hiked up Nicholson Hollow yesterday...great spring day and the river had a really good flow...lots of cascades and big boulders to sit on for lunch. Mountain wildflowers were already starting to bloom...such as bloodroot and hepatica...the corn-lily was also emerging. Saw trout jumping at flies, deer wandering and old stone fences built over 100 years ago by settlers. Parking lot had a lot of cars with out-of-state plates, but they were all hiking the Old Rag trails. We saw no one on our trail for over 4 hours. Stopped by Yoder's on the way home and picked up an orange juice cake.

 

[Buppies]

55 high of 63 heavy rain amd storms today

Happy 98th Birthday to BEFs father

Mostly tires will be in mid to late April for wife’s car

Truck was also broken bad battery and computer lost memory

Knee sore and swollen this morning

Prayers for all our country Ukrainian people

 

[Looking4new]

Good morning, low temp is 27 and going to a high of 32°F. Wind E 16 mph. Periods of snow mixed with ice pellets. None so far.

I collected CPP (American SS) at age 60 one month before my 61st birthday. Got it retroactive back to my 60th birthday a lump sum payment and then regular monthly payments after that. We had a scheme where if we continued to work we could continue CPP deductions (which I did) until age 65 and they would add on to our payments later, which they are. Another 4.5 years and I will have broke even on what I paid into it over the lifetime (40 years) of working. Working for me pays the utility bills and the CPP puts some jingle in my pocket. There is a cap on what I can make before CPP starts 'clawing back' their payments. I think it is around $129,000.oo. Old Age Security (OAS) we have to apply for at age 65, it comes monthly, you don't have to pay into it and their threshold for clawback is around $76,000.oo they only had to clawback for 1 year on me, I have since worked smarter. Only work 4 months of the year and don't collect Unemployment Insurance...YET.
Unemployment insurance, IF you collect it 3 years in a row, you are considered a frequent flyer and will have to repay them 35% come income tax time. That is why I stopped collecting it, that and you have to prove to them that you are actively looking for work.
The Canadian system of CPP is fully invested and making money. Therefore it should never run out of money. We hope. OAS comes out of the tax coffers, I think, as does GIS (Guaranteed Income Supplement), which I cannot collect, I make too much.
I think, now don't hold me to this, but I think the Canadian system was modelled after the US system. We started in 1965.
I think after I get the Dodge paid for I may fully retire. There is only $8500.oo owing on it. That is going to depend on how my license medical goes, I have to get one every year since age 65, to maintain my Class "A" license. Otherwise my license gets downgraded to a 'G' good for a car/pickup.

Enough of a 'wall of text', I'm going to conserve energy today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEFs Father!

Have a safe day all

 

[txdon]

I don’t really know. I do want to be within 20 minutes of a hospital when I do find retirement land.

Make sure the hospital can handle emergencies. A good way to find out is ask if it has an ICU. A lot of hospitals in Texas do not and for a "real" emergency they have to fly you out wasting valuable time. Another way is to ask the local Ambulance service which hospital is best for __________ emergency.

Good morning! 42˚F heading to the upper 60s, clear skies NW wind. Today would be a good day to wash vehicles.

 

[kenmbz]

Morning all, 39 going up to 52 , sun is up but calling for rain in the forecast.
Leaner is down, now just a stack of rounds.

Finally gave up and called a local HVAC guy, he was perplexed too.
Seems the pressure sensor (not switch) is too far off the needed voltage, so stopping the furnace from firing. He had to get the manufacturer tech on the phone to figure this out, they knew this sensor has issues. Sitting at 3.0 V when it should be a little over 3.9V.
So they ordered the sensor and will only charge me the 1 hour call and the sensor + a few percent and will come back to install.

Buppies - when you fall, think through why and fix the area if you can to add a support/rail etc.
We had our parents go to the mall to walk a bit, since they have nice even floors.

BEF - happy birthday to your dad, planning anything special for his 100th?

Mostly - glad no damage-been a crazy weather year already-can't wait to see what's next

Stay safe and be well,

All that's left is stack and split for the leaner that caused me so many problems, only about 70' tall and 18" at the first cut. Baby ash.

Now that area is all done so I don't have to worry about them falling on new neighbors work crew when they start next month.

And 5 more from that area. Now on to the next area to down the trees along my current neighbors property.

 

[Buppies]

Ken was on the job stepped over mesh type safety fence hooked foot down I go. That old asphalt was hard

 

[kenmbz]

Buppies - I guess it was the not safe, safety fence! I've tripped over fence before, not fun.
Res up and Heal quick !

 

[txdon]

Youtube of a Chevy pickup caught in tornado Monday.

Just a few scratches:

We found the red pickup truck that flipped over in Elgin tornado

“He was in shock; he was crying,” said Ruben Briones, who said he helped the driver of the red pickup truck seen flipping over on Highway 290 in Elgin in a widely-circulated video.

www.kxan.com