RickkciR

 Pssst... I've got a lil Secret . but first, a lil humor. A buddy of mine says to me via FB Messenger, something along the lines of how he had to deal with the Texas mess of weather the last week.  I'm thinking 'huh ...  didn't see anything on that' so I jump over to his profile page for a quick scan.  Nothing, nada. But within seconds I realize an interesting coincidence.  So I msg back ...   " Looks like I'm restricted on your page.. only see a few public posts every once in awhile.. I'm sorry for what ever I did .. sniff ..  hehe"  ... the response I get back was an nonchalant "wow you are"  but nothing else.  As I look again, this morning .. same.  We rode yesterday, etc.. good times .. but.. guess someone got a lil butt hurt over something I did / said recently?  LMAO Okay .. my secret.. .. but.. it's not a secret.  Hell, I got called out back in '17 for doing this exact thing to someone else.  What was im...

 The Big Freeze! Crazy Shit! We were supposed to travel to Mexico on the 17th ...  but a winter storm of historical proportions hit Texas; the ENTIRE state.  Hell, much of the country felt some of the cold lows, but Texas took the biggest hit overall, due to the frigid record low temps that made it all the way to the Gulf.  We knew it was coming but I really didn't believe it'd be as bad as the predicted.  I had concerns of frozen water pipes, because it's happened to us before in Greenville and Galveston, but that was about it.  What I didn't see coming, nobody did ...  was the Power Grid issue.   The whys and hows are still being brutally examined.   It's in the rear view mirror for me now.  Home in Greenville is fine after some crazy ON/OFF with the power for almost a week. Dealt with a frozen pipe issue, then water shut off by the utility caused some issues.. but.. all good.  One of my Galveston homes has a few broke p...

 IBEROSTAR THE CLUB  I'd heard of this a few years ago, but never been approached; until last last month.  Always seemed like a mystery of sorts.  I was always thinking " what the hell are you talking about" when folks would bitch, etc.  Well, last month when we traveled to the Iberostar Paraiso Grand for the umpteenth time, it finally happened.  Upon check in, we were approached by one of the concierges who was extremely nice and professional.  During the whole process she hinted we could have a meeting of sorts for the 'club' option.  Threw me off at first, because I didn't connect the dots right away thinking she was our 'main' concierge.  But, before heading to our room I realized the desk over by the check-in, window side... was the sneaky "club" folks.  A day or two later, I agreed to a morning sales pitch, but ONLY because I wanted to hear it .. understand it... the angle(s) .. .the numbers. Hey, I'm in 'sales...

 We've all heard about this... right?   When we were kids, a math teacher .. parent.. some adult with a brain, would explain it.  Save a few bucks, and the interest on it compounds.  Add it to it often, and it compounds even more/quicker.  Problem is... most don't really follow through.  I didn't.  I got off to a good start in my early twenties, but soon got side tracked.  Then cashed out and spent it. I did invest in a few Mutual Funds / IRA Accounts... but... stopped contributing and they sat there.   I still have them, but they are 'piddly' in the big picture. Me personally, it wasn't until I got out of the military and truly starting contributing to my 401k that things took off.   Actually I spent most of my time with our ESPP, which was awesome for the five years I was at an OEM.   I'd contribute for 6 months, then they issued us the stock at 15% less than market value on a given day.  I cashed out ever...

 Gotta admit, about five years ago I had a 'concern'.  Many of my close buddies have pensions. Many will be 'double dipping' with military retirements and current employer retirements.  But, not all. Definitely not myself.  I've been playing with these calculators for many years, but really began focusing on them just a few years ago.  As of late, Fidelity has a good one as does the holder of my current 401k.  And I've got a few spreadsheet variants that I use.   JP Morgan has some cool stuff they've provided me; full blown printed out overviews.  Put them all together and you get a solid feel for the direction one is headed.   Had a discussion with my sis n' law this morning on the subject and that's what prompted all this.  Her hubby retired last year. She wants to pull the plug this year.  I think she's coming up on 65, he around 63.  Basically, they have about 4 years on me.   I've been planning on pulling th...