Squandering the Kids’ Inheritance

Are you planning on leaving an estate to your children? Are you hoping for an inheritance from your own family to help fund your retirement? Let’s talk about this for a minute. Read more

Another Step Toward Lowering Recurring Expenses

Regular readers know that we are working to reduce recurring costs in our household budget. Aren’t all baby boomers doing this to financially prepare for a more predictable retirement? We took another expense reduction step this week. Read more

Using Time Wisely – Baby Boomer Edition

We are reminded periodically by others to “use our time wisely.” We’ve told our children that many times. This nugget of advice takes on more significance to baby boomers because we appreciate that a huge chunk of our earthly time has come and gone. Today I received another admonition on this very topic. It hit me hard and reinforced some of the decisions I have made in recent years. Read more

Low Cost Computing for a Baby Boomer Lifestyle

I rely heavily on personal computers for work and home activities. So do you. One of my objectives over the past couple of years has been to reduce the cost of computing in the one area where cost-control is easiest: software. I have found many free software applications that work as well or better than their costly counterparts. I thought I would share with you how this baby boomer uses free software to lower the cost of using a computer for every day tasks. Read more

Stories of Retirement Success and Regret

I try to read retirement stories told by others, successes, regrets, and failures alike. Those that have retired before us have much to teach us about things they did right and wrong in preparing for and living in retirement. I need to do a better job of referencing those stories here, so that I and other readers can benefit from them. Read more

Life Downsizing and Simplifying the Boomer Way

I’m making tangible progress on my attempts to simplify and downsize my life. This is happening at home and at the office. Check out what I’m doing. Maybe it will inspire you? Read more

Boomer Travel and Airline Bag Fees

I hate what the airlines are doing with bag fees in a desperate attempt to remain profitable. Only Southwest Airlines is holding the line on these fees so it will continue as my airline of choice. Read more

How Many Vehicles Will You Own in Retirement

As pre-retirement baby boomers, my wife and I own three vehicle: one for each of us for everyday use and an older SUV for towing. I don’t like the cost of maintaining and operating three vehicles. I envision the day when we will have only two and, when I fully retire, perhaps only one. Read more

Merry Christmas from Your Fellow Baby Boomer

Go To Retirement has been quiet this week. I’ve been rehabbing my post-surgical knee and finishing up projects at work, all on top of the typical Christmas preparations. All is done now. We are at the lake with our three sons and one son’s significant other (whom we have grown quite fond of), and five dogs! It’s a human-canine circus but great fun for everyone. There is a fire blazing, the gifts are wrapped ahead of time (has never happened before), and we are relaxing towards our Christmas Eve traditions of cheese fondue, Christmas Eve Mass, and watching It’s a Wonderful Life.

We are content and grateful.  God has blessed us with a precious family near and far. I hope that each of you can find peace and joy this Christmas Season. Thanks so much for sticking around.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

New Online Tools for Better Travel Planning

Baby boomers have more time to travel than many other age groups. In prior decades, we would consult a travel agent to help us plan our travels. Now, with so much travel information available to us online, we can act as our own travel agent. There are hundreds of online tools that help locate and organize travel information. Some have been around for years. Some of the newer travel tools and sites are worth considering. Here are a few that I have found useful: Read more

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