Realignment and Recalibration Of a Happiness Meter

Time to fill the glass again

Having a birthday recently, I stepped up my game by consciously appreciating events, people, and interactions more. It’s a lot tougher than appreciating material things that one can see and touch. It’s a work in progress with plenty of room for improvement.

I’ve been saving this quote from a blog:
“Humans don’t prosper without a positive way to spend their waking hours. Children, family, exercise, and chores can take up a few hours, but without something else, it can be brutal.”

The quote comes out of this blog and I implore you to read it.
https://www.urgentcarecareer.com/2017/03/stories-of-an-early-retiree/

While this article focuses on retirement, it was pretty easy for me to re-align it to my very own happiness meter.  The financial part of retirement was an easy but long process.

Bottom Line #1.
Never during my quest for FIRE did any of my personal goals, planning, and financial models ever account for my happiness for myself or Mrs.Fromthebachrow.

That is why the quote above resonated with me. It’s what needs to get worked on while enjoying an encore career.

Bottom Line #2.
 The quote listed above helps connect another set of dots for me. If I keep connecting the dots, the picture of a well-lived life will eventually come into focus as I appreciate the process. 

Tax Time & Connecting The Dots

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Save some, spend some, invest some

I’ve been working on my tax return for the past couple of weeks. I’m still waiting for Charles Schwab to release the 1099’s. They are always the last to report my financial statement to me. What’s up with that?

During my TurboTax income “questionnaire”, I’m always pleased with the small efforts that I put in throughout the year to track my expenses to the nearest penny. My year-end roll-up makes doing taxes just more palatable since I keep track of the necessary docs to get taxes done quickly and easily.
Continue reading “Tax Time & Connecting The Dots”

The Ultimate Southeast Road Trip Part 3: More Airbnb’s

Elvis’ Time Capsule

Welcome back.  This is part 3 of 3.

If you read my article about where you were on the second saddest day in rock & roll history, then you can certainly figure out that our next stop was going to be Memphis.

I’ve been wanting for years to go to Memphis to see Graceland.
Memphis completely surprised me with the number of other points of interest worth experiencing.
We got back into the Airbnb groove again with an ideal location near Beale St.
Beale Street is lined with many a Blues Bar.  Great music poured out of nearly every bar.  Continue reading “The Ultimate Southeast Road Trip Part 3: More Airbnb’s”

Working On Few Other Things

Eagles Concert Chicago United Center

Thanks for checking in.
I’m sure you’ve been wondering when the blog is going to see a fresh piece.

I’ve been focused a bit on the back end of the website and keeping up with some of the routine maintenance of running a blog. This also includes keeping the site secure. My coding skills are not very impressive except for the fact that these things take me four times longer.

I also have a few other things that have me preoccupied at the moment. If you follow me on Twitter, you might be able to put a puzzle piece together.

In the meantime, there is an archive of helpful articles to keep you entertained. The archives are set up to be your resource and the search box will help you get to the topic faster.  Give it a try.

Bottom Line:
How are you doing tracking your expenses? I bet you wish you made a better effort now that you have been working on your 2017 taxes.
Start today.  Your future self will thank you.

I’ll be Bach Soon.