The 1980s brought us cable TV, personal computers, parachute pants and mullet haircuts (powerful proof that not every “innovation” equals progress). The decade also saw the rise of the 401(k) plan.  Before the heyday of mullet haircuts, the phrase “retirement plan” referred to a pension plan. A pension was a social contract between workers and […]

Do you get the feeling that it’s the coronavirus, not the Grinch, that’s trying to steal Christmas? I’m sure I don’t’ need to recite all of this year’s national and international economic disappointments that have come as a result of this pandemic.  For the unemployed oil field worker, the exhausted nurse or teacher, the farmer […]

Sometimes when I ask people, “What are your financial goals?” they say things like: “Other than having enough one day to retire on, I’m not sure I have any clear financial goals.” After a pause they add, “That’s not a very good answer, is it?” That’s usually when I say, “Maybe if I asked better […]

If you’re over 50, you may remember AAA TripTiks booklets. From AAA’s website: “In the days before Google Maps…or even the internet…a AAA agent would draw the route with a highlighter on a series of numbered maps, going through the route with the driver before they started. The end result, a guided route through a […]

The holiday season is advertiser season.  We see a parade of TV commercials and online ads showing us peaceful, thankful and content people. But they’re not real, are they? They’re actors, visions created for us by clever marketers, promising us the good life if only we’ll buy their product. Perhaps you’re not like the people […]

What a year. Coronavirus. According to Johns Hopkins, COVID-19 has now infected some 12 million Americans and claimed more than 250,000 lives.  Race issues. Around the same time the coronavirus began spreading across the U.S., the death of George Floyd in Milwaukee triggered nationwide protests (some violent) over issues of race and policing practices.  Hurricanes. […]