Thank you. I think we’ve always had an appreciation for one another, even as kids. Neither of us enjoy conflict, holding a grudge or making the other feel bad or jealous. We are lucky.
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That article about the Cascadia subduction zone did prompt us to do seismic retrofitting and keep updated emergency supplies. But we moved to this area in part because there is water, unlike the desert southwest. We can rebuild after an earthquake. (and we are far enough east that the issue will probably be infrastructure not our own damage.) When the water is gone, it’s gone.
We’ve lived around the country, so I’ve been through a volcano eruption (in Portland when Mt. St. Helens blew), hurricane effects in the Mid-Atlantic, tornadoes in Kansas, drought and wildfires in California (evacuation a few times). So while it’s good to recognize the risks where you are going (waterfront property seems too risky to me anywhere!) everywhere has it’s own issues.
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Just posting to say husband and I are doing a good job of being retired. We’ve both found stuff we enjoy doing, and we are doing some of the things we wanted to do before we retired but didn’t “have time for.” For example, we did a biking event recently, and are now registered to do a bridge walk.
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My sister-in-law has lived a lot of years in earthquake areas (grew up in San Diego, and has lived 40 years in Anchorage). She was telling me about that concern when we were talking about Hurricane Ian (DD lives in Orlando). It does put a perspective on things. We live in a tornado area, but have a bit of protective topography - and many close tornadoes have traveled from west going NW to where we live (one area got hit 3 times within close years - YUCK). DH and I grew up in S and SW WI, so knew tornadoes (two destructive ones hit home town in same area years apart, including mom hearing the train engine sound as one was in the air over our house before it hit ground about 5 miles east).
@busdriver11, interestingly, my sister moved to Memphis when her surgeon husband got a great job offer there. She hated it for a couple of years but now really likes living there. They live in a very nice area. The downtown is dangerous but where they live is not.
My mother moved down there to go into independent living and my brother decided to move there as well. He said it was an experiment but he likes the low rent (he lives further outside the city) and plays tennis and golf in retirement and sits in with bands on Beale Street. I don’t think he is moving back.
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@shawbridge I agree, there are some nice areas in Memphis. We were based there and we lived in Collierville for five years, which was lovely. We also worked out of Memphis for 26 years, so we spent plenty of time there. Things really seemed to get worse over time. Seems fine if you stay in some of the nicer suburbs, which are great places to live, but driving into the Memphis area is downright scary. When I was commuting there, I stopped doing thank you waves to other drivers like we do in Seattle when someone lets you in, because of the fear that someone might misunderstand the gesture and shoot me. Not too long ago we had a coworker get shot while driving in Memphis. The level of violence in some areas is just awful.
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Memphis Crime Rate | Crime Statistics Memphis TN | MSCC shows crime rates by year in Memphis. Assault and murder have been up in recent years, even though robbery and property crimes continue to trend down.
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We went to New Orleans on two consecutive years for DD’s sport competition. When we drove in near our hotel about 11 pm, we noticed police on side streets, just waiting for calls to react to crime. We lucked out and got a street parking space right in front of hotel the first time - and the hotel lobby was well watched 24/7. The second time we had to pay for parking on an upper deck of hotel parking - but that was also pretty safe. We only went around with the kids during the day time. I had a visitor guide and insisted we have a really nice lunch - which we did. We went on the street trolley and went past a lot of good stuff, which the kids and I enjoyed. The waiter at the restaurant was not use to having young gals - and was really charmed by our gals; their ‘child’ plate of shrimp and pasta was a super generous serving of large shrimp, so we really had a wonderful lunch with all the extra shrimp.
Nashville, Birmingham, Atlanta - all major cities have their level of violence/guns. Just have to watch The First 48 Hours to see what’s what - and how these crimes play out.
We moved from Milwaukee to Houston in 1978 - and didn’t see the level of crime in Milwaukee that was in Houston. But Milwaukee has gotten bad areas and level of crime a lot worse now, and look at how Chicago just went through the roof with violence/guns. We got out of Houston as soon as we could (DH took a company transfer).
Certainly want to avoid lack of physical safety in retirement, as much as one can.
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With the stock market is down the toilet, this retiree is finally going back to work to make ends meet, $15 a day, haha, it’s called Jury Duty. I think the fact that I served once so now I get summoned frequently. I don’t mind, it’s my favorite court, the other location is hellish to park.
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H is finishing up his two month term next week. He was not happy about it at all, but so far only had to report twice and wasn’t selected either time.
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Mine is only one week. But if it’s a month, that’s a lot of money, I can think how many roses I can add to my yard.
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We only get paid if you have to report. There were 18 court days in 2 months, but two panels of jurors to choose from, and most cases settle before going to cout. You have to call a number the night before and the morning of to see if you have to go. But I think we get paid $30/day.
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Wow! It’s $10 a day here for your first two days, and then $25 per day after that. But they don’t pay for parking. 3 years ago I would have happily ridden the light rail, but it’s just a mess right now and not always safe.
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Anyone else buying i-bonds while the rate is high? I’ve meant to buy some for months, but I finally did it today. I know the rate changes in November, but will still be better than funds sitting in a a “cash like” account.
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Ironic. I did too this morning. Older S has been suggesting it to me for awhile, but I’ve been dragging my heels. New things being scary and all.
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Not me. The purchase limits are too low to move the investment needle. Plus, Treasury Direct does not allow for contingent beneficiaries.
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I bought mine in May when the topic was raised:
I was able to add son as POD on my bonds in Treasury Direct.
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I literally came on here to see whether people were still doing this. I have TreasuryDirect as an open tab right now.
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I bought one in May for my D24 and am just about to purchase another with funds from a CD that just matured.
I tried calling to ask a couple of questions, but they aren’t taking anymore phone calls today. Oooook.
Is the $10k a one-time purchase or can you do $10k/year? Can I open one account, and dh open another in the same year if we file jointly? Anyone know?