Posted By RichC on July 10, 2022
While I personally have not worked the numbers, a May 2022 Barron’s Advisor column on retirement offered an enlightening look on “where” to live; it can be eye-opening!
Low income taxes aren’t everything. Many retirees who live in states with high taxes are eager to move to states with no income taxes, says Rhian Horgan, chief executive of Silvur, an app that helps baby boomers navigate retirement. But she says they need to look at their total costs including property taxes, sales taxes, and healthcare costs.
Florida has no income tax, for instance, but has high healthcare costs. A person on Medicare with supplemental medical and drug insurance will face average total medical costs of $8,352 a year in Florida, Horgan says. That’s compared with $6,208 a year in Tennessee, another state with no income tax.
Indeed, Silvur calculates that couple retiring with $1.1 million in total assets will run out of money at age 88 in Florida but age 104 in Tennessee.
That couple’s money would run out at age 77 in Hawaii, even though each spouse there would pay just $5,408 in total medical costs on Medicare, the lowest in the country, according to Silvur. Hawaii has high real estate costs and income taxes.
Category: Advice, Financial, Retirement |
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Tags: advisor, barrons, healthcare, investing, retirement, taxes
Posted By RichC on July 8, 2022
If you are on social media, you likely have already watched this shared video of a couple of ambitious and obviously hardworking guys using their skills to build a below ground level sanctuary.
Category: Tidbits, Video |
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Tags: ambition, friday filler, mp4, no limits, talent, work
Posted By RichC on July 6, 2022
Winslow Homer’s 1899 painting “The Gulf Stream” (“reworked in 1906’) is a much-celebrated work of art for a variety of reasons, but appeals to me due to the ocean scene and dismasted sailboat, as do his other Atlantic scene paintings. 
This one has seen renewed interest likely because of our current “turbulent times” … politically. Although to me, violently protesting over oppression today, compared to our American ancestors living pre-Civil War (some in slavery) or after the war during Reconstruction, seems petty. The late 1800s were the times in which the artist lived and likely formed his views as he painted his scenes. Those times of oppression were strikingly different than the mostly self-imposed woes of those who destroy property and riot today in the name of inequality … or the less quantitative term, inequity (see Grammarist).
According to CSMonitor, the painting is currently on display in a larger exhibition titled “Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
American painter Winslow Homer lived through turbulent times. He began his career in the 1860s as an illustrator and correspondent for Harper’s Weekly, as the United States was descending into the Civil War. During Reconstruction, when the nation tried (and in many ways failed) to find a path forward, he traveled through the South witnessing the aftermath of slavery.
Although Homer left scant record of his convictions about race, his paintings of Black people show his insistence on investing those images with the same realism that he displayed in capturing white subjects. For him, it was a matter of truth-telling.
Link: CSMonitor
Category: Art, Human Interest, Politics |
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Tags: Art, commentary, crosscurrents, csmonitor, metropolitan, new york, painting, the gulf stream, winslow homer
Posted By RichC on July 5, 2022
While shoveling some additional soil fill next to the edge of our driveway, I noticed a dead “oily” looking patch on the relatively new grass seed?
It seemed odd but figured perhaps an animal died there and that I just didn’t notice? Eventually I looked up and realized the cut limbs on the Mulberry tree were dripping from the heavy pruning prior to pouring the new concrete. Hm, who knew it would be so damaging to the lawn?
Category: Nature, Photos |
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Tags: crabapple, driveway, grass seed, lawn, sap, tree
Posted By RichC on July 4, 2022
According to a little American Revolutionary War reading this past year, our Declaration of Independence was celebrated on July 4, 1777 with a 13-gun salute in the morning and 13-gun salute in the evening (13 for the 13 colonies).
Interestingly, many historians suggest that the Declaration of Independence was actually signed on July 2, 1776 and not on July 4th.
John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:
The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
A Wikipedia posting suggested that John Adam’s prediction was off by two days as from the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2. In either case, have a great July 4th and be sure to honor those who fought for our independence and those for the last 246 years who have preserved it.
Category: History, Holiday |
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Tags: 13-gun salute, 4th of july, america, History, independence, united states, wikipedia
Posted By RichC on July 3, 2022
With a little travel and vacation time coming up, I went into my “want to read” list and downloaded “The Dying Citizen” from the local library to my Kindle. The 2021 book is a longer read (433 pages) from Victor Davis Hanson, a professor and military historian seen 
regularly on Fox News and Fox Business.
If you are not tuned in to conservative news, or follow classical historians and prolific academic writers, you may recognize the Hanson from his 2019 book, “The Case for Trump.”
The president of Hillsdale College, Larry P. Arnn, sums up Hanson’s latest: “This is a book about an ongoing and threatening change of ‘regime,’ which means a change not only in how we are governed but also in how we live. To understand such a thing requires perspective: Victor Hanson is deeply educated in the classics, where knowledge of regimes was first developed. It also requires a close observation of what is happening today, about which he writes insightfully and in profusion. In this book, Hanson demonstrates yet again his command across time and for our time. This book and he are a treasure.”
Category: Books, History, Human Interest, Politics |
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Tags: book, Books, citizenship, Politics, reading, the dying citizen, vacation, victor davis hanson
Posted By RichC on July 2, 2022
In one of my social media automotive threads, I saw this comparison graphic and it triggered my thinking … both from a “freedom to choose” and “work need” perspective vs a “forced to comply” based on ever-changing environmental concerns or fiscal reasons … usually by politicians (regulation, taxes, dis-incentives or incentives).
People are likely to view this graphic in different ways. Some see driving a full-size American pick-up truck as environmentally wasteful or harmful to the climate and the planet (and something to be discouraged or even punitively regulated), particularly when it is an urban/suburban commuting vehicle of choice. Others see this as American automotive freedom and as desirable as owning a larger than average home, buying the latest tech gadgets, taking time off work to travel or splurging on fine food, wine and entertainment. The beauty is that when politics aren’t the focus, having freedom to choose to buy a truck or small car is still the 
privilege of being a free-to-live your own life as an American. All to often though, those will different views butt heads, lobby and elect politicians who regulate, tax and manipulate free markets in very authoritarian ways to achieve a desired outcome. Is it even possible to maintain liberty if government keeps growing?
Category: Automotive, Energy, Environment, Politics, Social Media |
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Tags: america, choice, energy, environmental, europe, fossil fuel, freedom, libery, pick up, Politics, trucks
Posted By RichC on July 1, 2022
For Tech Friday today, here’s an impressive slow-motion video used more for an internal streaming test than for the actual content. In my quest for low-cost minimalist data storage and serving, this is just a tiny computer test. (EDIT: It failed, but will include the video from my normal server anyway.)
Category: Raspberry Pi, Technology, Video |
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Tags: mp4, pole vault, server, streaming, testing, video
Posted By RichC on June 29, 2022
It has been 66 years since President Eisenhower signed the act that created the Interstate Highway System into law on June 29th, 1956. An amazing political ($$$) and engineering feat.
Eisenhower and the House Democrats agreed to finance the system through the Highway Trust Fund, which itself would be funded by a gasoline tax. In June 1956, Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law. Under the act, the federal government would pay for 90 percent of the cost of construction of Interstate Highways. Each Interstate Highway was required to be a freeway with at least four lanes and no at-grade crossings.
LINK
Category: History, Politics, Tidbits |
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Tags: eisenhower, freeway, highway, interstate highway system, map
Posted By RichC on June 29, 2022
After nearly 40 years of buying and using Apple products, it is kind of embarrassing that I doubted Steve Jobs and the iPhone publicly on my blog on June 29, 2007. Happy Anniversary iPhone! Check out this post from 15 years ago.
Category: Apple, Archive, Blogs, Cellphone, Technology |
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Tags: anniversary, apple, iphone, smartphone
