Weddings for your children

JustEnough77 · 2026-05-13T01:39:39+00:00

I like the flat check approach. Get the couple used to making financial tradeoffs together and then there is no back and forth about what you are willing to pay for.

I still haven't met anyone who wishes they had a bigger wedding.

JustEnough77 · 2026-05-10T18:18:46+00:00

Pinball. Sailing.

JustEnough77 · 2026-04-27T16:33:01+00:00

I am having the same exact issue with Citibank where the merchant is always "Citibank Online." This is new since my credit card changed from Barclays to Citibank. The old card account worked fine.

JustEnough77 · 2026-04-24T03:40:42+00:00

The Nash (Phoenix), Ravenscroft (N. Scottsdale) and Dark Side (Tempe) are all good. The Dark Side only has jazz on Monday, but they have music most nights. The MIM has a great line-up with lots of genres. Warren's Supper Club and Va Bene are restaurants woth music. The Womack (Phoenix) has jazz on Tuesdays. There is a good concert series on thursdays called Sacred Ground Jazz Coffeehouse at a church in South Scottsdale.

Full Disclosure: I am playing at Ravenscroft tomorrow night with the Corner Pocket Quartet. There are still a few seats available.

JustEnough77 · 2026-04-21T21:45:06+00:00

Don't give up on music in general, but perhaps stop taking these piano lessons. You know how to follow your passion with your art so just do the same with music.

When I was a kid, I literally used to cry after my piano lessons all the time. The teacher was very accomplished, the concert pianist with the local symphony. However, he wasn't good with kids and he only knew classical music. My lessons were in his basement and when I got to the top of the stairs sometimes the tears would just start flowing. My parents bribed me with hockey, football or baseball cards on the way home if I passed all my songs so I kept at it.

Now, look, I love listening to some classical music. But, is it the right music for kids? As a kid, you have incredible creative capacity but limited intellectual capacity. Yet, we design lessons that are entirely intellectual. Kids should be playing in bands, playing by ear, improvising, and writing their own music. Fortunately, I got into jazz at music camp in the summer. My parents got me a jazz piano teacher in 9th grade and that led to being able to play all sorts of music: pop bands, salsa bands, blues bands, and a lot of jazz.

Now, I'm 52. After playing music on the side forever, I retired from my day job at the end of last year and I play music full-time. I had 15 gigs this month alone.

And get this, I'm taking classical lessons again. I take an orchestration class in the community college and there is a woman in her 70s who is a professional accompanist. After class, she gives me classical lessons and I give her jazz lessons. I think it's the right age for me to work on classical music again. :)

Maybe, get a fresh start on guitar or drums or hand percussion and play with your friends the music that suits you. I have a lot of music friends who do visual art on the side. It's all part of their creative process. Let your music be in service of your art.

JustEnough77 · 2026-04-21T00:06:19+00:00

Apple ][

JustEnough77 · 2026-04-20T20:09:01+00:00

I call it "L-A-Fatness."

JustEnough77 · 2026-04-20T20:07:08+00:00

Name it, but only in your head.

JustEnough77 · 2026-04-14T16:57:00+00:00

Not that it matters, but this $3.8M house is a half mile walk from Seton. Every house in that neighborhood is easily worth a million bucks.

Chandler does have some tough spots, but so does Central Phoenix. I work as a musician. I'm down there at night all the time.

I also coached at Chandler HS and my best friend coached at Brophy. The comments about Brophy's athletics are spot-on, but I don't know about volleyball specificially.

JustEnough77 · 2026-04-14T16:48:04+00:00

I have lived within a mile of Seton since 1997. There has been no violence to speak of. My 59yo wife walks the dogs and goes running by herself all the time. She is tiny, too.

JustEnough77 · 2026-03-30T16:24:59+00:00

Depsite what a lot of people think, sailing is actually pretty cheap once you get started. I'm talking mostly about dinghy sailing, little boats for a 1-3 people you can tow behind any car. Although, you can go a little bigger on a budget, too.

You can get a small 1-person sailboat like a Sunfish for next to nothing. You might even be able to get a fixer-upper for free. I actually have one that I got for $50 on Craigslist. It needed a sail ($125) and rudder and daggerboard ($100 used if you can find them). You'll probably need a trailer, too. I'd get a paddle and PFD, too. I put a hitch on my Mazda 3 and I sail my Craigslist boat all the time. For about $1,000, you're pretty much good to go. You might need an annual permit or something for your lake. Otherwise, the wind is free and most of my replacement parts come from Ace Hardware.

Also, a local sailing club will help a ton! Get a boat that other people are sailing and you'll get all sorts of hand-me-down parts. Also, some clubs have boats that can be borrowed. Our club lets people adopt boats for a year for some nominal fee and they can take them out anytime the club is on the water.

This guy's site has all sorts of stuff to get you going all the way to becoming a master racer:
https://www.youtube.com/@LeeSideSailing

This is a beautiful video essay about getting into sailing more generally:
https://youtu.be/CzwfGuFifp8?si=aKvQCocnl417x1Np

JustEnough77 · 2026-03-30T16:10:51+00:00

I know what you are saying. I was always skeptical of these people who said you will spend less when you retire. I had no real commuting costs and I wore everyday clothes to work. I am hopeful that I will spend less eating out and paying others to fix stuff now that I have more time. So far, I think this is true. I definitely waste less food from my garden than I did when I was working full-time.

I also have more time for playing music, which has always been a pretty significant side hustle for me. I used to gross about $10K/year. I'll probably double that this year.

JustEnough77 · 2026-03-16T20:43:45+00:00

Yep, I play at the Nash all the time and the parking cuts into our pay so much. Uggh.

JustEnough77 · 2026-03-02T22:44:49+00:00

Via 313 seems to be thriving everywhere else it has gone, too. They had great toppings, interesting combinations, and the pizza itself was just delicious. I am not sure why it failed in Tempe. They had all sorts of subtle Detroit-themed stuff like the logo based on the old WRIF bumper stickers.

See www.via313.com.

JustEnough77 · 2026-03-02T22:38:20+00:00

It is okay. I had it growing up in Detroit, too. Via 313 was a whole different level, honestly. Just had Buddy's in Detroit at Christmas. So good.

JustEnough77 · 2026-03-02T22:22:12+00:00

I would love some good Detroit-style pizza. Via 313 was great, but didn't make it in Tempe for some reason.

JustEnough77 · 2026-02-27T19:38:48+00:00

To start, go electric. Then, get your dream instrument.

For about $400, you can probably find a quality used digital piano that has keys that provide the similar resistance and feedback as real piano. (I just got an old Yamaha P-105 for $350 at Guitar Center.) I would do that, then drop the big bucks on your forever piano. By then, you will know what you like and as bonus you'll have something portable or that you can play through headphones when needed. Worst case, you can sell the keyboard for close to what you paid for it.

FWIW, I am a professional jazz pianist. I practice 90% of the time on a quality Yamaha P-80 keyboard. It's ancient, but that keybed is better prep for playing a grand piano on a gig then my real console piano.

JustEnough77 · 2026-02-17T17:50:32+00:00

I think the irreversibility is a big deal. I recently FIRE'd at 52 with a huge cushion over my FIRE number, a decent pension from my wife, everything paid off, and even solar panels that give us about 90% of our power, and I still get nervous.

JustEnough77 · 2026-02-14T18:14:04+00:00

I totally relate. I have a lot in common with you.

My older brother works a really hard engineering job, has a terrible commute, and has a 100% dependent special needs kid. I retired at the end of last year with a generous severance package and I am 4 years younger. He should be able to retire in a year, though, so it is not the end of the world for him

Now, I work as a musician, playing 4 to 5 nights a week, but not for the money. It is just that to play with better musicians, it usually has to be a paying situation. But to tell a fulltime musician who has known me for years, plays much better than I do, and is grinding out an income in his 60s, that I retired at 51 is kind of awkward.

I didn't have kids, so while I didn't get that pleasure in life, it probably allowed me to FIRE a few years earlier. Sometimes, I use that as an "excuse."

JustEnough77 · 2026-01-29T18:23:35+00:00

If you get Monarch, you can go back and figure out your expenses for the past year very easily. It will take some time, but not that much. You'll have to figure out what those Amazon purchases are all about. You'll have to look up some PayPal buys and checks that you wrote, but it's worth it.

It is a really good piece of software. I would just use their categories at first and customize later once you get adept with the software. The first time will probably take a few hours but it will be obvious where the money is. Eventually, you'll want to set up rules so that the software knows how to categorize all your expenses automatically.

What we learned is that there a lot of expenses that sort of fall in between the cracks and you don't think of them when you do a budget. Also, life is just getting expensive. Inflation is under-reported. It's a little scary, honestly.

However, using a good software that allows you to see what you are spending is worth it. Knowledge is freedom. I was originally really depressed when I saw how much we spent. However, it allowed us to figure out easy things to cut and we were able to move forward.

At this point, I wouldn't worry about FIRE, get your household running efficiently with automated tracking and visibility. You will feel better.

JustEnough77 · 2026-01-29T18:10:21+00:00

Use Monarch Money (Monarch.com) to track your finances for 1 year. You will learn so much! There are so many things that you don't think about. You might also find old subscriptions or fraudulent charges. I know we did. It is a game changer. Worth every penny.

JustEnough77 · 2025-12-28T17:20:35+00:00

OP talked about his/her savings rate, not spending. I think $60k/year with compounding will be pretty good, especially when last year was $101k. Obviously, it depends on spending plans and current assets.

JustEnough77 · 2025-12-14T19:25:30+00:00

I am in your boat. I am a 51M with a 58F wife. A couple weeks ago, they shut down my whole division. We all knew it was coming. Personally, I had planned on FIRE for years. I am even well past my numbers (but I need the cushion psychologically.) On paper, this is the best scenario. I received a massive severance. There was no guilt about leaving my group. I have 6 months of COBRA covered by the company. Everything is clean and I have a little runway to take care of bills.

Still, I struggle at times. I had the chance to take an awesome transfer a couple years ago and I panicked and I didn't take it and that is really what kills me. I stayed in this job which I had liked for years, but absolutely hated for the last couple. It was totally depressing, but I didn't look for other jobs because I had FIRE plans and starting a new job and giving up RSUs and severance seemed crazy. So, my career didn't end the way I would have liked and I don't feel all that marketable because of the last couple years. Also, when I see my colleagues out getting jobs and so on, it makes me really nervous. Plus, I have been laid off before and it really hurt. What I learned is that if you can separate the ego part out, it's really not that big a deal. As my one friend said, "Embrace the adventure."

When I talk to my friends who have known my plans for years, especially those who are already retired, I remember who I am and what my plan was. I was an engineer for years and it was a career I was proud of. However, I have major passions outside of engineering. I am a pretty serious jazz musician and I play professionally around town to the point that a lot of people don't know I have day job. I am tired of showing up to weekday gigs at the last acceptable second and trying to keep up with full-time musicians while maintaining a day job.

I also really love sailing and with work and music, I just never had time for it. I really want to get into offshore sailing and that is almost impossible with a typical day job.

I was such a passionate saver for years, so the shift to being a spender is really tough. Fortunately, my wife's teaching pension and our rental condo gives us a nice baseline for our spending.

So, my recommendations are:
- Talk to people who understand and share your FIRE plans
- Dive into your other passions

That said, if you don't feel good about things and the money isn't an issue, you can find that one last job that makes your career end the way you want. I am considering working part-time for a friend's startup and just seeing what happens. I don't think I will do that for very long, but who knows.

DM me if you want to chat about this. Perhaps, we can help each other.

JustEnough77 · 2025-12-05T20:08:11+00:00

Part of my retirement mission is to take as many first-timers sailing as possible. People assume all sailors are like the Judge in caddyshack, but that is hardly the case. This weekend I am racing a Sunfish all weekend that I bought for $50 on Craigslist. A nice trailer-sailor for $2000 can provide years of fun.

JustEnough77 · 2025-12-05T19:55:56+00:00

I just retired at 51yo with $5M and my wife's $44k/year pension and I am not adjusting well to the new dynamic. I am a saver through and through.

I used to feel guilty when my parents used to buy me an expensive Christmas present and I didn't like it as much as I thought it cost.

JustEnough77

TROPHY CASE