O-Dark-Thirty

Everyone hates weeding. When we were young, Mom always had a garden. Mom let the ducks wander through her rows of vegetables, though she didn't allow four young boys unfettered access. "Ducks will eat the bugs," she said, "and leave the plants alone." You never know. Four young boys might have eaten bugs, too. When we were old enough to know the difference between the plants and the weeds, Mom sent us out into the garden. You have to exercise good judgement when weeding so you do not pull up the good plants with the weeds. In our garden this spring I was willing to let the weeds grow for a while, so I could more easily distinguish them from the plants that will bear tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and melons. I let them grow too long, because weeds, when left unchecked, will take over a garden. It looks bad.  When I finally did weed, it took a few days, and some of the weeds were so intertwined with the plants that I had to pull good plants up t...

There's a fascinating article on the Yahoo finance page about social security with a bit about the  Simpson-Bowles Plan. As we mentioned in our book Preparing for the Fiscal Cliff (published at the end of 2012), we can't count on the government for support as we age. This concerns me a lot now that I am nearing my age for withdrawing social security. Have you noticed all the advice on the financial sites in the last few years? I've yet to see one that doesn't tell you to wait to withdraw your social security benefits. Sure you'll get a few hundred a month more if you wait (they specifically tell you it is 8% more per year), and the math is correct. Figures don't lie, but liars can certainly figure. Yes, it's true that waiting will give you a larger monthly paycheck, and if you can wait - like you are still working - then maybe go ahead and wait. But Social Security payouts were designed to give you the same total by the time you die, so you don't get ...