LUXURY CARS

My cousin visited me this week and attended his 50th high school reunion. I always enjoy his company and we had an interesting discussion about retirement and finances. We both have worked hard throughout our lives, saved diligently, and invested wisely. But now he said, “It is time to enjoy the money we have acquired.” “In fact” he said, “we (his wife and he) have decided to spend our money, to buy things we want or see.” And he encouraged me to do the same. “Buy yourself a nice luxury car,” he suggested. “You’ve never treated yourself to something really nice and now is the time to do so. This will probably be your last car. So buy something great, a Lexus or Mercedes-Benz with leather seats, etc.”

I know he’s right. Why shouldn’t I do something nice for myself. But all my life my parents taught me that I shouldn’t waste money and so I have always purchased economy cars. Old habits die hard and I can’t see spending lots of money on a car that will get me the same places a less expensive car will. But I will give it some thought. My current car is 10 years old and has only 45,000 miles. I had no thought of even buying a new car for several more years. But maybe I won’t wait and maybe I will buy at least a little better car. But parting with $30,000 or more will be a real emotional struggle,

By Hannah --www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

WEBSITE CONTESTANT

When I retired, I missed working as a computer trainer at the Univ. of Wisc.-Madison. I had thoroughly enjoyed teaching such courses as “Intro to MS-Word and Excel”, Email”, and “Surfing the Web.” Thus, for the first couple of years, I was at a loss as to how to fill all my leisure time.

But three years ago, when I created a website, www.FunnyPhotosContest.com I began to thoroughly enjoy every minute of my retirement. I smile every day when I receive all the funny photos contestants send me and I have had many interesting experiences. Last night as I worked on my computer, all of a sudden an instant message popped up in the lower corner of my screen, “Do you head up the contests?” What a surprise that one of my contestants had “found” and contacted me in real time. And so we “chatted” for a few minutes on the computer. He told me he enjoyed the contest and had been entering it for several years.

Many people have emailed positive comments to me about the website, but this was the first time that one of my contestants had sent me an instant message. No wonder I’m having so much fun.