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"What's cookin'?" Very late edition: I just got home from helping friends and family move things since 11 am. Tell me again why I have a truck? LOL DW is picking up our dinner. What did you all do for dinner tonight?

7:33pm by TacMed

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Bone in pork roast from our local butcher. Delicious flavor. DH added veggies. I did not. Ha!

54 min ago by Magicalday2011

Chicken enchiladas spicy rice and beans

47 min ago by jules_fletch

We were at the Canadian stop of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour today with our old Mustang. It was awesome!! Food trucks for the win!

< 1 min ago by hauntedmansionnurse

Total pet peeve that so many people don't use basic etiquette when it comes to bus seats. Older folks should be given a seat if you are able-bodied and can stand. And young children can go in a lap rather than taking up a seat.

6:52pm by utang44

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And small children can absolutely lap sit in nearly all cases.

41 min ago by utang44

Walking down aisle on Disney bus once-a 12-13 yr old boy quickly jumped up out of his seat and motioned for me to sit down. I told him thank you and mentioned to the adult with him how I appreciated his kindness, his adult also standing, proudly smiled.

9 min ago by Woof4Pluto

Unless the bus is empty, DH & I automatically stand out of the way. It is frustrating when a person is balancing a buggy & a baby & no one will give up a seat. We're already standing so we take the buggy, but you can't tell me not one person could stand

1 min ago by hauntedmansionnurse

This week has been a different trip to CSR and WDW. Dealing with vertigo has been a challenge, getting sick 1 night, recovering 2 days. But the CM's in club were so generous of heart, making lots of toast and sending ginger ale. Pg1

6:18pm by vmorrison63

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Serc helps me. And interestingly a vertigo physio told me a fast, upside down or corkscrew coaster can help move the ear crystal that is causing problems. That has helped me when the serc didn't. Velocicoaster at UO worked well.

7 min ago by hauntedmansionnurse

I also get vertigo as part of my migraines and frovatriptan or Nurtec help then. I'm sorry you're dealing with that at WDW. It sucks!!!!!

6 min ago by hauntedmansionnurse

The only thing that helped my vertigo was the sea-sick pressure point bands. I was able to ride guardians with them on, but I still avoided most other spinning stuff.

3 min ago by moondance07

Rec for where to watch Starlight parade in Aug? Then would you rather: watch FW from behind castle in Fantasyland or watch FW In Frontierland while riding BTMRR?

7:56pm on 5/27/26 by SplitStayfortheWin

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Thanks!

1:22pm by Eeyores Pal

@you - I think I'll try right by the stocks! Thanks!

3:21pm by SplitStayfortheWin

@youcan the stocks can we see projections

19 min ago by Magicalday2011

NDR: Recs on fave podcasts on midlife financial planning? I wanna know how much longer I need to work to have enough to pay for college and fund disney trips for the rest of my life. Then as my DH days, we wanna go "work optional". :D

8:14pm on 5/28/26 by Totsypooh

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I need that too lol

8:20pm on 5/28/26 by nightowl04

Oh my gosh, one of my other obsessions the last 10-15 years. :D Definitely suggest the ChooseFI podcast, although they take a little too long to get to the point sometimes, tons of good info over the years. For the financial mathy philosophy topics check:

8:37pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

Your Money Your Wealth, Stay Wealthy Retirement Show, Long Term Investor Podcast. The first one (YMYW) podcast might be an acquired taste, but I find the many scenario building and discussion very helpful in learning a lot of details.

8:39pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

For more general, but still with some tax/mathiness: The Retirement Answer Man, Retirement Starts Today, Meb Faber Show, Big Picture Retirement. I'm sure you'll find at least a couple of all of these helpful. :)

8:41pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

Also, to play around with your own scenarios, try out Boldin Retirement Planner. There's a free version, but the trial has full access to everything including Roth Conversion Planner etc. Not a perfect tool, but really good overall.

8:44pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

Oh, check out this old Mr Money Moustache blog post for a simple on take on early retirement and the numbers: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/

8:45pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

Yes to ChooseFI

8:46pm on 5/28/26 by LaurenInWonderland

TwinSpires, LOL! Belmont is next week! TBH I have a money lady at Ameriprise who helps me because this is a no-fun zone for me, for reals. I'd invest it all in pennywhistles and moonpies if given the choice! I get help from nerds who have more expertise

9:09pm on 5/28/26 by joeyjojojuniorshabadoo

@joejojo Pennywhistles and moonpies LOL.

9:20pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

I KNEW you guys would have good suggestions. THANK YOU. :)

9:52pm on 5/28/26 by Totsypooh

Oooohhhh thanks for the suggestion on the planning software!!! Ive been wanting to build a model to play with scenarios and was thinking to try to build one on claude. (Just for fun) But if a good one already exists ill try it for sure.

9:54pm on 5/28/26 by Totsypooh

Sfl.

9:56pm on 5/28/26 by 56arlene

Since we are on the topic ive also been eyebrows deep into college admissions podcasts as well. Yup. The kid who was taking HS entrance exams from Pop now has eyes on highly selective programs. So mom needs to figue out how to get her in and pay for it!

9:58pm on 5/28/26 by Totsypooh

Nice list of suggestions!

10:12pm on 5/28/26 by QueenOfHearts

The Money Guy Erin Talks Money (Podcast & YouTube)

10:30pm on 5/28/26 by kcaseybooks

SFL

12:13am on 5/29/26 by CitrusSwirlGirl

Sfl

1:41am on 5/29/26 by Jewra

Saving

3:09am on 5/29/26 by ram777

SFL

6:13am on 5/29/26 by Ange425

Sfl

6:48am on 5/29/26 by CVC

Big fan of James Canole at Root financial

7:34am on 5/29/26 by molly99

Sfl

8:01am on 5/29/26 by vickiwaffles

Sfl

9:43am on 5/29/26 by el_1102

Saving. Thanks!

11:48am on 5/29/26 by twinmom2002

I find it ironic that if it werent for the money Ive spent on disney id probably be able to retire earlier :p lol. It's probably set me back a few years. Hahaha. YOLO! :p

11:54am on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

Thanks for info. Now if I can cure DVC addonitis......

12:24pm on 5/29/26 by cdlla

@cdlla let me know if that works... lol!!

12:51pm on 5/29/26 by youcanfly

Just so you know - i think ill classify DVC as a liquid asset. Hahahah!

1:12pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

I actually checked to see if timeshares would count as an asset when applying for financial aid and it said that while most timeshares are ascribed a very low value some like DVC and marriot have a resale value and needs to be declared (the jigs up!)

1:14pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

There goes my plan to hide my millions in DVC contracts!

1:14pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

HerMoney by Jean Chatsky. Not retirement focused but she's been around forever and has a new book soon the Forever Paycheck.

1:41pm on 5/29/26 by mary32830

More philosophy than specific advice, but the book "Die with Zero" is an interesting read.

1:50pm on 5/29/26 by KangaLilo4

Love the book recs! And im already playing around with the planning application. Its fabulous thanks @JTT!

2:24pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

@JJT!

2:24pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

Great! I have my own crazy spreadsheet, but for years I'd be offered new Boldin trials so would take advantage of those to compare my own numbers to what their tools said. Now that I'm about 1.5 years out I've just transitioned to Boldin.

2:52pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

For simple investing books, might want to check out The Simple Path to Wealth and these Bogleheads books: The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing, and Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning. Long before I discovered any of those I moved to an all...

2:56pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

..index investing maybe 25 years ago. Really makes things simple to do AND it really paid off with low fees vs my Merrill Lynch guy's mutual fund picks that were not keeping up with market and bleeding me dry with fees and commissions.

2:58pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

Oh, I also thought Morgan Housel's book The Psychology of Money was interesting. I agree Die with Zero should definitely be on the list too, but I think a lot of people online take the title phrase too literally. :D

3:03pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

Sfl

3:14pm on 5/29/26 by njhyndman

Maybe I need to look at this post....

3:14pm on 5/29/26 by Gusgus5

Totally worth it to meet with a financial planner if you can. I know DH meets with one offered through our 401k management maybe every couple years. They can get specific with your goals and targets.

3:21pm on 5/29/26 by maurine08

Sfl

3:47pm on 5/29/26 by loveslions

We also just started meeting with a financial planner. Ours works with people at DH work so they understands specifics about his benefits package. It's been super helpful.

3:48pm on 5/29/26 by jenc45

Yes ill try the 14 day free trial for now and go from there. And im also taking advantage of some of the financial planning benefits at work too

3:55pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

Just want to throw it out there that not all financial planning benefits from employers will be on your side as much as you like. Was the case with mine. If they start to try selling you investing in a crazy number of funds or throwing money at...

4:04pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

..annuities etc without a comprehensive financial plan, my advice: take your notes & do some more homework. There are networks of fee-only financial planners that do not sell product which takes self-dealing possibilities out of the equation for you.

4:06pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

Thanks for all the tips! Super helpful. With two MBAs in the house im hoping we can figure this out reasonably well. :p its still intimidating!

5:15pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

As you know @JJT, the fax machine is just a waffle iron with a phone attached! (Srsly haven't watched the Simpsons in almost 20 years but still quoting 90s era every day, LOL)

6:24pm on 5/29/26 by joeyjojojuniorshabadoo

Sfl

6:36pm on 5/29/26 by mcmillertime

I'll echo those who have suggested a fee based financial planner. You want someone who is a fiduciary. Not someone who is getting a commission if they sell you x.

7:27pm on 5/29/26 by evamarie320

@joeyjojo :D

7:42pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

Sfl

7:49pm on 5/29/26 by supergirl1998

Sfl

8:23am by Suggles

@kanga if you see this that book is very much important im a cancer surgeon I see people save and save only to not enjoy their time here. I'm not against retirement! But enjoy before too. Not that liners don't !

8:59am by snelvis

My problem i think is i have fomo with the kids and enjoy too much. :p (lost both parents early - very aware tomorrow is not promised. :) )

9:18am by Totsypooh

Thanks so much for all the thoughtful answers - writing it all down before this thread gets bumped down.

9:19am by Totsypooh

I'm of the School of Spending on Experiences, which has gotten me to an advanced age without any bankruptcies YET

9:20am by Ali Ababwa

Amen to that. Cant take it with you!

9:54am by Totsypooh

Yep. My dad died at 49 and was always saying "when I retire I'll...". So we have worked hard to balance saving for retirement with enjoying life. Our travel budget is the biggest line item in our budget. But we drive our cars til they have over 100k and

10:26am by evamarie320

still live in our "starter house." It's all about choices. Best advice I got about saving: remember you can get loans for college. You can't for retirement.

10:27am by evamarie320

@eva 100%. We've been mostly a 1-income family since kids were born, so focused on retirement savings vs college. Decades of that worked in our favor because now we've gone into coast mode to shift to cash flowing as much of college as possible..

10:35am by JJT (staff)

..& should be able to knock out a large amount of college loans over time anyway & still be on solid ground. That being said: college costs are 1000% insane. I worked 2 (or 3) jobs in 80s & paid for school outright. That wouldn't make a dent these days.

10:38am by JJT (staff)

Thats what im struggling with. I grew up in a culture were parents paid 100pct of college costs. Even often funded first houses. Feels counterintuitive to make the kids take out loans. I also know how hard it was to pay off grad school loans while

10:57am by Totsypooh

Establishing a career, starting a family etc. so playing around with so many tradeoffs and frankly, very different perspectives on all this between me and DH

10:58am by Totsypooh

College costs in the US are absolutely insane IF you want to give the kid a chance at the "best" (define how you wish) school they can get into. There still are relatively low cost options for (relatively!) high achieving kids if you are open to them

11:01am by Totsypooh

If I were ready to let her "just" go to whatever school might be willing to give her a full ride i could probably quit my job monday and be ok. Pls dont take offense at any of this - i know its a priviledged choice just like going to Disney.

11:03am by Totsypooh

@eva - same here. My dad at 44, my mom at 64. Making the most of today while hoping i outlive my longest DVC contract :)

11:05am by Totsypooh

@JJT - what to you mean by "cash flowing as much of college as possible"?

11:07am by Totsypooh

We stopped saving into the retirement account a few years ago and shifted that money into college costs as they came up because we had already passed our retirement savings goals. :) We did save some money in 529s before, but not a lot.

11:20am by JJT (staff)

Putting on our own oxygen masks first, as it were. BTW, I am sadly in the same Dad club: mine passed when he was 48 (I was 11). Been trying to also focus more on family experiences for years now, but still can be hard to spend.

11:23am by JJT (staff)

Ah gotcha! Makes sense thank you.

11:23am by Totsypooh

Keep contributing a bit to those 529s, though, even after kids' college. You can change beneficiary to grandkids when they are born. Immense value in letting them compound while you wait for grandkids to actually be born, lol.

1:38pm by Jennyhirsch

$35k of the 529 can also be switched to Roths too so the kids can get started with a good retirement base to compound for a long time. In state college at least in Texas isn't too bad. About $13k a year. We are a dave Ramsey family.

4:03pm by popupcamper

Sfl

4:57pm by Tracyclary

Saving!

7:08pm by Blogirl77

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I needed this info about 15 years ago!

8:01pm by MarioMom

Pay attention to receiving dividends from investments so you can draw without touching principal. Convert to ROTH while you're working and already paying high tax rate. Be aware of your RMD dates. Things we learned...

36 min ago by Magicalday2011

Good info!

20 min ago by Pixie_Dusted

Has anyone had experience with changing a WDW visit and cruise dates? We are 16 days away from our trip and have 2 other family members in the hospital. Praying we can go but wanting to know our options.

2:49pm by stosh13

I hope you can go! WDW I think should be pretty easy to reschedule unless you rented DVC. The cruise I think will be far less flexible at the last minute.

5:01pm by melcort10

Another reason I wish cruises and resorts operated cooperatively as they did in the olden days. Yes, contact cruise line first, then work from there.

7:38pm by Ali Ababwa

Read your travel insurance policy just in case

35 min ago by Magicalday2011

Characters at resorts this summer on a schedule! Example at POR: Disney Character Greetings (Cool Kid Summer Exclusive) Inside and outside the Lobby Area From 8:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 3:50 p.m.

8:00pm by Ali Ababwa

Only at Participating Resorts: Disney's Art of Animation Resort Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort Disney's Pop Century Resort Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside

8:34pm by Ali Ababwa

How fun! Might have to wander over to these

53 min ago by Magicalday2011

For those interested, my daughter @cam created a cool video from our trip. This is why we all love WDW. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DY40N9etFte/?igsh=dmJ3dDNnOG8zMzRh

11:54am on 5/28/26 by cobia

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absolutely adorable video!

12:07pm on 5/28/26 by WildernessPixie

That was so sweet and beautiful! What a blessing to have had such a great time together. As both a parent and grandparent I know how precious these things are!

12:07pm on 5/28/26 by youcanfly

Love the video! Definitely made me tear up.

12:20pm on 5/28/26 by WendyMarie

What a great memory to have. Run free down those AKL-K halls, girl, lol! :)

12:36pm on 5/28/26 by cdlla

Absolutely precious!

12:47pm on 5/28/26 by Bubbakirby

So good!!!! What amazing memories

1:01pm on 5/28/26 by lizshiv

That's so special!

4:02pm on 5/28/26 by hodg

Someone is cutting onions in here!! So sweet!

5:21pm on 5/28/26 by koolaid

Love this. So sweet. People will tell me I was crazy to bring my kids when they were really little. This is why those people are wrong. The joy and wonder is so precious when they're little. Thanks for sharing this. Kiddos are adorable.

5:28pm on 5/28/26 by RememberWhen

The littles are my granddaughter and grandson. We had a big group of 17. Both sets of grandparents, great grandparents, etc. we typically do big trips every year. 10 park days and lots of memories!

8:06pm on 5/28/26 by cobia

Lovely video, I was in tears as well!

2:34pm on 5/29/26 by uknemofan

Stop making me cry! Very well done!

5:20pm on 5/29/26 by Ali Ababwa

Love it! Thanks for sharing!

7:02pm on 5/29/26 by matterhorn55

Oh that's adorable. Thanks for sharing!

7:25pm on 5/29/26 by evamarie320

Well now I just can't wait to get there with the granddaughter. 17 days.

8:08pm on 5/29/26 by Sorcerers_Apprentice

That looks fun.

10:13pm on 5/29/26 by JackOfAll

@cobia, or camsdad, that's an amazing video! I loved it!

11:46pm on 5/29/26 by Rhondak0000

That really filled me up! Thank you for sharing!

6:48am by catherine.p.ahern

Omgoodness thank you for sharing !! we also bought DVC for this exact reason no rush able to see things. Also bringing babies to Disney is totally worth it. Everyone says they won't remember but you will.

9:06am by snelvis

Ok, well the just wrecked me! So precious!! And excellent choice of music to get the tears flowing...

10:30am by njhyndman

Thank you for sharing! That could be a Disney commercial! It really made me smile!

11:22am by Tinkerminnie

Thanks for all the great comments!

12:15pm by cobia

Thank you for sharing. It put a smile on my face!!

1:22pm by nitsaki

Thanks you for sharing! So easy to get caught up in what isn't "perfect", this helps remind us why it is a special place (even if you don't have grands yet).

1:51pm by Beautiesandtheb

It is such a special place. And that video embodies why we did DVC years ago

2:47pm by cobia

I know I made the video but it still makes me cry. Those kiddos are gonna grow up to love Disney just like how you raised us to love disney. Thank you!!!

4:00pm by cammc

I have a really bad case of Add-On-Itis for DVC. Somebody talk nme out of it. Or don't!

6:02pm by cobia

I think DVC counts as investing in experiences.

6:15pm by Ali Ababwa

EXACTLY! We looked at it for years before buying our first contract in 2013. The MBA in me was struggling with it as a "financial" investment, which its not. But when my mindset changed to investing in a liftime of memories, I was all in.

6:19pm by cobia

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I think the video makes the case.

6:20pm by Ali Ababwa

How beautiful to watch!:)

6:26pm by vmorrison63

Excellent video! Thanks for sharing it.

8:26pm by TacMed

Thoughts about my plan. We are staying at the Dolphin. June 11th HS 5 pm - 10 PM June 12th Epcot 8:30 - 9:00 PM MK 9:30 - 11:00 June 13th HS 8:30 - 9:00 PM June 14th AK 7:30 - 1:00 pm MK 1:30 - 10:00 PM

5:08pm on 5/28/26 by jcosby

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The Swan/Dolphin bus drops off right next to the ride share at AK. I prefer that drop off spot to any other bus drop off?

4:51pm by PrincipalTinker

On June 12, more time prob needed for mono.It gets packed and you may have to wait for another to come at times, same at TTC transfer. Also, if you like GotG or another EP headliner, you may want to hop into a queue at 8:59, but I see ur there all day too

6:05pm by missWishes

@PrincipalTinker Correct! Edit: When we Rope Drop AK we use YC bus. The YC bussing seems more reliable than Dolphin. We take Dolphin bussing any other time of day and also take it home from AK. It's that early morning RD I cannot risk.

8:13pm by jeanne771

I would like to add Disney cruise to my package. How can I do that? We are cruising in September

6:37pm by milstead

Sounds fun! These will generally be two separate bookings with Disney (one for DCL, one for WDW). But are you talking about adding it here on your Touring Plans account? You may need to log in on a browser versus the app to do that.

7:43pm by TumbleMonkeys

Yes, Disney cruises and resorts operate as two completely separate companies.

8:03pm by Ali Ababwa

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