Kolek planning to go pro
Sultan and SkatastrophyI am not sure on your age Sultan, but guessing close to mine and making the downsizing decision has become a more serious one for us. We are both healthy and want to own a home and that is my biggest struggle. We have a nice sized home, not crazy, but it is nearly 100 years old and upkeep is expensive and hard work. We definitely neglected some upkeep over the years due to raising four kids and paying private school education for K-4 through college. We are not playing catch up on the house and is causing some stress.Our kids are a help around the house when needed and would do more if requested. Truthfully, my wife is 57 and I am 60 and hardly in need of any serious help. All four of the kids love the house and they are now seeing their kids enjoy our house and large yard. Economically, I do not see a major advantage for downsizing and that is my biggest issue. It is funny that I have three older siblings, all in their 70's, and none of really downsized. One sister sold her lake house and replaced it with two condo's and other two are in the same house over 35 years. That said, I did agree to have a serious discussion on downsizing in the spring.
TAMUI do know, Newsie is right on you knowing ball.
My in laws are in their late 60s and still living in the home my MIL grew up in. She has never lived anywhere else (my FIL moved in to live with her and her parents when they got in). It is a massive and ancient house and do not keep up with basic cleaning, let alone the upkeep. MY MIL has MS and is barely mobile at this point. The house is two stories. There is a chair lift to get my MIL up and down, but even using that is difficult. As a result, she will spend weeks on the second floor without ever coming down. Her doctor's appointments are really the only thing that get her to leave the house. My FIL isn't much better. He's obese and struggles getting up and down the stairs and really isn't strong enough anymore to help my MIL on his own.We have no idea what their financial situation currently is, all we know is that we have to send money home to them every once in a while because they are behind on one payment or another.Despite all of this, they categorically refuse to even entertain the idea of moving. We've attempted the conversation dozens of times and it is instantly shut down. I fear it will take my MIL getting severely hurt before they will finally take action and if that happens, I don't know if my wife will forgive her dad.All that being said, please be willing to have these conversations with your children/parents. It is extremely important and puts a lot of pressure on your loved ones. Try to make it as kind as possible.
>>Disclosure: I own a little bit of DIS in my grandkids' college fund. I do not otherwise own it in my personal portfolio.Same, I posted here quite some time ago that I picked up a tiny amount in other accounts. Those purchases are under water, but I'm still bullish LT on this one. Streaming expenses, not ESPN, were and are the problem. I think Igor will sort it out, and meanwhile the rest of the business is doing quite well.
Things are finally looking up for the Foxconn site years after Scott Walker was Foxconned into giving away billions ...https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2023/11/10/microsoft-to-invest-billions-in-racine-county-including-foxconn-site/71427829007/?utm_source=jsonline-dailybriefing-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailybriefing-greeting&utm_term=Content%20List%20-%20Stacking%20-%20optimized&utm_content=pmjs-milwaukee-nletter65Less than a year after inking a deal to build a $1 billion data center in Mount Pleasant's sprawling Wisconsin Innovation Park, Microsoft is ready to make an even bigger investment and a significant increase in its Wisconsin footprint.Regional economic development officials on Friday said Microsoft plans to buy the remainder of the parcel on which it is building the first of two previously announced buildings as well as parcels west and north of the site in what's known as Areas II and III in the tax incremental financing district that was created to fund the business park.Those parcels were controlled by Foxconn, which is giving up options it held on the land. Microsoft will also acquire about 400 acres of privately-owned farmland in Area II.In all the company would purchase 1,030 additional acres, pending approval by the village and Racine County.Foxconn sent shockwaves through the state when it announced Wisconsin was among the places the technology giant was considering expanding to in 2017.The news prompted lawmakers to draft a multi-billion dollar subsidy package in an effort to lure Foxconn to Wisconsin, which the company ultimately accepted.Foxconn originally promised to build a Generation 10.5 facility that would manufacture large LCD screens. The project was to be an investment of up to $10 billion that would deliver up to 13,000 jobs. Those plans never came together and today the Foxconn operation is much smaller, employing about 1,000 people.The agreement calls for Microsoft to guarantee an additional property valuation of $1.4 billion by 2028.“Wisconsin’s strengths in workforce, infrastructure, and educational opportunities make it a great place for Microsoft to invest and grow our cloud services. We thank the Governor for his leadership and look forward to continuing to bring positive economic impact to the state and its residents,” said Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith said in a statement.
Wonder how much had to do with Wisconsin being Nadella’s first stop in the US and some residual fondness for the area
Also their President, Brad Smith, grew up in Appleton.
Good call, forgot he was the one whose Dad was an exec with Wisconsin Bell, couldn’t remember if that was him or confusing him with one of the other big software guys.And for those who doubt those elements, it’s not at all uncommon for “tiebreaks” like that for stuff like this. My cousin’s husband used to be fairly high up at Caterpillar and they chose a location for a factory purchase/expansion in Northern Texas because one of the heads of that particular division liked flying to DFW as an America frequent flier and hated some of the popular restaurants in another major metro they were looking at. My former roommate’s uncle-in-law () was the CEO of a major public traded biotech company. They selected a new R&D location out of 3 or 4 that were all pretty similar cause his wife grew up in the area and he really liked the people from spending time there years prior
Thank you for helping Wisconsin get something out of this boondoggle, Governor Evers.
Mr. Market is smiling big-time after a better-than-expected inflation report.