#I decided to re-read it and focusing specially in the background shots

[your-zipper-is-down]

This is so cute, he's giving sushi to Tatiana

[scribeofmorpheus]

Robin’s Girl Finale

Pairing: Robin x (OC) Clara | Steve Harrington x Reader

Sequel to: Meet Cute | Chapter List

Chapter Title: Love is a Battlefield | Words: 4k

Note: Okay so 1. I love Clara and Robin 1000% more now and I’m sad to see them go, but I’m happy with the ending even if it leaves things open -I may do a Christmas special again down the road, see where everyone ended up, but I’m also really happy with this ending. It’s been a pleasure to write some fluff for Robin! Want more Stranger Things? read His Girl Tuesday’s Prologue!

If you enjoyed this story don’t be afraid to like, reblog or comment. I don’t bite. Taglist is open just send an ask. 

Playlist by Ari ♥ 

~

The lights swelled like a kaleidoscopic rainbow. Vibrations from the band’s speakers turning the floor into an erratic heartbeat. You, Clara and Robin, formed a triangle at the centre of lively inebriated masses. Swaying, shuffling, giggling and seeing through a blurry lens –everything was pleasantly numb. The euphoria of living in the moment, coupled with copious amounts of alcohol, chased all the worries and problems that plagued your mind since your fight with Steve.

You would occasionally catch glimpses of Robin and Clara blushing or touching fingertips lightly, inching towards each other like magnets as time passed, hair flipped to hide twinkles of joyous emotions. The only times they’d part was when they noticed you drifting away from them or when an unwanted guy tried to butt in.

When your plastic cup was empty, you tumbled into Clara and shouted with a numb tongue over the bass, “Mmmmm gonna ge’ a refill!”

Clara squinted her eyes at you, not having heard through your slurs. Robin leaned in to repeat what you said, “She’s gonna get a refill!”

Clara made an O-face before giving you a thumbs up.

You pushed and shoved your way to the bar, but when you held out your hand to grab onto the back of a bar stool, you misjudged the distance and tripped forward- a loud yelp leaving your lips.

A pair of hands helped you up, “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” you waved them away, looking up to see a strange young man staring down at you, his efforts of stifling his laugh failing. A certain boyish charm to him, although the crucifix earring and leather jacket made him look almost as tough as Clara.

“Can you stand?” He asked sincerely, an earnest smile. In the poor lighting, the stranger looked almost like Steve, only with darker, longer hair.

You giggled, tingly fingers trailing down his cheek with no grace, “Ya kno’ you rem- remine… re-mind me of my boyfriend Shteve!”

The guy’s smile slipped away, “Is he here with you?”

You pouted, shaking your head way too fast, “You are shweet. No. He was bein’ an ash! He-he, asshhh. Wait…” you cleared your throat. “Ass!”

Tears started welling up in your face as your pout grew deeper, “We had a faa- fight. A big one.”

The stranger’s eyes grew wide as he didn’t know how to handle your mood-swing and sudden outburst, “Uhh, that sucks. You got friends with you or…?”

You nodded, again too fast, your balance gone to hell as your vision began to spin, “Clara and Rob-” you hickuped. “Robin.”

“Okay,” his eyes lit up with relief. “Stay here, I’ll go look for them, sit on this chair.” He helped you onto the barstool and disappeared into the crowd. His metal-head boots like some new-age cowboy with steel tips for spurs.

A few minutes later, after trying your best to seem sober, Clara and Robin walked towards you, the cute boy from before pointing at you before throwing up a peace sign and melting into the crowd once again.

"Come on, you're worse than Robin right now," Clara chuckled a teasing wink thrown Robin's way.

Robin swayed a little, although she was much better with her footing than you, her dusted cheeks and nose indicating she was more tipsy than sober. Clara had always been good at holding her liquor, but the flush on her chest was gave away the fact that none of you were a hundred percent sober.

"You think you're such a badass missy," Robin's words were less slurred than yours no less butchered though. "With your leather jacket and cool highlights and… stuff. I had a train of thought, it's gone."

Clara giggled, "You’re cute when you're flustered."

Robin blushed harder and you groaned, "Get a room you two!"

"Let's get some food in you," Clara slung her arm around your shoulder, Robin took your other side. Together they helped you out of the buzzing dancefloor and towards the cold night air, stumbling like a three-legged race team towards a fast food place nearby.

***

"I'm jussht so tired of him being secretive," you whined into your French fries.

Clara rolled her eyes, "Oh boy, I'm not good with boy drama. Babysit while I order seconds?" She looked at Robin pleadingly.

Robin hummed a yes, nails tapping at her teeth in a drumming sort of way.

"I just want us to have a future away from Hawkinsh!" You grumbled loudly, ignorant to the fact Clara has all but sprinted away from your dramatic recount of your romantic woes. Several strangers glared at you with confusion and humour, the sound of chewing and slurping and laughter drowning you out so you weren’t nearly as loud as you could’ve been. 

Robin kept her head low, slurping on her cherry coke greedily.

"Am I not enough anymore?" You sunk down onto the table, flicking French fries about.

Robins's eyes grew wide, "No, no, no! That buffoon is crazy about you! He's just scared to tell you the truth." Robin snorted, "He's afraid you'd think he's crazy!"

"You know?" Your head shot up.

Robin chocked on her drink, fizz running out of her nose as she beat her chest to cough, "Oops, I wasn't supposed to..."

"Shpit it out," you threatened her with a French fry.

Robin chomped down on the fry and leaned closer, "Oh, hell, he's too much of a wimp to say anything and I for one will not stand by his incessant stubbornness!" Robin crooked her finger, urging you to lean closer like you were about to talk of some great conspiracy. "It started with Russian's and a giant hell hole under Starcourt Mall..."

***

Steve was awoken by the sound of the telephone ringing. Dustin and Lucas were passed out on the other sofa, the proverbial babysitters Robin had called to look after him. They had provided ample distraction by having a VHS marathon coupled with some Monopoly and way too much sugar. Mike was out of town visiting Eleven and Will. Max's life was a little bit chaotic ever since what happened to Billy, there was talk of her parents planning to move. Lucas had spent most of the evening talking about his worries on that issue. Poor Dustin had to deal with two lost boys and their romance troubles.

When no one budged after the first few rings, Steve kicked the blanket that was too small for his entire length and shuffled to the phone, sliding on the polished floors with his less than clean socks.

"Y'ello," Steve said with less gusto than should be accompanied with such a greeting.

"Steeeeve!" His girlfriend dragged out the E's in his name, a drunken pitch detected in how she slurred her S's.

"Y/N? Are- are you drunk? Where are you calling me from right now?" Steve glanced at the clock and realised it was ten past midnight. "Jesus, are you guys still out?"

She ignored his questioning and simply giggled like she did when she blushed, "I know your secret!"

Steve froze, panic spreading through his veins. "I- I don't know what you-"

"Shhhh! Don't try and play dumb Mr Perfect Hair! Robin-" she hiccupped. "Robin told me everything!"

"How much is everything?" Steve gulped.

"I know about the Russian's and the Mind Barbeque'r and the secret superpower kids club..."

"Shhhh! Okay, so you do know--"

"Did you really think I wouldn't believe you?"

"I… Yes."

"Well, you're right. The only reason I'm not freaking out right now is because I can barely count to 20 without running out of fingers! Or losing count!"

Steve smiled at her adorable tipsy behaviour, but a part of him couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about her and Clara and Robin out on the town so late.

"St-Steve?" She asked with a hint of insecurity.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Will you promise me something?"

"Sure..."

"If I don't remember this completely absurd story that Robin just told me tomorrow," she sniffled. "Promise me you'll remind me. And if I believe you without having… one, two, four, six? Eight drinks in my system, then promise we'll talk about what comes next."

"What comes next?" Steve felt something spread throughout his stomach –it wasn’t butterflies, but it wasn’t dread either.

"I…" the line went silent briefly, another sniffle coming through. “I don't know. But I know I don't want to break up. But I'm also not ready for Hawkins to be my door stopper, Steve."

Steve leaned his head against the wall, a deep sigh leaving his lips as he kept his gaze fixed on the bulb flickering above. A twitch in his fingers caused them to instantly ball up into a fist at the blinking light. His heart sank, focusing on how much, and how little, was being said during the phone call.

Steve whispered, "I know Y/N. I know."

She didn't say anything back. Steve pictured her holding onto the payphone with both hands, hoping he'd say something, anything. When he didn't, she let out a soft whimper. The simple sound diluted by the murmurs and laughs in the background and yet still powerful enough to cause him to bang the back of his head into the wall in frustration after she hung up.

Few moments in one’s life demanded an immediate choice and this was one of them. He could wait for tomorrow, see what he would do if she forgot, or wait and see what he'd do if she remembered.

Steve's eyes trailed to the notepad where Robin had written the name of the club they had gone to. Now was his time to decide.

Out of nowhere, a pair of keys flew into his cheek. Steve flinched from the contact, looking up to see Dustin leaning against a doorframe, a chocolate bar in hand.

"What the hell dude?" Steve demanded just loud enough to stir Lucas from his snoring. "You could have taken out my eye."

"So what's the great monster hunter Steve Harrington going to do now?" Dustin asked with an arched eyebrow.

Steve blew out a sigh, his hand ruffling his dishevelled hair, "I don't know."

"You want my advice?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"The hero always goes after what he wants. You just gotta chose whether you're the hero this time."

"When did you get so wise?" Steve said using amusement to mask his slight crisis of conscience.

Dustin took a bite of his bar, "It's not that hard. I just have to look smarter than you."

Steve rolled his eyes and Dustin chuckled before going back into the sofa.

Steve tapped his foot, eyes falling to the set of car keys Dustin had lobbed at him. They were the ones with the glass token Y/N had given him for Christmas. It was hard to believe everything that had happened was all centred around a roll of candy. The ticking of the wall clock made him nervous with each breath.

***

 After Robin had finished telling Y/N everything she knew -or at least remembered- she sat back, a smug look on her face.

The poor girl sitting opposite her looked like she was trying to swallow marbles. Her mouth agape as she tried to assimilate all the crazy Robin had just filled her in on. "So… all those times Steve would say something weird, he really wasn't talking about DnD? I knew a guy like him didn't play DnD! I asked him what class his character was and he said 'Batter'! That's not a thing!" Y/N mumbled loudly.

Robin panicked, "Oh, shit! Don't tell Clara!"

Y/N's eyes went wide, "Me you tell, but for some reason, the girl arm wrestling with a man double her size over there is off-limits?" she pointed to Clara who was indeed arm-wrestling a guy twice her size.

"I'm not afraid she won’t believe me, I'm afraid she will and then she'll demand to see the girl who can make things float with her mind. How would I explain that to Steve? Or any of them? Those guys are super-" Robin wiggled her fingers like jazz hands. "Up-tight about their secrets. Especially Joyce. They're worse than the Russian's…and I cracked a Russian secret code once!" she whispered, her head hunkering low so her chin nearly touched the table.

"Yes!" Clara shouted in triumph a few tables away, hands raised high. Her opponent simply flashed her an impressed smile, shaking her hand in defeat. As she sauntered over to their table, Robin kicked Y/N's shin.

"Look normal, she's coming."

Clara did a ridiculous dance-walk, her index fingers pointing at both Robin and Y/N, "Who is the strongest woman in the world?" she sing-songed.

"Definitely you," Y/N humoured her. "And not a teenage girl..." she whispered afterwards, eyes still buggy.

Robin choked on her cherry coke when she heard that, slamming the table after Clara rose her brows. "This is some damn good cherry coke!" She tried to cover up.

Clara simply shrugged and slid in next to Robin, their hands instinctively finding each other, pinky fingers locking as though they had just sworn a picky promise telepathically.

"Ugh!" Y/N groaned, rolling her eyes so far back her head Robin wondered if they'd stay permanently white. "You guys are so disgustingly adorable."

Clara tried to act like a smart ass, a casual look on her face, "I have no idea what you mean. We're just three friends enjoying a post alcohol poisoning meal."

Y/N pointed her index and middle finger so it looked like a V. "I used to call someone my friend when we went out together too, then I called him my boyfriend by accident during my film-making trivia babble-rants and it stuck." Another whine let her throat just as her forehead fell lifelessly onto the table with a painful thud. "Ow! And now we're… complicated!" She declared dramatically with a fake half sob, causing patrons nearby to do a double-take.

One of the waitresses carrying empty plates glanced over at their table, frowning when she noticed Robin and Clara semi holding hands in the space between their thighs. Her intuition catching on quick that it wasn’t just a meaningless gesture of friendship. Clara glared at her defiantly, but Robin recoiled, pulling her hand free. For some reason, that judgemental look had made her feel like someone guilty of committing a crime -of being a freak- and her mouth went dry.

Feeling a sudden wave of emotions hit her, Robin excused herself from their table and trotted to the restrooms so she could be alone, away from any potentially prying eyes and the feeling of being naked in front of an entire classroom.

Gasping for air, her hands trembled against the enamelled steel sink of the girls restroom. The door burst open and Clara leaned next to her, hands cupping the side of Robin's face hidden behind cascading hair.

"Hey, what the hell was that? Are you okay?"

Despite her poor choice of wording, Robin knew Clara was simply worried for her. In some ways, she reminded her of a prickly pear; tough and thorny on the outside but soft and sweet on the inside.

"It's nothing, just leave me alone for a minute, okay?"

"Oh bullshit it's nothing. It was that snooty nosed waitress wasn't it. Don't pay her any attention."

"That's easy for you to say..." Robin bit back.

Clara scoffed, "Oh, right! Because I don't look away or keep my head down when people are assholes, that instantly translates to me not giving a shit or feeling like shit sometimes?"

Robin stared at her in surprise, "But you never say anything."

Clara's eyes narrowed as she wrung her neck, "You think it doesn't bother me that we can't just hold hands in public like any Tom, Dick or Harry and the Marry Sue's on their arms? Because it does. It bothers me a lot!"

The lights flickered before Robin stammered, "B-but… you just… you're always so tough."

Clara snorted, her hand slamming against the door when another person was about to enter, blocking the door. "Occupied!" The lady scoffed and muttered a complaint before her heels traipsed away. Clara continued as though nothing had happened, "News flash Robin!" she flicked a strand of Robin's hair. "So are you!"

"What?"

"Jesus! You're one of the funniest and smartest people I know and you're never scared to let the whole room know!" Clara closed the distance between them, her fingers lacing with Robin's. "And you love who you are. You don't try to fight it or pretend to be different and that's… fucking brave. One of the bravest things anyone can do is be comfortable in their own skin. I'm tough sure, but that's a shell in its own way. You? You're your own person, nerdy brain and all."

"I… I didn't think of it that way..." Robin's lips quavered, a deep flush adding colour to her cheeks.

Clara leaned in, bringing her hand to cup Robin's face again so they shared the same eyeliner, a soft smile of admiration easing her usually tough features into a warm show of brightness.

"Robin, you are phenomenal," she blinked slow, taking another step closer. "And I want to get to know you… more, beyond friendship."

Sparks electrified the air, making it supercharged with static, tingles travelling from Robin's arms to her fingertips and into Clara. Their contact a sacred exchange of longing and desire, a feeling so primal, so old, and so right! It chased away all of Robin's fears and doubts, wiping that feeling of shame from the slate, freeing her chest making her feel like she was breathing for the first time in a long time.

Robin smiled, wholeheartedly and Clara mimicked her response, sweet giggles bubbling between them. Their grip on each other’s hands tightening, promising to keep the other anchored. It was a silent promise to be true to themselves and only themselves. A defiant fist in the air to society’s expectations of them and the first brick of a foundation intended to strengthen the bond of trust between two deviants -between two humans whose love-struck hearts beat with the ferocity of all the great loves worth swooning over. 

Feeling an undeniable pull, Robin decided to be daring and bold for once. Not brave in the form of fighting Russian's in an underground lab beneath a mall, and not brave in the sense that she could see the impossible and fling a firework at it like it was any regular old Sunday, but a braveness that meant taking a chance, opening up her heart to the prospect of heartbreak as well as the prospect of pure joy.

Her lips were so close to Clara’s she could feel her breath against her sensitive pink skin, and just when she was about to take that last step off the cliff and fully commit to her leap of faith, Clara pulled back, a furrow forming between the space of her beautiful eyes.

Robin felt heat travel up her face, her heart racing -but this time not from their electric connection. "I- I'm sorry, I thought we were having a moment!" She rushed to explain.

Clara held her face to muffle an exasperated exhale, "No, you weren't wrong. There was definitely a moment."

Robin blinked several times, "Then what's the matter."

Clara laughed, "Because dummy, I'm not going to let our first kiss be in the girls restroom of a shitty fast food joint filled with pretentious waitresses." She entangled their fingers back together again. "If I'm going to kiss you, it's going to be in daylight."

Robin beamed, "You know, you may have a foul mouth, but sometimes, you say the most perfect things."

Clara winked, "I'm unpredictable that way." She chuckled, bobbing her head towards the door. "Come on, I think I'm sober enough to drive. Let's go reunite our two clowns so they stop being walking black holes, sucking all the happiness out of the room with their moping."

 ***

You had spent more than ten minutes playing with the salt you'd emptied from the small salt packet, ring finger drawing weird outlines of doodles.

Clara and Robin burst out of the girls' bathroom with the goofiest smiles you'd ever seen -well maybe not as goofy as Dustin's when he beat Steve on the Atari.

And now you were thinking about Steve again.

Damn it! You cursed.

You glanced back at the two girls shamelessly enjoying each other’s closeness. They were different somehow, and not just because their shoulders kept brushing against each other and they didn't once try and pull away or hide a smile behind a curtain of hair, they were more confident. And then it hit you, they were starting to fall for each other, their thoughts reserved for each other and not the gawking world around them.

After paying the check, Robin helped you walk considering you were the only one stumbling now. After passing a few streets, without warning, Clara stopped dead in her tracks, making your nose bury itself under her shoulder blade.

"Oof!" You rubbed the nib of your nose with a disapproving pout. "Warn someone before you decide to pull the hand brakes, Clara!"

Clara's hand waved in the air as if she were trying to hail a cab, only it was waving at Robin.

"Are you seeing this?" She asked.

"Oh my..." Robin froze for a moment, repeating Clara's hand gesture at you. "Tell me you have a candle."

You looked at Robin as if she were an alien from outer space, "Why would I have a candle?"

"Because I think you're about to have a Sixteen Candles moment."

Clara turned her head, "A what moment?"

Robin goggled at her, "You've never seen Sixteen Candles?"

You hopped on your tippy-toes to see beyond their shoulders, curious as to what grabbed their attention. "Can… you… guys… move? I… can't… see!"

They ignored your jumping and nudging, Clara opening her palms up to the air with a shrug that made her leather jacket groan. "I'm more of a Saint Elmo's Fire girl," she said.

Robin's jaw dropped even further, "Marry me."

For the first time in years, Clara blushed, deeply. "Alright, but I'm keeping my last name. Clara Buckley sounds like a suburban housewife's name and suburban bliss is my greatest fear!"

You sighed, rolling your eyes and squeezed between them, "What are you guys--"

Cars zoomed across the road, casting red racing ghosts from the lights of their tail-ends, the entire street looking like a sped-up music video. Past the foot and car traffic was a parked car, familiar, and banged up to hell. Leaning against the car’s door was Steve. His arms folded and his legs crossed at the ankle. He was looking to the side, a forlorn expression making his face transform into  a live rendition of a melancholic photograph. Your heart fluttered and then stopped and then fluttered again like it had just undergone a spell of rejuvenation. Your swirling vision reminding you of the large quantities of alcohol swimming with your rushing blood.

You turned to Clara and Robin, a searching gaze telling them you needed confirmation that you weren't hallucinating or past out in the dinner, they both nodded at you, a happy twinkle making their eyes shine with starlight. You felt the air leave your lungs.

A second after, your feet picked up in an unbalanced run, your body bumping into pedestrians and strangers. Steve saw a crowd begin to part and looked your way, the sadness draining from his face as he jogged to catch up with you.

Your bodies crashed together like two colliding meteors, Steve wrapped his strong arms around you, picking you up off the ground and letting out a relieved huff on your neck as he spun you around, slowly. Strangers ignoring the two of you were dreaded donation collectors. You tittered, feeling a bolt of lightning full of verve and newfound energy strike you. In the spin, colours seemed brighter, the air felt clearer and your mind was finally at peace.

"What are you doing here, Harrington?" you asked when he set you down.

Steve's thumb caressed your cheek, "I'm here to make sure you don't forget."

"Forget what?"

"That I love you," he captured your lips in a kiss filled with passion and tenderness. He fished something small out of his pocket and dropped it in your hands. It was his car keys, they still had that charm you had given him for Christmas.

"You called," was all he said as he wrapped you in a warm hug for a second time.

Your fingers brushed over the glasswork love-heart charm, the words: ‘Call Me’ slightly shaved down from wear and tear.

You sniffled as happy tears fell down your face, "I called."

 Clara and Robin had decided to drive back to Hawkins in her car while you and Steve drove back together. Your elbow was resting on the space where the window was supposed to be, fingers drawing waves through the wind, eyes looking out at the cityscape panorama rushing past, the song Love is a Battlefield playing over the radio as you slowly drifted to sleep, Steve's heavenly scent almost therapeutic.

Time past in chunks of long stretches and sudden gaps, your eyes fluttering open from time to time as you stirred and mumbled unintelligible words. At some point in the night, you felt your body lift as arms braced your spine and thighs, the thrumming of a strong heart knocking against your ear, soothing you into a tranquil lull. A kiss placed on your forehead, the brush of a blanket pulled over your shivering body, fingers smoothing the lines of your jaw and tracing the curves and dips of your throat.

"You are my forever, you know that?"

You moved further into the bright spot of warmth radiating beside you, your ear finding that glorious thrum again. Euphoria seeping from the base of your skull to your toes.

"If you forget, I'll remind you tomorrow. And the day after that. Forever."

 That morning, you had woken up in Steve's room, his body draped over yours possessively, a puppy dog pout taking over his sleeping face. His hair was messy as usual. You ran your hands through his long waves, breathing in the smell of his conditioner that still clung to his follicles.

"Morning," he murmured into the pillow.

"Good morning." He peeked at you through one eye, "So? Do you remember?"

You inched your face closer to his, "I do."

***

 Clara sat cross-legged on her window sill in her favourite pyjamas, a cup of hot cocoa in her hands. "Hey," Clara spoke with her lips skirting against her mug's rim, steam wiping around her eyes to form a foggy curtain.

"Hey," Robin replied, her mug equally close to her own lips. She folded her frame onto the windowsill, her knee brushing against Clara’s as she placed a sauce plate with a cupcake and a birthday candle between the diamond-space formed by their folded legs. “I got it wrong before.”

Clara cocked her head to the side.

“We’re the ones about to have a Sixteen Candles moment.”

Clara set her mug down, a smirk turning upwards, “Its daylight."

Robin looked up at her through hooded eyes, "So it is..."

“And I’m yours.”

Robin arched a playful brow, “A regular ol’ Robin’s girl, huh?”

 The End.

   Also: if you liked the playlist check out @multifandom-mixtapes blog and send her a request, she’s awesome (side note: now that the fic is concluded feel free to add more songs to the playlist Ari!)

Permatags: @gruffle1 @thechickvic @notawarriorjustyet @savethehoneeybees

Robins Girl & Meet Cute: @chims-kookies @electroma89 @thechickvic @mochminnie @timeladygallifrey

[undeadimpulsereviews]

Spider-Man PS4

Playstation has been on a roll with the exclusives for the Playstation 4. With amazing titles like Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War and Persona 5; will playstation hit a snag at some point with a future exclusive? At the moment this still isn’t the case. From developer Insomniac Games comes the next big hit for the console, Spider-Man. Based off the comic book series from Marvel Comics, players are put in control of the classic neighborhood hero. It brings forward new story, separate from the ongoing comics; while at the same time, it also presents elements veterans will be familiar with. Yet, it’s done in such a way that it hits hard and does the franchise justice.

Spider-Man starts years after Peter Parker has started his web-slinging career. He’s put many villains behind bars, such as Scorpion and Rhino. Already the game is off to a good start. Deciding to start the story after the origins is a great move. The knowledge of Spider-Man’s backstory isn’t needed. Pretty much everyone who knows the series to some degree know what happened to Peter Parker. There is nothing duller than repeating old material that is pretty much universally known. At the same time, however, the game does re-purpose old material. 

It would be difficult to completely avoid re-using old content with something as long running as Spider-Man. The developers could have made their own villain to produce something new, but would Marvel agree to this? The way Insomniac makes this work is the development and direction taken. People know the origin stories behind specific villains; however, Insomniac shows players something that isn’t fully new and paints it in a light that feels interesting. While some of the rogues gallery has been fighting Spider-Man for years, others are just being introduced and it’s done so well. There is so much emotional build up through out the game that when the climax and resolution hit, it’s legitimately a tear-jerker.

Part of this is thanks to the structure of the story. The story is broken into three acts, but it feels like one big story that hardly takes a break. The first act is dedicated to building up characters. Most of the cutscenes serve to slowly introduce one of the main villains of the game while developing upon the characters around Peter. The second act focuses more on the villain, and Peter attempting to bring his scheme to an end before it gets out of hand.There is still a level of character building, but as the game reaches the climax the development of characters is also hitting a peak. Lastly when the third act hits the players see the results of everything leading to this point. All that build up hits in such a fashion that, for me, Peter’s struggle is understood by players and we sympathize with his plight.

The story also has the characters to thank for it’s success as well. Spider-Man/Peter Parker’s character is amazing. He is as human as a superhero with spider like powers can get.

As Peter he’s a kind and awkward individual. Peter at this point in the game is out of college and living on his own. He always sees the good in people around him. He’s not Spider-Man for the fame, or fortune that could come from it. At the same time he isn’t at a level like Captain America or the other Avengers. This all translates into his superhero persona.

Spider-Man has always been known as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and, with this iteration of the character, this couldn’t be any more true. The story has the player going toe to toe with big villains to save the streets of New York; however, the side missions really paint a bigger picture for the character. The side missions aren’t anything grand and story driven like something our of games like Red Dead or Nier Automata; however, this works for Spider-Man. The missions and crimes the player complete feel small and at a neighborhood level. For example, the main story could have me go against Mr.Negative; while, at the same time, the side quests have me going to save a cat from a tree. It’s small, but it fits the character.

The biggest part of the character is the idea of “always seeing the good in people.” When it comes to villains that Spider-Man has fought before, the idea doesn’t really apply. Though, for some of the villains present, the idea hits hard. Take Mr.Negative for example; due to the interactions through Peter Parker, the scenes as Spider-Man does each character and the story justice. It shows what kind of hero Peter truly is deep down. He cares for the people around him. He may not seem all that serious at times and takes some situations in a joking manner. Though, in the end, as long as there is some fraction of good inside someone then Peter doesn’t give up. Spider-Man is smart, comical, but above all it’s his moral compass that makes the character.

It’s not just Spider-Man though, the supporting cast and antagonists all contribute to the story. There is no end to the level of detail and development among the game and it’s cast. There is Mary Jane, Miles Morales, and other well known characters introduced throughout the game.

Mary and Miles aren’t your cliche background characters that are their for the ride. They each play a role to aid in Peters goal. They share game-play styles, but with small changes to specific things.To avoid spoilers I can’t go too deep into the antagonists and what happens. Just know that each character plays their part and plays it well.

Spider-Man’s story is amazing, but if people wanted this for an amazing story alone they could go to a local book store and find many great comics on the character. How is the game-play? Ultimately, it’s fantastic. The fighting feels fluid and fun, swinging around New York feels outstanding and easy. Not to mention that the design of specific elements through the game are well thought out considering the source material. If there was one thing I had a problem with, in terms of game-play, it came later in the game. As the player progresses new enemies start to appear. These enemies arrive in numbers and most of them will be carrying weaponry. You may be able to dodge one shooting at you perfectly but, more times than not, you’ll be shot by the rest and end up with little to no health left.

Otherwise the game-play feels amazing. Fighting takes a lot of elements from games like Batman: Arkham Asylum; however, in Spider-Man’s case, the fighting feels a lot more free and light. The hits still pack a punch, but Spider-Man himself moves faster and with more personality. 

Players can use gadgets to turn the tide of battle, and some scenarios call for a stealthy approach. As a combo is racked up a focus bar is filled; when the bar is filled Spider-Man can perform a finishing move. Then there are the suits. At face value they seem like a purely aesthetic part of the game. Though they are more than just a costume swap.

There are a good amount of Spidey-suits the player can unlock and, while they look cool, they serve more of a purpose. Each suit comes with a special ability. For example, in the video above, the Spider-Punk suit produces a shockwave from a guitar which pushes enemies back. The abilities are made to produce different ways of playing the game. Do you want to handle things in a stealthy manner, or up front and personal? Are you more aggressive or defensive? The player isn’t just a man in a suit; there is more to how people make their Spider-Man. The biggest thing, when it comes to Spider-Man, was how well does he maneuver? In my opinion, swinging feels so fun and enjoyable that I could do nothing in the game but traverse New York and still have a good time.

Swinging around the city is one of the best experiences in the game. You’re always moving and, if someone does fall to the ground or loses momentum, it’s really simple to begin traversing things thanks to the scale of New York. It’s clear that the webs are connecting to something in the area and there is no shortage of things for Spider-Man to build momentum. It’s like a parkour mechanic in games that is everything I could have wanted. It’s incredibly responsive and both feels and looks fluid. I’d say it’s one of the best means of traversing a city-scape and the best among Spider-Man games.

Overall Spider-Man is an awesome game. While the story is linear, I would love to replay the game again. It’s was an amazing experience that I would love to give a solid 10. Though there were moments that were aggravating when it came to side crime fights.  The game had a few small things that I would have liked to be ironed out, but otherwise I really loved this game and I’d say it’s one of my all time favorite PS4 games. I’d say that Spider-Man deserves a 9 out of 10. I highly recommend this game; not just for Spider-man fans but for all gamers looking for something downright fun.

Thanks for reading and supporting me. I hope you enjoyed my opinion, even if you don’t fully agree with me. I’ll be posting about what’s ahead for the month of October this weekend. Until then, however, thanks again and I’ll see ya next time.

[daleisgreat]

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 1

An awesome friend surprised me a year ago by gifting me the complete BluRay series of Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). Longtime readers of the blog will recall I spent most of 2014 going through and reviewing all of the Star Trek films once a month throughout the year. I can now look forward to analyzing each season of TNG right here! I may not be able to knock them out at my same rate as the movies since I only average watching about two episodes of TNG a week currently, but as I understand by the third season TNG gets pretty damn must-see, so maybe I will be cruising through the seasons at that point. As in previous TV season blogs, I will write these in a list style running down random highs and lows that popped out to me throughout the season. -TNG premiered in 1987 (trailer) via syndication and not dedicated to a single major network. This was unheard of for such a show. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek and responsible for helming The Original Series and producing on the motion pictures was responsible for helping to create and produce TNG through its first few seasons. TNG focused on a new cast and crew of the iconic Enterprise vessel and takes place in 2364, just under a century after The Orginal Series started off.

-I am stoked to finally go into this overdue journey of watching every episode of TNG. Growing up as a 90s kid there always seemed to be reruns on cable of all the Star Trek shows. I was not a regular, weekly watcher, but with four different series out by the end of the 90s it became almost impossible not to stumble upon an episode channel surfing (remember that?). I absorbed roughly a dozen episodes of each series that way over the years. TNG seemed to resonate with me the most because of its iconic cast of characters, but I have also heard strong arguments for Deep Space Nine too. -I had a fun conversation with my dad last weekend filling him in on my TNG quest and asked him about his memories of the show. I was surprised to learn he said he still watches the show because the networks still air reruns of most of the series on at late night and he usually falls asleep to it. He gave me a few fun memories of his, and we both shared a laugh at how different Ryker was in the first season without his intimidating, vintage beard.

-TNG has a strong, diverse cast and because the cast was so huge I noticed that almost every episode one or two of the supporting characters were not there so more time can be focused on the rest of the cast. The two primary stars are Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and First Officer Ryker (Jonathan Frakes) who are featured on every episode. Tasha Yars (Denise Crosby) is the badass security officer, Geordi (Levar Burton) and Data (Brent Spiner) are the two on-the-nose best friends helms-men of The Enterprise, Worf (Michael Dorn) is a battle-hardened Klingon whose advice consistently gets rejected, Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) seems to be a poor doctor as several patients pass away under her watch throughout this initial season and her son Wesley (Wil Wheaton) is not so affable either. The same can be said for Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis). I had no recollection of Tasha or Wesley at all going into the series premiere since neither was in the movies I watched a few years ago. Troi is the only character I disliked throughout the first season. Her role as counselor and her psychic ability to ‘read feelings’ could not have been portrayed any worse since her ‘psychic readings’ was basic body language and context deductions that anyone should have been able to decipher. I am told her character is far less annoying in later seasons. Wesley is also a little bit of a buzzkill as the boy wonder Ensign on the bridge solving problems that the adults swiftly brush off, but I kind of get his role being there to resonate with younger viewers.

-There was no dedicated cast member as chief engineer for the first season and that role was randomly filled by several minor actors off and on throughout the season. One of the early chief engineers was Argyle (Bill Yeager). He was only a recurring character on two episodes for the first part of the season so I cracked up upon learning he started a letter writing campaign encouraged fans to write in of support to get him on the show more frequently. Naturally this lead to him instantly being booted off the show and being replaced with other chief engineers of the week until TNG settled on Geordi taking over that department from season two on. -I recall hearing several times over the years the first year or two of TNG is a rough watch, primarily because Gene Roddenberry had final say over the show in the early years and he was notorious for countless last minute rewrites that became an issue in production. Sure enough, this season was a slog to get through with half the episodes featuring baffling plots and questioning points of conflict to base an episode around. A prominent example is the crew fighting off an airborne contamination that turns the infected into the equivalent of bumbling drunks with a maxed out sex drive. There are several other mind-numbing episodes with just as eyebrow-raising plots that made season one a chore, but there were at least several fairly good-to-strong episodes this debut season too that helped counterbalance the bad just a wee-bit.

-Even though he was not in the movies, I was aware of the ‘omnipotent presence’ known as Q (John de Lancie) due to seeing a online play-thru of the videogame Star Trek: Borg where he was the quirky sidekick in a FMV PC game chastising you for every decision you make. I was delighted to see him in the same quirky role in the two episodes he was on in the first season. I am not going to even attempt to explain his role here, but came to discover I will see him in six more episodes for the rest of TNG as he attempts stump the TNG crew with more of his dastardly challenges. -TNG looks stunning in HD! Several years ago Paramount was able to re-master the entire series in HD because TNG was shot on 35mm film. For computer special effects they had to go in and painstakingly re-master all the individual CG effects by hand. It is well worth it because the show looks stunning now, and there are a couple extra features detailing all the hard work put in with the obligatory SD-HD comparison shots and it is amazing seeing the difference.

-Speaking of extras, saying there is a ton on here is an understatement. I tallied roughly three hours of extra features on the season one BluRay, among some are HD exclusives. The gag reel is uniquely compiled compared to countless others I have seen so do not gloss over that. There are also about eight other behind-the-scenes features and of those Launch and Continuing Mission get my top picks as thorough half hour deep dives on getting the show started and casted and highlighting its pivotal moments with archived and recent interviews from nearly the entire cast and crew. If you are into the aforementioned HD/SD upgrades to the show and how they pulled it off then definitely check out Energized: Taking TNG to the Next Level as it was a truly fascinating watch at Paramount’s remarkable job re-mastering TNG. -One unofficial extra feature that has been tremendously helpful for me is the podcast, Star Trek: The Next Conversation. Two writers from the sitcom, The Goldbergs host this show that dedicates each podcast to breaking down and analyzing every episode of TNG in chronological order. Both hosts are avid Trek fans, but one has never seen TNG before for some reason and it creates a great teacher/student dynamic to the show. They helped shed a lot of background information and filled in some gaps that I did not pick up on my initial watch. Minus the over-reliance on sound effect transitions, it wound up being the perfect supplementary material I consumed after every episode of TNG and if you ever decide to start watching through TNG from the beginning I give it the highest recommendation. -Even though there are a lot of dud episodes in the first season, by the last several episodes it seemed like the cast was starting to gel and the episodes were slowly-but-surely becoming more compelling to watch. There is a tear-jerker Tasha episode that has a great final scene from her, and an awesome season finale I was on board with where The Enterprise picks up several human frozen in cryogenics in the 20th century and thaws them out for amusing antics on deck. I hear the show starts to ramp up next season, and is at max warp speed by season three on. Even though this season was a doozy, I did not mind persevering through it to see the origins of the cast and how far they will evolve in the following seasons. Please join me again here in a couple months for my log of season two! Past TV/Web Series Blogs 2013-14 TV Season Recap 2014-15 TV Season Recap 2015-16 TV Season Recap 2016-17 TV Season Recap 2017-18 TV Season Recap Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series Baseball: A Ken Burns series Angry Videogame Nerd Volumes 7-9 Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30 RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13 Roseanne – Seasons 1-9 Seinfeld Final Season Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle Superheroes: Pioneers of Television The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5

[fesahaawit]

Sharing My Retirement Plans With My Dad!

[Heyo! Got another killer guest post lined up for y’all today, this time from long-time reader JW who now has a blog of his own over at The Green Swan.  He just had one of those amazing conversations about life and money with his father, and thought we’d might enjoy hearing how it all went down. I think he guessed right – check it out :)]

*******

I have something personal to share with you all – an email from my Dad. And not just any old email… a special one, in which I’ve never received anything of the like before. My Dad was wanting to know more about my plans to retire early!

To say I was nervous when I saw his email would be an understatement…

While my Dad doesn’t know I have a blog (and neither do any other friends or family), he does know I do not want to work for the rest of my life. He knows I’ve accumulated a fair amount of wealth so far, although not the exact amount. And he knows my goal is to get out of the rat race early. I have explicitly told him this before, but that’s the extent of it.

Until earlier in January… At that point, Pandora’s Box was opened. And it started with this email. (By way of reference, my dad is currently 63 and plans to retire in 2018)

My Dad’s Email:

Hi JW,

I always do a financial review at year end and it got me thinking about you wanting to retire early.  I can relate, I was always planning to retire at 50.  A few things to think about (you probably have already considered these, but anyway):

— I don’t think anything greater than a 7% long term return on your investments is realistic.  You don’t have to go back too many years where a huge double digit loss was happening

— College education keeps increasing.

— Health insurance is really scary in the future.  I’m planning $10,000/yr/person until medicare.  You want to make sure you have a good ins. plan.  Who knows how much this will increase.  But $20,000/yr for 20 years is $400,000.

— If you ever do decide you want or need to re-enter the work force, it’s really hard to re-enter at the salary you were making before.

When I got to my early 50s I realized:

— I would be really bored.

— I still needed a purpose in life

— By working a few more years, mom and I could have this house and possibly a second home if we wanted.

— It was also a good feeling knowing that we could retire whenever we wanted.

Anyway, a few thoughts I wanted to share.  I’d love to help you reach your financial goals if there is anything I can help with.

Have a good day,

Dad

What a nice note, huh!? Needless to say, he hit on basically all the major concerns any early retiree should think about. At the time of reading this, I didn’t realize that he ever considered early retirement. I always knew that him and Mom did a good job managing their money and were financial responsible, but they did have to raise four boys and paid for half of our college costs (in-state public school tuition).

I thought about how best to respond and decided to put some thoughts on paper. I shot him the below email, and then followed up with a phone call. Below is my unedited response to my Dad.

My Email Response:

Hey Dad, thanks for the email. I didn’t realize that you were thinking of retiring early as well. What you mentioned in your email are definitely some of the key things I’ve been thinking of too. Of course it is hard to pin down hard numbers on some of those things until the day comes. But here is the basic synopsis that I’ve come up with. Let me know if this makes sense and when it would work to discuss.

I hear you on the 7%. I’ve always used 8% as an estimate when projecting my future investment balance based on the long-term historical returns of the S&P 500. Once in retirement I will likely continue to stay 100% invested in stocks, but focus on the “safe withdrawal rate” (“SWR”). There are some good online simulators for determining “FIRE” (financial independence, retire early). Have you ever checked out firecalc.com or cfiresim.com?

I would estimate my required investment balance at retirement based on a 3.0-3.5% SWR and knowing what my core expenses are with some cushion. For example, core expenses of $60K including mtg payment at 3% SWR would require $2 million in investment assets. Realistically, and conservatively, we’d probably be targeting closer to $3 million. The biggest wildcard are long-term healthcare costs in case of illness or disability, which as you mentioned would either require good health/disability/long-term care insurance and/or more cushion in our investments.

Jr’s college fund will be basically fully funded by his 3rd b’day at ~$70K. Invested in a balanced and diversified stock index portfolio, this should cover the majority, if not all, of college costs by 18 estimated at ~$250K. We’ll have the same plan to fully fund baby 2’s 529 by age 3 as well. These funds of course are considered separate from the investment assets needed for the SWR above.

Without an employer or gov’t subsidy, I’d maybe be even more conservative than $10K /yr /person. We’ll see how it evolves in the coming years with Trump though. Lots TBD in retirement including if gov’t subsidies will be means tested or not or simply based on income…and then what will our income be in retirement, etc, etc. With unknowns like these to evolve likely well into retirement, we’ll try to play it safe rather than be sorry later.

Heard you loud and clear on re-entering the workforce at prior wages. But if we needed to build back some cushion, we could do this reasonably at lower wages and even consider temporary side gigs. However, we’d have no intention of doing this. We’d rather work an extra year at the higher wages than risk having to re-enter at lower wages for a couple years.

What to do in retirement…that’s the million dollar question, huh!? I’ve always heard it is important to retire “to” something and not to retire “from” something. So I understand where you are coming from. I would be ideally retiring to: delving into the kid’s activities and development (not much unlike what you did with us); hobbies that have gone by the wayside over years like hunting and others; travel with the fam; and finding ways to volunteer for various good causes TBD.

So at this point in time, that’s the thought process. We’ll shoot for $3 million in investment assets not including 529s which will be fully funded in coming years. And it gets squishy when thinking about healthcare and disability insurance, but I have time to figure that out and adjust the plan of course.

Like I said, let me know when it works to chat. I just thought it would be easiest to lay out some of my thoughts before doing so. Thanks again for the email.

JW

What do you think? Decent response? I wanted that to lay some ground work for a good conversation with him. And indeed it was good. We talked for quite a while.

Our Follow Up Conversation

My dad was very excited for us and our plan to retire early. He agreed with a lot of the assumptions including a SWR of 3.0-3.5% and having a baseline of $3 million, recognizing it is a lot of money but can be easy to attain when the snowball starts rolling (the FIRE-Starter that we are still in pursuit of!).

Conversation then focused on life purpose, employment in retirement if extra cash is needed, and healthcare; all three of which are somewhat related to each other. Employment, even part-time, can help fulfill my purpose in life while also help provide for some or all of the cost of healthcare and/or allow me to take advantage of employer sponsored insurance.

When your life is devoted to work it can be hard to think of what will fill that void, and the conversation kept reverting back to part time work. He mentioned how ideal it would be to be paid the same and just work less hours, and how, unfortunately, my career in banking really isn’t feasible for that. So we discussed a number of alternatives.

He mentioned there are plenty of ways to be creative with employment and there are unique opportunities out there if I look hard enough. One example he gave was that an old colleague of his who retired and began delivering RVs across the country. He also mentioned part time consulting, etc, given my banking and finance background.

Then he asked what I will do between 8-3 when the kids are in school? He thought that is when part time employment would be ideal. But what if I don’t need the money, will I be that bored that I revert back to employment? Is retiring to family not enough?

I’ll have 10 years with the kids still in the house which will be great. When they are gone, then what? Well at some point grandkids. I’ve always heard how great it is to have grandkids! :) I’m sure they’ll keep us busy and provide for a great time as well.

So kids will keep me busy and, if I’m so lucky, grandkids as well. What will I do when I get bored?

With the kids gone, Lucy and I will have more flexibility to travel and we’ll no doubt take advantage.

I enjoy reading books, magazines, blogs, etc about a wide-array of topics including history, finance, religion, nature & the outdoors, etc. Does that not provide plenty of rabbit holes to chase down?

I’ll be able to focus more on my health and fitness. It’ll be a lot easier for me to fit in a good balanced exercise program and improve my diet. I enjoy cooking at home with Lucy. We can focus more on new, unique and healthy foods for us and the family.

What about other hobbies or projects? Many hobbies have been pushed to the side as I entered the workforce. This would include hunting, playing various sports (would I be too young to enter an old man basketball or soccer club?), and following college and professional sports more closely.

There are endless great causes I could volunteer my time to as well, including perhaps at the school system in some capacity that my kids will then be attending.

We also talked about his scenario with my mom. They were basically at FI 8 years ago. He wasn’t ready to leave work though because he needed that as his purpose in life. Also, they wanted their dream home on a lake which they had recently moved to, but were still in the process of paying off.

The additional years of employment would allow them to pay that loan off and have more cushion. He also acknowledged how much greater work was knowing that he could quit at any point if he wanted or needed to (albeit then move to a less expensive home). So the “one more year” syndrome was more like eight years for them in order to have the nice lake home for the rest of their lives.

An interesting takeaway from this was when I asked him how he’d fulfill his purpose in life once he does retire from his work here shortly. He said that he didn’t think he would have the need for purpose anymore and that days spent on the lake would be what he will fill his time with.

I think that begs the question for all of us – when will we no longer need that purpose in life filled by work? At what point can we say enough is enough. I’m done climbing that corporate ladder and I’m completely satisfied with a more leisurely lifestyle?

It’s a tough question, one that many retirees struggle with (especially early retirees). I may think I will be ready, but when I’m in the moment I may not be. We all need to try to determine when enough is enough in our lives.

I could probably continue on, but there you have it. My conversation with my Dad on retiring early! And the outcome: much congratulations and excitement, as well as some things to continue to ponder.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with anything? J. Money thought the parts about not needing purpose anymore was pretty surprising to learn from my dad. Share your own thoughts below and I’ll happily answer any questions!

****** JW is a corporate banker, a small business owner, a personal finance blogger, and a family man with a wife, a kid and another on the way. He amassed his first million by age 30 and is on the path to reach financial independence and retire early in his mid-30s. JW blogs at The Green Swan to help others achieve their financial objectives and believes anyone can be on the path to retire early with the right habits and mindset. You can also find JW on Twitter (@TheGreenSwan1) and on Facebook too.

Sharing My Retirement Plans With My Dad! posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ

[heliosfinance]

Sharing My Retirement Plans With My Dad!

[Heyo! Got another killer guest post lined up for y’all today, this time from long-time reader JW who now has a blog of his own over at The Green Swan.  He just had one of those amazing conversations about life and money with his father, and thought we’d might enjoy hearing how it all went down. I think he guessed right – check it out :)]

*******

I have something personal to share with you all – an email from my Dad. And not just any old email… a special one, in which I’ve never received anything of the like before. My Dad was wanting to know more about my plans to retire early!

To say I was nervous when I saw his email would be an understatement…

While my Dad doesn’t know I have a blog (and neither do any other friends or family), he does know I do not want to work for the rest of my life. He knows I’ve accumulated a fair amount of wealth so far, although not the exact amount. And he knows my goal is to get out of the rat race early. I have explicitly told him this before, but that’s the extent of it.

Until earlier in January… At that point, Pandora’s Box was opened. And it started with this email. (By way of reference, my dad is currently 63 and plans to retire in 2018)

My Dad’s Email:

Hi JW,

I always do a financial review at year end and it got me thinking about you wanting to retire early.  I can relate, I was always planning to retire at 50.  A few things to think about (you probably have already considered these, but anyway):

— I don’t think anything greater than a 7% long term return on your investments is realistic.  You don’t have to go back too many years where a huge double digit loss was happening

— College education keeps increasing.

— Health insurance is really scary in the future.  I’m planning $10,000/yr/person until medicare.  You want to make sure you have a good ins. plan.  Who knows how much this will increase.  But $20,000/yr for 20 years is $400,000.

— If you ever do decide you want or need to re-enter the work force, it’s really hard to re-enter at the salary you were making before.

When I got to my early 50s I realized:

— I would be really bored.

— I still needed a purpose in life

— By working a few more years, mom and I could have this house and possibly a second home if we wanted.

— It was also a good feeling knowing that we could retire whenever we wanted.

Anyway, a few thoughts I wanted to share.  I’d love to help you reach your financial goals if there is anything I can help with.

Have a good day,

Dad

What a nice note, huh!? Needless to say, he hit on basically all the major concerns any early retiree should think about. At the time of reading this, I didn’t realize that he ever considered early retirement. I always knew that him and Mom did a good job managing their money and were financial responsible, but they did have to raise four boys and paid for half of our college costs (in-state public school tuition).

I thought about how best to respond and decided to put some thoughts on paper. I shot him the below email, and then followed up with a phone call. Below is my unedited response to my Dad.

My Email Response:

Hey Dad, thanks for the email. I didn’t realize that you were thinking of retiring early as well. What you mentioned in your email are definitely some of the key things I’ve been thinking of too. Of course it is hard to pin down hard numbers on some of those things until the day comes. But here is the basic synopsis that I’ve come up with. Let me know if this makes sense and when it would work to discuss.

I hear you on the 7%. I’ve always used 8% as an estimate when projecting my future investment balance based on the long-term historical returns of the S&P 500. Once in retirement I will likely continue to stay 100% invested in stocks, but focus on the “safe withdrawal rate” (“SWR”). There are some good online simulators for determining “FIRE” (financial independence, retire early). Have you ever checked out firecalc.com or cfiresim.com?

I would estimate my required investment balance at retirement based on a 3.0-3.5% SWR and knowing what my core expenses are with some cushion. For example, core expenses of $60K including mtg payment at 3% SWR would require $2 million in investment assets. Realistically, and conservatively, we’d probably be targeting closer to $3 million. The biggest wildcard are long-term healthcare costs in case of illness or disability, which as you mentioned would either require good health/disability/long-term care insurance and/or more cushion in our investments.

Jr’s college fund will be basically fully funded by his 3rd b’day at ~$70K. Invested in a balanced and diversified stock index portfolio, this should cover the majority, if not all, of college costs by 18 estimated at ~$250K. We’ll have the same plan to fully fund baby 2’s 529 by age 3 as well. These funds of course are considered separate from the investment assets needed for the SWR above.

Without an employer or gov’t subsidy, I’d maybe be even more conservative than $10K /yr /person. We’ll see how it evolves in the coming years with Trump though. Lots TBD in retirement including if gov’t subsidies will be means tested or not or simply based on income…and then what will our income be in retirement, etc, etc. With unknowns like these to evolve likely well into retirement, we’ll try to play it safe rather than be sorry later.

Heard you loud and clear on re-entering the workforce at prior wages. But if we needed to build back some cushion, we could do this reasonably at lower wages and even consider temporary side gigs. However, we’d have no intention of doing this. We’d rather work an extra year at the higher wages than risk having to re-enter at lower wages for a couple years.

What to do in retirement…that’s the million dollar question, huh!? I’ve always heard it is important to retire “to” something and not to retire “from” something. So I understand where you are coming from. I would be ideally retiring to: delving into the kid’s activities and development (not much unlike what you did with us); hobbies that have gone by the wayside over years like hunting and others; travel with the fam; and finding ways to volunteer for various good causes TBD.

So at this point in time, that’s the thought process. We’ll shoot for $3 million in investment assets not including 529s which will be fully funded in coming years. And it gets squishy when thinking about healthcare and disability insurance, but I have time to figure that out and adjust the plan of course.

Like I said, let me know when it works to chat. I just thought it would be easiest to lay out some of my thoughts before doing so. Thanks again for the email.

JW

What do you think? Decent response? I wanted that to lay some ground work for a good conversation with him. And indeed it was good. We talked for quite a while.

Our Follow Up Conversation

My dad was very excited for us and our plan to retire early. He agreed with a lot of the assumptions including a SWR of 3.0-3.5% and having a baseline of $3 million, recognizing it is a lot of money but can be easy to attain when the snowball starts rolling (the FIRE-Starter that we are still in pursuit of!).

Conversation then focused on life purpose, employment in retirement if extra cash is needed, and healthcare; all three of which are somewhat related to each other. Employment, even part-time, can help fulfill my purpose in life while also help provide for some or all of the cost of healthcare and/or allow me to take advantage of employer sponsored insurance.

When your life is devoted to work it can be hard to think of what will fill that void, and the conversation kept reverting back to part time work. He mentioned how ideal it would be to be paid the same and just work less hours, and how, unfortunately, my career in banking really isn’t feasible for that. So we discussed a number of alternatives.

He mentioned there are plenty of ways to be creative with employment and there are unique opportunities out there if I look hard enough. One example he gave was that an old colleague of his who retired and began delivering RVs across the country. He also mentioned part time consulting, etc, given my banking and finance background.

Then he asked what I will do between 8-3 when the kids are in school? He thought that is when part time employment would be ideal. But what if I don’t need the money, will I be that bored that I revert back to employment? Is retiring to family not enough?

I’ll have 10 years with the kids still in the house which will be great. When they are gone, then what? Well at some point grandkids. I’ve always heard how great it is to have grandkids! :) I’m sure they’ll keep us busy and provide for a great time as well.

So kids will keep me busy and, if I’m so lucky, grandkids as well. What will I do when I get bored?

With the kids gone, Lucy and I will have more flexibility to travel and we’ll no doubt take advantage.

I enjoy reading books, magazines, blogs, etc about a wide-array of topics including history, finance, religion, nature & the outdoors, etc. Does that not provide plenty of rabbit holes to chase down?

I’ll be able to focus more on my health and fitness. It’ll be a lot easier for me to fit in a good balanced exercise program and improve my diet. I enjoy cooking at home with Lucy. We can focus more on new, unique and healthy foods for us and the family.

What about other hobbies or projects? Many hobbies have been pushed to the side as I entered the workforce. This would include hunting, playing various sports (would I be too young to enter an old man basketball or soccer club?), and following college and professional sports more closely.

There are endless great causes I could volunteer my time to as well, including perhaps at the school system in some capacity that my kids will then be attending.

We also talked about his scenario with my mom. They were basically at FI 8 years ago. He wasn’t ready to leave work though because he needed that as his purpose in life. Also, they wanted their dream home on a lake which they had recently moved to, but were still in the process of paying off.

The additional years of employment would allow them to pay that loan off and have more cushion. He also acknowledged how much greater work was knowing that he could quit at any point if he wanted or needed to (albeit then move to a less expensive home). So the “one more year” syndrome was more like eight years for them in order to have the nice lake home for the rest of their lives.

An interesting takeaway from this was when I asked him how he’d fulfill his purpose in life once he does retire from his work here shortly. He said that he didn’t think he would have the need for purpose anymore and that days spent on the lake would be what he will fill his time with.

I think that begs the question for all of us – when will we no longer need that purpose in life filled by work? At what point can we say enough is enough. I’m done climbing that corporate ladder and I’m completely satisfied with a more leisurely lifestyle?

It’s a tough question, one that many retirees struggle with (especially early retirees). I may think I will be ready, but when I’m in the moment I may not be. We all need to try to determine when enough is enough in our lives.

I could probably continue on, but there you have it. My conversation with my Dad on retiring early! And the outcome: much congratulations and excitement, as well as some things to continue to ponder.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with anything? J. Money thought the parts about not needing purpose anymore was pretty surprising to learn from my dad. Share your own thoughts below and I’ll happily answer any questions!

****** JW is a corporate banker, a small business owner, a personal finance blogger, and a family man with a wife, a kid and another on the way. He amassed his first million by age 30 and is on the path to reach financial independence and retire early in his mid-30s. JW blogs at The Green Swan to help others achieve their financial objectives and believes anyone can be on the path to retire early with the right habits and mindset. You can also find JW on Twitter (@TheGreenSwan1) and on Facebook too.

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