I had an interesting conversation with a client last week, and the subject of wills came up, and the death tax someone has to pay when one’s wife, husband or other, passes away.  I have a will, as we all should, but I don’t have an IRA. Speaking about IRA’s, many have placed physical gold […]

I am a fire buff.  I love to hear motor driven, real sirens, as in Philly, not the electronic ones now in common use.  When I lived in Philly, I was a member of the ‘Second Alarmers Association.’  If a third alarm or better was ordered, we brought out the doughnuts and coffee for the […]

We all have ‘ice boxes,’ as we old timers still call refrigerators.  “Ice boxes,” had no moving parts, and did their job as well as could be done before refrigeration was invented.  Cold goes down, and heat goes up, which is third grade science.  In an ice box, ice weas placed on top, and food […]

Things were a bit cheaper back then.  Boneless rib roast, 24 cents a pound, a Model T Ford – $275, and silver 47 cents an ounce.  But that’s not all that made 1912 noteworthy.  A few minutes before midnight, on April 14th, the world’s largest, most up-to-date, modern, luxurious, steamship Titanic, struck a huge iceberg, […]

From a column I wrote 19 years ago… I love to investigate funny money.  “Red Dog”, and “Blue Pup,” monies, are actual facts of history.  I can’t find any of either, even on the internet, but they did exist, when banks actually could issue money.  New York banks, issued dollars, just like the Fed does […]