Visiting Aunt Donna, Mexican Coke, Race Cars, and Putting Together a Retirement Plan

Our afternoon was spent in Independence, Missouri taking advantage of the secret rebate Costco is giving its members on imported Mexican Coca-Cola.  At Amazon, a 24 pack of 12 ounce Mexican Coke is $44.95.  Costco normally sells them for $19.92 if you have a club membership.  Today, they offered an instant cash discount so you could get a pack for only $15.00 in a special deal (which, for some reason, they wouldn’t even confirm over the phone.  We had to go to the store and see it for ourselves).  They even had regular packs of 36 cans for an attractive price.  We loaded up everything we could fit in the car to take advantage of the savings, which means the house has a supply that should last us several months.

Personally, we don’t drink much cola these days as we try to cut out sugar – maybe a single serving a few times a week in between long dry spells – but friends and family are crazy about the stuff so we try to keep it on hand.  My nectar of choice is coffee; my husband, tea.  I imagine I’ll be dipping into one a day as I continue my obsessive case study of the sugar water empire (there are still three or four more books to get through plus a handful of the tertiary 10K filings for related businesses).  I like the serving sizes of the Mexican Coke much better because they are only 12 ounces, or 150 calories, compared to the 20 ounce, 240 calorie bottles that are now standard in convenience stores due to Coca-Cola’s obsession with selling more concentrate to the bottlers.

Afterwards, we went and visited Aunt Donna, who is the reason this blog exists before I sort of strayed and began writing about other topics.  We got her signed up for Netflix, met her new dog, and hung out for a couple of hours.

After arriving back home, I spent hours putting together a retirement package for a family member who is reconfiguring everything.  It has a handful of challenges based on the relevant parameters such as an absolute restriction on any technology or restaurant stocks (and, possibly, tobacco shares, though that hasn’t been settled), an existing very-large concentrated position in a single corporation that cannot be sold, and some other limitations that make hitting my desired composition a bit tough.  They want to remain fully vested in equities for the remainder of their lifetime, and, if possible, buy-and-hold the stocks selected so that they can take the dividends as a paycheck a couple of decades from now.

I should go to bed – it’s already 3:07 a.m. – but I was hoping to respond to some of the questions people had left me in earlier comment threads, or more contact form submissions.  I’m thinking that might have to wait until tomorrow.  I’m not ignoring those of you who wrote me, I just haven’t had time to give you a response you deserve.  For now, I might read or go curl up under the covers.

We need to finish our Christmas shopping this week.  Costco had these freaking sweet Shelby Cobra race cars for kids that I thought would be awesome for one of our nephews, but we already setup the custodial trust for him, and I’m sure we’ll pick up a few more gifts, so it would be ridiculous to keep showering presents on people so young or they might end up spoiled.  It needed to come from someone else in the family.  I tried to get in touch with my parents to see if they wanted me to pick it up for them to use as one of their gifts but everyone was busy so I couldn’t get anyone on the phone.  I might have to go back and get it.  If I had a couple of twin boys at the moment, I would have bought four or five of them and setup a race track a la the Disneyland Autobahn Autopia so they could race their cousins.  Though knowing my obsession for miniatures (I will someday visit Minimundus!), I’m sure this would have turned into some enormous project with working traffic lights and simulated explosions so it’s probably best as my schedule can’t take that with everything on the agenda.

I … could still draw up blueprints, though, right?  It’s not 4 a.m., yet, so I can stay up just a little bit longer … this is all I’m going to think about …