What you are about to read is very much like white water rafting down the Grand Canyon. The further down the river you go…the more the scenery changes. By the time you get to the end of this river, you will have experienced a lot.
Remember, I wrote much of this…and you did too!
But first, just a few updates from our past discussions.
Covid vaccinations
Happy to report that both Carol (Pfizer) and I (Moderna) have received our first shot Covid vaccinations (January 22 & 24). We feel pretty lucky to have scored our shots so soon when only 4% of Californians had been vaccinated at this point. I even got to go to Disneyland to get my shot!
Market timing
I am NOT a market timer. That being said by government law I must make a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) each year from my IRA retirement portfolio. In 2021 I can do that anytime during the year. Normally I would wait as late as possible to take my RMD. Why? Because the stock market is normally going up so taking the distribution later is more likely than not to yield a larger market gain. However, I am thinking the market is overvalued as we speak. Given that feeling I took my RMD in early January. I guess that is a very small amount of market timing. I took about 4% of my portfolio out of my total investment portfolio about 11 months earlier than I was required to by law. I’ll keep in cash before possibly considering Vanguard’s new Vanguard Ultra-Short Bond ETF fund expected to open this spring.
This is my social security strategy…should it be yours?
I received several messages from people who were very happy with their decisions to begin taking SS at age 62. There were fewer folks who responded about waiting to get SS at age 70 but they were just as happy.
These are some of the responses I got from people who are still waiting to make their decisions.
#1 Randy, TERRIFIC write up. I consider myself quite knowledgeable on this topic (I’m 60 years old so no major decisions yet)… and yet the way you presented things causes me to challenge some of my prior thinking. Thanks!
#2 Wow!! You have really thought this through! Had not stopped to think about how taking SS early could actually be a benefit for me and my family. Your analysis of ROR is the clincher. Handy thought about it much partially because since both Lourdes and I retired from PG at age 55, and we were blessed enough to have 9 years of stock options still to cash out, I’ve been assuming that those options “pay our way” until we reach 64…. and, based on past 2 years, we’ll also have some left and cover a couple of additional years. Thus, had been thinking makes most sense to wait till 70 for us (mom is currently 88, in-laws are 84 and 85 so we may have a longevity gene in us. 🙂). In any case, you’ve given me quite a bit to think about. Thank you, as always.
Is California a high tax state?
I commonly hear people who don’t live in California and some that do chortle (yes, chortle) that California is a very high tax state. Really? In 2020 my California state income tax liability is zero (yes, zero). Our real estate taxes are about 4/10 of one percent of our home’s current market value. Our local sales tax is 7.75%. We have no personal property tax. We have no tax on food bought in a grocery store. The next time someone chortles about California being a high tax state you might think about sharing this information! Who’s chortling now?
Why do our friends say to my wife, “Poor Carol”?
Got LOTS of responses to this message. Here are a few samples.
#1 BEST READ EVER!!!!! Loved it! Lol God bless you & Carol
#2 Randy, You have an amazing wife! Thanks for sharing your marriage secrets. I probably won’t share this email with my wife! 😀
#3 Poor Carol!!! But Poor Randy too! Imagine the dilemma of receiving hash browns that you didn’t order for breakfast. I would keep quiet about it too. I don’t take any action on a “one-time” situation especially since it wasn’t clear if that was a treat vs a mistake. Carol probably doesn’t make mistakes so I would put that in the “treat” side of life.
#4 Randy, This was great. Everyone needs a Carol in his/her life. You are a lucky guy and thanks for sharing.
#5 Did Carol proofread and approve this before you sent it?
So…how did this newsletter come about?
I wanted to take a moment to give you the background on how my “Finance, Travel and Everyday Life” newsletter morphed into its current format. If you’ve got the time and that’s of interest check it out. This will be brand new news to more than half of my readers.
Have you ever been fired, kicked out of something or quit?
Have you ever been fired? Have you ever been kicked out of something and told never to come back and not to let the door hit you in the butt on the way out? Have you ever had to quit something that you loved when the conditions just weren’t working?
I’ve had all of those experiences to one degree or another. Today I’m going to tell you about them. Importantly, when I finish I’m going to tell you how a band of sisters and brothers rose up from the anonymous and stood up for what they believed in and resurrected my literary career. Let’s get started.
Kicked out!
Have I ever been kicked out of anything? Yes, I have. Back in high school, you could get kicked out of the library, which was a replacement for classroom study hall, by making too much noise. I always used the library option to meet up with my friends and my girlfriend to check out the news of the day. Often we reserved a conference room just to shoot the bull.
If you ended up with two “citations“ in one semester you were kicked out of the library for the rest of that semester and had to go back to classroom study hall. I was never really worried about causing a racket until I got my first citation.
That was sort of like getting a speeding ticket. I know from experience because I’ve had nine speeding tickets (I’ve also been let off a few times for the strangest of reasons) but luckily none since 2003.
In most states when you get three speeding tickets you lose your driver’s license. I always really slowed down after getting one ticket because I knew if I got a second ticket during the three-year period I would be way too close to getting a third ticket. My speeding theory worked similarly in the high school library. Once I got that first citation I really cooled it until the last week of the semester. Then I went crazy quickly earning my second citation but only being kicked out for the last couple of days of that semester.
Have you ever had to quit?
Have I ever had to quit anything? I have. Basketball was my sport in high school. My boyhood state of Illinois was huge for basketball. As a junior in high school, I was on the varsity team but not playing very much. I didn’t really get along with the coach all that well.
Normally the freshman/sophomore game preceded the varsity game at our school. However, there was one night during the entire season when our school decided to have a junior varsity game rather than the fresh/soph game as a preliminary to the varsity game. The coach took six of our juniors from the varsity team who weren’t playing with the varsity much and let us dress for the junior varsity game.
Although I was thinking I was the best of those six junior players the OTHER five juniors started the JV game with me on the bench. Sometime during the first quarter, I was put into the game. I ended up scoring 31 points after not starting in the 32-minute game.
When the varsity game followed all six of us juniors were on the varsity bench. We ended up getting killed in that game. Everybody on the entire varsity team played in the blowout…except me. I had just scored 31 points in the JV game and now when we were down by 25 points I don’t even get into the varsity game? On Monday morning I walked into the coach’s office, turned in my gear and told the coach I was outta here. I don’t know if he was happy about it but I was.
This was a huge decision on my part. I had spent hours every day since I was five years old playing and practicing basketball. Even today I have a nearly half-sized basketball court in my house. I still frequently shoot baskets as I first began doing more than sixty years ago.
Quitting the varsity team actually enhanced my life’s cultural experience. I immediately went over to the Peoria, Illinois YMCA and joined up with a traveling basketball squad. Mind you, I grew up in a county (Tazewell) in Illinois that was 100% white. We had a population of about 100,000 folks but didn’t have any people of color at all. Zero.
The YMCA team had 10 players. The coach was black and 80% of the team was black. One other fellow and I were the only white players on the team. We traveled all over the state, even staying in hotels, to play our games. I remember we played a game in an orphanage at an old gym with a balcony that overhung the main court so much that we couldn’t shoot from the far corner without hitting the balcony. What a great experience for a young white guy coming from my neighborhood.
I will throw out this caution about quitting. It’s probably never a good idea to quit anything unless you have something better to fall back on. My basketball skills continued to improve by playing with the YMCA team. Luckily, for me, the coach that I couldn’t relate to left the school at the end of my junior year. As a senior with a new coach on the bench I came back to the team and led the team in scoring with 19 points in the season opener. What looked like a very downhill situation at one point turned itself around nearly 100%.
Have you ever been fired?
Have I ever been fired? Yes, sort of. When I graduated from college I had a low military draft number as the Vietnam war was raging. My draft number had been determined by a ping-pong ball style lottery when I was a junior in college. Every employer knew by looking at your birthdate what your lottery number was and whether or not you were likely to be leaving for the service just months into your employment if you were hired.
Given my low draft number, I didn’t have much luck with large employers. However, I did get hired to be an assistant manager in a small three-store sporting goods chain, Brown’s Sporting Goods in Peoria, Illinois. I guess at the time I was excited about that. However, at the same time, I knew I would be going into the United States Marine Corps in October. At best I would be working at the sporting goods company for three or four months before I had to leave.
On a bright, sunny and humid summer morning I showed for my first day of work at the headquarters of the sporting good company. I came from a pretty poor background. I didn’t have a lot in the way of suits and ties. Nevertheless, I showed up in a corduroy jacket with my shoes shined.
Upon arrival, I was called into the boss’s office. He informed me that before I had spent one minute on the job that they had reconsidered. They were not going to hire me. “Not hired” sounded a lot like “You’re fired” at the time. I guess that wasn’t a huge problem because in a matter of weeks the United States Marine Corps was going to give me a job!
So I’ve been kicked out, quit and fired in the past. When I returned from my six months of active duty in the United States Marine Corps as part of their reserve program I entered the Fortune 500 business world. Some thirty years later I retired from Procter & Gamble after submitting my retirement papers at the age of 52.
At the time Procter & Gamble was a huge company, about the 10th or 12th largest company by sales revenue in the world. They were a very conservative by behavior company. They also compensated their people really well and had the best retirement program that I’ve ever seen via a profit-sharing situation. That’s why I was able to retire so early.
P&G has a very robust group of retirees. Years ago some folks set up an email conference that is somewhat like, but not really, what you might see at Nextdoor.com. The conference is only for Procter & Gamble employees and almost exclusively for retired P&G people. At one time I think there were more than 3,000 people in this conference.
The purpose of the conference is for people to ask questions and share their experiences in retired life. P&G is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Far more than half of the people in the conference have lived in the greater Cincinnati area during their work career and/or live there now.
I joined the conference many years ago. Over time I submitted contributions on all kinds of subjects but for the most part focusing on “Finance, Travel and Everyday Life”. Sound familiar?
Fired and kicked out all at once!
Little did I realize that I would come to be both fired and kicked out of the conference all at the same time. Yeah, I was a man in his late 60s who hadn’t been fired, kicked out of or quit anything since I was 22 years old. I thought at that point I was on a roll in life. I guess not so much.
I have had a racing/travel newsletter for decades. I’ve seen racing at nearly 2,700 different race tracks in 85 countries. I have some people who’ve been receiving my Trackchaser Reports since I first started publishing them in about 2000. That’s a lot of racing stories!
How did my newsletter get here?
Up until a year ago I never had a Finance, Travel and Everyday Life newsletter. I was making the same types of contributions that you’ve read over the past year or more but only within the Procter & Gamble retiree conference.
The P&G conference has the same rules that I had tried to implement with my newsletter. Any subject other than politics or religion is good to go.
The P&G conference had four different moderators who were supposed to enforce the “guidelines”. When messages got a little bit outside the rules the moderators stepped in to get everyone back on the playing field. However…one of the four moderators owned the conference. His ownership gave him four votes. Each of the remaining three moderators had one vote. You can do the math on that one.
Your fonts are too big.
One day I got a message from a fellow telling me that he thought the font size of my messages in the P&G forum was too large. Fonts too large? I didn’t have much to say about that at the time. I certainly wasn’t going to change my font size because one person was making a complaint when thousands of other people over a period of years had never mentioned it.
A month or two later I got another message from the same fellow complaining just a little bit stronger that my font size was too large. I didn’t realize at the time that the person making the complaint was the head moderator! This was sort of like me walking down the hall in the main office and having the president of the company tell me to tuck in my shirt….all the while thinking this shirt tucking idea was coming from just another guy working in the janitorial department. I pretty much thanked the fellow for his feedback (cause I’m a nice guy) and told him in no uncertain terms (because I feel that being direct is a good thing) that I wouldn’t be changing my font size because it wasn’t a complaint of anyone else.
You may know where this story is going.
Well…you might know where this story is going. Now the moderator had a target and I was his target. Soon the moderator began to complain about the length of my messages.
Before I knew it…I was on “moderation”.
It wasn’t long after that when I was put on “moderation”. What is moderation? It’s sort of like being released from prison after serving six years of your ten-year sentence for armed robbery and having to wear an ankle bracelet.
Here’s the problem. I wasn’t told my posts were being moderated! Can you imagine trying to cross a state line with an ankle bracelet and not knowing you had an ankle bracelet?
Where were my posts?
I was wondering why when I posted something my posts didn’t show up in the conference for 2-3 days. Once I contacted one of the other moderators and asked why my posts didn’t show up in the conference immediately after I sent them. He looked at things and couldn’t see anything wrong with my posts (I guess he thought the font size and length of the message were good to go). The man apologized profusely and said my messages would not be moderated in the future. When the head moderator heard about this decision from an underling he was furious.
Stop the bullshit!
Soon the head moderator got in touch directly with me. I was told to “stop the BS” and if I didn’t want to confirm with his rules about font size and length of messages I should never post in the conference again. That sounded like “Fired” and “Kicked out” to me. I pressed the moderator.
#1. It’s the content, you idiot.
Soon I got him to admit to the real problem. The font size really wasn’t the problem. It was my content! Yes, the conference had strict rules about no message of politics or religion. I never approached those subjects.
Then I thought back to a conversation I had with the moderator when I thought he was just another person in the conference. At the time I expressed a difference of opinion with how this guy thought about charitable contributions. Bingo!
#2. It’s the content, you idiot.
This wasn’t about fonts. This wasn’t about the length of my messages. I always felt that it was my choice to write as much as I liked and the reader’s choice to decide how much they wanted to read! What this WAS about were charitable contributions. If I wasn’t going to agree with the moderator’s view on this subject then the “content” of what I had to share with my other messages wasn’t going to be accepted. All of this was happening when I frequently received messages from members of the conference thanking me for what I contributed. As a current reader, you may have sent one of those messages.
I didn’t have any plans to change what I was sharing with the conference. I was fired. I was kicked out. Then I begin to notice the head moderator was sharing the guidelines of the conference just a little bit more often. I noticed that the idea of sending messages in a reasonable font size and making them concise and making the subject matter conform to whatever the moderator…er conference thought was OK were being introduced into the guidelines.
I quit.
I stopped posting in the P&G conference after sending about one or two posts a week for years. So…for a short period of time, I was a literary man exiled to an island where no one could enjoy and benefit from my “Finance, Travel and Everyday Life” contributions.
Did anybody really care that I quit?
I sort of figured that if anyone cared about my absence someone would say something. No one said a thing! That didn’t make me feel all that great. You would think if I had ever produced anything of value someone might miss whatever that was. Crickets.
Pat to the rescue!
Maybe a month passed. Then out of the blue, a woman by the name of Pat Neuzil weighed in. Pat sent out a message to the P&G group. It read,
“Has anyone heard from Randy Lewis? I often enjoyed his perspective on things.”
Had Randy been kidnapped? Was he dead?
Pat asked the general group what was up? She hadn’t heard from Randy? Where was Randy? Has Randy been murdered? Had Randy been kidnapped while trackchasing in Mexico and was he in a Mexican prison? Had anyone seen an obituary for Randy?
Then a groundswell of other Procter & Gamble retirees jumped in. They had a lot of questions. Had I been fired? Had I quit? Were the conference moderators holding me in a secret cell in downtown Cincinnati somewhere?
Soon it seemed as if everyone was concerned about Randy. Never before in the history of the conference had so many different individuals, hundreds, expressed their concern about the conference, and the conference’s direction and whether or not the moderators were exerting just a little too much power…and where was Randy?
It is at this point in this message that I will share with you verbatim comments shared by those Procter & Gamble retirees. Most of those folks currently receive my newsletter on Finance, Travel and Everyday Life experiences. I have done my level best to make their responses anonymous.
Also about this time I received a message from one of the P&G associate moderators. He apologized for how I’ve been treated. He told me that the other moderators had a meeting with the head honcho and against the lead moderator’s preferences, it was agreed that each of the four moderators would have ONE vote. He went on to say they voted 3-1 to let me continue to post as I always had done.
The associate moderator told me that I was welcome to post again. He questioned whether I had really been “kicked out”. I shared the verbatim response from the head moderator with the associate moderator confirming that if I didn’t change my tone I was no longer welcome to contribute to the P&G forum. That pretty well cleared up things on whether or not I had been fired or not in the associate moderator’s mind.
The associate moderator closed his message by saying “This requests you to reconsider on behalf of the other moderators and members of the group who are asking to see your posts again. If you decide to and get any flack (sp) from…… please let me know so we can deal with it.”
Randy don’t stink.
About this time I sent my very last post to the P&G conference. I wanted to clear the air. I wanted to respond to the folks who had questions. The post was titled,
“Randy responds. He smells good and he don’t stink!”
“Whew!
Are you familiar with the Blu Emu super strength pain reliever TV and radio ads? They advertise a lot on NASCAR broadcasts. Their tag line goes something like, “It’s works fast, you’ll smell good and you won’t stink”. I’d like to thank everyone who mentioned my name in the P&G forum and seemed to indicate that I smelled good. Also thanks to those of you who admitted at least I didn’t stink (delete key!).
You either said you appreciated my past contributions or admitted that if you didn’t like my stuff you knew where the delete key was! I’m thinking if I were running for president and people either liked me or didn’t absolutely hate me I would be better than both of the current candidates!
This whole saga reminds me of the game where 10-12 people sit in a circle and whisper a secret to first one and then another. By the time the “message” gets to the last person it isn’t close to the message shared, to begin with.
I had intended to send this message only to the folks who have commented about this situation. However, at this point, it seems more appropriate to send this to everyone with one message on common timing. My message is meant to correct any misinformation that exists. There isn’t any interpretation here. These are the facts. Then anyone can react to the facts any way they like.
It is true I was asked to stop posting in the P&G group by the group’s senior moderator. Effectively I was banned from posting despite the most recent message from one of our moderators saying no one has been banned. If you’d like to read along I will tell you exactly how it all came down.
Some months ago I was told by the senior moderator that I had two options.
Option #1. I could change the content of what I shared in the forum. I could shorten the length of my messages. I could send my messages in a smaller font. Frankly, I had zero interest in adhering to any of these requests.
Option #2. If I didn’t want to pick option #1 I could go with option #2 and stop posting to the group. Heck, I liked everything about what and how I was sharing information. I think others did as well. It sounds as if people figured out I chose option #2.
I tried to tell the senior moderator that I constantly got feedback from people (more than 50 individuals over the years) that they liked what I was sharing. Maybe you sent one of those messages. The most recent P&G geezer responses seem to support what I was telling the moderator.
By the way, I have no reason to believe that any individual complained about anything I ever posted in the group to the moderator. I really don’t know one way or the other. If I had to guess this was just the case of the senior moderator thinking someone was screwing up his domain and he wasn’t going to tolerate it.
A few months ago I sent a message to the forum and it didn’t post. I sent a question to the moderators asking why. A “secondary” moderator received my question. He apologized profusely for the “mistake” of my message going to moderation. He told me he didn’t see anything at all wrong with my message. He went onto say he would correct that mistake immediately, which he did. The message posted.
Then the senior moderator stepped in and overruled who I am calling the secondary moderator. I asked the senior moderator why we had FOUR moderators if ONE moderator could overrule the rest? Wasn’t that really like having ONE moderator? Below is the response I got.
The senior moderator responded with and I’m coming as close to quoting his response as I can (I have email verbatim comments). He said, “The last time I checked I owned the group. Stop the BS or stop posting”. That was pretty much the equivalent of saying, “Don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out”. So…it is true. I was fired from the group. I was kicked out. Yes, I was banned. I could no longer post the posts that I enjoyed sharing and that other folks seemed to like as well. It is also true that I have come to grips with this rejection!
Additionally, the senior moderator told me the P&G conference was meant to be a, “Ask a question, get an answer” place to visit. If that is the forum’s purpose then I agree 100% with the moderator that my contributions might not fit.
Somewhat unbelievably a P&G friend and I were saying just this week that the conference seemed to be totally devoid of interesting topics over the past month or so. It truly had morphed into a “Ask a question, get an answer” location source. There’s nothing wrong with that if that is the purpose of the forum.
Just today I received a message from the “secondary” moderator who had apologized for the “mix up” with my being placed on moderation a few months ago. He told me the four moderators had gotten together via video conference. Now each of the four has a vote in what happens in situations like this. I have no idea when this meeting took place. Did they get together weeks ago or in the last day or so after so many people commented? Was this damage control? He invited me to begin posting with my usual style and content in the P&G forum.
Following that message the owner of the conference sends out a post saying no one has been “banned” from the conference. Truthfully, what a crock! As an example, if you like to post about the holiday basket and the moderator tells you that you can’t post about the holiday basket is that, in reality, being “banned” from posting about the holiday basket? As many have posted none of the subject matter I shared in the conference ever bumped up against the forum subject limits. My situation sounds like being banned to me. Saying that no one has been banned from the conference is preposterous. That kind of statement is only playing with words. If it walks like a duck and looks like a duck…it’s a duck! Please!
I was also pretty well amazed and flattered that two rules seemed to magically appear over the past several months in the guidelines about what was required to post in the conference. There was something in there about “font size and being concise”. Those “Randy Rules” never existed before. I think if you can get a rule or maybe two rules named after you then you’ve had a pretty good day.
Yes, I have a newsletter/blog. I have invited P&G folks that I know personally or with whom I had an email interaction over the past several months to receive my postings. Virtually everyone I asked accepted my offer. Heck, I would have invited everyone in the P&G forum to join my newsletter/blog in the beginning….but I thought a message like that had ZERO chance of being approved by the censors. I did not ask the senior moderator to join my group….but then that’s just me.
The subject matter I share in my email newsletter is pretty much identical to what I have sent to the P&G group in the past with some exceptions. Now I am able to fully illustrate my messages. Sometimes, like my most recent post covering the Minneapolis riot scene that I visited, I attach a photo album of the situation. A picture is worth 900 words, right? Maybe some folks who are part of my newsletter/blog can share their opinion about receiving my postings in the new format.
Writing my own stuff to a group of people who have signed up to receive my stuff gives me a much better feeling about the entire situation. Plus….and this is really key….I don’t have to use a font that someone else wants me to use. J Can you believe the moderator actually used a ruler to try to convince me my font was too big. I told him that in a decade of sending out posts to the P&G group NOBODY had EVER complained about the font size. It definitely was comical at the end!
My lifestyle and strategy regarding finance and travel might not be exactly like yours. Doesn’t matter. You don’t have to imitate what I do. However, any intelligent person might like to be AWARE of how I approach these topics so they can decide if they want to take a small piece of what I recommend and put that into their overall plan or not. Others might never see the value of what I recommend but just enjoy a good read. Still, others will conclude my strategies and observations aren’t for them at this stage in their life but forward my messages to their kids, friends or family. I’ve gotten a lot of emails over time from people who have forwarded what I have shared with their children.
Some people complain about the length of my messages. A complaint like that has absolutely nothing to do with me. I don’t give that feedback a second thought. That’s on the reader who might be expecting me to conform to their expectation about how long a message should be. I’m not answering a question. Normally, I am sharing a philosophy.
I like to think of what I share as being similar to the taste of apple pie. Most people know what apple pie tastes like. My advice is if you like apple pie order apple pie. If you don’t like apple pie don’t order apple pie. Even my WIFE complains about the length of my messages. I told her to get her own website and produce her own posts. She hasn’t done that and still reads all (most?) of my messages. I guess she likes apple pie. I sure like her.
My newsletter covers the general topics of financial planning/management and travel…and anything that seems related to those fields. I won’t delve into politics and religion at all.
I send out 3-4 messages a month on average. This is one-way communication between you and me. I send the group a message and when the mood strikes anyone in the group can send a message back to me if they like (which I love to get). People who receive my messages cannot respond to the group. That way I don’t have to act as a moderator. Here’s the best part. You can unsubscribe by clicking a link anytime you want.
From time to time I survey the group about their feelings/experiences about one topic or another. Then I share that feedback anonymously with the group. I’ve done that a couple of times on the subject of COVID-19. This approach seems to be very popular with folks.
Oh yeah, one more thing. The membership fee to get my newsletter has been dramatically reduced. It used to be $9,500 per year (not tax-deductible) and right now, for a limited time only it’s free. O.K., that was a joke. There is no charge to get my newsletter/blog.
Actually, I send out TWO newsletters/blogs. One covers the finance/travel topic. My second newsletter goes out to the folks interested in my auto racing hobby. Each group numbers in the hundreds. Surprisingly, the “click” or open rate for the finance/travel letter is right around 80%. The racing newsletter, which goes out to people and acquaintances I have met in racing only gets a 40-50% click rate. Yep. That surprised me. I know those click rates would be even higher if I was fully convinced everyone is receiving my email messages.
Important! I use a program called “MailChimp” to distribute my newsletter. Some people report my messages going to their spam file….then they think I took them off my list. To date, I don’t think I have ever taken anyone off any of my lists. Remember, I am not a moderator. When you get signed up check your spam folder to see if my messages might be going there. What I send will come from my randy@randylewis.org email address. You can respond whenever you want to that address and I’ll get back to you promptly.
That’s about it. There is nothing proprietary or secret in this note. You can share it with anyone.
Important. No, really important. If you would like me to add your email address, and therefore you, to my subscription database just reply to this message and you’re in.
Thanks for listening. Stay safe. These are crazy times. My COVID-19 strategy is simple. I social distance, wash my hands and cover my face. I have also flown somewhere for the past 11 consecutive weekends scouting out stories for my upcoming newsletters. To date, I have already traveled overnight somewhere 79 nights in 2020 with hopefully many more to come. I’m working on a piece about inflation and COVID-19 public warning messages right now.
Is my COVID-19 approach a sound one? Who really knows? If I’m wrong, I mean really wrong at least nobody is going to be able to tell me “I told you so”.
All the best,
Randy Lewis
San Clemente, California
P.S. Just to be clear I won’t be posting at the P&G conference in the future. Maybe someday I will. No one can predict the future. I’ll still be monitoring everyone else’s contributions. I have gotten a tremendous amount of information from so many of you. In the meantime, if you want to be part of my newsletter/blog just drop me a line at randy@randylewis.org or ranlay@yahoo.com. Thanks for the nice comments many of you shared! Honored and humbled.”
Now I will share with you the feedback I received from so many Procter & Gamble people. I only included about 10-15% of the supportive messages I received. I didn’t include nearly 200 messages which pretty much said the same as some of the notes I share below. Right now Procter & Gamble people probably make up a little bit less than half of my newsletter distribution population. I’m happy to tell you that I value every member that’s part of the distribution list and really appreciate it when they send me feedback of any type.
The people were speaking as they had never spoken before.
This is what the retiree population of Procter & Gamble had to say about my being kicked out of the Procter & Gamble retiree forum. I’ve done my best to keep these notes anonymous while still preserving the flavor of the communication.
Wow, such a shame that Randy has been kicked out.
K
Hey Randy,
Perhaps I am not the first to share this with you, but I wanted to let you know there have been many posts about you in the pngeezers conference recently. Everyone positive, calling for your return and missing what you contributed. You are well loved! Most were unaware of why you left or the circumstances. Below is the thread of recent messages.
I also sent a private message to the moderator group asking they be more tolerant of what is posted when no harm is involved. I maintain your messages never did harm. They simply ran across the personal wishes of a moderator IMO (not the wishes of the pngeezers members which should be the guiding force). They screwed up IMO and I asked them to think about steering the conference newly before more damage is done. I am sharing this with you so you are aware of the admiration you have earned from so many. Secondly, you may want to add some of these admirers to your email offering. That is up to you of course.
D
Well, I’ve been on this conference for about 22 years and I have never seen anything close to the clamor for Randy that is now being generated! This is amazing! In my opinion he send out some pretty cool, but rambling pieces, but nothing that I ever thought crossed the line into politics or other no-no’s I think maybe we should reintegrate Randy into the group, have someone do some splainen why he was blackballed to start with and consider offering him some cash compensation as a form of reparations, and maybe see if he would consider running in November as a third party candidate! He could be the candidate that could bring us all together!
Randy! Randy! Randy! Randy!
E
Randy,
I am a member of the P&G Geezers and would like to sign up for your newsletter.
D
A brief introduction:
My name is D and I retired in January after 35.5 years in R&D. I just have to always include that extra 0.5! I enjoyed your past posts and would love to continue to read more of your travels and financial updates. Sorry, I am not much of a race fan, but I do enjoy your diaries of travels to tracks.
I was sorry to hear of the moderator saga – quite ridiculous. When the group changed to a google group, I took advantage to switch to one daily topic digest. One email per day (mostly), and I can ignore any subject I am not interested in. I was happy to see the topic “what happened to Randy Lewis” because I had been wondering the same thing. Yes, when I first saw your posts, I was uncertain about the large font and lengthy format. But I quickly learned to enjoy and look forward to them.
Thank you for providing an alternative to the countless holiday gift box or Kings Island season pass price messages. I just don’t care if the price of a season pass is $89.73 or $91.02. Call me frivolous. And I admit I almost left the conference the first time I saw the holiday box messages. Is that what I have to look forward to in my retirement? But hey, to each his own.
Although I do not expect to travel nearly as much as you do, or buy a Tesla, I still enjoy hearing about your experiences and advice. My last car purchase was a couple years ago, a 10 year old Infinity. Not because I am super frugal or can’t afford more, but because it meets my needs. I just choose to spend money elsewhere. But thanks to your car messages I am considering upgrading to a 5 year old Lexus. Maybe :) And I always learn something from the financial discussions.
Travel? I could never do what you do – simply too much time on the road for my tastes. But I love the fact that you can and clearly have a full and fun filled retirement. I find it inspiring. Each of us need to find our own way to make our life after P&G as fulfilling as possible.
Bottom line, congratulations on all that you do. I hope I will get to hear more about it.
Regards,
D
I too enjoyed Randy’s perspective! … and I do not believe we were the only ones! I was told that Randy was asked by the pngeezers moderators not to post his perspectives any longer. Not exactly sure who that was…. Wish we could get him back!
Stay well!
C
Hard to believe that is true – I found Randy’s posts fun and enlightening. Say it isn’t so.
Be well & Namaste,
M
Yes, he does have a closed email group. Just wish he was still participating here.
C
I too enjoyed his musings and though I didn’t always agree with him, I never felt browbeaten.
N
I too enjoyed Randy’s posts as did my wife. I was fortunate to have been invited to join his email group. His recent posts there have been interesting, entertaining, and useful.
Too bad some people complained, apparently enough to cause him to be moderated. We could have done a poll. When I was a moderator, I always liked the poll function in yahoo groups. Not sure if Google Groups has a similar feature, but I remember that only a small fraction of the pngeezers population would respond to a poll. Still it was a data point.
K
While I didn’t always have time or interest to follow Randy, I do have a DELETE key and/or could scroll passed them. But if all this is true, I’m more concerned, disturbed, and bother by “administrators” who feel emboldened to “filter” or “censure” this retiree group. We are all adults with much in common, but I guess someone feels a need to protect us. We didn’t need such babysitters at the water cooler at work! If you are that concerned about personal liability, I suggest you back away from such a high-risk volunteerism.
G
I agree. Bring Randy back!
His posts were insightful and humorous.
T
Hi Randy. I sure miss seeing your messages on PnGeezers! Am I still in time to sign up for your newsletters?
Hi Randy,
Just saw the thread on pngeezers that maybe you were asked not to post anymore? I always enjoyed your posts and some of the follow up private email conversations we had. If you do have a private email group you now correspond with, please add me.
Thanks,
L
Randy recently added me to his email group as well. I enjoy his newsletter. I had the honor of working with Randy back in the late 80s!
R
Heard today that you have “your own” group. I would like to hear your perspectives again.
B
Hello, I just read on geezers you aren’t supposed to post – bothers me, I don’t need a nanny. I miss your insights – if you have an email list, please add me, regards,
M
I suspect 10% complained so 90% do without. Too bad our moderators did not see it that way.
I too am in Randy’s private email group and have enjoyed it. Jokingly, I told him his email group print size was just fine (something he was scolded about).
I think the chatter on P&G Holiday Boxes is ridiculous so I don’t read them. Never have I asked the moderators to kick someone out of the group.
D
I agree I saved a number of his essays for my files. Bring Back Randy!
J
Totally agree! We all have a delete key and you are not forced to read any of his messages. Would be great if he returned!!
C
I was unaware of this. I don’t know Randy, but I never found anything offensive or against “the rules”. I agree Bring Randy back!
M
Bring back Randy! Bring back Randy!
R
DITTO! DITTO!
J
Randy,
Hope you are still receiving these emails.
In case you are not getting the PnGeezer google group emails I thought I would reach out to you. In the last day or two folks have mentioned that they had not seen any postings from you in a while. One person even mentioned that they thought you were asked not to post your messages / discussion emails. I for one have found them entertaining and as has been said, “if you don’t want to read them, use the delete key”. Anyway, folks are wondering what happened to you, so if you are so inclined, drop a note to the group and let them know what’s what.
Hope all is well with you and your family in these trying times.
N
Sounds as though someone didn’t like him and pulled the PC card?
J
How can you get added to Randy’s group? I miss his messages.
K
I believe that he was asked to stop posting he’s witty & interesting messages!
Most unfortunate. I joined his site and got a few minutes of his blog posts, but then they stopped. Not sure why. Perhaps bc I did not actively participate/respond?
Even so, I enjoyed reading them.
Best to all,
A
Editor’s note: This person unsubscribed by mistake and was resubscribed.
I would vote to keep randy in this group!
S 2001retiree
Agree Randy provided insight into a purchase strategies that have da success record….. No prestige in over paying.
J
Hello Randy,
I understand you are no longer posting to P&G Geezers but you do have a following. How do I get on your mailing list?
Thank You
S
I rather see Randy’s opinions over how to save $5-10/day on rental cars. Talk about minutia. But yet it goes on & on. V
Well put…person who complained should be removed
J
Well Said….. I’d love to see Randy’s wisdom return to the conference
D
This what I sent to the pngeezer moderators:
I must begin with a thank you to all of the pngeezer moderators for volunteering your time to make the group the valuable go to place for all involved.
I suspect the number of recent posts about Randy Lewis out numbers the complaints about his being verbose or using large fonts. I ask that you learn from this unfortunate situation. Membership and content should not be set by what the moderators personally want. It should be set by what the members want. No, I am not suggesting that every decision be brought to the group. Perhaps a survey could be sent from time to time to keep the moderators in touch with what the group really wants. Maybe you will think of something better than a survey. I have not given the specific solution much thought but I sense we need something.
I will point out all the positive reactions to the humorous post by Don Wilson’s recent post. The group loves it. I too have received such kudos from the group when posting similar things simply to bring a smile or a warm heartfelt feeling to the group. But…X…told me to stop those posts after sleeping on it. I agreed (he is the moderator) but felt the request to stop is not what the group as a whole wanted. X also said he and his wife have never heard of the musical group “The Who” I asked if he recalled a major event at our Cincinnati stadium when people were trampled to death (1979). He countered that this group is for his children’s time not his. Good Lord, they went on world tour in 1969 and what does X’s age have to do with what get’s posted to pngeezers (over 50 by the way)? X and I agreed to disagree and now I won’t make any reference to old rock groups in my pngeezer posts. My point is not to discredit X. He has done a great job overall and I have come to adore him. My message to all moderators is to lighten up a bit. Don’t call someone out because they use large fonts or they are habitually long winded. Suck it up! This does not harm anyone or spoil the conference in any way. It upsets some members but frankly they should have been told to not read his messages and they will be fine. I do not favor the holiday gift chatter every year in our conference and X agreed with me on that point but it goes on and I now argue it should because so many in our group want it to. It should not be about what I want or X wants. Now I just ignore those messages (having failed to influence the group to stop that in my 2019 group message). Those frivolous posts do not prevent me from asking the group a more relevant question at any time. I think you should let things that do no harm flow through. No flaming and no politics are good group rules. If someone complains to you about too much banter about Tesla’s or gasoline tax tell them to ignore or just delete the messages from their in box. They can also set up filters to delete these automatically. Or just let the messages go unread until they disappear on page 9999.
Thanks for considering these tips on moderating and thanks for moderating. I could never ever do what you folks do but I am so glad you do it. Keep doing your best to guide the group as the group wants to be guided. This may differ at times with your personal preference.
D
Dear Randy,
I understand you have another group where you share your stories and wisdom. Is this something I can join? I’ve always enjoyed your stories.
Thank you,
L
Randy,
I am assuming this is you based on email address from older pngeezers messages and if it is you, I would like to join your private mailing group.
I didn’t realize you had been asked to tone things down in that group which to me is a shame and also reflects a microcosm of what is wrong with this country. People can’t handle other opinions and I find that disheartening to say the least. I enjoyed your messages on car shopping strategies (something I have done for years) and trips to visit various race car tracks around the world.
R
MODERATORS TAKE NOTE : This seems like a missed opportunity for our moderators. In the past, a suspendable offense was called out in the conference before somebody “disappeared”. I have been wondering about Randy since he has not posted in a while and I have not seen any “outlaw” behavior. If there is a teachable moment here then the moderators should not waste the learning opportunity for the rest of us. Please let us know which rule was applied to suspend a member …. or not. Otherwise, this discussion seems like the churn of the rumor mill.
p
It is my understanding that while most loved Randy’s posts there were a number of complaints. His messages were often long and used large fonts. If you are thinking “who cares” I agree. I joined his very informative email group but it’s not the same as having him in this group. I find all the banter on when holiday baskets are delivered every year frivolous but no one makes me read them. I just skip them now. I could create a rule to have these deleted from my mail box but why bother. If we want to ask a more relevant question on any topic we can do so at any time. No one is voting but I would vote for a conference that allows more room to express ourselves if no harm is inflicted. Rules on no flaming and no politics are appropriate in my opinion. We would benefit from more tolerance of others expression where no harm is being done IMO.
D
I’ll say it again. Join his blog.
K
Ladies and Gentlemen, is it possible we are addressing a situation which does not exist? Twenty or so messages ago, someone opined that Randy Lewis was banned from the conference. The comment has aroused a firestorm of replies, many of which castigate the moderators. How do we know factually that Randy was banned? Is it not possible that Randy has simply chosen not to post on the conference?
I have no insight on the truth here but I think it is possible the moderators are being vilified based without hard evidence.
D
Wow, I am really sad if that is true. I always enjoyed Randy’s posts. And if it was a topic in which I wasn’t interested…I actually have a delete key. It must have been an option on my iPad tho because it seems some do not have it 😊.
I hope it wasn’t a knee jerk reaction to a few complainers.
Come back, Randy!
M
I remain on his new newsletter (he and I corresponded a bit last year outside the conference) and he said in his newsletter that he was banned for 2 reasons: Length of posts and choice of font used.
Regards
A
What craziness. To think that the pandemic was enough to lay on us. Now PnGeezers throws a curveball to you!
BTW, I’ve used your tactic to buy our car and our son’s car. I’m waiting to use it for a Bengals game…
Stay safe and healthy!
Best
R
I had several private communications with Randy in the past. I was then invited to join some sort of “conference ?” he was putting together from PnGeezers and other folks he maintains contact with for whatever reason. A week or so ago someone inquired as to what happened to Randy. Then someone else posted he MAY have been suspended! Sounds like fake news to me. He may have just lost interest in this conference as have many others over the years (think Frank Duke). I think our moderators do a wonderful job of trying to police 2000+ people and are very liberal in what they allow. IF someone has crossed their line somehow I applaud them for their efforts, otherwise let’s “let sleeping dogs lie”.
C
So now we that we know what is going on with Randy, we should all move on. If Randy has his own website and people want to join, please feel free to do so.
No blame game please! Life is short! Moderators have a job to do which they are doing voluntarily. I would not want to do it. Can’t please all, all of the time. A huge thank you to the moderators! Appreciate your work!
Cheers!
S
Bring Randy Back.
Or explain his “crime”
D
Thanks Randy! I don’t know you personally, meaning we never worked together … but I have been happy to know you through your posts! Please add me to your subscription/blog.
M
A Geezer who misses your posts.
Be well & Namaste,
M
So refreshing to see you back even for a one time post. Thanks for setting the record straight and offering us a way to stay in touch with your wit and wisdom.
M
Hi Randy
Love all the information you had been posting on the P&G geezers site. Would greatly appreciate you adding me on your newsletter distribution
Thank you
S
Randy,
Please add me to your finance/travel newsletter. Thanks.
Until reading the latest in the pngezzers I had wondered what happened to you.
I can say I did go to the worst, I.e. you were no longer with us. I’m sure glad that is not true.
I can’t believe you posting. Folks (moderators) let things go to their heads with power to often.
Anywho, glad you are still actively posting. Look forward to seeing hem again
N
It sounds to me like there are enough folks to have a petition to bring Randy back. We all know how to hit the DELETE! And let folks other folks enjoy.
C
Randy,
Always liked your info
J
With all this free publicity, don’t be surprised when Randy commercializes his very good blog page, Facebook and YouTube channels. The rumor of being banned here could be great for business if lots of pngeezers sign up for his future advertised channels. Not a bad idea. If he hasn’t considered it he should.
Maybe around Christmas we’ll not only hear how to buy a car on New Years Eve, but also learn how to create buzz to make money from your hobby on the internet.
😉
B
thank you very much for the clarification! I was really feeling bad that we would ban someone from Procter because of their communication style.
C
Speaking of font size, hope the moderators don’t require it to be too small. i”ve got old eyes as do most of us, and I appreciate a larger font.
E
Randy,
Thank you for your posts and your response. Great letter, great explanation!
E
You are appreciated Randy!!!
M
I used your information to buy our last two cars! Thank you! Please add me to your blog email list.
B
And I have used a modified version of your auto purchasing process for quite some time. I also have shared your process with a few friends. Thanks for sharing.
J
Randy, Randy, Randy… It’s always about Randy (says Marsha)!! He he
J
I also think Randy doesn’t stink
N
This may be a moot issue now but does anyone else with an @fuse.net email address not get Randy’s messages? I find it strange that I get all other emails from pngeezers except Randy’s. This has been going on for some time and it happened again with this message. Yes, I have checked my spam and no, his messages aren’t there. I only know he has posted something when someone responds. Just curious.
J
Thanks for sharing, Randy! I had wondered, and now I know the rest of the story.
R
Randy,
Glad you did your post. I agree with most of what you said except being banned. Although X (senior moderator) was the owner of pngeezers all 4 of us are now. Again, he gets one vote. I had taken you off moderation and he put you back on. I called a vote and we voted 3 to 1 to take you off moderation which is why you were able to post today.
Regards,
J
It is a shame that Randy has been censured (told not to contribute) but “freedom of the press belongs to those who own the press” and the “owner” here didn’t like what Randy contributed. Seems it was contrary to the “guidelines”. Not “rules” but “guidelines” which usually are more relaxed than hard fast rules.
Some of Randy’s stuff I enjoyed, and IBM gave me a delee key for the rest. But his contributions were definitely more useful than the repetitie Christmas basket deluge.
K
(25+ year member and past moderator)
Randy,
As I said, I led a revolt among the moderators and now he gets one vote. I think I reached out to you and mentioned that. And you were able to post today.
But I understand your point….
Things are different now. And as you saw, a number of people enjoyed your posts. I think they are overly long to make the your points but I know how to use the delete key if I am not interested!
I am glad you posted and let people know what is going on from your point of view.
Regards,
J
So refreshing to see you back even for a one time post. Thanks for setting the record straight and offering us a way to stay in touch with your wit and wisdom.
M
Please add me to the first newsletter, not the second. I have learned a lot from you and enjoy your humor. Thanks for explaining what happened. The main moderator got a little too procterized I think.
To succeed, p&g needs folks let me you that think outside the box.
M
I appreciate Randy’s past posts and explaining here his perspective on what happened.
M
Well stated. Thank you Randy!! Keep me in your group.
C
So glad to hear that you are alive…with all the messages in geezers saying you were NOT banned, but not posting, I assumed you must have had a real bad accident.
I am guessing your eyesight has deteriorated, so I enlarged my font just for you.
I need you. You and I have somewhat different views on finances…and we also have very different travel schedules, though we may travel a similar amount of time during the year. You make 80 trips and I make 4…I just stay longer in each place.
Why do I need you? Similar to YIN and YANG, there is a need to share with these geezers different views on finance and travel so we can get them to think about what is really best for them. If only one of us shares information, they will see a somewhat biased viewpoint, which is probably not very good.
I recently took your advice (sort of) and pulled some equity out of one of my houses to buy another one. We now have 2 homes in Hilton Head, 1 home in Cincinnati, and a Condo in Cincinnati. Two of those are rental properties and two of them we live in, sort of. I am very proud of our 2.875% loan on the new purchase…but it is a 30 year loan, which is not something you are not fond of.
Anyway, I am encouraging you (or maybe your wife) to continue to post your messages in pngeezers. Your wife could downsize the font for you (just 2 clicks) but leave the length the same, because there are usually a few hidden gems that I find during the 2nd or 3rd reading (sometimes I fall asleep during the first time through).
So, while you are chasing tracks, my wife am I are chasing other things…
(I have subscribed to your newsletters, just in case you decide to remain silent in the geezer world.)
D
Nicely done my brother. Know that I will always have your back. 😊
J
Randy,
Thank you for your posts and your response. Great letter, great explanation!
E
Thank you Randy for the clarification. I have always found your posts informative and worth the time to read. In fact I have cut and pasted the investment and car buying procedures to my own document files for future reference.
The value of this conference has gone way down over the last couple years (to me) perhaps it’s because we are driving away people that have independent ideas to share.
D
I have also used your car buying approach but modified it to the end of month/quarter rather than year. Thanks.
Please add me to your list.
D
Randy,
Thanks for letting us know your side of the story. I, for one, have missed your messages.
Please add me to your newsletter/blog.
E
Randy,
Thank you for the post. Please add me to your newsletter distribution. We do share your emails with our kids who find it to be great and useful information.
Keep on sharing, it is valuable information.
K
Randy – Thanks for checking in on this …. nothing like a little sunshine to clean things up:-) I will be pleased if you add me to both your newsletters / blogs. Thank you.
p
So happy to hear from you!
I tapped out note in defense of you – and didn’t send it!
Why, because your getting the boot had me so discussed that I mostly just monitor messages, too.
The conference has become transactional, mean spirited and just plain boring.
When I got to the end of my email I realized I had written ogvvery much in Randy Lewis style – and I thought nah – I don’t wanna send it to those guys.
If you wanna see it, Ill share it.
I’d much rather start a blog of my own at some point. Just don’t quite have the hook yet.
Also, I need to look in the spam folder of add you to my email bc I did stop receiving your blog!
Racing I’m not so wild about bug travel and finance – sure!
I was THRILLED to see the topic of you show up on Geezers.
And was ROTFLMAO when I read the one about how you had not gotten “Kicked Off.” Um – semantics!!!!!
Not kicked off.
Just BLACKBALLED ! Hahaha!!!!
A
Hi Randy, you were mentioned on PNGeezers … did you see the post? Were you asked not to give your opinion on Geezers any longer? Several people mentioned they missed your input,
C
Randy, I’m on the Pngeezers group and posted a question if anyone knew what happened to you because we haven’t heard from you in awhile. I understand you have another email group and would appreciate getting your again.
P
Randy,
My husband and I have missed your messages in pngeezers and I found out they asked you not to share in the group. Could I get added to your distribution list to get your messages again? Thank you.
K
Randy,
We the masses have just learned that you apparently were ostracized by the moderators of the geezer group. We are not happy campers to be thus controlled. Hope you can rejoin the group or allow some of us to join your group.
J
Hey Randy,
Perhaps I am not the first to share this with you, but I wanted to let you know there have been many posts about you in the pngeezers conference recently. Everyone positive, calling for your return and missing what you contributed. You are well loved! Most were unaware of why you left or the circumstances. Below is the thread of recent messages.
I also sent a private message to the moderator group asking they be more tolerant of what is posted when no harm is involved. I maintain your messages never did harm. They simply ran across the personal wishes of a moderator IMO (not the wishes of the pngeeezer members which should be the guiding force). They screwed up IMO and I asked them to think about steering the conference newly before more damage is done. I am sharing this with you so you are aware of the admiration you have earned from so many. Secondly, you may want to add some of these admirers to your email offering. That is up to you of course.
D
I wonder what Randy did? Or maybe he has decided to just relax and take it easy?
Enquiring minds want to know!
S
I, too, agree many of Randy’s posts were way too long to make their point. But I always learned something and I never recall reading a post that was objectionable, degrading, etc. if he has been banned, I sure missed
something.
C
Appreciate your labor of love and enjoy the content you publish.
😷
Thanks!
H
Hi Randy
I am in the pnggeezers email list since I retired 4 years ago. I appreciate your messages over the years and especially the one you wrote today.
Will you please include me in your blog?
warm regards,
D
Hi Randy,
Please pardon the size of the text I use, but I’m getting older and my vision isn’t that good any more. Besides, I happen to like the larger font just like you.
I’ve been getting your racing videos for a while and must say that you DO get around. I enjoyed a couple of past ones where they were racing on ice. Can you really do that?
I actually have a somewhat similar tale regarding pngeezers censorship, but I won’t go into detail about that. Suffice it to say that I haven’t posted a message there in several years.
So please sign me up for ALL of your newsletters and blogs. I have enjoyed every message you’ve ever put on pngeezers for as l long as I can remember and I want to continue to get all you’re advice, etc.
Thanks and keep up the good fight. Haha
W
I have read and enjoyed all of your past Posts. In fact I have saved several. Please add me to your blog but not the racing one.
R
Randy,
Please add me to your newsletter/blog. Like many others, I have missed your postings. Informative, insightful and entertaining…
Sorry you had to go through this….but good things have come from it.
Thank you and blessings on your gifting.
M
Hi Randy: Being a retired Moderator of pngeezers (18+ years), I smiled with amusement at your message to the group. I imagined the reactions the senior moderator was having. But that is not the purpose of my reply to you here.
I recall being invited to join your email group (if I have that right), but now, today, I am not sure that also meant your (new?) blog/newsletter. If it did, then I guess I am all set. If not, can you please add me so I get all the “good stuff” you send out. Thanks.
Further, you write about financial/management and travel (associated with your Track Chasing). Have you ever had the urge, interest, or motivation to offer anything in the health area. Yes, Covid stuff is clearly in the health area, but anything else? Are you yourself, or your family, encountering any of the “little” health issues that people seem to experience as they get “older”? I am not prying only assuming your entertaining style and excellent research into health areas of interest (to you) could be very entertaining and enlightening (I hesitate to say “Life Saving”). Just asking, or as some say: “Just sayin’.”
Take care and thanks for your refreshing outlook.
Randy,
I think I may have met you once or twice but I know that I didn’t work very closely with you at P&G. Having said that I have enjoyed and appreciated several of your postings on pngeezers. The topics of interest have been useful and those of little or no interest have been deleted – true of any emails I get! I am disappointed that the moderator(s) have effectively banned you.
I would like to get your finance and travel newsletter. Could you add me to the distribution?
Hope you and your family are healthy and happy!
Regards,
R
Randy,
Please add me to your newsletters, both of them. I enjoy the advice and have been an F1 enthusiast for about 65 years.
Cheers,
A
Randy,
Please add me to your newsletter/blog. It was good to see you back albeit the last time, you were missed!
Regards,
M
Hi Randy,
Thanks for clarifying what has transpired. I have enjoyed most of your posts and have also approached many things just as you have. My wife and I love international travel and miss it terribly. We were in Morocco in March when they shut things done before Trump did! It took us three days and a lot of hassle to get back.
Thanks for sharing your insights with others. Also, I like your larger font as it is much easier to read especially on my phone or iPad. I do the same when I send emails.
Randy-
I have always loved reading your posts in PNGEEZERS. I am a recent retiree – 2018. Moved from Cincy to Florida and went 100% solar. 52 solar panels and batteries. 2 electric cars running on the sun. Loving it!
D
Randy,
Ohh the PG drama… 😂😂😂. Good note by the way.
Add me to the racing newsletter. I retired last year and started racing again.
Thanks!!!
M
Hi Randy! Really missed your posts and I am sorry for what you had to go thru. What a bunch of BS.
I would love to be added to your newsletter/blog…….not the racing one though. Lol
Take care and keep writing
S
Dear Randy
We have never met but I so enjoy reading your posts. Please add me to your blog
Thank you
A
Randy
Pls add me to your email distribution. I particularly enjoy your financial comments although your track racing stories are sometimes great travel adventures.
You and I retired at the same time and Bill Bernstein is also my lodestar for investing. We swapped some emails several years ago because you were getting a slightly better return over 15 years or so than I was. I think we concluded you had a slightly higher equity allocation which yielded a better return.
Sorry about your problems on the Geezer conference. Your messages were usually like a breath of fresh air after the multitude of Christmas box messages or some other arcane subject.
This message may be redundant. I tried to directly sign up today on your web site, but I’m not sure I succeeded.
All the best
R
Hi Randy,
Thanks for all your thoughtful and entertaining posts in the past, and future…
Regards
D
Randy,I am a UK based ex-P&Ger who retired in 2001 after 41 years of very happy service to the Ole Sope Werks mainly in the UK.I have followed pngeezers and more particularly your ‘banning’ saga with interest and, after having enjoyed your contributions over time, I would really like to be poart of your financial/travel blog.
Please enrol me.
Many thanks and stay safe,
H
Please subscribe me to the one about travel, etc (not the racing one). Thanks!
Thanks,
B
Hi Randy,
I always enjoyed your posts. You obviously put a lot of time into them and there is a lot of useful information and is far more useful than the annual Christmas basket delivery notices. Speaking of Christmas boxes, a few years ago the chocolate almonds in my Christmas basket had a soapy taste. The reason is that the chocolate almonds were not wrapped in a plastic bag and as a result adsorbed a lot of the soapy fragrances. I sent a note to the conference if anybody else had the same experience. I should note that I did a lot of development work in chocolate and know for a fact that chocolates are notorious for adsorbing aromas. When I posted that note, I got a ton of “hate” mail from irate P&G’ers who berated me for revealing what was in the box. It was as if they didn’t realize we have been getting these for the last 40 years! Then, I started getting another set of mail that berated me for being so ungrateful etc etc! All I tried to do was to present some scientific fact that it is not a good idea to put unprotected chocolate in a box filled with fragrant soap products! So, in a way I shared a little bit of what you went through. Because of that incident, I rarely participate.
Take care and thank you for sharing your knowledge!!
V
Randy,
I had never met you but always enjoyed reading your emails. I fond them to be interesting, fun, thought-provoking, and entertaining. Your perspective is appreciated and I’m sorry that we never crossed path at the firm. A friend of mine had mentioned your name several times when we were all working at P&G.
Put me on your Blog list.
M
Randy,
have loved your P&G conference posts for years. Please add me to your financial posts (not a big fan of the racing side even though my dad was a stock car driver for years.)
Thanks.
P
Randy,
It is so great to hear from you personally regarding the Geezers conference fiasco. Disgruntled, I have personally declined my membership to Geezers twice but I keep coming back because I feel like I’m missing something. I’m not sure I can define what that is other than “information” but I have learned to use the delete key a lot. And, by the way, the moderators were quite nasty each time I left and returned.
One of the bright spots has always been your posts. I miss them and would like to be added to your newsletter/blog. Often, I get quite useful actionable information from them. Even without that, at least I am entertained!
Thanks!
G
Randy,
As a PnGeezer, I have always enjoyed your posts. I have shared many of them with family, sometimes just to share your humor as you experience life. I have missed your contributions.
S
Hi Randy, glad to see you’re alive and kickin’.
I’m interested in the travel/finance blog you issue. Not racing.Love your writing style, always makes me chuckle!
Thanks for updating us on your situation.
Best regards,
S
Would appreciate being included with your blog. Appreciated help when we purchased our last car
J
Randy,
I don’t know if you are still able to see PNGeezer emails but holy crap has your name been used a LOT lately.
So you were told A) your messages were too long B) you had the wrong font?
WTHeck? Sounds like a dictatorship to me.
What a waste of time…hit the freaking DELETE button if you aren’t interested!
C
Randy, I would very much like to receive your travel and financial information newsletter. I often discuss your solar panel and Tesla comments with my husband in hopes of slowly opening his mind to these ideas! K
I’ve always enjoyed your Geezer messages, and we’re even corresponded about a couple of topics a few years back. Please sign me up for your blog.
R
Hi Randy,
Im a Longtime reader, first time writer.
Thoroughly enjoy your geezer postings. Please add me to your finance/travel letter and whatever blog you have that is relevant for old P&G farts like me,
(I joined your racing blog last night, not realizing that I really wanted your finance/travel)
Take care
T
Hey Randy,
I was thinking of writing you a note since I had not seen any posts from you. Happy to know you are doing fine and that a stupid “control freak” was the reason for your absence.
Please add this fellow RVI veteran to your blog.
Stay safe !
G
Don’t understand the bruhaha but, as noted, if you can tolerate the Christmas Basket/Zip Code drivel, you should be able to handle most anything.Pls add me to your Travel/Finance blog. Useful or not, it is intreresting and nformative.
D
Randy,
I enjoy your travel postings and would love to continue to get them. I have been constrained from travel by the dreaded Covid situation and am interested in how that has effected your travel.
I live in an HOA community…..the ‘oversight’ of the PnGeezers group reminds me of our HOA board. If you have ever seen this Geico Commercial featuring ‘Cynthia’….you get my drift.
https://youtu.be/Ryqv9REMpsg
Take care! Keep fighting the good fight.
M
Randy:
have always enjoyed your posts-so sorry to see you banned from geezers. Would like to be added to your “general” blog-not the racing blog. Thanks so much.
Mr Lewis,
Longtime lurker, first time “caller.” I have been a member of the geezers group for a while now and always appreciated your posts specifically about your car buying method, how to maximize credit card rewards, your annual financial review, and other musings. I have 23 years of service to PG and will be retiring in about 6 weeks on Oct 1. I am glad to hear that i can continue to hear your perspective via your closed email group. I am seeking admission to the group. Racing isnt my thing so I would prefer to receive just the “all other” communications and i would opt out of your racing group of possible.
Thanks much,
B
Hi Randy, I’m the one who first inquired about not hearing from you on the Geezers group. I missed your opinions and insights. You should be flattered that so many people responded because no one would care one bit if I left the group. I really enjoyed your response today and sent a request to get your newsletter. Keep up the good work!
P
Hi Randy,
I’m so sorry for the treatment you got by the Pngeezer moderators. I have loved and learned from all your posts!
Please sign me up for your blog, emails, newsletters, etc. Please let me know where to look for your posts. If it is a technology I’m not familiar with,I will learn.
Looking forward to becoming part of your “family”.
G
Randy
Add me to your finance and travel blog. The big font helps the old eyes and I know where the delete key is.
D
Hi Randy. I currently get your racing videos and didn’t realize that you’d been banned from pngeezers. Please sign me up so I can still get all your useful info. Thanks.
So….to everyone who took the time to write in support of what I share I simply send a heart-felt Thank You.
Randy Lewis
San Clemente, California