Month: October 2025

Categories
advice and tips Saint Louis

How to print a file on school google drive at Saint Louis County Library

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Last Updated on November 21, 2025 by stlplace

I had to provide both Uber driving and tech support for my younger daughter – she wants to print a PDF file on her school iPad. The file is available on google drive in her school google account.

It’s the 1st time I am using the printer at the new County Library the Clark Family Branch (it used to be the HQ before the rebuild). I think initially we tried to log into her school google account on the PC dedicated to the scanner. That didn’t work. I asked her to log into google drive on my iPhone. It worked. But there are no “Air Printer” from my iPhone. Also per school IT policy, she could not share the file with me because I am not a school employee.

So there is how I did: I made the file available offline. Then I went to Google Doc app, and shared the file via “send a copy” aka email to myself.

Later I log into one of the library computer, and logged into my email there, and click “print” (we gave the job a name). There are one more thing before the printer job will go though – there is a computer between the two printers (the black/white and the color printers). And I log into that computer and approved the “named” print job. Each library patron gets $5 printer credit each month, and it’s enough for small printing job. If not, I believe they take cash or credit card.

Last but not least: you will need to bring your library card in order to use the computer and the printer at the library.

PS: we have printer at home and it supports air print: meaning we can print it from an iPhone or iPad. But this time our younger daughter wants color printing and our printer only prints black and white.

(Update 11-21-2025) So S6 wants to print color copies for a file in Canva app on her school iPad. The process is similar, I asked her to export the document as PDF and save it to her Google Drive. Then on my personal iPhone she was logged into the Google Drive app, I just need to send the PDF file to myself. Tomorrow I am going to print out the file at country library. Again all this is to get around the issue of she cannot share file directly with me. So we have to do it in 2 steps (via the intermediary of Google Drive).

Categories
401k and Personal Finance

Thoughts on retirement and retirement accounts

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Last Updated on February 17, 2026 by stlplace

For example, if one can earn meaningful amount of money from the 401k (paper gain) and that amount is equal or bigger than salary, and the person is over 59 and half, can he/she consider retirement? I recall there is a YT video on this – maybe this one by Azul – Research Shows This Is The Perfect Age To Retire (this is an interesting point: see if you can retire the debt including the mortgage before retirement).

Roth Conversion

Vanguard: IRA Roth conversion

Also:

Roth 401k: Roth comparison chart (IRS)

Average Joe and Jane

CBS News Money Watch article below

More Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, putting retirement out of reach, report finds

Left behind retirement accounts? (can I have some, joking)

A new 401(k) rule is coming in 2026 for millions of high-earning Americans — what to know if you’re in this group

Btw, came across this from Medium recently: The Retirement Myth: What Most Americans Really Do After They Stop Working

I loved this comment: “No such thing when it comes to retirees. I see two groups, one that does what you said (and typically dies with as much money in accounts as when they retired) and one that get healthy and stays healthy and gets busy intentionally creating and enjoying life! From what I see it’s about a 70-30 split with 70% ding very little – but the 30% are having a great time!! You have to choose which group to be in before your health choses for you. The Lie of Later: How ‘Future Time Slack’ Is Stealing Your Retirement – now I realized this article is really appliable to everyone, both active workers and retirees.”

My own video

This morning, I also talked about aging, retirement and related topics on my morning walk via YT. Or you can watch from Bilibili (link here) if you are inside China.

PS:

(YT, audio only) Charlie Munger No. 1 investment tips for those over 50

(YT, Holy Schmidt!) 6 SECRETS Retirees Should NEVER Disclose

I’m 81 and live in my RV for half the year. I didn’t save enough for retirement, so I stay afloat by ‘work camping’ and DoorDash driving. (I read it from Yahoo and it didn’t have paywall)

Americans are living longer, but many are making a costly mistake about old age (CBS News)

You can live healthy to 100, author says, Here’s the secret (Yahoo)

(YT) This 104 old’s life advice will blow your mind

(CNBC) This is the ‘biggest mistake’ you can make with your IRA, attorney says

(Update 11-14-2025 Yahoo Finance) Health & wealth check-up: How a financial adviser can help

(Update 11-18-2025 YT) How Do I Pay For Health Insurance if I Retire Early

(Update 12-31-2025 CNBC) Rule expands penalty-free early 401(k) withdrawals — but new use ‘might not be practical,’ advisor says. Let me quote some below:

If you reach your 65th birthday, you have about a 70% chance of needing some form of long-term care services and support, according to a 2020 estimate from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. On average, women who require care need it longer — 3.7 years, versus 2.2 years for men. While a third of 65-year-olds will never need long-term care, 20% will end up requiring it for more than five years...

For example, the cost of a home health aide reached an annual median cost of $77,792 last year, up 3% from 2023, according to the 2024 Cost of Care survey conducted by Genworth Financial. The national annual median cost of a semiprivate room in a nursing home rose to $111,325, up 7% from 2023. For a private room, the median yearly cost climbed 9% to $127,750.

(Update 02-17-2026) You need $2 million to retire and ‘almost no one is close,’ BlackRock CEO warns, a problem that Gen X will make ‘harder and nastier’

Categories
Life

Mid-Autumn Festival – 36 years ago

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on October 8, 2025 by stlplace

I left my childhood home and my parents many years ago for the boarding middle school. And I barely recall that I was home for the mid-autumn festival celebration in those middle school (high school) years. Then I left for college. And the college was a bit far away from my hometown.

About 36 years ago, the mid-autumn festival party organized by the HUST 浙江同乡会 left me impression. Because in 1989, it was the first year I was in HUST (Wuhan) and far away from home Ning’bo, and not to mention I really missed home. I believe many HUST friends who are from Zhejiang province missed home too. I recall the hostess (the girl who is toast master) is a Shi’jie from Zhenhai middle school, and her last name is Su. Sorry I forgot her 1st name now. 她说了一句话让我现在还记得：我们来自于吴山青，越水秀 (google search) 的故乡浙江省。

这个中秋节，来自于广东的唱作人何璟昕(我这里有关于她的介绍，博文1 和博文2；维基上的关于她的介绍在这里）的新歌 明月高高挂天上（网易云音乐，QQ音乐，油管视频，油管音乐，bilibili, 苹果音乐，Spotify) 也让我想到中秋节的意义。