Nah, that's just part of the fun. Half the satisfaction is finally beating that stupid piece of terra cotta after a good fight.

Man, that's a solid point about hidden strength loss. I read something similar to what @river_allen said, that the sun just cooks the fibers right out. Makes you check every load twice now.

Totally agree about the cookie-cutter plan thing. I read an article that called a lot of advisors "glorified spreadsheet fillers" and it stuck with me. They just plug your age and salary into a template. You're right, the good ones are supposed to ask about your actual life, like if you want to buy a house or help your family. Otherwise you're just paying for a printout of common sense.

Agreed, they stick to a schedule.

Logging into a bank with 'password123' at a coffee shop is basically just handing out free samples.