When Semiologic and Semiologic Pro was first created by Denis, WordPress was still in its infancy.  Now that it’s 2015, WordPress has greatly matured and Jetpack has brought wordpress.com functionality to those that self-host their blogs and websites.   Some technology, like RSS, has been supplanted by Facebook and Twitter news feeds.    Given all of this, some of the Semiologic plugins and third party plugin forks just aren’t practical to maintain.   With WordPress being released every 3-4 months, having to test and release plugins just to say they are version compatible, is simply just a pain.

Its is time for some of the original Semiologic Pro plugins to be retired.  They have served us well these many years.  Some plugins are part of the WordPress core product (admin menus and favicons in WP 4.3), some have low usage or need (Feed Widgets), or technology has changed (RSS feeds vs. FB and Twitter feeds).

The following plugins are no longer going to be worked on nor maintained:

• Admin Menu (Free plugin)
• Article Uploader (Premium plugin)
• Fancy Excerpt (Free plugin)
• Favicon Head (forked version)
• Feed Widgets (Premium plugin)
• Frame Buster (Free plugin)
• Mediacaster (Premium plugin)
• Newsletter Manager (Premium plugin)
• Opt-in Front Page (Free plugin)
• PC Robots.txt (forked version)
• Search Reloaded (Premium plugin)
• Semiologic Affiliate (Premium plugin)
• Semiologic Cloner (Premium plugin)
• Subscribe Me (Free plugin)
• Subscribe to Comments Reloaded (forked version)
• WP DB Backup (forked version)

These join the prior plugins that were retired last few years:

• Autolink URI (Free plugin rolled into External Links plugin)
• Autotag (Premium plugin)
• Core Control Reloaded (forked version)
• Countdown Events Widget Reloaded (forked version)
• Custom Query String Reloaded (forked version)
• Deal.com Widgets (Free plugin)
• Democracy Poll Widget Reloaded (forked version)
• Do Follow (Free plugin)
• Feedburner Reloaded (forked version)
• Hitslink (Free plugin)
• Star Rating Reloaded (forked version)
• Unfancy Quote  (Free plugin)
• Uploads Folder (forked version)

This means Semiologic and developments efforts will be more streamlined and focused.   The Pinnacle theme continues to evolve with new functionality.   You’ll also be seeing a change around how Semiologic Pro is packaged and released that will allow for frequent updates.  For those that have current, valid subscriptions you’ll be grandfathered into the system.  More details to follow in the next few months.

Semiologic

Question by Scott: How can I get a mortgage while waiting for Federal Government to finalize my retirement payment?
I retired from the Federal Government in May and have moved to a new state. I want to buy a house but have no documentation on what my retirement income will be. I have the estimates from the government websites that indicate that between my pension, my FERS supplement and what I will be getting from my Thrift Savings Plan will equal 64K a year. It takes 6 or more months for OPM to process my retirement (criminal) but I want to buy now. How?

Best answer:

Answer by Jo
Sometimes what we want and what we can have are two different things.

You want to know how to do this - go talk to a bank or mortgage broker.

They are the ones who know how to do things in matters of mortgages.

So the "how" is - go apply. See what they say.

Add your own answer in the comments!

by Rodrigo_Soldon

Question by QueAndAy: Is using an immediate annuity and investing in mutual funds the best of both worlds for an early retirement?
Lately, I've been thinking much about an early retirement. Have worked over 20 years in the same company. Plus, always good to prepare as I've seen friends and family get an early retirement forced upon them. I was thinking about using an immediate annuity (along with a pension) for a guarenteed income stream. However, since a regular income wouldn't keep up with inflation, I'd definitely still want to have money invested in mutual funds too.

Let's say the annuity plus penison brings in about $ 50,000 a year, with about $ 400,000 left in other investments and a Roth IRA about $ 50,000. Also, no mortage in home, no dependents to provide for. With $ 50,000, some of that can still be used to continue investing in mutual funds even in retirement. Thus, if a bear market comes along, it's comforting to know there is a steady income stream.

Would that combination of annuity and mutual funds be the best of both worlds for a stress free early retirement?

Best answer:

Answer by mybluemax1
I recommend talking with a finiatial consultant, Edward Jones or Charles Schwab (at least for ideas). There are pros and cons to every decision.

Add your own answer in the comments!

www.smsfstrategies.com Grant Abbott discussing the benefits of a transition to retirement income stream and several important strategies.

Question by Win the West!!!!: How much of your income should you put away for retirement???
My company offers a 401K that I contribute too. I contribute 8% and my company gives me 12% (yes its true. 5% match, plus 7% automatic). My wife does not have a 401K at her job so we opened a traditional IRA.........Is there a "goal" percentage of income that we should be setting aside, or is it just however much we can afford? Our ages are 31 and 26 if that helps any.

Best answer:

Answer by Sky K
I don't know if there is a "standard" for this or not, but I would think you should be putting back a minimum of 10% of your gross. Pay debts with 20%, and live on 70%.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Question by Hamid K: Looking ahead to retirement, you sign up for automatic savings in a fixed-income 401K plan that pays 6%?
per year compounded annually. You plan to invest $ 3500 at the end of each year for the next 20 years. How much will your account have in it at the end of 20 years?

$ 130,520
$ 127,207
$ 128,750
$ 130,048

Best answer:

Answer by Puzzling
Take the starting amount, add 6% and an additional $ 3500. Repeat for 20 years:

Amount, Interest (6%)
$ 3,500.00, $ 210.00
$ 7,210.00, $ 432.60
$ 11,142.60, $ 668.56
$ 15,311.16, $ 918.67
$ 19,729.83, $ 1,183.79
$ 24,413.62, $ 1,464.82
$ 29,378.44, $ 1,762.71
$ 34,641.15, $ 2,078.47
$ 40,219.62, $ 2,413.18
$ 46,132.80, $ 2,767.97
$ 52,400.77, $ 3,144.05
$ 59,044.82, $ 3,542.69
$ 66,087.51, $ 3,965.25
$ 73,552.76, $ 4,413.17
$ 81,465.93, $ 4,887.96
$ 89,853.89, $ 5,391.23
$ 98,745.12, $ 5,924.71
$ 108,169.83, $ 6,490.19
$ 118,160.02, $ 7,089.60
$ 128,749.62

The closest answer is $ 128,750

What do you think? Answer below!