Single Guy High Impact Saving

I'm not a Rick Steves viewer, though my mother is.  I've seen it a few times, and while not nearly as good, I think my trips to Europe have been pretty good.  

That said, I decided to merge a travelogue of my two trips this fall, one to Europe, and another to Florida.  Here goes nothing....

==========================================================================

Trip #1: Italy / France / Germany:  Another fun trip to Europe learning new things all the time.  

==========================================================================

The cities we visited were: 

Rome, Rotenburg, Colmar, Strassbourg, Munich

Some things I learned:

Did you know that a large section of France really looks like Germany?  I know I didn't. 

Bike lanes are dangerous!  We were meeting tour buses in Munich, and it turned out the buses pick up the riders right next to bike lanes that you need to cross to get to the buses.  Well let me tell ya... those bicyclists do not slow down!  Even the tour guide came over to people waiting and warned them to be careful crossing over to get into the bus.  Yikes.

Road speed limits are often variable.  I drove one day in Germany.  Every couple miles on the autobahns there was across and over the road a number of lighted signs that would indicate if there was a speed limit ahead, and if so, what it was.  These changed due to traffic or weather conditions.  And crazily enough, the car we were in was actually getting some type of signal from these signs, so it was constantly showing what the current limit (or no limit) was at that point.  It was a very efficient German type of thing.  

German autobahns don't indicate the road direction.  For people from North America the highways here always indicate a direction (North/South/East/or West).  Even lesser road often do.  This helps with getting on the correct direction. Well not in Germany!  I drove a rental car one day and that was an adventure.  We were headed to one of these and the road signs showed two entrances both with the highway number along with a city you would go towards.  But no other directions.  We weren't going to any of the towns listed, so what to do?  Just pick one and wait for the phone application our group leader was using to indicate if we needed to turn around (yeah, we were going the wrong way!).  

As for the trip:

It was nice going to Rome again.  Going somewhere a second time you aren't so lost, you can take time to investigate side streets, small vendors, just stuff you rush past on a few day visit to a city like Rome.  We visited Galleria Colonna, the place where the final scene of the movie Roman Holiday was filmed.  Very beautiful.  (Intersting note: There is WWII damage to one step in the middle of that scene, and throughout they had people placed so you never would see that damage.)   We had a class on pasta making one evening.  That was another wild time.  We toured the main Roman Synagogue a day before the attack anniversary, so lets just say the security about that place was beefing up while we were there!  For one day we went to Pompeii.  Of all the things we did, that is the one I wish we had spent more time at.  It was a two hour trip each way, and we only spent two hours there on a guided tour and saw maybe 20%.  That's something I hope to get to again, this time with a day to see it slowly and fully.

Then we went to France and stayed in Colmar.  A picturesque mid sized town, home to the person that designed the Statue of Liberty.  In fact there is a small (1/3 sized?) replica of the statue outside of town.  While there we took a day tour through small towns in the area which were very beautiful.   One of the towns was used as the basis for the village in the movie Beauty and the Beast. 

And then a day in Strassbourg.  My mother's favorite day I think as we walked about and she took a number of pictures that looked like classic paintings.  The light, the clouds, everything was perfect.  We had a boat tour there which was something to see.  It went through some locks and saw a number of centuries old areas.

From there onto Germany and Munich.  Our driver had a hard time getting to our hotel as a marathon was being run through town as we got there.  While there we did trips to Rotenburg (I drove there), and to the Neuschwanstein castle, the castle that Walt Disney based his castles on.  That place is on the side of a moutain, and you need to walk up a steep road to get to.  Whew, that day was a workout.  The drive to Rotenburg was mostly in the rain and lots of construction, so lets say that was a challenge with the wild German drivers... yeah that ummmmm.... tested my driving abilities.  But I survived with no scratches amazingly.  Oh, and the rental had us pick up the car a couple floors below ground level.  No problem right?  Well here I am driving an unfamiliar car with very tight turns between floors and I was afraid I wouldn't make it out of the garage!  Lets just say I was going really slowly getting out of there!  Even coming back was a challenge in Munich as we couldn't find a gas station for some time.  Finally found one, but they are soooooo few and far between.

Even the drive to the airport coming back home was exhilirating.   The car almost felt light, and I looked over at the driver and could see the speedometer was hitting 160 KPH (or 100 MPH!).  It was 5 AM and the road was mostly empty, but still... if we had an accident we probably wouldn't survive that!

As for the overall weather it was cool and occasionally rainy.  A  hurricane remant was hitting Europe while we were there, so it never got hot (except for Pompeii), but it really didn't put a damper on things to be honest.

=========================================================================

Trip #2: Orlando:  Just a week there enjoying the timeshare and the parks

=========================================================================

The trip was just me, my mom, and a friend of my mother (though they drove down seperately from me).  While they are both old (both 80+), they certainly kept up well enough each day, though my mother did rent a scooter which they shared.  

Welp, no free timeshare week for me.  Ah, reminiscing about the good 'ole days is fun, but those great freebees are gone for now.  And in fact with my mother there I wasn't even offered the timeshare presentation, she was the only one to get that.  Oh well.  For listening to their spiel she got resort "money" to use on the resort, with which she got two nice blouses and I got a new gym bag.  The resort stuff isn't cheap, but whatevah.  

Universal Studios was our park to visit this trip.  It was nice with moderate to low (for Florida!) crowds.  We didn't even get rained on - the only rainy day was a day we already planned to stay at the resort anyway, otherwise it only rained overnight.  They made good meals for the week along with two pies, and I did all the driving and playing tour guide.   So it all worked out great for everyone.  

One day my mother's friend and I went to a flea market while my mother visited a friend of her's that was maybe a half hour drive away - which was nice for all involved.

=========================================================================

So a good but busy two months for me.  Now I do have a timeshare week certificate I bought last year and I need to make a reservation with it by Thanksgiving.  I will probably use it the week before Christmas as that looks to be when all the free weeks are available.  And then the Danube river cruise comes along next May.   This retirement is hard 😊

Some days you can stack benefits one on top of the other.  Yesterday was one of those days.  Real simple - I went to one of those "I can show you how to secure your money" type of seminars.  I have to say it wasn't the worst thing ever, but the woman did downplay some of the downsides of what she was promoting.  Realizing this is one of the upsides/downsides of being financially literate.

And the product was... "Fixed Index Annuities".  I won't go into the pros & cons of them, you can easily do a quick search and find out the details.  I think I was sitting at the "sofisticated investor" table as while other tables seemed to be mostly enthusiastic about this idea, we could see the downside to them.  Hopefully I came up with the most balanced response as we discussed this: "If you are an unsofisticated investor without tons of money this may not be a bad idea.  If you are less than 55 y.o., or have a pension, or have over say $250,000 these are probably not a great idea."  To the presentor's credit she did say variable annuities are bad, so at least she knows will say that much.

EDIT: I did some searching on Bogleheads forums on these products.  They bring up worse issues than we could see during this sales pitch.  Also, the woman wouldn't answer questions during the presentation (OK I suppose), but would only answer afterwards.  One thing however, we started food right away so she would only answer questions a table at a time.  You don't want a large group of people to hear various issues with your product when you can keep it limited to a small number of skeptics.  Right????😇

Anyway, so what was the triple win?  I was able to get out and learn about this financial product, I got a great meal out of it (everyone at our table thought the food was good - maybe not super great, but much better than expected), and I had my car charging for free just outside.  The presentation & meal took so long I was able to get 95 miles of charge, just in time for me to drive out of town to Florida this Saturday.  They even gave us boxes so we could take home any extra food, which we all did.

Now comes next week... do they offer me another time share presentation at my mother's timeshare?  Last year I didn't get any good offer so I passed on it.  I was sad as the prior three years I was able to get a free timeshare week in Florida.  So is a freebee week on the horizon for me or will I be disappointed again?  Only the shadow knows.

Ever have one of the those airline trips where its like everything goes wrong, or is just plain uncomfortable / painful?  Well that was my trip back from Europe this week.  (Oh and if anyone checks... the "Friendly Skies" was a United slogan, but while I was flying American the American ad slogan is "Doing what we do best".  I never knew that until I researched it - has anyone ever heard this one?  All I can say is they need a new ad agency.)

Well my mother and I went to Europe on American (this isn't an American Airlines rant, but take of it what you will....) for the first two weeks this month.  Long haul flights are rough in economy, which is what we did.  Rough as in seating and length of flight as the airline *did* give good in flight food and has (to me anyway) good in flight entertainment options.  What is a long flight over to Europe is longer on the way back by over an hour due to the winds going from North America to Europe.

BTW, this is only about the flights.  They deserved their own posting, as you'll read (should you dare).

====================

Flight #1 - Long but Bareable:

====================

So the flight over was long, but nothing bad really.  Pleasant enough and a direct flight. The people we were meeting (co-travellers from the US) were supposed to arrive an hour before us.  Well... guess again.  Their flight was delayed a half hour, so still arriving before us.  Somehow they arrived almost the same time, so we go through customs and then go and wait as they're not waiting there.  And wait.  And wait some more.  Hey, we're really tired, what's the deal???   Finally they arrive at the meeting location an hour after us.  Huh???  No customs issues, nor luggage pickup.  Instead the organizer woman didn't stretch / move about on the plane and I dunno but at arrival was pretty much a cripple and after finding our driver almost collapsed.  We had to wheelchair her to the taxi.  Thankfully she recovered enough that a trip to a hospital wasn't needed, but sheesh, take care of yourself (I may sound bad but if/when I do a trip review... you'll see where I'm coming from).

=================

Flight #2 - A Short Jump:

=================

OK, this is an intra Europe short haul flight.  Shouldn't be bad, maybe 1.5 hours.  Well... nothing terrible really, but... on the flight we are required to check our luggage.  Our whole group packs light intentionally, so we can take everything as carry on, but nope, gotta check em.  (Grumble grumble)  We go to get on plane and at least half, maybe more, of the riders can be seen to have carry on luggage just like ours that we were forced to check in.  Ummm, what gives?  But whatevah (sigh).  Arrive in country number two, get luggage, and then walk to where you can pick up taxis and rides (we had pre-paid for a driver to take us two hours from airport to destination).  Well we walk following signs to the taxi location.  And we walk more, and walk, and walk.  And up stairs, and down stairs, and up stairs.  And did I mention walk?  Person #4 in our four person group had one of those fit bit style step / distance monitors and says we walked over two miles in the airport from departing the airplane to where we are to pick up our ride.  I think she overstated it, but over a mile is likely.  WTF???  And we're talking none of those moving walkways either, so my three compatriots - all 70+ y.o. women - were really exhausted at the end of that death march.  Gawd.  And then of course the driver is nowhere to be found.  Finally appears from (coffee break waiting for us?) after 15 more minutes?  Sigh.  But all's well that ends well.

========================

Flight #3 - Where it all goes FUBAR:

========================

(Appologies for the length, but there is ALOT to unpack here - you've been warned)

OK, the first two flights could have been better, but were a warm up for this trip.  My mother was ready to explode on anyone at the end of this day.

To be fair, this was always going to be by far the roughest of the three flight days.  We knew this.  Going Europe to North America takes longer, we couldn't get a direct flight coming back, so we were flying into Charlotte and then connecting to Philadelphia to be picked up, then two hour drive to mother's friend's house, then another two hour drive to mother's house.  Well... if only it were that good.

The day before I caught a cold, so I am heading to the flight with massive sinus issues and drainage, just miserable. Thankfully I got to enjoy my time on the trip healthy before the flight back.  Unlike in America there are no check in kiosks at the airport, so we are forced to go to see an agent for the boarding passes.  And it begins...  The agent asks us to check our luggage.  "Ummmm.... we just have carry ons, see?"  "Just put them on here please."     "Can't we just take them?"  "There's no charge to check them, put them here"  And a look like we're crazy Americans.  Ugh, after a bit more of back and forth, our bags are checked in.  Oh if we only knew...  Oh and by the way... again most people got to bring on carry ons that looked just like ours, and we even had room above our seats to have fit them no problem.   Why are we being picked on????  WTF(#1)???  (insert many more cursing here - because WE WERE RIGHT - as you'll see)

A long flight over, I'm in a little pain, cramped seats, but really nothing unexpected.  As we start our descent into Charlotte we hear that everyone's luggage that was checked in will *NOT* be checked through automatically to connecting flights even though they tagged all luggage to do that.  WTF(#2)???  So we need to pick up our luggage.  Oh great.  We have to go through customs first, so the luggage should be there waiting for us anyway.  Right? (HA HA silly boy, you'll see)

We arrive at Charlotte and we're about the last off the plane (we're two rows from the very rear).  My mother found out about the MPC service, a phone app to allow for expedited (to a point) entry through customs when arriving in the USA.  I had loaded this onto my phone and got it prepped weeks ago.  Turned out I needed to do more data input in the airport, which I finally did.  At first it didn't seem to help as we were put into a special MPC line that was slow too, but in watching the regular customs line, we probably got through in half the time, so yay us?  

On to luggage pickup now in the adjoining hall ... and the fun begins.  I'm in a lot of pain now, probably from eye strain watching too many movies to try and pass the time on the nine hour flight in cramped quarters on the plane (along with major sinus pain).  So I am ready to move, as is my mother.  So we get to the luggage carrosuel and a good chunk of the plane passengers are already there waiting for some time but no luggage.   So we wait and watch another plane's luggage unload next to us.  And then another plane's luggage.   The boards above the carrousels are not showing our flight like it should (well none are to be honest) so I check around to make sure they didn't send the luggage elsewhere.  Nope.  We keep hearing messages on the speakers that our luggage should show up here any minute.

OK a half hour later everyone from the plane has long arrived and no luggage. WTF(#3)???   And like us there are other people with connecting flights, and a lot of upset faces at this point.  Finally we hear a new message.  The belts have jammed and our luggage is being sent to a new carrousel.  (This was not on my bingo card)   Oh, and for giggles, there is some luggage in the system already so that luggage... who knows when it will arrive, or which carrousel.  So where is this new location?  Its the next carrousel to this one - good news.  Right?  

Have you ever had your luggage get lost, or at least ever heard of someone having this happen?  Well... ever hear of them losing the whole plane's luggage?  As we heard later the airport sent instructions to send the luggage shuttle to a location in another part of the airport (it was supposed to be the next one over - how could they mess this up???), and then had trouble tracking the driver down to get him back where they told us it was to arrive.  WTF(#4)???  OK, over an hour after clearing customs a miracle happens - our luggage starts to show.  And then talk about the slowest unload I have ever seen.  By the time our second checked carry on showed up it was another 30 minutes.  And at that point there were maybe 25% of the people still waiting as I left. Unbelieveable.

Thankfully I did one really smart thing in the middle of this.  When the first of our two bags showed up, I gave it to my mother and told her to take it and go ahead towards the connecting flight location.  Turned out that saved us more pain.  American Airlines did something right here - shocking I know.  Knowing they had a FUBAR situation going on, they had a special expidite counter set up with agents pulled in to help get all the missed connections booked on new flights.  My mother was able to get in line early without me and get us on another flight two hours later (the last of the day) to Philly.  But... After all this they still insisted on us checking in our carry ons.  Really??  WTF(#5)???

So onto our gate, right?  Oh no no no, its time for you to go through the TSA / security check you see.  WTF(#6)???  Wait, don't you get through to the connecting gate right away?  Oh heavens no.  Dear reader, apparently in the US (or at least in Charlotte) if you go through customs its like you have left the airport (though you have not) and you need to go through the whole process again.  And long process it was.  There was a sign where we got in line saying 15-20 minute wait, and a single line that disappeared around the corner.  Great.  Around the corner we wind in 10 minutes and what do we find but a massive winding morass.  Oh my lord (deserves a wtf, but honestly I should have expected this one).  They're doing their best, but still.  Another 45 minutes later we get through and head straight to the gate.  Arriving there the plane is already loading and within five minutes we are getting onto the plane (if I hadn't pushed my mother to go ahead without me at the luggage pick up... I can only imagine - sigh).   They rebooked us onto a plane leaving 90 minutes later, and we barely made that flight - what if we couldn't make it and it took our bags???

Of course most people again are carrying on luggage just like ours that we were forced to check in.  (Another wtf moment, but at this point I was expecting this one).  So we make it on, and I am in so much pain I keep my eyes closed and a sleep mask on for the whole flight.

We arrive over Philly airport.  Do we have another lost luggage situation in our future, hmmmm?  Of course not dear readers, the writers of this script are making sure to keep it new and fresh throughout.  For this this leg we are getting the circle the airport routine.  Not unusual you say?   Well this is not just any routine as you'll see.

After a good half hour of buzzing about (and me feeling miserable) we finally start to land at the airport.  And land we do.   (Safely - the script writers weren't that sadistic though it felt it was going that way)  So is it time for the disembarcation gate (is that a word?) to break down?  No? How about the airplane door gets jammed?  No, not that one?  Can we lose the plane's luggage?  No, we can't do that one again.  Lose just one of their bags instead?   Come on, lets be original here..  Oh I know!  This time we can have no open gates to unload the plane at. (The script writers high five each other at this juncture and head out to celebrate a job well done)  WTF(#7)???   Oh yeah, no gate for us.  So there we sit in the middle of the tarmac, and sit, and sit, and everyone is on their phones letting people know that while yes we've landed, ummm no we are not getting off.  As an amusing side note, the person waiting to pick us up said the flight board showed us not as "delayed departure" or "delayed arrival", but "delayed disembarcation" which was a new one for him to see.  Who forgets to have an open gate for incoming planes???

Anyway for the next 30 minutes we get updates from the pilot ("we're waiting for the airline to open a gate", "I see them starting to move the plane away from our gate", "they have stopped moving that plane, I don't know why", "they're attaching a new vehicle to move to the plane" (huh???  the other one broke down?), "Now its moving out again").  Shortly thereafter we get off the plane with no new WTFs in sight.

=============

Drive Home - Meh:

=============

I won't bore people here with the details, but our driver (a friend of my mother) is nearly deaf and not great driving at night, took a wrong turn adding maybe 20 miles, we had maybe 50 miles of construction on the drive, and I gouged a knuckle on a seat buckle during the drive.  You know, the usual stuff during a drive home from an airport.

=========================

Anything Else? - Would You Believe...

=========================

Funny you should ask, but yeah.  The next day my mother talked with the other two who were flying to the west coast via connecting flight in Iceland.  I didn't listen, but at the end my mother says it sounded like they had a worse trip home than we did.  WORSE???  You know what, I don't want to know.  I just started work on trying to wipe the memory of flight #3 (this will be my backup memory instead).  OMG.

Excuse me now while I go get a good strong drink...

Based on what I wrote before, the question came up as to why I was planning on waiting for 70 to apply for SSI (Social Security Income). (BTW, I didn't mean for this to be so wordy, but I started typing and well... it got very long.)

Little primer first to make sure we are all on the same page.  SSI is based on the amount of income that was taxed during your working years.  The more you earned and were taxed, the more you get.  And the calculations to determine what you will get monthly is based on you starting receiving your SSI at 65.  However, when SSI was created, it was likely that many people would only be alive for a small number of years after 65 so the option was added to start earlier, at 62.  But giving you the same amount at 62 that you would get if you started at 65 made no sense, so a discount was added for the amount of time you get SSI before 65.  And then it was also added to SS that you could get it later and if you did you would get more per month.  

Well over the years the date of SSI starting changed, as well as discount and bonus percentages.  Right now for me, instead of 65 I would need to start at 67 to get my full base SSI amount.  For every year I start early I would be dinged 5% of my SSI amount for life.  And every year I start SSI after 67 I am given a 8% bonus to my SSI payment, again for life.  Two other points, normal SSI can start no earlier than 62, and I can get no more bonus on my SSI than 24%, thus 70 is the max age to apply.

If you read financial sites, as well as finance videos, they usually say the cutoff for waiting / taking early is around the age of 81/82.  If you were to die before that, taking early makes sense.  If you die later, taking SSI later makes sense.

So given all that, what do you do regarding SSI?  

Wait for 70, start at 62, or something in between?  Currently I am planning to wait until 70.  Why?  Well.... a couple of reasons.

1) My health: I try to keep myself healthy by going to the gym 5 days a week, and doing a hard workout when there.  I don't have any major medical issues, but at this age there are certain things that start nagging, and I am no exception.  So far the pains have been minor, I go for yearly physicals, and I think everything has been ok for me.  Hopfully it will stay that way.

2) Genes (aka DNA): I don't have tons of ancestors to compare to, so this is a bit tough.  Those that died early all had extenuating circumstances (grandfather/suicide, aunt/extreme weight, father/smoking cancer, uncle/extreme weight, uncle/auto accident).  All the others died well after 80 (1 great grand parent I know of, 3 grand parents, 2 uncles, and my mother is going strong at 80) and even some of these were heavy smokers and didn't try to keep themselves healthy.  So I'm guessing I have good genes and should expect longer life.

3) Statistics: The data shows that once you get to my age, your life expectancy isn't the baseline (75 for men) which applies to when you are born.  Instead it is 82 for my age.  So the data is neutral for me (as it should be if actuarially correct).

4) Wealth/Longevity: There is a direct correlation between wealth and longevity, especially at older ages.  Extra money means more ability to use medical services to improve / prolong life.  Not that I am super wealthy (YET!), but with a good pension and decent health insurance from the old employer, along with a high SSI amount used for calculations (past the second SSI bend point for me), as well as not needing tons of things in my life, I think I am in the top (5%? 10%? 20% at least), so my wealth should be a positive going forward.  And not that I am counting on it, but most likely I will get a large inheritance from my mother (could be 7 figures by the time she dies), of course by that time I won't need the money, so ?shrug?.

5) Wealth/Needs: Given my ability to live frugally, and my pension, I don't have any big need to rush and apply for SSI.

Given all of the above, it sounds like waiting until later, maybe 70, would make the most sense.  And it does, but there is one more thing I didn't go over.

6) TAXES!: Ok, here is the big bugaboo for me.  Taxes.  Yeah, I know the saying, don't let the tax tail wag the income dog (or something like that).  Nonetheless I want to try to optimize this if possible.  So what is the issue exactly?  Well first there is an extra tax, the IRMAA on Medicare for high earners.  No details here, but my income is such that IRMAA is a concern, so I want to try and "lower" my income.  Of course I want higher income, so what to do?  Roth conversions, as they won't count against my taxes when taken out in my 70s and later, but will increase taxes today.  Also, tax rates are supposed to go up in 2026, so paying today makes more sense than later.  Yes, I know tax laws can easily change, but I am going with what we have on the books as its the best bet for now.  Soooo... by waiting for SSI I will have more years to get more money into Roth accounts at lower tax rates, as well as have an income low enough today to not get hit with IRMAA (or minimally), and the when I get SSI (at 70+) my money in Roth will be avilable but won't get taxed.

So that's the plan.  Wait until 70 for SSI unless something changes (tax laws or my health are the most likely things to change).  It's my plan, and I think it's a good one.

Over the years as I have gone and worked on my finances sometimes I have hit milestones that aren't really milestones per se, but are ... I'm not sure what to call them ... milestones that don't add much but do give you much extra security.  Yeah, that's probably the best way to call it, an Extra Security financial milestone.

Soooooo.... this month I will be turning not only older (as we all do 😒), but I will be of age where I can apply to start Social Security benefits.   I have a cousin that recently started benefits at 62 and at first I thought he made a bad choice, but I have reconsidered that viewpoint.  Yes, his SSI will be much less than mine even if he were to wait to get benefits like me.  However his health seems to be going downhill and already had a heart attack.  Given that, maybe he made the right choice.  He certainly seems happy enough with his choice.  In any case my plan is to wait until 70 for benefits to start and do smaller Roth conversions during those years (except for next year which will be a extra large Roth conversion!).

For now no changes, but I have more potential money available to me in off chance I would need it, so yay me I guess.

Warning: First World Problem whining about to start.

Well this is sure no fun.  I came into this year knowing things would be a little tight, but figured I would be ok with my finances.   The tightness is due to doing a large Roth conversion in January, and then I would have my Tesla loan payments, and there are property taxes here in Virginia, but I figured I could take a bit from savings to make it work.

Have you ever heard of go-go, then no-go, years?  Basically saying you will likely spend more right after retirement due to being able to travel and do things, and as you get older you will slow down, and slow your spending (finally ending with hi-spend due to medical issues).  I figured I wouldn't do much travelling this year, but boy was I wrong.  And with that spending has gone up to probably more than I have done in a long time.  And of course that means my assumptions at the beginning of the year sure have been way off.  Ouch.

First it was driving cross country.  Next it is this trip to Europe in October.  And then to Florida in November.  And I need to (make that I should) get new tires for my car due to all the driving.  And then the property tax bills on my house and car.  And all the insurances.  OK, yes, I am whining at this point.  

As has been told to me, "don't stress, this is what your savings are for, and you won't even take out 1% of your savings".  Yep, that is true.  

I just took out $2,000 of dividends to help pay for things, and I went today and gave the C.U. instructions to not roll my $5,000 of CDs over this coming October, so there is that money too.

Yeah, I can always take more out of the brokerage, selling as needed.  But I wanted to try and avoid that and keep myself from getting into a too high tax rate for this year.

Anyway, nothing to do but stick with the plan.  At times like this I feel it would be easier to be like my cousin.  (please ignore if this bothers you, but it is the phrase "fat, dumb, and happy" that he remind me of).  Instead here I am, knowing how to optimize things, and due to this I am having an aggrivating financial day.  OK, just a First World Problem - this will pass.

Last time I wrote on my finances from the past few years and of today, but now its time to go personal (if only for myself to write it all out for myself). 

So, start with the good or with the bad?   Hmmmmm.....

Get the bad out of the way?  **SIGH** Ok, lets do it.   (NOTE: If you don't want to hear the whining, just drop down a few paragraphs to the heading of GOOD THINGS IN RETIREMENT)

Well its my relationship with the GF.  Don't know how much detail is good to discuss about it, but... yeah, it has gone downhill (lots).  I knew shortly before she moved in things were starting to spiral down but I kept telling myself this would pass, that it could be worked out.  Of course I said that in my prior marriage, and yeah... that didn't really happen.  And so it played out here as well.  We've kept things going, but really it has been, at least in my mind, a failed situation.  I think we are really suited to having a long distance relationship at best.  You know, I can take her in small doses at best.  Its a shame, but that's how its played out.  I would love to go into details, but its for the best if I stop here.

Another bad thing is I am getting older.  Yeah, not too old, and I do work out to keep in shape, and I certainly am in good shape for my age and all, but time marches on and little things are creeping up on me.  I don't sleep as well as I did, though I think I still sleep enough.  I heard of people sleeping less as they get older, now I am seeing it first hand.  Naps are my friends.  I never had headaches, yet now they are fairly common.  I think it is due to eye strain, even with the glasses I have.

*** GOOD THINGS IN RETIREMENT ***

So what have been the good things you have found in retirement?  (from least to favorite)

I now have time to do chores about the house with no rush.  "Don't want to do it now?  No problem, do it when the urge strikes."  And it usually does at some point.  I hate sitting about too much, so usually after a bit I will get annoyed with something and then up I go and deal with it.  No more rushing to get things done on the weekends.  Now weekends are very relaxed.  With this I have been slowly fixing up my house (probably too slowly, but whatevah).  I will fix it up faster as my money starts flowing in again.  I have been doing more on outside things like removing old trees. And getting free mulch and dirt to fill in various holes.  Yes, the yard does look better.

Travelling during less busy traffic times is great, especially in the DC suburbs.  Also I can get out of town and only have short tie ups instead of hours stuck in traffic leaving town. 

With the free time I have picked up a new "job".  Well, not much of one, in fact I have only worked three times.  I have been an election officer.  I figured I would give it a try as they are always posting for new people to work this job.  And now I know why!  Yes, it pays nice for a day of work, but oooooh boy, is it a long day!  I get up just after 4:00 AM, show up at 5:00, the polls open at 6:00 and only close at 6:00 PM.  And then there is closing up which takes hours.  So far I have gotten home after 9:00 each time.  So a 16 hour day.  For what you get paid it is less than minimum wage, but it is easy (and mostly boring) to be honest.  Just take along a book and enjoy the mostly free time.

With my electric car I have fueling the car up for free.  There are nearby free charging locations and with my limited driving my needs are easily filled with these chargers.  With a Tesla I can park, charge, and watch a variety of streaming services on the large tablet dashboard in the car - I usually watch YouTube videos.  These can be entertaining, instructive, or just interesting.  I might watch them at home anyway, so since I can watch them and fuel my car at the same time, why not?  In fact I am typing this up while the car is charging.

Do I go out for the "senior specials"?  Not really, but I can (and do) take advantage of the freedom to make my own specials.  My favorite is determining the time at nearby grocery stores when the markdowns on perishables are made.  I can go there at those times and see what has been marked down and get fresh items cheap (as long as I will use them of course).  The stores are only a mile or two away, so its not a long trip.

And the best for last.  I have been doing major travel trips with my mother (well that's something I never thought I would say a decade ago!).  Yep, this has been crazy, but a good crazy.  As our relationship has improved over the last decade, I was hearing about her trips to Europe in the past years (she started a few years after the second husband died).  She (with a local friend) did one of those all-inclusive trips you see advertised and during that they struck up a friendship with other travelers.  Turned out one of them likes to arrange her own European trips but that only made sense financially with small groups (not by herself).  Well my mother started doing trips with her instead of these all-inclusive trips.

All this to say two months before my end date at work I went on a ten day trip to Italy with my mother and two other women from the other side of the USA.  That was an amazing trip.  From Venice to Florence to Rome and finally to Napoli (Naples).  We did such things as stayed in very old small hotel right on the grand canal, rode the water buses with the natives in Venice, saw where the Merchant of Venice was based on, saw lots of statues throughout Florence, went to an opera in a church built in the 1500s, took a gelato and pizza class on a local farm, went to where the horses are raced in Sienna, went through the Vatican, stayed a block from the Pantheon where we walked to the Trivoli fountain, the Pantheon, the Forum and Colloseum, I got lost in Rome (literally - I was trying to walk and meet the others at a restaurant and arrived two hours late! I was soooo tired that night!), stayed in a hotel (in Sorrento) overlooking the Mediterranean and Mount Vesuvius, and had a private boat tour of the Amalfi coast (stopping in Amalfi and Portofino).  We even hired private drivers to take us between each city.  Wow, writing it all out really makes it sound great. 

Almost a year later this past March we went on another trip, this time a cross country drive going from Pennsylvania to Arizona.  My Tesla made it a relatively easy trip as it can do most of the driving for me especially on the highways.  This was great way to see so many parts of the country.  We were able to stay with a friend of my mother's in Arizona for a month, so it was relaxing there.  While there I went to the Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon, Kitt Peak Observatory, Lake Powell, Tombstone, and spent some time in Phoenix, Tuscon, and Williams.  Some days driving in Arizona we would see a 50 degree temperature change from the start of the day's travels to the end of the day. We saw tons of Cacti and she loved to see them everywhere.  We got caught in an unexpected blizzard in Flagstaff (oh yeah, it will be just a small amount of snow.  Suuuuuuuure...).   On our way back east we drove through a national forest that included what I believe is called the Upper Rim.  It felt like I was driving up the side of a moutain (just like my drive up to Kitt Peak to be honest), but at the top it was a level plain thousands of feet higher than before.  On the trip back we stopped at places along Route 66, then in Tennesse we were a few days in Gatlingburg in a motel room that was right over a creek that goes through town.  It even had a fireplace in the room.  From there on the way back at one point we got stuck on a back mountain single lane road in West Virginia for an hour (it was due to the main road being closed for electrical wire work and someone towing a massive boat ahead of us got stuck!), and then we made our way to Shanksville to the memorial there.  The day at Shanksville was our only bad weather day on our drive out or back, and it sort of fit the somber mood of the memorial honestly.  In all, it was an amazing trip.

Now my mother and I are scheduled to go back with the same group to Rome, Germany and France for two weeks in October.  Once back I have to get ready for my yearly trip to Florida in November.  And now, in the past week we (my mother and I) have scheduled another trip (for next Spring) with the same group to Europe, this time on one of those Viking river cruises you see advertised.  This is to go on the Danube from Hungary ending in Germany.  I think my calendar is booked up for now.  Hopefully I can keep up.

Not sure what I expected to happen when I retired, but these trips are sure not it.  I mean, I did talk about a cross country drive, so there is that.  But I used to say I was not a traveler, yet here I am going to a crazy amount of places.  I guess there are worse things in the world, right? 

... LaLa La-La LaLa La... ok, so I don't know the lyrics.  Have to say I do love the tune though.  Its just when I think on my current status, its the tune that keeps popping into my head.

So after three years (yikes), am I saying good bye to anything?  At first I was going to say no, but now that I think on it, maybe it does make sense (but I'll have to get to that later), but for the moment I think I will talk finances and go from there.

Well I see last I was here my finances had hit a high point.  Since then they went down, then down more, then up, then down, then up, and down, and now up.  And that puts me.... just about where I was three years ago.  Roth IRA down $60k-ish, 457 up $60k-ish, brokerage down $10k-ish, HSA up $10k-ish, savings account down $20k-ish, and DRIPs up $10-ish.  Soooooo... overall pretty flat.  But really that was an all-time high for me. perhaps call it irrational exhuberance?  And one thing that is hidden in those numbers that makes a big difference, back then my 457 was maybe 35% Roth and now it is 59% as I have been doing large in plan roth roll-overs.  So that's an extra $75k-$100k of value hidden in plain sight.

So what have I said goodbye to?  My job for one.  Yeah, finally, I have retired.  A year ago to be specific.  Due to banked sick leave I could use for time of service, I was able to retire Dec. 2022, though I stuck around until June 2023.  There were a number of financial incentives to stick around as long as I did.  I was able to contribute extra to the 457 for those months, so I did.  So, answers to some questions. 

(1) Do I regret retiring?  Uh, NO.  Hey the paycheck was nice but I had a pension awaiting me (more on that shortly), but even so my finances would have been better sticking around this last year.  Turned out they gave everyone in my department a long overdue raise months after I left (grrrrr....).  Even so, when I talk to my buddy at the job and hear of what is being worked on, I DO NOT want to go back.  

(2) You have a pension.  How much did you end up getting? Well... first off the pension has a cost of living adjustment every July, so this number will continue to change, but right now it is about $5,600/mo.  

(3) That much?  Wow, you're golden, right?  To be honest, yes and no.  How's that you ask?  Well... yes I am getting $5,600/mo., however that only lasts until my Social Security Full Retirement Age (i.e. when I turn 67), which is in late 2029.

(4)Oh man, so it cuts off then?  No, I still get a pension, but it will be different.  At that point my pension amount is cut by 1/3, meaning if the pension is at $6,000/mo. then, it will drop down to $4,000/mo.  Still will have a COLA, and no more changes going forward.  This will be the pension for the remainder of my life.  Not pure gold any more, but some of the gold is replaced with silver.  Not bad at all, but it does lose a bit of its luster.

(5)Anything else good/bad on the pension?  I have a $400 deduction for health/dental insurance, so there's that. 

Lets see, what else have I done financially?  I migrated all my DRIPs but one to my brokerage account.  Helps to simplify my taxes, and just keeping track of things to be honest.  That last one is one of my original ones, and it gives discounts to reinvest, and the stock has done ok for a utility, so I am leaving that one standing.

And oh yeah, I bought a Tesla Model Y in 2022.  I post it here as it is/was a large financial entry.  I am still paying it off at $1,300/mo, but I did get it when interest is low, so I am only paying 2% interest at this time from my credit union.  At the current rate of payments I should have it paid off in 2027.  Yeah, I could pay it now, but 2% interest is nothing to sneeze at, and if I take anything out of my brokerage to pay it off my taxes will go up as eveything right now has positive growth.

And the best(?) for last, I have been doing Roth conversions in my 457 plan while tax rates are lower.  Also because IRMAA issues will come into play in 2026 for me, so the sooner I do this the better.  However due to the large conversions I have done, I have just updated my pension to have over 90% of it go to taxes(!!!) meaning from here until the end of the year I will be living off of savings(!!!). I have enough for a few months, but after that... well I have CDs maturing in October, so my plan is to not renew them and use the funds to live off of.  Doing this keeps me from needing to sell out of my brokerage, which lowers my tax bill which means ... my life is too d@mn complicated!

OK, that is it financially.  On the personal front, well that will be for next time.  Maybe next week???  (Spoiler: There is good and bad there as well.)

Well its been nice knowing 'ya.  

A long time ago in a galaxy... ok, I gotta stop that.  Anywho, it's been 2007 since I started a little experiment.  I would work out how to do without paying for the local trash pickup, and I would invest the money.  This would be my incentive to cut back on my trash.   To do this I started a DRIP (Direct ReInvestment Program) online.  I invested in a stable stock, and put in originally $25/mo. as this was close to the monthly trash charge.  I upped it after a few years to $40 and left it there ever since.   Well with my efforts to clean up my finances this year, along with my finances being tight as I put so much into my 457 plan + pension + HSA + taxes + insurance (yikes!), I am taking home only 15% of my gross pay right now.  Any little bit will help and so I have decided to stop monthly investments in this stock.  I'm sure its for the best as tracking all these investments if I should ever decide to sell will be ... lets just say "a challenge".  

So to get two benefits, I stop the investments and save myself tracking and get a little extra cash.  Yep, not a bad idea.

Over the years I have had investments in a number of things.  Home, pension, brokerage, IRA, 457, HSA, DRIP, Savings Bonds, CDs (maybe more?).  Anyway, as I get closer to retirement I realize that in some things fewer is better.  Or at least that is the case in this point in life.  

I've come to this realization through a number of things I have seen lately.  One of them has been working with my mother.  She has (and I have helped from time to time) gone through her things and has been getting rid of things she no longer needs.  This is a great thing to do as you get older.  It makes life easier, and certainly easier for someone else if that person has to come after you to deal with your items. 

For me this has been a slow process, but it is a good thing in any case.  Which comes to the posting.  For a time I had up to 8 DRIPs.  They made sense when I got them.  Little to no cost of purchase & ownership, sometimes special benefits to owning stock.    However in the past few years those benefits have become fleeting as brokerages now charge almost no fees.  Of the original 8 one was bought out to go private and one I sold last year to add a "loss" to my income to cut back on taxes at 24%.  This left me with six.  This year I was looking at the remaining ones, and two of them have started in the past years to charge a fee with each dividend to send me the money.  OK, not much, but still, it adds up to 2-3% of the dividend is lost.  So what to do....

Well I always heard you could transfer your ownership to other brokerages.  So I started to do research on transferring two of my remaining six to my brokerage.  I found the paperwork to fill out, and went to a local office last week.  The person there made it sound very easy, so asked for a little help on filling out the papers and in 15 minutes handed them over to the receptionist.  If this works without issue I may do another one or two later this year.   I have two I plan on keeping as DRIPs for now.  One I invest monthly, and the other gives a 5% discount on reinvested money.

Isn't the greatest thing ever I guess, but I think its a good thing.  And my GF who is doing taxes says it will greatly help in tax prep in the future.  Yeah, I think this is worth the effort.

UPDATE: Only one week later and both stocks have appeared in my brokerage - faster than I expected by a lot.  And it was so easy.  Now I'm considering if I should do this again with the remaining four I have.  Something more to consider this week.

Well I did a 3 month update, and as the amounts seem to keep rising, so why not a quick six month update as well.

Investments: Started the year at $1,305,000 and as of today stand at $1,531,000.  That gives an increase of $226,000.  With contributions of $33,300 that leaves growth of $192,700.  That growth is just crazy.  Feels like I moved into the 1%. 💸

Also financially: I did a $20,000 in-plan Roth rollover this spring.  Going to hate the tax hit this year, but it is what it is.  And I may do a second one this year if I get really ambitious.

Work related: 

Good news: My golden handcuffs come off in 18 months.  😀

Bad News: I have to go back into office 2 days a week starting in Sept.  😒

This isn't needed to do our work, but there are people that have had to go to the office throughout this mess, and because of that they aren't going to let the rest of us telework forever.  GRRRRR...   Also due to that I have not used annual leave so far this year as I want to use it after we start going back into the office.  So from Sept. '21 to Dec. '22 I want to use 99 annual leave days (40 days carried over into 2021 + earning 26 each year ('21 & '22) + 7 days of compensatory time I have accumulated over the years and never used).

Other: Started going to the gym this January. 💪  Lost some of the softness that had built up over the past year.  This is a good thing. 

Life goes on - just working on cleaning up my finances and my health as the finish line approaches.

What is it they say in horse racing... "Passing the quarter pole"?  (Actually I checked and that is when you are a quarter mile from the finish, so I have this backwards.  Oh well...) In any case, here we are one quarter of the way through the current year, spring is coming, and finances are doing well.  And its about all I can talk about as the downside to working from home every day is there is nothing much to talk about.

My investments started the year at 1,305k, but now my investments are up to 1,440k in one quarter. That an increase of 135k.  Invested 7+11.5 or 18.5 which leaves growth of 116.5.    That's more than I earn in a year, and much more than I take home - yikes.  This has to go down at some point, doesn't it???

Finally started working out in a gym again after a year away.  Its good for me as I was getting a bit soft.

Also finally emptied out a storage unit I had for a year & half.  They kept upping the cost, to where it was $200/mo. Now I can use that to pay bills as I am putting so much into Roth investments that I only get small paychecks up through October.

As I barely drive any more my car that I was going to replace I am just keeping it plugging along for now.

Just in a holding pattern.....

Wow, when you thought "life can't get any crazier", 2020 comes along and takes that statement as a challenge.  With that stating the obvious, here is my year in review.

Well I sure didn't expect this.  I had been expecting some type of pullback at the start of the year and March sure gave it to us.  Yet like everyone else here I am with amazing growth by year end.  I started the year with investments at $1,090,000 and ended with them at $1,305,000.  I put $50,000 into my accounts which means they grew $165,000.  That's way more than I gross in a year (and multiples of my yearly expenses).   Hard to believe this amount doesn't even match the 2019 growth, though I discount that given the large drop at the end of 2018 inflating that number.  As I mentioned last year, I was able to double contribute to my 457 account this year for a total of $39k.  Of that I contributed as 95% Roth.   I also upped my savings account (outside of the investments) by $5,000 which is nice to see too (its now over 1 year of expenses). 

As part of my "investments" (though not included above) I am one year further along with my pension.  I now have a vested yearly payout of $36k, though I need to hold on to the beginning of 2023 for that.  The exciting thing for me is that I am now eligible for an immediate reduced pension.  I could leave today and get $24k/year, but I think I can handle sticking around for two more years.  I remember 2003 when I was unemployed and getting around $1,000/mo. unemployment, having very little savings and a mortgage.  And thinking that unemployment would run out in a few months, and then what?  My situation today is a world of difference.