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62 or 70, Or ???

September 19th, 2024 at 12:32 am

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.

A new invisible financial milestone reached

September 7th, 2024 at 08:28 pm

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.

I hate being cash poor

August 21st, 2024 at 01:11 am

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.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (redux)....

July 25th, 2024 at 12:17 pm

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? 

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road....

July 16th, 2024 at 10:39 pm

... 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.)

R.I.P. Trash D.R.I.P.

August 1st, 2021 at 04:45 am

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.

Time to start cleaning up

July 13th, 2021 at 01:37 am

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.

Six month update? May as well...

July 5th, 2021 at 03:31 pm

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.  ðŸ˜€

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

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.

Passing the Quarter Pole...

April 5th, 2021 at 01:56 pm

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.....

2020 Year End Review

January 2nd, 2021 at 05:19 am

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.

No Gas, No Problem! (Plus a Pension!)

June 20th, 2020 at 10:06 pm

Well its been a while, but since I last posted here I have worked from home for over 3 months since the last time I drove in to the office. What a strange time. I filled up the gas tank before I drove home that last day as I had no idea what was to come. Since then I have used just over 1/2 of the tank. And I have a small car and a small tank. There have been stretches where I have not left the house other than to jog at lunch for over two weeks. The last two days I went out for a short drive, I think it was the first time I was out on back to back days.

Due to this crazy situation I have not been taking any time off from work, nor will I for the near future at least. I now get 26 days off per year (annual leave), and I was at the carry over limit coming into this year, so I need to use all 26 this year, or they get converted into sick leave (not something I want to do as I already have over 6 months worth of sick leave built up). So far I used 1 day in January, and with things as they are I won't be taking my usual time off in the summer, nor time off around Labor Day, AND.... if that's not enough, I will soon be given time off from my employer to take care of my mother for her second knee replacement. This time off won't count against my annual nor sick leave balance. Its very possible I won't be using any annual leave until September, maybe October. OK, so I will have a few months to burn 25 days off - this could get interesting. Yes, I do plan on taking time off to go to Florida (probably 10 days), assuming they are open for business late October/early November, so there is that, but that's all I have planned for now.

On a slightly different front, I just passed a very important (or not so important - take your pick) milestone for my work. I just passed the point last week where I can quit work and get an early retirement pension without waiting. Yes, its reduced (about 60% of what I earned to this point), but I can now say no matter what I will have money coming in for the rest of my life. Now its 2.5 more years I have to work to get to the golden point. When I hit that date I can get 100% of my earned pension, plus a 6 year 50% supplement pension as well, and a subsidy toward health insurance that I can keep buying from my employer for life. OK, that's probably worth double what I would get today - maybe more, so it's like I hit the bronze medal level. Pretty dang good, but lets see if I can make it all the way to gold medal.

2019 Year End Financial Roundup

February 15th, 2020 at 03:04 pm

OK, time for the 2019 review (better late than never?).

To start - my investments ended the year at $1,090,000, a fabulous number. A great year for me investment wise, but given the big drop at the end of 2018 it inflates the returns for 2019. So two ways to look at it for me. For the last year they increased $265k (with $51k of additions) (amazing), OR for the last two years the investments grew $249k (with $104k of that my contributions) (pretty darn good on an annual basis, but nothing like 2017). I think the more realistic numbers come from looking at the last two years. Will this keep up - who knows? Due to having a pension I have been going near 95% stocks and I am starting to consider cutting back on the stock allocation starting this year.

Also I have one more year added to my pension so that now the vested yearly pension is $35k though I have to keep with the job to 2023 to get that. I have a discounted early retirement option I can start getting around the end of June this year(!) (would be around $22k). Nice to know I am pretty well set at this point.

The End is coming

February 15th, 2020 at 02:03 pm

Well the end of my pseudo / pretend / whatever pre-retirement. Not really pre-retirement I guess, but it will be 2 weeks being a caretaker with my mother recovering from surgery. And I am sure retirement could feel like this. Pretty easy really. After a few days she has been able to get around and take care of herself (not perfect, but she can and is mostly willing), but when you have as much sick leave to burn as I do, and you can use it to take care of a relative, why shouldn't I take advantage of the opportunity?

In any case, being able to sleep in day after day, sorta lose track of the day of the week, not stressing about money, binge Netflix, yeah - I could get used to this. Nice to see my accounts go up while I have been here. Also have been able to go to the really inexpensive grocery store and picked up some workout supplements, protein bars, and more for not much. That's a nice plus too.

Retirement is nice - I see why people recommend it.

Financial Oracle to the rescue

December 12th, 2019 at 10:04 pm

(NOTE: Previously posted this summer during the time of the Purge. - Reposting as I still have the text)

My buddy at work has over the years seen my finances and has heard what I do to improve my finances. So as time has gone on he has asked me more and more questions, especially of late. He inherited some money from His father's estate recently. I don't know the amount, but I think it is a hundred thousand or two, something like that. First his questions were where to save, how to invest, somewhat general things. Over this time he has trusted my wisdom on finances more and more. I have become the defacto Financial Oracle. Of course with great power come great responsibility. [Hmmmmm.... I think I heard that some place before. Well in any case....]

So this week he comes over and starts telling me about a trip he took to the bank and how he was offered investment "counseling". I had to put that in "quotes" because it reminds me of the phrase "With friends like these, who needs enemies?". So he starts to try to explain what they were offering him, and I tell him it sounds like a variable annuity, a very very bad product. He insists that's not what its called, but still he didn't understand what it was and if it was good.

And so starts........

****** Financial Oracle to the Rescue [Play appropriate theme music here] ******

I finally tell him I can't give him any better answer without whatever paperwork they gave him. I told him I don't care what they said, they could say anything. What matters is on the paper. And I was willing to look it over if he liked. So yesterday I got paperwork from him for the two products they were proposing. And an eyefull it was.

=========================================================================
WARNING: Crazy dry financial info follows. Don't say I didn't warn you.
=========================================================================

First thing is these were called "Buffered investment securities". Ok, have to say I didn't know what these things are. I don't know every financial product out there after all [Oops.... don't let him hear that...]. So off to Investopedia for some research. Hmmmmm... some products of a general nature that help you taking on some of the risk when the market, or whatever you are basing it on, goes south. Ok, so what's the catch? Well doesn't say specifically, but each product has its own downside so its up to you to read the fine print and figure it out what do the providers get out of it.

OK, with that out of the way it was time to start reading, or in my case skimming through and finding the parts that are important (there are walls of text in spots, mostly telling you things you should already know. I'll save my eyesight, thank you very much.).

So I start with document #1 and what do I find? First there is 5% commission he must pay up front, though it can be from 2% to 8% so throw that money away to start (apparently you don't know the exact percentage until they print out the final paperwork for you to review and sign). The investment follows the S&P 500 going off of the index values at the start and end dates only (ignores everything in between). It also ignores dividends (which runs about 2%/year right now). So as this is for 5 years, there is another 10% of earnings you lose out on versus investing in an S&P 500 ETF. Add in any compounding of this money and it could easily cost him 20% of his investment in earnings. He will get the growth in the index at the end, but only based on the starting 95% of his investment.

So that was the down side, what the company gains. And what does he get for giving away his money for 5 years? The company will cover his losses if the index goes down, but only down to 26%. After that he is responsible for any further declines. So say the index goes way down, like 45%, how would my friend make out? Well he would lose the 20% I previously mentioned, but the company will cover the losses of 26%. So basically instead of being down 35% (45% loss less the 10% earned in dividends if he invests in an ETF that follows the index) he would now be down 39%( 45% loss + 20% of potential earnings lost {see above} - 26% covered by the company ). So even if the market goes down, you are losing about the same amount of money (ok not exactly - there would be taxes on the dividends, but still...) And your money is locked up for 5 years. Oh, and BTW, there is no collateral, so if the company goes bankrupt, you're out of everything. Oh you do get growth if the index goes up, but you lose out on the earnings in any case, and the 5% haircut up front. After I told him all of this he was basically "OK, I got it, this is terrible. I had no idea." Whew, talk about a lose-lose scenario for investing in this "great package".

PS: I just reviewed the second document. This one is worse, which is hard to believe. It follows the Dow Jones Industrial index value over 3 years. For a 3 year lock in of your money, you are limited to 15% growth (that's it, you cannot earn more!), you pay 3-5% up front (again, decided on the day it is created), lose all your dividends (say 6%), and ignore compounding on that money, and how much do you save if the market tanks? 15% max, but that's after losing the 9-11% previously mentioned. Or a savings of.... 4-6%. And for scenarios that almost never happen. Whooo hooo, what a deal!!!! I can save myself 4% of potential losses if I limit my upside to (15% max less loss of money from 9-11% , so therefore a max earnings of 4-6% over 3 years) no matter what happens. If the market goes up 50% over 3 years? Sorry you get 4%, the brokers will keep the other 46%. What a deal.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

If you've read this far, I think they change the names used for these things so they are tough to look up and research, but this seems to cover it: https://www.forbes.com/sites/billconerly/2018/10/26/buffered-return-enhanced-notes-bad-investment-choice-that-sounds-good/#81c90c625378

Final note: to be fair, the second item isn't exactly what I wrote. Weirdly, if the index drops 10-15% you make out great with this security. But if the market drops 16% (one percent greater drop), you actually lose an extra 15%. (WTF???) So I could look at this as a bet on the market dropping from 10 to 15 percent. Anything else and you lose, possibly big time. I had to check it three times to make sure this was right - its one weird financial thing to stay far far away from.

Final final last note: If its not clear, just say no to anything promoted like this. Seriously, if you can't understand it, just stay away. These aren't bad, they're atrocious. You may as well burn your money.

Under the wire

December 12th, 2019 at 09:44 pm

Just a note here: Its a shame about the lost blog entries from this summer. Oh well, life goes on...

As a reminder to myself they included "99 bottles of Beer on the wall", "My extra Max savings plan - 457 Catchup" and "Financial Oracle" . Sigh (UPDATE: I found saved texts to myself with each of these - I may be reposting them soon - yay).

And now on to the wire (No, not that "The Wire").

In my never ending efforts to keep my lifetime taxes to a minimum given my current profession and maximize spending potential (or at least see how high I can make my pile 'o cash stack when I am really old), I am trying to keep my earnings subject to taxes below certain thresholds. For now that is to keep my marginal taxes on the federal taxes no higher than 22%. In the past that was never a problem, but now, its becoming an issue.

I've estimated my future tax hit given SSI, pension, & RMDs (i.e. when I am 70+ y.o.) that will require taxes and they are already going into the 24% range. Yes, only a small slice will hit 24%, and yes, for me RMDs won't start until 2032 at the earliest (could be 2033 if the new bill affecting retirement accounts is signed into law), but the earlier you start on adjusting your finances to handle situations like this the easier it will be. Also there is the issue of IRMAA surcharges may be in my future if I don't work on my future taxes (The IRMAA is effectively an excess tax, so lets treat it as it really is).

Anyway, this past month I estimated the upcoming federal tax hit for 2019 and I estimated I am going to be right up against the top of the 22% tax band this year. I guess this is good, it shows I am taking advantage of all the room I have for this tax rate.

Nice to be under the wire this year. Next year I may sell a loser or two out of my brokerage account to try and get me back under the wire - we'll see how it all plays out next year.

Stranger in a Strange Land

February 21st, 2019 at 12:24 am

Long time … No write …

With all due respect to Robert Heinlein (from where this title came from) I felt like a stranger in a strange land during my visit last week to nearby shopping mall.

Ruminations follow

Last week I ended up going to a local shopping mall. How often do I go to any shopping mall. Maybe once or twice a year any more. Now I am not one of those that shops online or on TV, I'm lucky if I spend a few hundred a year any more, but I just have no need to go to the mall.

Now why did I go there? Well I had a ticket for a free movie at the attached theaters, and I had over an hour to burn, so walking I went. And as I looked around it seemed like 50% of the stores were clothes (mostly women's), 20% shoes, 10% department stores, and the rest some type of specialty store or personal service (massage anyone?). And everyone looked so excited to be there (little kids that wanted nothing to do with it being the exception). But for me it was just boring. There was just nothing I wanted and the stores mostly looked alike. At least the Disney Store was interesting, but only for maybe 10 minutes of browsing.

I dunno, have I just gotten to the age shopping has no appeal? Is it I have everything I want, and by not watching TV (and not even getting magazines now) I don't get mesmerized into wanting more and more? Is this just the new "thing" and it will pass?

I admit I feel happier this way, but walking in those crowds I just feel like I can't even understand what I am seeing any more. I guess I'll just stay in my bubble for now....

Surprise - you're going to Disney (WDW)

September 29th, 2018 at 11:42 pm

No this isn't about winning a free vacation (I wish), nor a relative taking us there, and it *is* about saving money, so bear with me for a bit...

Since the beginning of the decade me and the SG-GF have been taking vacations to Florida in November due to using my mother's time share (near Disney). She has a set week to use at that time, and at first I paid for the use, and now it is free as a payment for my re-roofing her house. Our trips to FL had, for a time alternated between Disney visits and Universal Studio visits.

So last year we did a crazy two week FL vacation by using the time share and matching up free time share stays with time share tours. And then we got 7 day Disney tickets, and basically did Death by Disney (as compared to Death by Chocolate - see my entry from last year about that). It was great (two weeks, cost a little over $1,000 for both of us and seven days at WDW, yeah that was a hell of a deal), but I think we both had enough of Disney for a while.

.......

Which leads to today. The SG-GF was about to pre-purchase our tickets this week. As she is a DoD employee she can buy tickets on base and at a discount. For Disney, the discount was almost zero to other ways to buy, but for other attractions, such as Universal Studios, there was a good discount on tickets. And as this year was to be our year to go to Universal, that meant we would be having a less expensive trip to Florida. And really, it has been 4 years since we were at Universal (One year instead of Universal we hit other less major FL attractions, which accounts for the long time), so we were psyched and ready to go there.

Well..... not so fast!!!! Disney has had a very, very nice discount offer for active military for some time, but not for DoD employees. Soooo... wassup??? Disney just extended the discount offer for tickets to DoD employees starting in the middle of September (we hadn't heard about it) but only thru the end of the year. A "one time offer", they say. I sorta think it has to do with Star Wars Land coming to WDW next year and people are waiting to go to Disney for next year, and therefore attendance is dropping somewhat. I have no proof of this, but it makes sense.

Anywho.... with the much lower price, WDW tickets are now very comparable with Universal Studio prices. The time frame for us is perfect. And these are "Plus" tickets, which also allows us to go to their water parks, Disney World of Sports, free miniature golf (SG-GF thinks I am nuts about doing miniature golf, but I say we should try it once so we know what its like there).

We would have bought tickets earlier this summer, but we waited to make sure the SG-GF was feeling up to going to the parks (she had some physical problems this summer - she's much better now). So by waiting to buy the tickets, we will save money by seeing WDW again this year, and hitting Universal next year instead at lower prices. We figure this will be perfect, as with Star Wars Land opening next summer WDW will probably be overrun with tourists next November, so going to Universal then will be the smart choice anyway.

I love it when a plan accidentally falls together. Bwah-hah-hah....

Still alive - Still saving.

July 21st, 2018 at 11:15 pm

Hard to make posts when most everything is going well. Maybe not hard, but at least interesting. Anywho... everything is going well if you ignore the job. And relationship wise too. The job... well that's another story. Lots of boring info follows, but I wasn't up to making these separate entries, so they all get packed into one.

And away we go....

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Finances
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I don't have the dollar amounts here, but I did do a half year analysis back at the end of June, and the return on my investments was - UGH. Maybe 2-3%. I forget exactly - probably just trying to forget. (Its gone up some percentages in the past month - so go me). My investments have been growing though as I have been putting money in faithfully. In fact....

... I have only $800 more to contribute before I hit the limit for this year. And that means next paycheck goes up maybe $700 and then the rest of the year goes up $1,300. Hurrah, I survived another year of retirement plan contributions. And I put in the Roth IRA money at the beginning of the year. And I have already paid property taxes for the year. And made all of my major purchases for the year. And I got a 4% raise that will show up in my next paycheck. 4% is not bad in today's economy. So I'm looking at large saving numbers for the remaining 5 months.

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Frugality
==================================
Well I got the lawn mower from the SG-GF working and it was / is much better than mine was, so I was able to sell off my 10 year old clunker. I may have had it longer - all I remember is I got it at a yard sale long long ago for $20. I sold it this spring for $10, so I figure I was able to use it for $1/year. Not toooooo shabby! I've been keeping my expenses extra low. Maybe $25/week for food, $20/week for auto gas, electricity for the past year was maybe $500, same for natural gas, and internet now costs about that as well. Phone (cell & MagicJack) is around $125/year. No cable. So utilities are not much.

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Ebay-ing
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This has been going very well, though it comes and goes in spurts. For the year I already have well over $1,000 in sales, probably close to $1,200. A few things were for the SG-GF, but still... I like it. As usual I still think I need to pick up the sale pace. Not sure how, lower the prices perhaps? Also had one Craigslist sale for $100 for wooden train stuff I pick up here and there - probably cost me $20 for the lot.

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Relationship
==================================
The relationship with the SG-GF is going great. In fact she is retiring at the end of the year and moving in with me after that. OMG, that means we need to condense our lives and get rid of lots of stuff. I think in the end it will be great, but its going to be stressful for a while until we are settled.

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Health
==================================
No major problems so far this year. Though it does seem like small things crop up that never would when I was younger. Growing old #@$%!@$%!!!. I have kept up the extra workouts at work, so muscle definition is doing great now. Makes me wonder how I could have turned out if I was this dedicated to working out when I was in my 20s. Oh well, better late than never.

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Job
==================================
Left this for last. Oh man, there have been days and weeks and... where I have really (and I mean REALLY) hated this job. It was never like this, in fact I sorta liked it before, until I got put on the PFH (shorthand for Project From Hell) a year or two ago. No one thing is horrendous about it (ok, I can think of a few), but there are so many ways this was set up awful, it just added up to Gawd Awful. I'm sorta dealing with PTSD now. Even when the day is good, any little thing I get dealing with it just rattles me.

Good news is I did get the 4% raise, and my annual leave starts accumulating an extra 6 days / year starting this fall. I am gonna need it.

**********

So life is doing good. Could be better, but sure could be worse too. How long until a pension kicks in? Four years, eight months. Is this what it feels like waiting to get out of prison? Who do I talk to to get a pardon?

Teamwork helps

March 14th, 2018 at 02:36 am

Since I haven't written for a while, there is a lot here, and I have them categorized for ease of reading. Can you say I have worked on a computer for too long? I knew you could.

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Finances
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Been a while since I posted anything here. Life has been going well, no major issues, watching my money go into my 457 plan and being overwhelmed by the drop in value from the markets going down some. Ooops, I just checked, and it is only a few thousand from the high value I saw in mid February, so I guess that's still doing well too.

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Making extra money
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Been doing well selling on ebay lately. So far this year the total is over $500 and that's not shabby considering I am just trying to get rid of things now. Which brings me to my help.

I was talking with the SG-GF a few months ago about everything I was finding as I dug through closets, and pointed out I had a number of unopened Mary Kay items from my EX sitting here and would she know someone that I could give them to. She quickly set me straight (that is - helped me) - I might be sitting on a gold mine of no longer produced products that still have demand. To me it was junk, what did I know? Well I checked on ebay and sure enough, these items do sell. Not sure if they sell for more then originally sold for, but still.... nice getting these out the door and getting a good chunk of money back. I am down to my last six bottles/tubes (I sold two more today), so I'm not getting rich, but this is working great.

My next area of concentration is going to be my toy trains. I probably have 200% of what I really need, so half of them need to go. Biggest problem is figuring out what to sell, and how much to ask for. Oh well, I will make it work one way or another.

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More Finances
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On the credit card front I just got two new credit cards to get the bonus money/points. These are my first ones since the middle of last year. Each one was "use it for $500, get $100 worth of points". Already used one on this year's home insurance (just a smidge over $500), and the other one will be used on either car insurance or a plane ticket for my son, probably both as neither is $500 by itself.

And now with my Real Estate taxes pre-paid for the year, and these items out of the way.... not sure where I will need to spend any serious money until... maybe my vacation to Florida in November????

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Frugality
====================================
I had gotten a Sam's club membership on sale last year (in Feb.), and mostly used it for discounted gas. I got their credit card to get a bonus there too. Really wasn't worth that much for me, but still cheaper gas worked out nice. However, I found out about the gotcha last month. Turns out they don't give any cash back (on the credit card) unless you are a member of the club. And since they only give you cash back after your anniversary with the club.... well you need to sign up (or in my case - they just billed it to my credit card with them!!!) for the next year to get your cash back from the prior year. Those sneaky devils. Ok, so I didn't complain, and got my cash back (they make you do it at their store!). But as I researched it, I found the way to make this work for me.

The membership says you can get all your membership cost back any time for the year you are on. Soooooo.... if I don't use their credit card to buy things, I can use their membership for free for a year, and then cancel and get the last year's membership back, and not lose the cash back on their credit card. AH-HA, I see a work around that will do fine for me. I just need to remember to cancel sometime next January. OK, discounted gas for free, yeah I will take that just fine, thank you very much.

Apparently to not prosper was the right choice

January 6th, 2018 at 11:34 pm

In a blast from the past (In particular

Text is this and Link is http://bennkar.savingadvice.com/2006/08/27/to-prosper-or-not-to-prosper-that-is-the_13505/
this entry) I mused on whether participating in "Prosper" or other lending club web site would be a good choice. I never wrote more on it as I never tried it. Don't know if it was fear of the unknown, inertia, or just what, but I passed on it, and then just forgot it. I guess other things were on my mind then (like getting divorced!).

Anywho, this was brought back to me today as I was reading personal finance forums and there was a long thread on Lending Club, Prospr, and the like. From what most people wrote, it turned out that while they did make money with the sites, it was not nearly as much as they hoped, and that over time the payback tended to get worse and worse, and now most people were just cashing out and wouldn't bother with it any more. And their returns in the past years had usually been less than 10%, often only a few percent a year. Now they were saying how they lost out on having that money in the market in the run up of the past years.

I suspect the first couple of years would have done well, but with interest rates so low only the desperate would use these sites any more. And it turns out they do a very bad job (or no job) of getting the outstanding debts.

Turns out most fads are just passing fads and a waste of time and money. I guess the lending club model (at least here in USA) was a passing fad I'm glad I passed on.

2017 Year End Financial Roundup

January 4th, 2018 at 07:56 pm

OK, as a follow up to last year's End of Year Financial Status, I have put together a 2017 version...

*** 2017 Year End Financial Roundup ***

OK, so where do I start? First these numbers are rounded to get approximate performance. OK, so how about looking at my different savings vehicles and see how they performed? OK, lets start there...

*My 457 plan (401k equivalent): Started the year at $460k now, and is now $563k. I put in $24k, that leaves $79k growth - almost 17% growth after backing out contributions. Overall that is a 22% increase.

* My ROTH IRA: Started the year over $113k, ended the year a little under $139k. I put in $6.5k, leaving growth of $20k. That's almost 17.7% growth and an overall 23% increase.

* My Brokerage: I Started the year at $57500, now $80600. I put in $14,300, leaving growth of $8800 - 15.3% growth, and overall 40% increase.

* HSA Account: New this year, it ended up at $4400

* Loan: New this year, an outstanding loan to the SG-GF. Current balance of about $5000.

So maybe a ~16% growth for the year. And overall a 25.6% increase. (Yes, I didn't work out my DRIP numbers as I don't have numbers for them (they're around $50k), plus I wasn't adding anything to them this year - except for my trash DRIP). I really need to get stock certificates from them so I can transfer them to my brokerage (or sell them - not sure which makes sense).

Sooo.... how about my savings rate? The percentages are similar to last year

Text is (See 2016 here) and Link is http://bennkar.savingadvice.com/2016/12/11/year-end-analysis-early-december-edition_210752/
(See 2016 here), though the savings percentage went from ~50% to near 55%. The other expenses were similar, so my living expenses probably came in at about 10% of my gross salary. Ok, that's just crazy. I don't feel like I am deprived at all. I went on a 2 week Florida / WDW vacation with SG-GF. My car is fine for my needs. I spent 2 weeks with my son visiting relatives back home. Spent long weekends and then some with the SG-GF as well. I am happy living at this rate but I know its not sustainable forever. I will need to upgrade the car in the coming years (hopefully not for a while), do some work on the house ($$$), and who knows what else could come up. Still, not too shabby.

Tax prepayment is made, now I hold my breath

December 27th, 2017 at 09:41 pm

Well the early tax payment has been made (see my prior entry for details). Turns out the county doesn't care how much you pay early, they will just keep applying the amounts from the pre-payment until it runs out. Since the further in the future the less likely it will benefit me, I hedged my bets. I paid enough for this coming year, plus some of 2019's bill. Assuming you can use these payments (and according to everyone that reads the laws there is no reason you can't) for itemizing taxes, I will be saving $1,250 this year on my fed taxes (& maybe a hundred or two for the state). And if for some reason I can't use it for taxes, its not a major loss anyway. The money was just sitting in my savings account not doing much.

Today was a nice day financially in other ways too. I went into Paypal and requested another $150 out of the account. I checked for the year, and I pulled out over $1,500. Now some of that is sales for the SG-GF, but even so I probably netted near $1,000 for my sales. Nice to see I can make some money with this stuff, but I think I need to be more proactive on some of my sales. I may need to lower the price on some things that just aren't selling. I want the stuff outta here - soon.

Also went to the credit union to deposit my latest electric company dividend check - $144. For the year that makes $570 in dividends, and totaling up my last 12 electric bills came to only $385. Now of course I get taxed on the $570 (boooo...), and my natural gas bill for the year is probably in the $300-$400 range, but still... nice to see another year come and go where I get dividends that more than pay for my electricity. Nice.

Now I need to work up my year end numbers for 2017. They're crazy good, almost too good to be true. Hmmmmmm..... And also get ready to put my 2018 money into my Roth IRA. Yikes my checking account balance is shrinking fast.

25% Guaranteed Return? I'll take that thank you.

December 22nd, 2017 at 05:41 pm

As you may know, there is a new tax law in the U.S. starting next year. Being a wage whore (errr I mean slave) there isn't usually much I can do to affect my taxes (other than using IRAs etc...). But it looks like this year there is a way to save serious money. But to do it you have to live in the right locale (looks like I do), and have free cash to do this (again I do), and have the right tax situation (again yes!).

It goes like this. If you currently itemize deductions but will fall below the new standard deduction going forward , if you pay next years taxes now you can pay fewer taxes based on your current marginal tax rate (25% for me), and next year you will not lose any tax deduction since you will take a standard deduction. Only problem is you need the cash to do this, and live somewhere that you can prepay (not everywhere allows this).

According to a newspaper article this can be done where I live. I have free cash, and I work very close to the tax office. Sooooooo... Tuesday morning I plan on going there and seeing if I can make it so.

Prepay for less than a year and save about $1000 on taxes?? Where do I sign up???

Crazy cheap electronics

December 14th, 2017 at 04:42 am

The other day as I was sitting on the bed watching NFL games I looked and saw I had with me a smart phone I just got back 10 months ago. I also had with me a Fire tablet I read books on or surf the web. And I was watching on my new-ish TV (32 inch smart TV). And I started thinking how crazy having these items is for me. Why? Because The cost of my electronics now is almost zero.

My TV was free (& new) from a friend last Christmas, the DVD player with it he also gave me maybe 3 years ago (still works great), the tablet I got as part of an award I got at work this summer (anything up to $50 on an awards site, and this 7 inch Kindle Fire was among the items I could get), and my smart phone was part of a QVC sale for $80 with a year of service (and I was about to renew for a year for $80, so I was able to get it for $0 more). And now I am sitting downstairs typing this up, and there is another flat screen TV I got for free, and hooked up is a Blue Ray player I got for $5 at a yard sale.

My only other high tech are this lap top I am using and the ink jet printer for it, and both are at least 8 years old. Since its been so long ago, its like they're free now as well.

Not sure where I am going with this, except that I need to get a new laptop as this one has been slowly dying for 3 years. And when I do, no matter how cheap I can get one, its going to be a shock to the system. I haven't had to pay for electronics for so long now, its like I have forgotten this stuff costs real money. Hard to believe I had to buy a 386 processor computer 25 years ago to help me get through my Master's degree in computer science, and it cost over $2,500!!!! And I thought I did well to not spend even more!

My how times have changed. Not always for the better, but when it comes to high tech, yeah, the prices are sure better.

Florida vacation expense analysis

November 17th, 2017 at 01:32 am

Time for my after Florida vacation expense analysis. Every year is different, especially in the cost. I had one year where the costs were almost zero, depending on how you calculate, whereas others were..... well not expensive, but certainly more than zero.

This year was different. Main reason was it was a two week vacation the first I have had with a significant other in many many years. Certainly the first with the SG-GF in Florida.

So what did we do? We spent one week at my mother's time share (as part of the payment for my work on her roof). The rest... one day at a hotel paid by the GF, three days at a time share paid by the GF with money and a time share "tour". The other three days were by me at a hotel paid for with $50 and a time share presentation. Yep, that's right, we both did time share presentations. Oooh, wasn't that fun. Smile

But what else? Well we each bought 7-day Disney World tickets. Yes, we went to the parks for 7 days. If there is "Death By Disney" I think we did it. It was fun, but I think it is safe to say we will skip Disney next year (go to Universal probably), we got our fill of Disney for now.

And what else? Well that was a bout it. We needed days to travel there and back, days to recover from the parks, went to yard sales for 2 Saturdays (by now we know a ton of the community yard sales in the area). We each burned a half day at a presentation (don't believe them when they say it takes two hours, budget for 3.5 minimum!). And we got to say "No" A LOT. But its cool, I enjoyed it, but the SG-GF not so much (the presentation and sales pitch – that is). She is not used to saying No so much.

So with all of that out of the way, what was the financial hit? Lets see (below is what I paid only – doesn't include what SG-GF paid)....
* Disney Ticket - $400
* Disney Parking - $140
* Gas - $32 ($72 less $40 I would have paid for two weeks of gas going to work anyway)
* Hotel - $83 (Had to pay $50 + tax on "value" of stay – ugh)
* Eating out - $40
* Park lunches - $95 --- Oh, as an aside, food at Disney would be lots more expensive but we would take in some food each day. Not tons, but enough to get us through the day if we would buy a lunch at the park. Also we now know you can get ice water for free at all locations inside, so that cut down the cost of drinking tremendously.

OK, that totals.... ummm.... $790. Now I didn't include some expenses for various reasons. Those include buying groceries at Aldi's (about the same as I would have paid for two weeks of groceries anyway), Disney figurines I bought ($60 – that was really discretionary and I could have done without I think), and a few dollars at Dollar Tree to stock up on items I just ran out of on trip and brought back home with me. And I'm not including all the extras I brought back with me (enough soap, shampoo, dish detergent, and laundry detergent to supply me for a few months at a minimum Smile ).

And then I get paid bi-weekly and I had a nice paycheck waiting for me when I returned. So all in all pretty good. I hear of people paying many thousands for a week down there, so not bad at all.

Probably won't do that again, as moving in and out of 4 places over two weeks was a challenge. But hey, its like we say, it was an experience. Yes, it sure was. A great one.

The Big Picture

October 1st, 2017 at 01:34 pm

After two somewhat major bills this late summer (ER visit & car repair) I had been feeling like I was mostly treading water financially. Not super stressed as without a mortgage/rent bill I could afford the expenses. Still, it was really aggravating.

So yesterday I decide to check on my financial balances. I added up everything (IRA, Retirement, Brokerage, DRIPs, Savings, all the rest) and found I passed another benchmark. For today at least the total is up over $800k. At the beginning of the year I was a good chunk under $700k so this is great, much better than I would have expected.

I dunno, I've been working out twice on work days, I have good health (for now anyway), a great GF who sent her last child off to college (YAY), in a month we're taking a two week vacation to FL/Disney, and my finances are looking better than ever. I think this shows I need to step back from time to time and take a look at the big picture, at least "big" as in my life, and see how well I am doing. Now if I can survive 5½ more years at this job I'll be golden. Sigh...

19½, how you tease me so

July 15th, 2017 at 10:54 pm

I'm fortunate to work where you get a pension, and as such I have a date where I can stop working and get the pension paying out on day one versus waiting until I turn 65. In my case due to the odd date I started working, I will be able to retire and get the pension on the exact date I have been working 19½ years. I'm getting close to 14 years in the bank now (2 more months), so its no longer a mystical date out there, but one that I can start to see in the distance, yet it is a tease for the moment.

Anyway, come to last week, and I go to a little retirement presentation (probably first one I went to in about 2 years) for a person I worked with for about 7 years before he moved to another division. I've barely seen him in the last 7 years. Anyway, as they are going through his work history and what not, its pointed out he is retiring after 19½ years. Arrrgh! I think about this enough already, I don't need more reminders!!!!

Ok, just had to get that off my chest. I really need to stop thinking about this.....

New Retirement Account - Ooooh Yeah

June 21st, 2017 at 08:56 pm

Just realized today I will add a new retirement account this weekend - how did I lose track of that? Actually I had it since the beginning of the year, it is my Health Savings Account (or HSA). However, I was not allowed to do any investing with it until it reached the $2,000 mark. Well... with my contribution this Friday I will cross that mark. Now that I can do investing, it makes it feel like a real investment account.

Yes, this is supposed to be used for health expenses, but if your expenses are minor you can just pay for them out of pocket and use the HSA as another retirement account, which is my current plan (Note its addition on the left). Yeah, as I am turning 55 this year (ugh) I won't ever get this account to a very high level, but still it helps with my taxes today (saves money on various taxes), and I don't have to worry about spending the money like I did with the Flexible Savings Account I was using previously. Plus, my employer contributes some to it (I got over $700 this year).

Its small, but adding a new account to my list of accounts is cool.

The Power of Differences in Style

June 11th, 2017 at 12:07 am

The SG-GF and I like to go to yard sales and estate sales (probably too much, but whatcha going to do?) but when we go together you can see we have a very different way of going about it. She likes to
peruse every item, talk with the sellers, and just enjoy the experience. Me... I go in, view items very quickly, only stopping at things that really catch my eye, and talking as little as possible.

As you might imagine, this can make for a frustrating time for the two of us when we are together. We've had to compromise quite a bit to make this work for us. I often take a book along and when I am done will return to the car and sit and read until she comes back.

That said, there is another difference we have that I think works for us. She is more of a price haggler where I am not. If I don't like the price, I will put it back, thank them, and move on. Usually that means she can at times get a better price than me, but I am not always worried about getting the absolute lowest price, since the prices are usually so good anyway.

That said, my way works too. Sometimes sellers will deal better with people that don't hassle them about every little thing. Case in point was a local estate sale a few weeks ago (NOT run by an estate company)
where I bought a few items and actually chatted some with the seller. (Yeah, I stretched myself there) I then went and got more things,and for a good chunk of it she just let me take the stuff for free. Not everything, but I could tell she appreciated I didn't haggle with her, especially as the prices were very good.

Come to this weekend, and she was there again still emptying the place out. She remembered me, and while I could only find a few things to get, she just told me to take them and not worry about it.

Not sure where I am going with this other than it is interesting that different techniques can work the best at times. Still... its nice to know I can ask the SG-GF to haggle on something and she is always
up for the challenge.

YTD Money analysis (Why now? version)

June 10th, 2017 at 11:56 pm

Ok, why am I doing an analysis today you ask? Ummmmm..... because I feel like it. That and I have some time to decompress at home, so why not?

OK, that out of the way... how are things going? Well... checking the numbers it looks good to me. Here goes...

* My 457 plan went over $511k this weekend. Comparing to the end of the year and backing out contributions, I get a 6.7% growth year to date. Not shabby.

* My ROTH IRA is today over $127k. Doing the same analysis, I get a 6.7% growth YTD. (I sense a trend here)

* For my brokerage, its over $67k. Same math for this gives me a 5.6% growth YTD. It would be over the 6.7% of the others, except for a stock that will remain nameless. (Damn you Macys!!!!)

As for the total value, I have an over 11% growth so far this year. Lets see if we can keep this up for the remainder of the year.

PS: Yes, my numbers on the left are a little lower than what I posted here. I am afraid the numbers will go down at some point, and I would feel bad lowering them. So I am letting them trail a few percent behind just to feel secure. Go figure.


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