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Archive for February, 2020

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.