Layout:
Home > Archive: June, 2020

Archive for June, 2020

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

June 20th, 2020 at 11:06 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.