Retirement


  It seems as if I have readers block for over a year now.  The reality of this situation is that I have not really had anything interesting to say.  I am not sure if that is a good reason for my lack of posts.  All one must do is to peruse Facebook for 5 minutes and you will be inundated with posts that do not seem to say very much.  Social media seems to be a substantial repository of empty works.

A quick update:
The biggest change is that I have fully embraced retirement.  I left the IT industry in 2021 (May/June time frame).  I took a job at one of the big box Home improvement stores for a while.  I was not really into it so in June of 2022 I quit and decided the take on the task of retirement full time.  Almost all of the retirement resources available fully support making a plan for retirement.  I did not have a plan.  I may as well begin this chapter of my life lost and lacking focus.  Why not that is pretty much how I have lived my life (ha ha).
So, when it comes to retirement there a 2 main areas that generate the greatest concerns.  Those are Money and fulfillment. These are interrelated.  For example, if fulfillment is going to involve significant travel you are going to need more money than a simple life of volunteer work.  I am starting to see why most of the resources encourage planning!  Lets address money in this post and leave fulfillment for my next one.  

When talking about money and finances I would like to state one thing up front.  I will fully admit that my wife and I have been extremely fortunate.  We have been able to stay gainfully employed through the years.  Our jobs have paid better than average.  However they have not been extravagant.  I have been laid off and been unemployed for short periods but have always been able to find employment within a couple of months.  So as I said fortunate and blessed.  You will not see us driving Ferraris or Audis. However, our vehicles are in good working condition and paid for.

Income is only half the concern.  Spending and as a result savings are the other half.  Before getting into this let me address an earlier comment about how fortunate we have been.  It is true we have been fortunate.  Call it what you will; white privilege; I will fully admit that I had a better starting point than a lot of people.  I did have a "leg up".  This in no way implies that I (and my wife) did not work for and earn our state in the world.  We worked for our grades in school.  We both a did masters degrees part time to further or careers.  We did not just sit back and have things given to us. Fortunate yes, privileged yes, but not born with a silver spoon.  The best way to describe it "Fortunate and grateful.

It is gratitude that is the basis for how we handle money and make financial decisions.  Speaking for myself, I am a bit of a tight wad.  I am not really a saver, it is more that I do not like spending.  In other words, my motivation is not to save money but not to spend it.  If I was to spend money it would be on bicycles (see my other blog "triandbrag" / https://triandbrag.blogspot.com/).  Even when I was really into the cycling, I would use side hustles to earn money to upgrade my bikes.  I would do private IT work or teach a class at the local community college to earn some extra money.

Neither my wife or I are financial wizards.  I could give you a basic explanation of a put or call.  I have a basic understanding of shorting a stock.  However I would be totally lost at a trading desk.  We have a trusted financial advisor managing our money.  We have taken advantage of 401k's and any employer matching.  I seem to have been a follower of Dave Ramsey without even knowing who he was ( https://www.ramseysolutions.com/homepage-rs).  I remember being introduced to this at our church and thinking "isn't this the way adults are supposed to behave?".

Without getting to detailed we have a decent nest egg.  This has been built through hard work, good decisions and being grateful for the things we have.  We have no debt (house and cars paid off).  Will I be buying a Ferrari?  Not a chance.

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