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Archive for August, 2021

Quarterly Status of Retirement Prerequisites

August 7th, 2021 at 01:43 am

I mentioned in a previous post (2020) that I have a deadline set for the start of my retirement. And that I have a list of prerequisites to determine whether I’m in a safe-enough-for-me position to retire sooner. Each quarter I evaluate my progress against those prerequisites, and my quarterly check-in for this is aligned with my birthday instead of the standard calendar quarter. That’s because a couple of my prerequisites are based on my 60th birthday so the calculation is simpler.

Result for this check-in: I’m getting closer! I’m hoping to pull the trigger in a couple of years.

 

Currently my progress is:

Retirement account on target for 7 figures on 60th birthday: 100+%

College savings on target for full funding: 55%

Mortgage paid off: 73%

Savings of basic expenses until 60th birthday set aside: 14.4%

No consumer debt: 100%

 

Assumptions for these calculations: average annual return on investments will be 5%, no further contributions to investments, full funding = 40 semesters (8 x 5 boys), $36,000k annually for basic expenses, starting consumer debt was $10k.

 

The next time I check-in on this progress will be around my birthday.

 

Wow - I really struggled to get the formatting for this post to include all the content and not look wonky...

Teenager Jobs

August 3rd, 2021 at 11:41 pm

Businesses in our area have been struggling to maintain staffing. I assume that it’s related to the stimulus package(s). Some have restricted their business hours or their offerings in response to the shortage. Some of the fast food restaurants just close for the day when enough workers don’t show up. It’s sad. But – it’s been a help to teenagers that are off for the summer and want to make some money, including ours.

 

DS4 kept his lifeguard job and got a pay increase this year. DS3 got a surprisingly high-paying job at an Amazon warehouse. DS5 got his first ever job at Burger King. It’s been a great learning experience for him. He’s learned about using cash registers, customer service, and of course making (unhealthy) food. The boys were required to take a career education class earlier in high school and one assignment was drafting a resume. Poor DS5 had no job experience, no volunteer work – pretty much a blank page with LARGE font to make up for the lack of content. It was a wake-up call. Now’s he’s done a cool volunteer project offered at school and gotten his first job.

I'm Back

August 3rd, 2021 at 02:14 am

I’ve been back home since the middle of April and just haven’t gotten back in the habit of blogging. There was quite a bit to do to get the house back in order and my office set up. And catch up to do with neighbors and friends after being away for months. During the time I was gone, two people that were part of my regular routine died – not friends exactly, but folks I chatted with regularly in the neighborhood and the grocery store. That discovery put a damper on last week.

 

At work it’s like I never left. Finances are trucking along. The company stock has been a huge help with that.

 

This post is to push me back into the habit. I’ll blog on particular topics in the upcoming days. I need to organize my thoughts.

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