This historically has been the time of year that I plan for upcoming financial goals in the new year. It’s a different perspective now that I’m retired and not contributing to accounts. Of course, I hope to see some growth but it’s almost completely out of my control. So, my planning is about managing money rather than growing it.

2025 is a milestone year for me financially because I will turn 59 ½. I’ve kept my 401k account open since I retired just in case I needed to tap it before I turned 59 ½. I don’t know the rules but saved a link to an informative site about withdrawing money from a 401k without penalty after age 55. I shouldn’t need to do that now though as I believe I have enough to last me until that milestone. I will want to move the entire balance of the account into a self-directed IRA. So that’s a focus this year – researching low-cost companies (Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.) as well as researching the mechanics of doing it. It’s a little scary. I hope I can get good, maybe even in-person, customer service.

2025 will also be the year that I have the kitchen remodel completed. I’ve done two corners of the kitchen in phases – the first in 2023 and the second in 2024. The rest, which will be expensive and take much more time, will be done in 2025. I’m excited about this but nervous about the huge cost. I’ll spend a good bit of time during the first part of the year designing the layout in detail. I want to think of every item that needs to be stored and every task I commonly do in the kitchen. I already have the basics decided. I’ll also need to find out about the building permit application process.

As some may recall, I have a deal with my boys to split any scholarships they get for college with them. DS3 is in a special situation because the military is covering his college costs while he works in the day and remotely takes his courses at night. He and I negotiated a $15k gift at graduation in lieu of matches since his isn’t really a ‘scholarship’. There is a possibility that he will graduate in 2025 if he maintains a heavy school load. I need to be prepared to pay.

I’ve taken advantage of the health exchange for insurance beginning in January 2024. I could have kept Cobra coverage for 12 more months but it didn’t make financial sense. I’ve just signed us up for the same coverage in 2025. This will be the first year I do income taxes that take the generous subsidies into consideration. Even though I followed all the rules, a part of me is nervous that there will be some gotcha and that I’ll owe money to the state. I’m looking forward to getting our taxes done so I don’t worry about it any longer. The plan is to stay on the health exchange (provided that it remains in place) until we qualify for Medicare.

My non-financial goal for 2025 is to do an unassisted pull-up on my 60^th birthday. I have never in my life done one. It’s a serious goal though and I’ve begun preparing for it. If I don’t succeed, at least I’ll be stronger and healthier!

A year since I retired! I can’t believe that time has gone by so quickly. I have checked in with Saving Advice periodically but haven’t posted at all. I just don’t find myself spending much time in front of the computer, which is a good thing.

When I first retired I half-joked that it’d take a couple of years to just catch up on house projects, organization, and neglected maintenance. I do think that will prove to be true.

Things I’ve done in the past year:

Built a raised bed with DS5’s help and planted blueberries

Designed and hired out the construction of the renovation of the second kitchen corner. I’m doing it in pieces: the first in 2023, the second part this year, and the rest (impossible to piecemeal) next year

Cleared out and planted the side bed between the walkway and the house with perennials

Entered all my loose recipes into a recipe app [Recipe Keeper Pro] and threw away the papers! The only exception was a couple of handwritten recipes of my mom’s. I did enter them but kept the original copies in our heritage album with her pictures

Caught up with our vacation scrapbook and with another one that will be a gift in a couple of years

Completed the scrapbook of Christmas cards and 2004-2005 family photos. (Yes, I’ve still got work to do!)

Painted and installed a better organizational system in my half of the closet

Travel: trip to CA to visit DS2, 2-week trip to NC to help a friend set up a house, trip to FL to visit a friend that I hadn’t seen in years

Set up cat doors, new style of litter boxes, and auto-feeders in the basement for our colony of felines

Pressure washed & treated the deck

An assortment of health improvement activities: online master classes, detox regimens, sleep and exercise routines

Entertaining: just in the summer, we’ve had friends over for dinners on the deck and have more planned

It’s nice to see this compiled list. Sometimes I forget how much I’ve done.

I’m slowly getting out of the mindset that every day must be productive and instead judging each day’s value on happiness and appreciation. It’s a mind shift that I didn’t consider when I retired. I still make to-do lists but it’s okay if something doesn’t get accomplished because an unexpected opportunity arose or just because something took longer, often because I got more engaged.

I am going to try to post more than annually! I need to work it into my routine.

I've had to mess with this entry to get it not to delete some of the text when publishing.... so odd.

Two more working days! And I'm an hour into one of them.

I’ve installed (with help from DS5) my retirement gift from the company – a Sonos home speaker system. As a manager, I knew that the company provided funds for the manager of the retiring colleague to purchase a gift and I knew the budget for mine. I’ve purchased the gifts for four retirees myself when I was the manager. I usually asked the retiring colleague for their preferences. I guess that spoils the surprise element but at least they receive something they really want. I wasn’t sure how my manager would handle it so I took the initiative to tell him what I wanted. I am so glad that I did! I love having my music play throughout the house and the deck (when I put the ‘Move’ outside).

We spend lots of time on the deck during the summer so now I have music while I’m preparing the meal and also while we’re eating outside.

I’ve just been reimbursed for my last expense report. It was late so I was getting worried that it would be a lingering to-do. I’m glad to have it done.

The number of working days left – three!

I’ve sent my ‘so long’ e-mail to colleagues that I’ve worked closely with over the years and I’m glad I did that. I’ve received many well wishes and compliments. The company’s gotten large, so often in the past I’d find out someone was gone after reaching out to them for information.

I’ve completed the COBRA paperwork. The company will pay for the first three months and I’ll pick up the premiums (or change to another plan) after that. The monthly premiums will be just under $2500. Ouch! It’s for the family but still. I’m thankful that the company pays the first few months and I do have HSA funds that can be used for the premiums. We’ll definitely stick with COBRA for 2023, and probably 2024 but I’ll do comparison shopping for 2024 before making that decision. And now, I’ll have the time for that research!

Because I have to return the printer, I purchased a new one. I’ve just done the pack-up and set-up activities related to that. I was told that I could keep the cell phone (just not the company-paid plan) but not before I purchased a new phone and plan. So my former work phone will go to DS5. He’ll be upgrading from an iphone 7 to an iphone 11. He’s excited.

I can’t pack up the laptop and monitor until I’m really finished working. And much of my days this week are in knowledge transfer sessions with others.

I haven’t blogged in months and a couple of big financial things have happened. The exciting one is that I gave notice at work of my retirement, and it’s now 19 days away!

The company has a voluntary separation program (VSP) that sends a retiree off with a nice severance. To qualify I had to be 55+ and have the sum of my years of service to the company and my age be at least 72. I also had to provide a minimum of 3 months’ notice, which I did – plus one day. I’ve actually qualified since I was 55 but I wasn’t ready then. Now the house is paid off and I’m comfortable with living lean until my retirement account can be accessed without penalty.  I have a small Roth IRA as a back-up and I’ve also read a couple of articles about accessing a 401k after 55 but before 59.5 without penalty. That’s a back-up to the back-up though – I hope I don’t need that. But just in case, I’m leaving my retirement funds in the 401k until I’m 59.5. Then I’ll roll it into an IRA where I have more control.

My job is fine – I don’t dislike it and yet, I am super excited just to wake up and feel free.

I’ve been unable to comment on any blogs for some time now. I’m not sure what the issue is since I can see comments from others and nothing has changed on my end – computer, web browser, etc.

I especially appreciate Wink’s most recent blog entry. This is the year I’ve planned to retire and several unplanned potential expenses and risks of expenses have come to light. I’m determined not to fall into the ‘one more year’ rut. I think my health and happiness will improve from letting work go, even if it means that we’re living lean.

One new year’s resolution for sure: blog more often. I’ve just gotten out of the habit.

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 60^th 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...

I have a deadline set for the start of my retirement and 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 60^th birthday so the calculation is simpler.

Result for this check-in: Again, it's not time to retire now, but I’m continuing to make good progress.

In order to pull the plug immediately, I’d have to have these things accomplished:

Retirement account on target for 7 figures on 60^th birthday

College savings on target for full funding

Mortgage paid off

Savings of basic expenses until 60^th birthday set aside

No consumer debt

Currently my progress is:

100+%

54%

48%

8%

25%

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. (At one time I had negative progress on this! For the record though, it’s at 0% interest.)

The next time I check-in on this progress will be in May at my half-birthday.