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Milestone Redeux

April 5th, 2019 at 12:55 am

My retirement savings first hit half a million back around my birthday in August--stayed there for a few weeks but then dropped below by October. Today was the first time that I've logged on that my total is above that benchmark again.

Debt after early April payments is down to 82.5k total.

Heading into Q2

March 31st, 2019 at 11:56 pm

Q1 wrapup:

Debt down 8.3k since 12/31/18 (the biggest push of the year because of when I get my bonus). I am going to try to manage 1k down in debt per month for the rest of the year. Since I'm now at roughly 83k total, that would bring me to 74k at year end. (By the way, the January numbers that I post in my sidebar are the numbers AFTER getting and applying my annual bonus to the debt. Timing of our bonus payout will change next year to March.)

If you look at my side-bar, ALL of these numbers are the lowest I've posted since starting to blog here in 2006, so that feels good. If I make it to 600k net worth and 10% (60k) total debt (which would be mostly mortgage) by the time I am 60, that will be a good place to build on for my last decade of work (I am planning to retire at 70, but hope to spend the last five years working part rather than full-time and want to be financially prepared to be able to retire before then if necessary. The "need" could be either job loss (but as long as I'm healthy, I feel confident that I'll at least be able to add to my income by working tax season) or health (in which case I would expect my longevity and financial need to be lower, and I have multiple disability insurance policies and long-term care insurance in that case).

I finished one of the 3 classes I am trying to complete this year so am on track to complete 3 by 9/30, when my online course access expires. Just two more classes and then the big exam next March stand between me and the goal I set for myself way back in 2004 to become a certified financial planner. I have been *working* as a financial planner since the end of 2014,u but I'm an employee of a firm, in essence, a sub-advisor. Getting certified would give me the ability to go out on my own, not that I have any desire to do so, as I am approaching 60. If I'd made the career change at 40, that would have been a possibility, but at 58 1/2, I'm perfectly content to be an employee for my entire career!

Still, certifications and the "stamp of approval," as well as making sure that my knowledge base is reasonably complete for the job I do is important to me. I've certainly learned a lot in this coursework about things such as educational funding, insurance, estate planning, and the various types of retirement plans that are out there and which type of plan is suitable for which business concerns.

The last "substantive" course that I start tomorrow is Investments, and then Q3, I will take the Capstone course which reviews and applies all the previous course content to case studies. I took a couple of finance classes as electives back when I was studying accounting, but it's been more than a decade and all of those equations look a bit intimidating now! Hopefully, they will come back quickly.

So, after being a veritable slug this winter. I am making movement and exercise a priority this spring. In fact, ever since I started my current job, my exercise goals have taken a low priority, in part because of the Hashimoto's related fatigue. In 2017, I was so exhausted, all I did was work and sleep. I spent 6 months going to a functional medicine practitioner and I have been somewhat less fatigued since then by taking the supplements he recommended, but I still have 2-4 days a month where going home, feeding the cats, and crawling into bed at 6:30 or 7 pm is all I can do. Confounded with all of this is that I went through menopause during the same time frame.

Back the end of last year, I was diagnosed with a thyroid nodule (common for people with Hashi's) and a biopsy led to an indeterminate diagnosis, but the recommendation was to have half of my thyroid removed just because of the size of the nodule because of the risk of cancer. But only 5% of the thyroid nodules that are removed prove to be cancerous--this is one of those areas of overdiagnosis.

I opted back in January after consulting with the surgeon to take a "watch and wait" strategy instead and have myself re-assessed every six months. If it IS cancerous, it is most likely to be a slow-growing cancer, and I am not in a rush to remove an organ that affects every other cell in my body. The doctors blithely asset that you just take Synthroid and you'll be fine, and while that IS true of the majority, I did some digging in the research literature, and 18% who have a thyroidectomy or lobectomy never really feel the same again, and that is not a risk I am willing to take at the moment. If the nodule grows or I start feeling the effects of it (hoarseness or trouble swallowing), I would go ahead with the surgery, but I resolved back in January to have this risk serve as a motivator to take even better care of myself. With the busyness of tax season and the cold weather, that has been difficult, but I'm making it more of a priority for Q3, especially as I have my 6-month followup on June 24.

As a matter of synchronicity, a gym about a mile from home had a $1 joining fee special this weekend. I'd actually belonged to this gym before, but that was when their membership was $50 a month and included everything--towel service, classes, etc. Since I left, they've come up with a multi-tier membership model. All I really need is access to their equipment and the chance to be in an environment where "the thing to do" is to exercise. To join and just be able to use their equipment (and the sauna) will cost me just $15 a month, much more reasonable.

Even though I have a good deal of fitness equipment at home, I don't tend to use it very much. I work out at home more than I would without the equipment, but certainly not on a regular basis. One of my friends is a member at this gym and works out there, and another pair of acquaintances regularly use the gym at around 7:30 in the morning, so just the incentive of possibly seeing people I know and having a chance to chat should motivate me to go. And at least once I get out of the house and away from my book and coffee cup, it will be easier to work out.

I still think I'll spend about 6 weeks this spring or summer working out with a personal trainer to improve my form while doing exercises, but I'll figure that out in May. Right now my goal is just to build a base of regular movement and to work on mobility so that I don't end up in PT again. I have a DailyOm course that I bought to guide me with mobility exercises, and for right now, I'll focus on doing regular cardio and using the machines for strength. Later on, I'll ramp up the strength training with a personal trainer and eventually, once I'm moving regularly, I'll work on ramping up the intensity by adding some metabolic training. My mistake in the past, which has landed me in PT a couple of times, is to take metabolic training classes before my body has been ready for it.

I'm also kind of targeting walking a half marathon as a goal. I've walked two in the past, but that was back about 15 years ago. I'm lucky enough to live on the route for the Runner's World half-marathon, which is one of those I walked previously. These days they no longer allow walkers (and the registration fee is now $87!) but I have the route already mapped out for me. There's also a local women's only running group that has two 13-week sessions a year, each culminating with a 5-k race. The spring session just started and will culminate in a race on June 5. Then the summer/fall session starts on July 30 and culminates in a race on Oct 5, so my goal for the moment is to get myself into shape to START the "couch to 5k" type training the end of July, try to jog the 5k on October 5 and be able to walk the half marathon route on October 19th (the day before the actual race). Then it will be the busy season again and the CFP exam final preparation will be looming, but as long as I can build up some fitness now and at least do some basic maintenance from next October through next March (when I'll finally take the CFP exam), then when I get back to focusing on fitness again a year from now post-exam, hopefully I'll be starting off at a higher level then than I am now after two years of slug-dom!

Gradual goal progress

March 24th, 2019 at 08:59 pm

1. Total debt balance is just under 83k (82,997) as of today. After the 3/31 paycheck hits, I'll get close to 82k with additional debt payments. I'm feeling confident about getting down to 75k total the end of the year, possibly even down to 72k, depending on whether or not there are big expenses with house/car/cats or just routine maintenance. Much better than the nearly 90k that I started 2018 with.

2. I finished another one of my online CFP courses today! Just two more to go, one per quarter, and then I'll start the CFP review process. I expect to be taking the exam a year from now, which will wrap up for now the process of getting financial certifications (CPA exam finished in 2010, Enrolled Agent 2013, then CFP hopefully in 2020). I started my career change path in 2004 so that will be 16 years of pretty continuously being enrolled in SOME kind of course. After that, I'll just do my annual professional education and will try to branch out and do more hobbies and business development/networking kinds of activities.

3. On the subject of networking, I was invited to join the Finance Committee of our city's public library. It's been hinted to me that I could later be invited to become a full-fledged Board of Directors member as a result of this service.

4. This next week is another super-busy week, with five client meetings, but I am delighted to see no more than two meetings per week so far scheduled on my calendar for April. That could change, but it looks like we are moving from the extra-busy time of year to the "business as usual" time of year, which is much less stressful. I'm planning a long weekend in mid-April to focus on doing some spring cleaning, as I noted this week that the last time I saw the actual top of my dining room table was around Thanksgiving!

5. I went out last night with two friends to dinner and a movie ("Gloria Bell"), the first time I've done anything sociable since February 15.

6. I walked to the office today and now that the weather is changing, hope to start walking more regularly. It was nice to see the snowdrops, crocuses, and even a few daffodils in bloom already. Ramping up the exercise and working with a physical trainer for 4-6 weeks to master some exercises is a Q2 goal, but now thru April is just for getting my blood pumping and myself moving much more regularly than I have been. I've only had 10 10,000 step days so far this year, and I'd like to get that number to about 40 by the end of April--in other words, work a lot harder on getting there almost every day.

Busy, busy

March 13th, 2019 at 02:31 am

This is certainly busy season for CPAs, and even though I'm no longer doing tax prep, it's busy season for me as well as I'm still in an affiliated industry (I work for a Registered Investment Advisor as a financial planner). So right now there are a lot of tax questions to answer for clients as well as making sure that each client's tax preparer has the information needed to do the returns. That layer of work lies on top of the ordinary work of preparing to meet with clients.

The client meetings side of things for me depends a lot on my boss's schedule. I have 3 advisors I work for, two of whom who are housed in the same office as me, and the third who generally comes into town for about 3 days each month. When that advisor is in town, that just means more meetings on top of the meetings scheduled by the home office. With that advisor in town twice in March and then at the end of February, that means I'm having more overly busy weeks in close proximity.

I did take a day off on Friday, after having two jam-packed weeks in a row, but I used the day (the whole weekend, actually) to work on my current CFP course. I'm 75% of the way through that one and am trying to finish it by the 24th.

Both of the major advisors are off at the same time in early April; I may take those two days off as well to take some real R&R time.

I'm optimistic that I will actually complete the CFP coursework this year, after having started it back the beginning of 2016. I changed jobs that year, so I only completed one course (the intro course) in 2016. Then in 2017, I was learning how my new firm worked, so I only managed one course that year as well (taxation). In 2018, I completed the two courses where I had the least amount of knowledge going in (insurance and estate planning). This year, I'm 75% done with retirement, will take the investments course Q2, and the capstone Q3. I have a financial incentive to keep with this schedule as my course access expires 9/30! THen Q4 this year and Q1 I'll be doing a review course, and I'll be taking the exam a year from now. After that, I'll look forward to having more different types of opportunities come back into my life after having worked to earn 3 designations in just over a decade.

I had my quarterly review today and discussed this with my supervisor. I also had a chance to mention the unreimbursed business expenses again, and I'm hopeful after today's discussion that I'll finally get some of those covered, which will help with cutting down on the debt.

I've been enjoying the later sunsets and slightly warmer weather, but my sleep schedule hasn't yet adjusted to the time change. I'm hoping tomorrow to get up early enough to be able to walk to work, after having intended but failed to do so the past two days.

YTD progress

March 2nd, 2019 at 09:01 pm

12/31/18
Assets: 606,524
Debts: (91,282)
Net Worth: 515,242

2/28/19
Assets: 631,367
Debts: (84,400)
Net Worth: 546,967

Change
Assets: 24,843 (4.1% increase)
Debts: (6,882) (7.5% decrease)
Net Worth: 31,725 (6.2% increase)

New month

February 3rd, 2019 at 07:19 pm

Thank goodness for last month's market recovery--for as long as it lasts. As of 1/31, my retirement funds recovered by about 13k, and, compared to year-end, my debts were down by 7k due to the application of bonus and some of my inherited RMD to debt reduction, for a net increase in net worth of about 20k.

As far as 2019 goals: I did ok at work with 12 meeting preps and getting started again on the CFP coursework, which I last tackled in August. Currently 22% done with the current course, hoping to get to 25% done by the end of today, and hoping to finish it by the end of March. So I'm behind (should really be at 33% done by end of January, but I've made progress nonetheless, and the next two weeks are fairly quiet at work, so hopefully I can catch up to where I should be to finish the class by the end of March.

Exercise has been sporadic due to the cold, but I am currently going thru a short course of PT for a recurrent shoulder issue and found a free Saturday morning Qi Gong class at the library to take, so that at least keeps me mobile. I'll get more active as the weather warms!

Meditation practice has been good, and I signed up for a program funded through my health insurance that provides a health and weight loss coach (kind of like Noom, whose ads seem to be frequent on MSNBC) which also provides me a digital scale. The program I'm using is called Lark. It is supposed to be able to connect with your 23andme data and use that for guidance, but that's the part I still have to figure out. I learned of the program because I have a 23andme account, but so far, I don't see any evidence that the program is making any use of my genetic data in its guidance.

Old content is still visible in Control Panel--so just a technical glitch

January 20th, 2019 at 02:38 pm

Thanks to Patient Saver for pointing this out to me via email

Year End (late recap)

January 3rd, 2019 at 11:46 pm

12/31/2018 Net Worth: $515,242. Down about 20k from last year due to market losses.

Debt on 12/31/2018: $91,282. Of this, $55,975 was mortgage debt.

As of the new year, of course there's been another mortgage payment, getting the balance to $55,600 (I always throw a little extra at it to get the balance to an even number). I'm going to throw another $600 at it from savings this week to get to $55k. I'm still confident that I can pay this off by the beginning of 2026, when I'll be 65, paying it off in just about 20 years.

I also took some savings to pay down my HELOC balance, and I'll make some more payments over the next couple of days to get the debt to 85k (55k mortgage and 30 non-mortgage), which will be the lowest debt total since I bought my house in 2005. I hate having the non-mortgage debt, but with the HELOC paid off, the highest interest rate on any of it is a bit over 4%, so the interest is not horrendous, and the large majority of it is on 0% credit card balance transfers. Much of this stems from the 7 months I was unemployed during 2014. That's when I racked up the additional debt (as well as accruing some in 2010-2012 when I was changing careers and working very low-wage jobs while my mother was dying on the opposite coast, so I had lots of cross-country travel.)

I'll update my goals for 2019 this weekend.

Brief recap on goal progress for 2018:
1. I completed two more of the CFP courses; 3 more still to go. 2019 will be the year, I pray!
2. Health: ate pretty well except too much eating out at restaurants; did not exercise consistently, meditated consistently for the first 2/3s of the year, then fell off the bandwagon.
3. Home: had one session with an organizer and organized part of my kitchen; other than that, no progress.
4. Debt progress--once I get it to 85k, I'll be just shy of my 10k goal.
5. Social life: maintained plus joined a community orchestra so expanded as well.
6. Vacations: Two overnight trips away from home, and I only have two PTO days from last year to use up this month (before they are lost, although I may lose them to medical issues rather than vacation--thyroid saga is outstanding and I have a surgical consult tomorrow, though I am wavering--will write about this separately and later).

2018 Financial Wins & Falls

December 31st, 2018 at 12:38 am

Wins: 1. Decrease in debt (I’ll calculate the total on Jan 1), but good progress. 2. Good retirement savings contributions (13% withholding + 3% company annual contribution plus a nice annual profit-sharing-plan contribution from the company totaling close to 15k. Also, contributing nearly 8% to HSA & LPFSA for additional tax-deferral. 3. Made some progress on reducing a few recurring expenses—changed trash hauling services, changed individual disability policy, cut a few recurring unused services and contributions. Will do a bit more of this tomorrow and Wed on my time off. 4. Did some reallocating of my portfolio to be a little more conservative over the summer, moving from a 40%/60% allocation closer to 45/55. 5. Maxed out my HSA contribution for 2019 and also added $300 to a limited purpose FSA to cover purchase of new glasses. 6. A big engine repair in my car came in under warranty, saving me a lot of money compared to if the problem had shown itself after the warranty expired and upgrading the “short block” to a newer one, hopefully adding to the car’s longevity.

Falls: 1. The market fell in Q4, wiping out all gains for the year; I’ll recalculate at year end but looks like net worth will be down by about 5%. 2. I still haven’t gotten my tracking of spending on track; I do retrospective analyses and only the roughest of budgeting, and I still spend too much money eating out. 3. Kitty vet expenses were exceptionally pricey this year. Both girls are now teenagers so I hope this is not the "new normal." Both girls were sick last month, which involved a lot of testing (on the other hand, I now have confirmation that everything looks good), plus one cat had 8 teeth extracted.

Bonus & Raise

December 27th, 2018 at 12:26 am

Today (my last day of work for the year) was the annual compensation adjustment announcement--a 3% raise and a 10% bonus. This bonus is the firm-wide one based on the firm's, not individual performance. Last year we got 20%, but there had been rumors that we wouldn't get anything this year, so 10% is good. It will help towards the debt payoff goal. The bonus comes on 12/31, and then on 1/1, I'll take my RMDs from my inherited IRAs (already set aside in cash back over the summer, so fortunately I don't have to sell in a down market to get the cash). I'll use the bonus and RMDs to pay down some debt and am pretty sure I'll have the debt total (including the mortgage) under 80k by the beginning of January. (This would be a 14K decrease from last year, and my goal for the year had been to decrease it by 10.5K, so 33.3% over goal.) My assets have currently taken an 8% downturn from the beginning of the year with the current stock slump, but my debts should be down 15% as of 1/1, so my net worth will be down but only by about 6%.

I'll do a final tally on 1/1.

Only 1.5 working days left this year!

December 19th, 2018 at 08:52 pm

I had my last client meeting of the year this morning, and my next is not until January 8th. I'm taking Thursday & Friday off this week, then Monday (Christmas Eve) is a half day, and I'm taking off a full week from 12/27 thru 1/2, so Monday the 24th and Wed. the 26th will be my last working days of the year.

It will be nice to have a chance to rest and regroup, do some research on my health issue, and possibly get a little reorganization done at home. Then it will also be nice to have a week at work to catch up on all the follow-up tasks that sometimes just end up getting punted to the following meeting. I really love my job but also sometimes I feel a little drained from the pace of it, especially since that is out of my control.

Tomorrow I have organized a get-together of a few friends to go see the local Chriskindlemarket (like the German ones) and to have dinner at a Maylasian restaurant nearby; then I've organized another dinner on Friday the 28th at a Ghanaian restaurant that just opened across the street from work. And last week my boss took us to the local city hotel with its fancy Christmas decorations to a nice dinner sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. And then there's a CoC breakfast on Friday, and an in-house holiday lunch on Friday, so I'm getting plenty of celebrating in and will look forward to some time to myself!

Last weekend, I went to see "The Green Book." I highly recommend that movie if it is showing in your area.

I have just one more holiday gift to buy and then I am done with shopping--not that I do much--just my sister, two gifts for the office (one a gag gift for a white elephant exchange and another $25 gift that we draw names for) plus a gift for the neighbor who insists on giving me $100 cash for Hanukkah every year.

I'm sure I'll be back to post another blog before the new year as I review my goal performance this year and set next year's goals.

But for now, happy holidays!

One of those weeks

December 9th, 2018 at 04:02 pm

This past week will (knock on wood) rank as one of the two most aggravating weeks of the year--the other was back in May and that was all work-related.

This week was a mix..

Personal: I met with the endocrinologist. The thyroid biopsy results indicated no cancer yet but showed cells with abnormalities and a genetic assay indicated a 50% possibility of developing cancer. I need to research more. What I know at this point is that there are four types of thyroid cancer and that my risk is for the one that has the best prognosis. I will be meeting with the primary care physician I finally set up an appointment with and a surgeon and probably will look for another endocrinologist for a second opinion. My endocrinologist said that, if it were him, he'd want it out, but I'm not yet sure. There's a 50% chance they could take out half my thyroid and it would prove not to be cancerous at all. I really need to research more. That is what is frustrating about doctor's appointments--although my doctor says he left a message that I never received. I didn't ask all the questions that I should/could have at the appointment and will need to follow up. Haven't even really BEGUN to process this because of the other stuff this week. If I have surgery, it wouldn't be until January, so there's time.

Cats: Tuesday began with Buffy throwing up. She ate breakfast but threw it up and when I got home in the evening, she was throwing up again. Wednesday she just lay in bed and had no interest in food so on Thursday I brought her into the vet. The good news is that the bloodwork was good, just slightly elevated neutraphils indicating a possible infection. She also had an x-ray and that was ok, so the working hypothesis became a UTI. They couldn't get a urine sample so I brought her back on Friday so they could give her fluids and try again for the urine sample. So far the culture seems ok but they need 3 full days to fully assess. In the meantime, Bridget started with the same set of symptoms starting Thursday night. So now the hypothesis is either a GI virus or food. I think the virus is the more likely. After a few worrisome days, the cats finally seemed to have turned the corner this morning, with their usual appetites finally back (thanks in part to appetite stimulation meds).

The vet I've been using for the cats is located closer to where I lived 13 years ago before I bought my house. I got these cats from the vet, who had promised their previous owner that he would find them a good home when she died. He was their vet since they were kittens, and because I have had a 20-year relationship with the practice, I've kept going back. But the drive takes a minimum of 25 minutes, and when it is trafficky, as it was Friday evening when I picked Buffy up, it can take up to 50 minutes. In the interim, there has been a vet that opened a practice in my neighborhood. It's been about 5 years now and so far her online ratings are good. I learned this week that the original owner of the practice sold it, and while the vet who is there now is fine, they are down from 3 full-time vets to a full-time vet, a part-time vet, and rotating on-call vets while they try to find another full-timer, so I've decided from here on in to take the cats to the vet in my neighborhood. I went in yesterday and set an appointment for early next March for Buffy to have her annual senior wellness exam with the new vet. Anything else that goes on with this episode will be with the old vet, and hopefully there won't be anything else that requires vet help in the next couple of months until I get all the cats records and transfer them over to the new practice.

Then there was the car. The day before Thanksgiving, the windshield washer indicator came on on the dash. I thought that was funny since I had just put more fluid in the previous weekend. When I added more, I saw it flowing down the sidewalk as I poured. I had first an appointment for a diagnosis (since it could have just been a hose that detached or a lose washer), but the reservoir had a hole and needed to be replaced. An inspection revealed that it was time for new front brakes and rotors, new spark plugs, etc, so I left my car for the day to have everything done. Then on Thursday--while I was taking Buffy to the vet--the low pressure light came on on the dash. I have a history of letting air OUT of tires every time I try to add it, so I brought the car to a service station and had them add it (something I had done just 3 weeks earlier--with this car, I get a signal every year with the first cold snap). But unlike the last time, when the indicator light went off after driving the car about a mile, the indicator light didn't go off (which added to the stress of driving the cat to and from the vet). I brought it in to the dealer's "express service" on Saturday and they found a faulty indicator light and replaced it. (THey actually told me that, since the light was blinking on and off, that it was probably a faulty indicator and I didn't need to replace it, but I couldn't live with the extra layer of anxiety that having a blinking yellow light on my dashboard would entail).

The car repairs totaled about $1,400 and the vet visits another $825. My health insurance plan turned over December 1, so I'm back to paying my deductible (I have to check, I think it's $1,500 on my HDHP/HSA plan this year), so the recent and upcoming doctor's visits will come out of pocket until that is satisfied. Thankfully, I've got just about that amount left in my HSA.

Work: It was one of the extra-busy, 6 meeting weeks (normal is 2-4). Fortunately at year-end, we are focused on tax planning, and that is my strength, so it wasn’t as stressful as it could have been. I am the only CPA in our PA office, so I also help out with other planner’s projections, plus I worked with a CPA in our VA office to do a training session for the firm on how to use the software.

Then I had my annual evaluation, which was just a tiny bit anxiety-provoking leading up to it. I wasn’t very worried, but the very first job I had, for 7 years, had super-stressful annual evaluations and consequently even when I think I’m doing well, the process is worrisome. Thankfully it went as well as I expected, not perfect but with an improvement from last year. The evaluation comes from my supervisors but information about any raise, personal bonus, or firm-wide profit-sharing bonus comes from our COO the last week of the year.

So that is some good news, at least.

It looks like next week will be stressful again, since I just checked my email and learned that one of the clients I work with passed away. I’m sad because I liked him, and mentally adding my work to what needs to get done this week--and weekend. I’d had his latest estate documents and tax return sitting on my desk, planning to review them during the quieter last two weeks of the year, but I guess I will go in and start working on that today.

I do have an afternoon yoga class coming up, so at least that will buffer the stress.

Update

December 2nd, 2018 at 12:17 am

I haven't been here since my birthday this summer, so I thought I'd check in before the year-end updates.

Health: I might be back later this week depending on what I learn at my doctor's appointment on Thursday. I had a biopsy done on my thyroid and will learn the results. (I learned I had a nodule earlier this year, had one biopsy shortly thereafter that gave indeterminate results, so had a second biopsy, so praying it checks out as benign). I guess, having said this much, I'll make sure to post something in either case, either the bad news or the good. In the meantime, I've been trying not to think about it, but this does mean I need to put a lot more focus on my physical health as a goal for 2019. For one thing, I don't have a primary care physician. I had one whom I liked who I had been with for over a decade, and she died the same week that I started my current job, which is now over 2 years ago. I've gone to my ob-gyn annually, and she connected me with the endocrinologist, so I've had basic bloodwork and such. But it's high time to have a physician I trust whom I can turn to to coordinate results from any specialists I might see.

Plus I need to get back on the exercise bandwagon. That's been another thing that I became very inconsistent with after starting my current job. At my last job, I earned about 20% more and had about 20% less work, which gave me the money and the time to belong to a nice gym. Right now I can't afford that, but I do have home equipment and need to get more consistent with using that--plus there's a $25/month gym nearby that isn't too bad, for use of the cardio and weight equipment for some variety. I'll probably see what kind of new year's special they have and join that gym then. In the meantime, I had my neighbor install some wall mounts for resistance bands and am starting to do some exercises using those (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drXN_xIbv8Q). Actually, my home equipment would be enough if I just had the discipline and motivation to use it consistently! I need to find a new walking buddy, but will wait until the weather warms up again and then post an ad on the Next Door app to see if I can find someone.

I was good at intermittent fasting from 5/24 to 11/3 and I lost about 12 pounds, but feel off the bandwagon during a business trip and have had a hard time getting back to it with the colder weather. I gained about 4 pounds back during November and now that it's a new month, I will try again. Breakfast is so much more appealing in cold weather than it is the rest of the year!

Kitties: I am very happy at the moment. My older kitty, Bridget, now 14, started having some problems in the middle of her 13th year, losing weight and hair and having chronic loose stools. She is incredibly terrified of the vet (it takes multiple people to handle her and she screams), but I did manage to get bloodwork done for her in March and it looked good. We tried a different diet and that helped a little but not much, and she is soooo stressed out by the vet that I didn't want to put her through more vet work. But recently, I found a food online that is a more natural food (smalls for smalls). They had a trial offer for one week of food for half price. I tried it and even using just 50% the old vet prescription food and 50% the new diet, I could start to see improvements, so I've been transitioning both cats on to it. Bridget's stools have firmed up a lot and I'm hopeful that with a diet that agrees with her more, she'll gain back a little weight and hair too. Buffy likes this food better than her own prescription food (which is just a weight loss food--she needs grain-free for her diabetes but as long as the food is grain-free, her diabetes is controlled), and I can feed both cats the same thing, which is great. For the past year, I was trying to monitor two cats with two different prescriptions who each preferred the OTHER cat's food. Each cat ended up eating some of the diet that was prescribed for her and some of the diet that wasn't, and it was stressful trying to monitor them constantly. This food costs a bit more, but since they were on prescription food anyways, it's not massively more costly, and better health for two senior kitties is worth it, since the girls are now at the ages (14 & 13.5) where I lost my two previous cats (who were both on dry food for most of their lives and who both died of kidney disease, probably as a result of that diet). So the current kitties eat canned food but do get dried treats. I would love it if the girls lived into their later teens.

Social Life: I've continued, generally, to attend rehearsals of the orchestra I joined in August, and I've been in 3 concerts so far (usually at senior living facilities). The last 6 weeks are the busiest time of the year at work, so I've skipped the last two rehearsals (next concert is in mid-January), but I do plan to be back regularly after the new year. I've kept up with my friends, but I've seen them a bit less than I used to since I started this job, but still fairly regularly.

Work: Work is busy but generally good. I have my annual evaluation meeting this coming Tuesday, and hopefully, their assessment of me is as positive as my own. I know places I can make improvements but also places where I am particularly an asset, and I enjoy my co-workers and being part of a team.

CFP exam: I've not made progress since July on studying for the CFP exam. But I did complete two courses, Insurance and Estate Planning, back in the first half of the year, and both courses have been very helpful. I have 3 more courses to go and I have 10 months left to complete them, so I know I should be able to complete the courses and I have some incentive to do so. This probably means that I won't take the CFP exam until March 2020, however. As long as I complete the coursework in 2019!

Although this time of the year is overall busy, my personal schedule was not booked up with meetings for the last two weeks of the year (it's mostly the last week of November and the first two weeks of December that are overloaded), so I'm taking a week off at year end and hopefully will make some progress on other goals during that time (maybe get 20% of the Retirement & Employee Benefits class done and do a little decluttering and make calls to find a primary care doctor)

Finances: Well, after my last post in August saying that my retirement accounts had broken the half-million mark, the market had a correction. So I'm going to have to build up to that mark again. Right now my retirement accounts are pretty much where they were at year-end 2017, and with depreciation on the car and a little bit of a decline on Zillow's home value estimate, my total assets are 3K down from the beginning of the year. My debts, however, are down about 6k--which includes my mortgage now being more than half paid off from its original starting value. I will be restructuring some of my debt in the new year after I see whether I get a bonus and if so, how big it is, and I feel like I have a good shot at getting the total debt down to at least 80K, with 70% of that being the mortgage. As long as we don't have more market losses in December, that will put my debt at less than 15% of my net worth.

I'm finally admitting to myself that, given the exigencies of life, it will probably take me longer to get rid of the non-mortgage debt than I would like (for example, I have about $1,300 of car repairs that I've been advised to make, and I need to replace my oven and will replace my refrigerator at the same time, early next year, so that's about another $1,200), but my mortgage paydown acceleration is on track (just 56K left as of today!), so if it takes me a couple more years to get the debt paid off than I'd planned, that's fine, as long as I am working! I still feel that I am on target to have the debt paid off by retirement, just so long as I can work until my mid-60s.

I'll check back in next weekend and report back on the thyroid biopsy results, and other than that, I'll be back the last week of the year to wrap up the year and set up some goals for 2019.

Half a million/birthday weekend travel

August 27th, 2018 at 06:56 pm

I got a birthday present from the universe--I logged online today and for the first time ever, my net total was over 500k. Yay! That's actually 498K in retirement savings and 2K in an emergency account.

So I went away for a 2.5 day weekend Friday-Sunday for my birthday. I read Amish romances for fun and only live about 90 minutes from the area and had never visited, so I made a reservation at a nice B&B and left Friday morning.

I crammed in a lot over the weekend: several tours (a touristy farm & home tour, a private farm & home tour, a bus tour, a buggy ride, a film on the Amish, a train ride over in Strasburg, and ate a few good meals. I did a little shopping at a roadside stand where they sold yard art (got a few metal decorative pieces) and a "quillow" (small quilt that folds up into a pocket to make a pillow) and I browsed around the Bird In Hand Farmer's Market but all I bought there was some ice cream.

The best part was staying in the countryside and learning more and getting to interact with a people whom I in a way envy in their community organization and support and family lives and values-based way of living. The B&B where I stayed was on a rural road and all the neighbors within a mile are Amish, so that the B&B owners will get called upon for emergency drives (e.g., a farmer neighbor took a bad fall recently, and while the ambulance took the farmer and his wife to the hospital, the B&B owners were called upon to bring his parents to the hospital). Sunday morning I sat outside from 8 to 8:30 and saw about 15 buggies drive by as people went to church. The B&B is in the middle of 4 different church districts (a district has only 25-30 families, which can be about 250 people and since they hold church inside their barns, there's a limit and when a district gets too large, they subdivide), so the buggies were headed in different directions.

It was fun to see everything but another time I'd like to go back and just mellow out.

Today I'm off of work and catching up on chores and errands, so back to that!

(one of the chores is consolidating a couple of retirement accounts. I have two SIMPLE accounts that are no longer active from old jobs and the accounts are more than 2 years old, so the tiny one I rolled into a traditional IRA and did a Roth conversion on, and the other I'll just consolidate into my traditional IRA. gets rid of the $20 annual account fees, too!)

Goal update, retirement progress, high school reunion quandry

August 1st, 2018 at 11:29 pm

Time for a periodic check-in on my goals (listed in the side bar).

1. Job/CFP coursework: I am still working on getting timelier but I have made some progress. As far as the CFP coursework, I should complete my second course for the year today (I just have to take the final exam). I am hoping to complete at least one more of the 7 courses by the end of the year, which still leaves 2 more courses and the exam, which I'll take in 2019--most likely next July. In addition, I also did some writing for the firm including 4 articles on our company blog, one article for the local business journal, and one article in a professional journal. (The writing has interfered with becoming timelier and with making more progress on the CFP coursework, and I've now gotten an agreement that they won't push me to write until I'm done with the CFP exam...it's been hard to do the job, the writing, and studying for the CFP all at once).

2. Taking care of myself: I am back to intermittent fasting as of 5/24 and am down about 10 pounds using an "easy" fasting schedule of 16:8 to 18:6. Also did a half price trial at a local gym which I liked very much as I was working mostly one on one with a trainer; trying to figure out how to afford a couple of more months at their full rate.

3. Creating a peaceful home environment. Slow progress here; did one 3 hour session with a personal organizer and made some progress on the kitchen; will try to make a bit more progress this year but will push on this after the CFP exam.

4. Reducing debt by 10.5K--about 8K down, although the next couple of months with professional expenses and planning vacation are the most expensive of the year, so may backslide.

This goal was originally to increase net worth, but I changed it after the markets were kind of wonky in February & March. But I saw CJ's post about increasing retirement balances, so I tracked mine in a similar format:

2011: 137K (+17k)
2012: 335K (+198K, of which 171K was from my mom's estate)
2013: 353K (+18K)
2014: 393K (+40K)
2015: 407K (+10K)
2016: 436K (+29K)
2017: 485K (+49K)
7/18: 492K (+7K) Hoping to break 500K by EOY

My Net Worth in total broke 550K as of 7/31. I think it will reach 600K in 2020 barring a big recession.

5. Maintain my social life: Have done that. As far as expanding, I have attended one rehearsal of a community orchestra that 3 friends belong to and went for drinks with some after, so this is promising.

6. Taking more time off: Doing slightly better here. This is actually really hard for me to do. So far this year I've taken 8 days off (of the 20 total PTO days I have at my disposal); last year by this time I had taken 7. I took 13 days of my 20 in 2017. If I try to take 2 days each month that would be 18, but I don't know that I'll do it. Still struggling with whether I am going to go to my 40-year high school reunion in October. That's across country so it would be an expensive trip--for a one-night dinner. It would be fun to see people, but I tend to hate these group situations; I much more enjoy talking with people one-on-one. I'm not the person that people will go out of their way to make time to talk to. So far I have reserved time on my calendar at work for the trip but I haven't made reservations. Also kind of loathe to spend the money--it's probably a thousand dollar trip in total. I really should decide soon, though.

long overdue mini-victory

July 2nd, 2018 at 08:05 pm

My city does not provide trash hauling service, although they do recycle--something that's different from every other place I've ever lived. Every other place it was either a city that provided both trash and recycling, or rural, where you paid for an annual tag at the local "transfer station" and hauled your trash and recycling there yourself. I've been thinking about changing my trash hauling service for over a year, ever since they added a $5/quarter "administrative fee" for the cost of billing us (and the bills aren't even mailed; they're sent online). But it was a low-level, out-of-sight irritation so I didn't act until now, spurred by a $45 charge for an unpaid bill that led them to temporarily cancel my service.

I've seen some discussions during the past six months on the "Next Door" app when new city residents would ask advice about who to use for hauling. Although there were a few services recommended, one in particular seemed to get more kudos than anyone else.

That service also offers a month of free service if you pay your bill annually rather than quarterly, so I just signed up for a year of trash hauling for $253 ($23/month), and canceled the other service that was charging me at last invoice over $144 a quarter--$33 a month PLUS that administrative fee PLUS a fuel and environment fee PLUS a regulatory cost recovery fee. That's 44% of the cost, and now I don't have to think about that bill again until NEXT July. And in addition, the new service is locally owned and operated while the service I canceled is a national company that operates in the lower 48 states, so I feel good about supporting local business as well. Woo-hoo!

June: Social events, big car repair, organizing, health scare

June 30th, 2018 at 12:50 am

June was one of my most social months of the year, with a visit to Patient Saver and my annual visit from a friend who is now a snowbird. It was lovely to socialize, and I also look forward to some time to myself during July and August to catch up on other projects.

I also took my annual summer arts & culture class offered as a fundraiser for the local charter arts high school. This summer’s series was on outsider art and was a lot of fun, concluding with a tour of the local “secret art park” designed by our course instructor along with artist Mr. Imagination and a reception and showing of a private collection at the instructor’s home. There still may be a field trip to NYC later this summer.

I went finally to hear a concert by a community orchestra which three friends of mine participate in. I am planning on joining them next Thursday for the rest of the summer at least. I also went to the theatre twice and will go one or possibly two more times during July.

One surprise event during the month was that my car failed an oil consumption test and Subaru replaced the “short block,” a major component of the engine, for free since the car is (just barely!) still under warranty. The part itself costs nearly 6K not to speak of labor, so thank god for the warranty or I’d be car hunting right now. As it is, I will look into renewing the warranty this month. I really enjoyed driving the Forester they gave me as a loaner (my previous car was a Forester and when I bought the current car, I bought an Impreza). If I had any sort of real commute, I would seriously consider trading in my car, but I have lived a mile from where I work for 3 years so upgrading the car is kind of ridiculous. That drive from PA to CT to visit PS is the furthest I’ve driven in a few years. In any case, they said to treat the car as if it had a new engine in terms of the oil change, because in essence, it does--and a new engine for free on a 6-year old car is certainly a good thing!

Right now in terms of work goals, I am working on catch up. I still have a lot to do and hopefully will make more progress in July than I did in June. I also need to work more on studying for the CFP, although I am proud to note that I *finally* understand the basics of A-B trust planning, something which I’ve struggled over for years.

I’m doing very well this year in terms of debt reduction—down about 8.2K for the year and my mortgage will be at 58K even after the July payment hits, something which I should easily pay off in 7-8 years as long as I keep my current job. 7.5 years would make the total payoff an even 20 years.

I actually finally! even made some progress on the “peaceful home environment” goal. I have an acquaintance/friend who is a personal organizer, and I have referred clients to her who have benefitted from her services. Last month as thanks for the business, she gave me a gift certificate for a free 3-hour consultation, which I had today. My work doesn’t allow me to accept the gift, so I paid her her normal fee at the end of our time together, but we organized all my food storage and developed a plan for much of the rest of the organizing work, to be done in bits and pieces this year and next.

The last big issue that will continue on during the month has to do with my thyroid. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis 4 years ago by a chiropractor. Most MD endocrinologists, unfortunately, don’t believe in “treating” the thyroid: their presumption is that diet and lifestyle have no effect and they will just monitor your thyroid levels until they fall and then put you on Synthroid (and I have heard this from at least six MDs). But I figured I should at some point get an assessment from an MD and I did see an endocrinologist this month, who sent me for an ultrasound which reveals that in addition to the Hashimoto's, I have a large nodule on the right half of my thyroid (5.7 cm). I asked about the “watch or wait” approach and my doctor said that, if the nodule were under 2 cm he would be ok with that, but since mine is nearly 3x that size, he very strongly encouraged a biopsy, which I will go in for on the 16th. There’s an 85-90% chance that it will be non-cancerous and we’ll just watch and wait and track it, but there’s also a 10-15% that it could be cancerous and I’d need to have the gland removed, which I am praying doesn’t happen. My followup appointment to get the biopsy results is on July 30th, so if you have some spare prayers between now and then, I’d appreciate them!

Goal review and mini-milestone

June 3rd, 2018 at 09:54 pm

Looking back at my goals for 2018 (in the side bar):

1. I'm falling behind on the CFP coursework--started out strong but the heavy workload at my job from the beginning of the year until now overwhelmed me. Still a work in progress and hoping to catch back up with the CFP over the summer.

2. With the heavy workload came a lack of focus on health. As things have now calmed down, I am turning my attention here as my weight has crept up to the highest in over a decade--ugh. I'm back to intermittent fasting, which worked for me well in 2016 and have lost about 5 pounds in the first 10 days. Water weight, I know, but always nice to get a good start. I am also experimenting with something else that I will blog about eventually if it is successful.

3. The home environment, as ever, ends up on the back burner. I'll really work on it after I'm done with the CFP. But for now, I had the yard cleared out and I'm getting a few big items out of the basement, and my annual visitor comes on the 23rd so the house will get back to its status quo by then, but I'm not sure if I'll make progress on the big decluttering I need to do.

4. Debt reduction is going well so far, although I always make the most progress at the beginning of the year. The mini-milestone is that I'm now back under 88K which was about the level my debt was when I left my teaching career and started the difficult decade of changing careers along with loss of my mom and three pets. So in a way it feels like beginning again, and hopefully it's just downward from here on out. I am making good progress on the mortgage, paying extra each month to get the total down to an even multiple of 100, which amounts to about 1.5 full extra mortgage payments over the course of the year, and I'm feeling relatively certain that I'll pay it off by 2026 and hopeful that I'll meet my goal of paying it off in 2025 (a total of 20 years).

5. I've maintained although not expanded my social life. June is a relatively social month. I'm going to visit Patient Saver next weekend and I have my annual Shakespeare Fest visitor coming on the 23rd.

6. I took a full week off ending with Memorial Day. Just sat by the river and read!

Whew! Exhausted!

May 19th, 2018 at 03:50 pm

It's been crazy at work the past two months, but after Monday, I'll be over the hump and life should calm down considerably until September (when it will pick up and be busy until the following May).

After working in the tax world for a few years, I got used to a little bit of a break after April 15 (or 17, as was the case this year), but since I'm now working at a wealth management firm, there isn't the usual decrease in work after tax day. In fact, it's been busier than ever since then. A confluence of things have led to an exceptionally busy time (about 3x my normal workload this week, which was the worst of it), but I am pleased that my supervisors noticed and have taken some measures that should help in the future. No promises, because there are always unusual situations and unexpected confluences of events, but at least some steps for better communication.

I'll be working most of this weekend to meet a Monday deadline, but then I am taking most of next week off!!! Tuesday afternoon thru Memorial Day gives me 6.5 consecutive days!!! I'll be spending them at home, trying to make some progress on decluttering.

In other news: I replaced my two window ACs this week--the ones I'd been using were about 15+ years old. The new ones are Energy Star, so hopefully my summer electricity bill will go down. I bought them from a local store 5 blocks away that has an excellent reputation. They took away the old ACs, and, for an additional $50, also took the two left in the basement by the previous home owner. For a reasonable service fee, they'll also come and take them out and put them back in again each fall and spring. My neighbor has been doing that the entire time I've lived here. He was 62 when I moved in, so 74 now, and I don't want him injuring himself doing favors for me.

I also got started experimenting with the ThriveLife foods that Lucky Robin has posted about on her blog. I ended up doing 3 orders in a month, for over $400, but the food will last (one year after opening, 25 years in the #10 cans unopened), and it does save some time grocery shopping and considerably on food wastage--which happens a lot as a single person. No more hairy carrots, limp celery, or sprouted tear-inducing onions. Right now on this rainy morning I am cooking up a pot of cream of chicken and mushroom soup using mostly freeze dried ingredients. Hopefully eventually this will cut down on my eating out, which gets out of hand when I am superbusy as I have been.

Kitty Buffy had her thousand dollar dental work and recovered nicely; kitty Bridget still pulls the hair on her sides and belly out, but her bloodwork is good and she seems happy enough, so I'm not going to stress myself out too much over the behavior, which apparently is neurotic.

Finally, it is looking like I'll take a short trip in June to visit Patient Saver, whom I've met F2F twice before. I'm looking forward to the trip!

I'm working most of today, but will go see the new film about Ruth Bader Ginsburg this evening.

Kitties and Net Worth

April 1st, 2018 at 06:27 pm

My last blog post was about my cat, Bridget, who has lost some weight and hair. (see https://www.flickr.com/photos/elissaw/41121285262/in/dateposted-public/; I can't remember how to insert images here). The home vet visit was traumatic (long leather gloves, a muzzle, and kitty screams were involved, sigh), but it revealed that her bloodwork is, to my great relief, completely normal. The vet thinks the hair loss is behavioral, so she is going on transdermal Prozac this week, and I've changed her diet to a hypoallergenic prescription diet. We'll give it two months and re-assess.

My other kitty is scheduled for a dental on 4/18 as her teeth are in bad shape. It hasn't prevented her from eating, though; she gained another .75 pound :^(. At least her diabetes continues to be very well controlled by her diet change--totally normal glucose.

On another note, I decided to change one of my annual goals from increasing my net worth to decreasing my debt. With the markets being so volatile so far this year, it seemed better to focus on the debt reduction, which is more in my control, than the net worth, which is out of my control.

If you count HSA contributions and employer matches, I am currently saving 24% of my salary, which is as much as I can reasonably afford while also paying off the debt.

This is offset by the fact that I have to take RMDs (required minimum distributions) from the two IRAs I inherited from my mom, but so far it looks as though this year I may be able to limit myself to just taking the RMDs and nothing else, and the accounts generate more in income than I take in RMDs, so there should be some small growth in those accounts.

Overall, for Q1, my assets are down 1.43%, mostly because the losses in my retirement savings are greater than the contributions YTD. My debts are down 7.12% because at the beginning of the year, I took the RMDs and applied them to debt reduction.

Overall, my networth is down $2,225 from 12/31, or .42%.

In other news, I spent $450 to have a landscaper clear out and re-mulch my very overgrown yard and place weed barriers to reduce the weeds along the fence.

Something that I would like eventually to do is to hire someone to build me some raised beds to do a little bit of vegetable and herb gardening. I was fantasizing about that yesterday, but am not sure if I will do it this year or next. I think my next outlay of money for the house will be to hire some home organizing help. I went to a presentation by an organizer last week and actually made some progress on my own this weekend, but there are certain areas of my house where I need a coach and some assistance to inspire me to get through in the very limited amount of time I have to deal with this. She charges $235 for a 3-hour session and I will be scheduling this for May, I think.

After putting that goal of "creating a peaceful and inviting home environment" in my sidebar year after year, I think I may actually make some progress towards that goal this year!!

Sick Kitty; Credit Sesame

March 19th, 2018 at 12:10 am

I have the vet coming to pay a house call tomorrow morning. It's $90 for the vet + a vet tech, plus the usual exam and lab fees. But the kitty for whom I scheduled the appointment completely freaks out at the vet. I've only taken her once since I adopted her, and that time, it took 3 vet techs + the vet and me and a sedative to get her examined. It stressed her out so much I decided just to let her be until something was clearly wrong.

That time has come. She's been dropping weight and a couple of weeks ago I noticed that her fur was looking patchy too. Plus her digestion--which has never been as good as her sister kitty's--has been worse. The *best* outcome would be a diagnosis that she is hyperthyroid, but chances are it is something worse than that. She is 13.5, her "sister" (from the same home but not biologically related) turns 13 on the 30th...and the only other two cats I had lived to be 13 and 14, which makes me anxious. The first two kitties were fed on dry food and both developed kidney disease--one had to be put down immediately after diagnosis and the other I kept going with sub-q fluids for 2.5 years. I learned a lot about feline chronic renal disease over that time and these two kitties have been fed mostly with canned food to try to prevent it.

Anyways, I am quite nervous about what news tomorrow morning will bring.

The other cat gets taken to the vet regularly, and I'll be able to have the vet examine her as well as long as he is out here. I know she needs dental work, which will cost about a thousand. She's been eating well and there is no sign that the bad tooth bothers her, so I've let it go for six months since I was told she needed the work done, but spring is time.

So I transferred about $1,500 from my sinking fund account at Schwab to the bank so that costs will be covered.

Prayers for Miss Bridget are appreciated! I hope hyperthyroid is all that it is. If it is anything that needs regular intervention by me, she is too scared of a cat to adapt easily. When Teddy needed subcutaneous fluids for all that time, he fought the first few weeks, but then realized that he felt better after the fluids and stopped fighting. When Buffy was diagnosed diabetic, she hated getting the ear prick tests but there was a while there where it became easier to do. (Now that her diabetes is well controlled with diet and she needs the test only occasionally, it is much harder to do.) But Bridget was the cat who hid in a box for two months when I first adopted her, whom I've never even dared to pick up until the past month (and only extremely briefly), who spends an entire day hissing at me and at Buffy whenever I take Buffy to the vet, so I don't feel as tho anything that requires daily administrations from me is going to go over well with her.

On another front, I got an email from Credit Sesame today that I found informative, on suggested credit usage. The one thing that always dings my credit score a bit is having high balances relative to the limit. Mostly that's due to the one 0% balance transfer cardI maintain. But this time I got a link to actual balance limits and percent utilized, and discovered that the maximum you should use of any card is 10% of the your limit. After finding that out, I went and requested a credit limit increase on my Discover card, and I was granted an immediate $6,300 increase. The 0% balance transfer card is still going to knock things off, but I'm going to have to do another transfer by May, and I'll check out the limits before I do so this time. I didn't know before that 10% of your limit is the most you should use before they start counting your usage against you.

(On the other hand, they *also* ding me for not having enough TYPES of credit open--just a mortgage and the credit cards, no auto loan, student loan, or personal loan, so *that* brings my score down a bit too.

Mortgage Milestone

March 3rd, 2018 at 01:46 am

When I took out my mortgage at the end of 2005, I started by owing $92,800 (at 5.875%). I refinanced in 2012 for a lower rate and changed the term from a 30 year to a 20 year. And whenever possible, I've paid some extra principal in, usually down to the next "round" number.

At the beginning of the year, I started by owing $60,700. Now that the March payment is made, I'm down to $59,900--I threw an extra $65 in this month to get down to a multiple of $100. Feels good having broken the $60K barrier. I'm 57.5, so it feels doable to have the mortgage paid off by the time I am 65.

I am not planning to retire at that age at this point, but having the freedom to be able to afford to would be nice. Once the mortgage and other debt are gone, I'll be accelerating my savings into a brokerage account, building a bucket of "safe" money I can live off of during any market downturns in my early retirement years.

Moves, movies, movies--and Single Payer healthcare

February 28th, 2018 at 09:26 pm

I've spent the past three evenings at the movies. On Sunday, I saw "I, Tonya." On Monday, I saw "Citizen Jane," about Jane Jacobs and her activism with housing projects. That one was followed by a panel with a couple of local college professors and the head of the local council on economic development.

Then last night, I saw another documentary: Fix It: Healthcare at the Tipping Point. It provides an argument for "Medicare for All." You can actually watch this one online (https://fixithealthcare.com/). But what was extra special was that the producer and director of the film were both there and spoke after. It was also kind of neat that, even though the film speaks to national and international issues, it was made locally and you can see some nice footage of our city, the downtown (where I work), and the former mayor, who is interviewed and who works in the building next door and is still quite active locally.

The big roadblock to single payer isn't so much it being a conservative vs liberal ideological issue, but the lobbying money that the insurance industry and big pharma throw at the issue.

The producer and director also made two other films, one on Big Pharma, which they'll be showing locally next month (and which you can see online at https://fixithealthcare.com/big-pharma-movie/) and a third documentary, which they'll be releasing in about a month--no local screening or online access yet, but I expect there to be.

I feel so fortunate to currently have employer insurance, but I paid my own, first under COBRA and then outright (individually and then on healthcare.gov) from 2009 thru 2014. I don't really look forward to getting older but I can see the benefit of getting to Medicare age with my friends and clients.

Price Rewind Credit Cards

February 13th, 2018 at 03:34 pm

A client of mine who works outside the home only one day a week told me about a credit card feature that I have never heard about before: Price rewind. She has it on a Mastercard through Citibank, where she gets a 1% reward on purchase, another 1% on payment, and, if she can find an item she purchased for a lower price and uploads a picture of the lower priced item to the site, they refund her the difference between what she paid and what she COULD have paid elsewhere. It has been quite lucrative for her, although it does take time. I don't have the time to do anything like this, but I thought I would mention it for any of you who do have the time and haven't heard of this feature. If you google, you will find articles about this idea by NerdWallet and other frugal living bloggers.

Disability Insurance

February 11th, 2018 at 10:14 pm

I've been taking the insurance course for my CFP recently and thinking a lot about insurance.

One area of potential risk to many that is often underinsured is disability. Personally, I am aware of this because back in 2000, I spent 7 weeks in the hospital and another several months recuperating, having a second minor related surgery, and recuperating from that.

But I, like most people, assumed that the disability insurance I had through work would be sufficient. Back then, I was ok, since the period when I was out of work covered the summer, when, as a teacher (my former career), I would not be working, and just one semester, when I was sufficiently recovered to be enrolled in a program for temporary substitute teachers. It was just a very short time of not working, which I was covered for by my assets at the time.

The typical employer-provided long-term disability policy insures up to 60% of your income. Since this insurance is provided at no cost to you by your employer, it is taxable income when received. Would you be able to survive on 60% of your base salary? I know that I would find it a challenge!

When I first changed careers and started to learn more about this issue, I worked for an employer that did not provide any disability insurance, so I joined an industry association and bought a plan through them.

My current employer does provide long-term disability, so I've canceled the group policy, but I found that another industry group I belong to provides the opportunity to purchase true individual insurance for either $1,000 or $2,000 a month above what my employer benefits would provide. I'll be completing that application this week, If I chose the $1,000 additional income per month, that would be nontaxable (because I'm paying the premiums myself, any income that results is free from tax, unlike employer provided insurance) and would give me over 80% of my current income. Since there are bound to be more expenses when one is disabled, this feels more reasonable to me "just in case."

I have three friends who have been going through breast cancer treatment this year, another one who is off on disability for a rare disorder. Until I am at the point where I feel financially independent, this insurance is important. After financial independence, it's a luxury, but beforehand, it's a must. After all, one's ability to earn income is the biggest asset that most of us have--especially the young!

I found an online calculator at www.whatsmypdq.org that allows you to calculate your personal probability of being out on disability before retirement. Mine is 13% for being out for 3 months or longer, with a 46% chance that if I were disabled that it would last 5 years or longer, and an average length of long-term disability of 85 months--over 7 years, which would get me very close to retirement age.

Insurance is meant for low-probability, high-cost situations. Disability is definitely an area where many people are underinsured--and by the time they start to think they might need it, they no longer qualify!

So--what's your PDQ and do you have disability insurance through your employer or anything purchased on your own?

Having my cake and eating it too with the new tax law

February 2nd, 2018 at 08:12 pm

My January 31 paycheck used the updated withholding tables, so I compared the Federal withholding on that check with the withholding on January 15 and found more than a $60 difference. I played around with the calculation in 1% (of gross salary) increments and figured that I could increase my retirement contributions by about $45 per pay period and still have an extra $15 per paycheck in my take-home pay, so I arranged for that change to occur starting this month. Over the course of the rest of the year, that's nearly an extra $2,000 in retirement savings, a $2,000 decrease in federally taxable income (which at the marginal 22% bracket means $435 less tax due next April, and an extra $330 in my pocket to spend. Win/win all around!

I also posted a blog post about this on our company's website at http://www.joycepaynepartners.com/client-insights/the-new-tax-law.

January in review

February 1st, 2018 at 11:33 pm

So I set myself up at the beginning of the year with half a dozen goals plus a few projects. I made progress in some categories, but on the daily exercise and CFP exam studying, I need a goal reset for February.

Here are the details by goal.

1. Job performance: Improve timeliness of advance preparation for client meetings. Complete the basic CFP coursework. I am tracking my meeting preps and got the last one done six days in advance. The year really started out with a bang, with a whole month's worth of meetings to prepare for in the first 18 days of the month. February looks more reasonably spaced. But I've made no progress yet on the CFP studying.

2. Take care of myself. Eat healthily (this includes an emphasis on whole foods and preparing my meals in advance), exercise consistently, sleep enough, and make time to de-stress with a daily meditation session (or two). I started a Whole30 but didn't adhere to it consistently, as I ended up eating out several times while feeling busy & stressed. Still, I did eat more "Whole30ish," limiting grains, dairy, etc. I lost weight while I was being strict about it but after I relapsed and particularly once I allowed myself to fall prey to the candy in the office, I ended the month weighing the same as I started. Also, I got very little exercise, but I did get fairly good sleep and I meditated 24 days out of 31.

3. Create a peaceful and inviting home environment. Teeny tiny progress so far. I'll do better when I'm less stressed and less cold.

4. Increase my Net Worth by 15%.
Assets up $7,245. Debts down $5,427. Total increase: $12,672, or 2.37% (28.46% annualized rate).

I have started tracking my spending--not daily, but a few times a week, using the Simpleplanning Budget planner, a nice straightforward Excel-based spreadsheet that I find much easier to work with than the current version of YNAB. I liked YNAB when it was Excel-based, but there are now too many bells and whistles and I find it confusing to get started with.

While I was successful at regular tracking, I was not successful at keeping my expenses under budget. I spent 10% more than planned. Food is my biggest area of concern, both groceries and eating out. I also spend too much on books. I already have social restaurant plans in place for the weekend, but starting Monday, I'm going to try to make the rest of February a "gas & groceries" month, in terms of spending on "variable" as opposed to fixed expenses--with the exception of (knock on wood) medical if needed for myself or the kitties, or any home or car repair emergencies that might arise.

For groceries, I'm going to limit myself to the cheaper chains this month: Aldi, PriceRite, and Giant, and avoid my favorite Wegmans, which isn't really that much more expensive on a per item basis for the basics, but it has better quality and more variety, so that the items that end up in my cart are that much more pricey. I only shopped at Wegmans once in January and I could really see the difference. Also, last month I bought some dehydrated vegetables plus some bulk teas I like on Amazon, so for those items, I still have a lot of food left over.

Even though I was over *budget*, my take-home pay for the month was $2,917 and my expenses were $2,613, so that is $304 to the good.

5. Maintain and expand my social life. January was a maintenance month--went out 3 times, once with one friend and twice with another, which is good for a month as busy as it was.


6. Take more and/or more frequent time off/vacations. Nothing concrete planned yet.

Projects: I'm not listing the ones I haven't started yet, but one project was to write at least 3 blog posts for work. I've now written 4, of which two have been published so far, a third will be published tomorrow, and one the week after that.

Market boom

January 24th, 2018 at 09:59 pm

Heady times on Wall Street these days. I updated my personal balance sheet and find that my net worth is up by $14,540 so far this year. My retirement accounts are up by about 10K *despite* the fact that I took almost 8K in required minimum distributions at the beginning of the year and set them aside to create "sinking funds" for other big expenses expected during the year (so I won't end up putting those expenses on credit cards as I have in the past). I also took the bonus money that I received for last year and used it to pay down some debt. All together my assets are up 8.3K, my debts are down 6.2K, for the total net worth change of 14.5K. That's an improvement I would usually be happy to see in a fiscal quarter already in three weeks.

I'll enjoy it while it lasts since one always wonders just how long the current boom times can last.

Painless Savings Idea to Share

January 20th, 2018 at 11:15 pm

I had this brainstorm, which I am going to implement for myself and wanted to suggest this to others as well: If you are not already maxing out your pre-tax retirement contributions, ask your HR/employer to increase your 401k/403b contribution by an additional percentage point when they change over to the new withholding tables, which should be sometime in February. Without taking any action, the change in withholding should make your take-home pay go up by a bit--a small amount, maybe easing the pressure a tiny bit if you are living paycheck to paycheck, but not enough overall to really make you feel wealthier. If you are not living paycheck to paycheck and you have gotten used to living on your current take-home pay, take advantage of the change in withholding tables to divert that extra amount into long-term savings rather than spending it on extra consumables. Your take-home pay should remain similar to what it was and your savings will increase. You could wait until after the change takes place and compare your January and February paystubs, or you could try to figure out the change from IRS Notice 1036 with the new withholding tables vs Pub 15 2017 if you are an accounting geek, or if you have a bit of wiggle room in your budget you could just take it on faith that one change will offset the other by an amount that you won't really notice. I'm not a master of payroll but I did calculate for myself that the decreased withholding will be about 1% of my takehome pay and thus a good opportunity to increase my 401k contribution from 11% to 12% (I also have a set dollar amount taken each pay and put into my HSA account, some of which I spend during the year and some of which ideally gets saved; between the two set-asides I will be putting away over 16%, although last year I did end up spending about 2/3s of what I put into the HSA for out of pocket medical expenses. In a healthier year I'd be able to save more of that, and at least the healthcare expenses were paid for with pre-tax dollars.)

Budgeting: YNAB vs SimplePlanning.net; Debt paydown vs Sinking Funds

January 6th, 2018 at 11:39 pm

So one of my plans for the year is to get back to tracking my expenses--something I did assiduously when I first started on this site in 2006, but which I stopped doing during all the life craziness that started at the end of 2009 (leaving my job/career, Henry Hound's cancer diagnosis, my mom's terminal diagnosis). After a "wild & crazy ride," things at long last feel more stable, so it's time to get back to tracking and trying to rein in spending reasonably. I don't feel the need to go all austere--after all, who knows how long any of us has? Financial independence is an important goal, but I also want to enjoy the ride along the way. So I'll leave in some money for books, movies, dining out, and vacation, but I'll also try to cut the money spent in those categories compared to the last couple of years.

Back in my earlier days on this site, I learned about and used YNAB for at least a couple of years--back in the days when it was an Excel-based spreadsheet. I liked it back then. I've gone and enrolled in the free trial for the current web-based version, and I must say that I don't find it at all intuitive, so I found another Excel-based spreadsheet that I'd used before, at SimplePlanning.net, and I'm going back to that. I love the *idea* of YNAB, but not the current incarnation. Jesse Mecham just came out with a book and I'm reading that, but I think I will part ways with his software and stay with good old familiar Excel (where I spend about half my working life).

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got a 20% bonus at the end of last year. I did use some of it to bring down my debt, but even though part of me felt a strong urge to put it ALL towards debt reduction and cut another 6K off the debt, I decided--at least for the moment--to keep 6K in sinking funds for larger expenses that will (long-term care insurance premiums, dental for one of my cats) or might (car repair, home repair, etc) occur. Most of the debt is pretty low cost--0% to 4%. When one of the 0% terms expires in May, I might consider paying that chunk off in full, but I figure I'm ok not deciding right now. At some point, maybe I'll give in and get that debt down to the 86K total that I'd listed as a goal, but for the moment, I'm enjoying enough money in my savings accounts to cover the big expenses that tend to accrue for me in the summer.

The idea of "slowing down to speed up" by "funding true expenses first" is something that Jesse Mecham talks about in his "You Need a Budget" book. So what I'm doing is consistent with that--trying to get off the treadmill.

As part of my cost-cutting attempts, today's big grocery shop of the week was at Aldi's, where I got out for $85. They didn't have celery or sweet potatoes at the store I was in, so I'm stopping at the Price Rite on my way home to pick those up. Then home to make beef stew. (Not all of the day was cost-cutting--I went to my favorite diner for breakfast and treated a friend to lunch, but the rest of the week it's back to home cooked meals--the beef stew, a chicken dish--maybe a paleo sesame chicken recipe I saw online if I feel ambitious tomorrow, the vegetable soup that I'm still eating from last weekend's cooking, and another batch of ground beef tomato sauce, which I am eating over shirataki noodles, along with a side of kale.

No real progress on goals yet this week--I did one before-work exercise session. I'm recovering from an Achilles tendon injury anyway, so I'll push on the exercise once that is healed. It's too cold in my downstairs to spend time decluttering--when I'm at home, I make and eat dinner and then scurry up to bed. Upstairs is quite cozy and it's only when the weather is below 20 outside that I really feel cold downstairs. I didn't do any CFP exam studying yet, but I've drafted most of three blog posts for work that I am supposed to write this year, so getting that out of the way is good and cuts pressure from those expectations for the rest of the year. I promised at least 3 for the year and those are mostly done!


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