I started my Saturday off, as I often do, with breakfast at a favorite little diner just outside of downtown.  I hadn't been there in about a month--partly because of the "snowcrete" mountains that we have had on most of our side streets since the big storm on January 24 and partly because the last time I was there, the waitress who I've dealt with most of the time during the past year, Emily, said that it was her last day.  Emily, it turns out, owns a diner of her own about 10 miles away, that had been closed down for the past year because of smoke damage from a fire, and she was re-opening.

So it was with great delight that I walked in to find that Lisa, the waitress who had been there from the time I started going to this diner during the pandemic until a year ago, was back.  It was great to see her and catch up.

Then I went and did my grocery shopping (it was 8:30 am so I beat the worst of the crowds since we are expecting another snowstorm to hit tomorrow) and filled up my gas tank.  I dropped the groceries off at home and then went to the office and attended a live virtual exercise class.  [I do the majority of my exercise at the office, either in the office itself or at the gym upstairs.  We have a big open-area office that gives me room to run in circles in a safe, temperature-controlled environment, and I often just wait until my co-workers leave for the day and do my jogging in the office then.]  Then I went to my hairdresser, Stephanie--another woman whom I've had a friendly relationship with for about a decade.

I'll do a little work and some more exercise while I'm at the office, then at 5 pm I have an online chat scheduled with my friend Jim who lives in New Mexico.  He moved this past week to an assisted living center so I am eager to hear how he is doing.

I also updated my accounts and was pleased to note that I hit another net worth milestone--1.2 million now, hoping for at least 1.25 million by year-end and for 1.5 million by retirement.

It's lovely and sunny right now with the temp in the low 40s, so even if we do get more snow tomorrow (the forecast is for 3-6" being most likely) it should melt a lot faster than the January storm did.  While the worst of the big piles from the January storm are finally gone, we still have piles of snow all over the place.

This weekend, I completed my own tax returns, as well as the return for a neighbor whose returns I have been doing for over a decade.  The neighbor's return (which is super-easy) I did yesterday, and they fed me dinner on Friday night too when I went to pick up their tax documents.  I also got to see the men's final in ice skating and Ilia Malanin's heartbreaking long program while I was visiting.

I drafted my own return yesterday and reviewed it and submitted it today.  I owe about $200 for the federal return and $10 to the state, which I have set to be auto-deducted from my checking account on April 15.  The next few weeks are super-busy on the client side with the extra administrative work of contacting clients and their CPAs about tax documents or things that they should remember when filing (like making Qualified Charitable Distributions from RMDs) or donations of appreciated securities or Roth conversions.  Technically we have work off tomorrow, but I'm planning on spending the day in the office finishing a spreadsheet of all the information I need to convey to clients and their tax pros.  If it's just the basic tax documents to download from Fidelity or Schwab, I don't need to notify them, but if there's any complexity of the type mentioned above or if the client has any K-1s coming from investments in private equity, private credit, or partnerships, I'm the one who needs to communicate that to the tax pro.  So it's just an extra administrative burden, while the pace of client meetings doesn't slow down one bit.  I'm always so relieved each year by the time we get to the end of March when most of this adminsitrative task is complete.

On another note, I've been struggling with a decision that I am making more based on inertia rather than anything else, and I'm not sure but that I'm going to regret it.  I was invited to attend a reception honoring one of my grad school cohort members in Chicago on February 27th.  Another cohort member is President of the professional society this year, so I'm sure lots of my grad school friends will be there.  I was very excited to get the invitation, and priced the plane and hotel fare, which are not cheap but do-able, but I've not actually signed up for the event.  The deadline is tomorrow.  Chicago on February 27 is certainly one disincentive.  If the conference were, for example, in Austin, Denver, San Diego, or Atlanta (some of the other recent locations), it would certainly be a much easier "yes."

Also, while many of my friends would be there, they are also going to be busy with the conference.  I don't currently belong to the society, so I couldn't go to any of the sessions.  Back when I first was starting out in the field, membership in this particular organization was by invitation only, and I never was invited, so I never joined.  Apparently it's changed, so that I could belong if I were willing to pay.  It's not an outrageous fee but also not cheap.  In any case, next year's convention is in Philly, which is a 75-minute drive away--and then in 2028, it's in New Orleans, 2029, in Long Beach, and 2030, in Pittsburgh.  So I think that I'm going to think about going next year, when it's in Philly.  There won't be the reception for that one particular friend, but I know that at least a couple of other friends will be there, since the friend who is currently President will be there since the Past President is on the board.  It's also gotten me thinking about ramping up my involvement in psychology again as I plan ahead for retiring from my financial planning career--which has always been the plan.  It's a lot easier for me to think about spending a long weekend in Philly next February (or one in New Orleans in March 2028, after Mardi Gras) than it is to wrap my head around going to Chicago in a couple of weeks.

It's also one of those jolts of a reminder that my friends are now the senior professors in the field.  Our professors are either Emeritus (fortunately, most of them) or, in a few cases, deceased.  It really doesn't feel all that long ago.  And yet, at this point, I've completed one 20-year career as a psychology professor (1989-2009) and am now in year 17 of a second career in financial services (tax accountant then financial planner) (goal 2009-2029).  It's amazing how quickly it all has gone, in retrospect.

[P.S. re Mystery Benefit--I'm being sent down a rabbit hole.  After delaying a week, the college referenced in the plan merely told me to confirm the benefit with the SSA, while the SSA notice says, "we don't have any information about this benefit other than what is on this form."  The people at the college HR department are new employees and I imagine are not thrilled about having to dig into their books from 2013. So frustrating!  I'll try, but I am expecting that this benefit is going to come to naught other than a waste of time.]

When I got home yesterday and pulled the mail out of the box, there was an envelope from the Social Security Administration.

This was not a surprise, since I filed for Medicare Part A recently.  I just received my card last week.  I thought this was another communication related to that.

But when I opened the envelope, it was a notice related to "Potential Private Retirement Benefit Information" indicating a potential "deferred vested benefit" of over $16k from one of the colleges where I worked that would be a one-time lump sum payment.

The year this was reported to the SSA was 2013.  The year I left that job was 2009.  While I worked full-time at that college for 6 years (and part-time for 3 years before that), I don't recall anything about deferred vested benefits.  

So now I need to call the college HR department and find the retirement Plan Administrator and find out whether this is actually a benefit I am entitled to.

December net worth: $1,188,406

January:

Bank & Money Market:    $10,237

Taxable brokerage:             3,112

Tax-deferred (IRA/401k): 875,175

Tax-free (Roth, HSA):         91,393

House:                              226,000

Car:                                      2,680

Total Assets:                 $1,208,597

Less

Mortgage                           (19,500)

Net Worth                     $1,189,097

Very little change in total net worth from a month ago ($691) but a significant change in components--all the non-mortgage debt was paid off.  Net worth change from 12 months ago: $149,610.