Some random gratitude

[stormkeeper_lovesall]

 
Some gratitude moments from the past week or so

- Doris went grocery shopping with me Sunday. It's so much easier when she goes with me (I usually go alone)

- And she made focaccia Sunday. Had a piece right out of the oven. It was incredible.

- Writing was really, really flowing Monday. And I posted my 16th Spartacus fanfic. And another Spartacus fanfic is on the verge of a milestone - 150 kudos. It's just 1 away.

- The show Disenchantment is good!

- Over the years, we've acquired a lot of loose, herbal teas. I never was a fan of either. I prefer caffeinated teas that come in easy-to-use bags! We got the loose, herbal stuff mostly as gifts over the years. But the past week or so I've been trying to use them up, and I find that I like 'em ok.

- Met via Zoom with my financial planner. Everything looks really good to retire at 58 or even earlier. We've even built a big cushion in there (which can be used either to retire earlier, or as safety in case my investments don't do as well)

Comments

[nytshd3]

I often go shopping solo but I also prefer it when Rollin comes with me (also it means I don't have to remember everything, and he can say 'oh yeah I also wanted to get x'.

Yay for yummy focaccia! Rollin has been making breakfast bakes a lot the last couple weeks trying to find a recipe he loves.

Woohoo on your writing, so cool that you're so close to 150 kudos! Are there a lot of spartacus fanfic writers?

I couldn't really get into disenchantment. It totally seems like a show I would LOVE. But I watched a few episodes and felt meh about them. I am thinking about watching buffy the vampire slayer for the first time!

Glad you were able to enjoy the teas! Did you use one of those metal steeping things? We have some tea... i don't know what they're called, sleeves? They're like the material of the tea bag but empty and you can put tea in them. We needed them for a recipe a while back and I don't think we've used them since. If they would be helpful I'd be happy to pass them on to you!

Hooray for a good financial plan! Do you have a percentage drawdown you're planning on? like 3% or 4% or something like that? I was looking at my numbers this week because I reaaaaaaaaaaaallly wanna retire but I do think it would be best to put in a few more years building it up. And definitely better to have some extra cushioning than to have to worry about becoming a walmart greeter in your 70s. I am thinking 2030 for retirement.

[stormkeeper_lovesall]

Yeah, like I find solo grocery shopping just hard! Especially because we're in the city, so we don't get a parking lot at our grocery store or a cart corrale...it's just easier to have someone help with this stuff.

Having a spouse who bakes is perfection.

And actually yes, the Spartacus fandom is producing a ton of fics now. Like I posted one on Sunday, and within 24 hours, there were 5 newer ones posted.

How far into Disenchantment did you get? I was pretty into it by the 2nd ep; I do recall not getting hooked by the first. Ooooh....very interesting to rewatch Buffy! I imagine it's pretty dated but still great.

Yeah, we have metal steeping things. And it's weird - now that we're almost through with them, I want more! :) I know what you mean by the sleeves, and I think we do have some that we never use, so we're good. :)

Sorry, what do you mean by a drawdown? I can tell you that the way my planner shows it, he says I'm at 165% of my goal now - so that's basically the 'cushion'. My investments can underperform or I can retire before 58 or live longer than 95 and be fine, basically.

That is so cool that you can almost retire! But then you said 2030. What about somewhere in between now and then? Like 2028 or 2027 or '26? I do feel that 2030 feels so far away. (Mine right now is to retire at 58, so that's 2032 though I sure would like to go earlier. And if I get laid off and can't get something else decent, I might very well do so but of course the big issue is health insurance....:(

[nytshd3]

Oh yes, I hadn't thought about the carrying aspect of the groceries, even with really nice bags it's a pain. When I get home from shopping I text Rollin that I'm there and he (usually) comes out to help. Sometimes he's napping on the couch and I'm on my own. lol.

I know we've talked about this before but I am fascinated that some shows end and continue to produce tons of fanfic and others end and the fanfic just peters out. Spartacus has been done for a while now, right?

I think I made it three episodes into disenchantment. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it enough to keep watching. Maybe I can revisit it at some time. I feel like I watched at least two episodes on airplanes? And... I NEVER WATCHED BUFFY!!! Like, I knew of it, I knew who the characters were because I think 90% of the people I have known in my lifetime have been buffy fans, I probably saw 2 or 3 episodes, but I never actually watched the show. Crazy, right?

In the FIRE (financially independent/retire early) circles, they talk about their drawdown percentages, it's what percentage of your investments you're planning on taking out yearly to live on. The idea is that if you only need to take out, say, 3% of your investments in a year, and the investments grow by more than 3%, you still end up with more at the end of the year than you had when you retired. So if the market doesn't go totally bonkers, and your investments are consistently growing by 5% and you consistently take out about 3%, your money will continue to grow while you have enough to live on (and you can take out more in the future as your investment continues to grow so you can deal with inflation). Of course, a lot of it depends on how much you saved up and if you're the kind of person who's going to retire and more or less continue your current lifestyle or the kind of person who wants to retire and buy a boat and a high end car or something. And yes, the damn health insurance is definitely a limiting factor. The good news for me is that Rollin LOVES his job and wants to continue working for a while even after I retire, so I should be able to get on his health insurance plan. Also, assuming the ACA isn't done away with under the trump dictatorship, a lot of people who retire early go on one of those health insurance plans. Honestly i feel like Rollin's health insurance isn't all that great, but I'm also maxing out the amount I'm putting into my health savings account too, and hopefully I can keep building that up. But because my deductible is high, it means it doesn't grow by that much year over year. But, like right now, it's early January and I already have more in that account than I will need for all of my deductibles all year, so it is coming along.

It's definitely possible that I might be able to retire sooner. Waiting til 2030 would mean that I'd have a few more years with my better health insurance, I'd have more time to contribute to my 403b (also presumably some raises in that time so a higher dollar amount going into savings) and other retirement accounts, more time to build up my HSA, and be that much closer to qualifying for social security, if it even still exists when we retire. I wish I could, like, temporarily retire for a while. Like, spend the summer not working, just hanging with my mom and the kiddos (though lbr, they would probably prefer to hang with their friends, and the charm of having auntie annie around every day would probably wear thin faster than I'd like to believe). But realistically, if I stopped working for a few months, it would be that much harder to go back to work, I think. And if I did it for a couple of years, it would pretty much be impossible.

[stormkeeper_lovesall]

Thank you for the explanation about drawdown. I will make a note to ask my advisor about it next time we meet. I don't think he's ever talked about it in those terms.

I hear ya about wanting to temporarily retire. Like a sabbatical, like McD's offers maybe? I wonder if you want to look into asking to take a leave of absence. Of course you'd have to see what happens to your insurance during that time. It might help you rest and get re-energized. Lets face it, a week off here and there doesn't help much.

[nytshd3]

I think most plans call for a 3 - 4% withdrawal rate, so most likely that's where yours is too. Or maybe planned to be variable over time.

I would loooooove to take a sabbatical! The biggest problem is that being that our company is very small and I am (literally) the only person who does what I do, it would be hard for them to lose me for 6 - 8 weeks. Even though I'm way behind, it would be soooo much worse if I didn't work on anything at all. I am hoping that once I have a little more time working on this stuff *exclusively* under my belt (as opposed to the last two years when I've been doing it on and off), I will hopefully feel better/more confident/less miserable/less swamped. Cuz it's true. A week off here and there is nice, and can be restorative, but there's always something else that needs to be done, there's thinking about how crazy things will be when you get back, etc.

[rhoda_rants]

Fresh out of the oven focaccia is SO good!! My mom has gotten into the habit of baking bread regularly, so we have homemade loaves pretty much all the time, and it's the BEST!

*quietly making a note not to send you loose-leaf tea*

Although, you kind of have to become a tea nerd to make tea work when it's not regular black tea. You have to brew it at different temperatures, for different lengths of time, and it can get confusing. We have a fridge magnet that we got from our local tea shop that lists various types of teas and optimal brewing time/temperature. Makes a HUGE difference!

However I also set my timer this morning then forgot about it and left green tea on to brew for like twenty minutes, so.

[stormkeeper_lovesall]

There really is something magical about homemade baking.

Okay funny thing is that now that I'm sipping the last looseleaf, herbal tea....I miss it!

I do agree; there's a bit of an art to it all.