GRACEful Retirement

Grace Gets Wheels

2009-12-06T00:38:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all your comments and help.

I took everything into consideration, and I did take much of your advice.

For example, I asked for and got a Carfax report. I had a mechanic check it out. I did a lot of internet searching before I went to a dealer.

I bought on a three year contract.

In the end I did get another Dodge Caravan.

I found it (and several other Caravans) on Craigslist.

Why not a smaller car?

There appears to be some liklihood that I may wind up with my daughter's two older children (who currently live with their father four hours away) as well as the two who live with me and their father now. If that happens, a sedan just won't cut it.

Plus, I admit it--while I like the idea of a small, fuel efficient car, I LOVE driving a minivan.

And you should see the one I got!

Unlike the very basic model I bought new ten years ago, this baby is loaded! It's a 2005 one-owner minivan with 62,000 miles on it, and every power option known to man. It has cruise control, a tilt wheel and a radio that tells me what song and what artist is playing. It has a casette player (so I don't have to throw away my oldies collection or all the grandkid's "Wee Sing" tapes, though some days, if I have to listen to another chorus of "This Old Man," I am dearly tempted!) and a CD player. It even has a computer to tell me how many miles I have left to go before I run out of gas.

I'm pretty excited, though one of my daughters pointed out that those options are on most vehicles these days.

How did my budget fare? The vehicle lists in Kelly Blue Book for $9700. I got my minivanfor exactly $8000 after paying the licensing fees. I tried but failed to dicker. The dealer said the price had been reduced because it had been on the lot for more than 90 days and it was now as low at they could go. Is that true? Who knows. It felt like a good deal to me. My mechanic said it was clean and looked to be in good shape. He pointed out that the water pump had been replaced (which I knew because the Carfax report noted it) and there was a new battery (which the dealership said they had put in a week ago when I asked).

I resisted all the service contracts, theft insurance (What? Some errant soccer mom will try to steal my mini-van?) and various add-ons the salesman assured me would be wonderful things to have. And I financed at 4.49% through my credit union.

The payments will be $161 a month for 36 months and my debt load has increased considerably.

Along the way, I discovered I have a Beacon Score of 770 though I am not quite sure just what a Beacon score is.

First thing on my agenda now that I have wheels? Get a Christmas tree and try out that dazzling roof rack!

It's Dead, Jim!

2009-12-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

Well, my 1999 Dodge Caravan, with a mere 168,000 miles to its speedometer, has finally bitten the dust. First the brakes gave out, and then the bearings. I nursed it to the airport to deliver my sister to her flight back to the Big Apple, nursed it back home, and there it gave up the ghost. (D'ya think I coulda crammed in any more cliches into one paragraph?)

This does make me wish I hadn't put the $500+ into it a couple of months back, but it doesn't matter. The car is dead.

Onward to the expense of getting another vehicle.

I hate this part--not just the expense, but the actual searching for the right car. I know zilch about cars. All I really know to do is check Kelly Blue Book for prices. But how do I evaluate the condition of the engine?

And what make and model would be most appropriate?

I would really like a small, fuel-efficient vehicle. But with the two grandkids living with me, another minivan would probably be the best option.

I need another payment like I need a hole in the head (Sheesh! Enough of the cliches already!)

Obviously, if I have to have payments, a three year plan is better than a five year plan. But would it be better to go with the lowered payments of a five year loan just in case I have trouble making higher payments? I could always double up on the payments and get it paid off sooner.

I'm thinking of getting a car in the $6000 to $8000 price range. My sister is giving me $1200 for the down payment.

Arrgh! Did I say I hate this?

Winding Up November

2009-11-30T11:47:00.000-08:00

For reasons I will blog about later, this is likely to be the last month where my indebtedness goes down.

But, surprisingly, down it did go--to the tune of $903.31 this month.

I'm happy with that.

Next month will be a different story.

Black Friday Helped Keep Me in the Black

2009-11-29T16:28:00.000-08:00

My sister from New York comes out to see me every Thanksgiving.

First there was Thanksgiving itself. I have it down to an art. First, I have mastered the long-suffering sigh. Then, I say, wearily, "OK, OK, I'll stuff and bake the turkey. But if I do all that work, the rest of the family has to bring the rest of the food and clean up."

What a great scam given how easy roasting a turkey is! And at 23 cents a pound for a nearly 25 pound turkey, it didn't even cost all that much.

Then, another of our longstanding family traditions is to get up really early (4:00 a.m. this year) and hit the Black Friday sales. My sister does all of her family shopping for my family that day. I get the stuff I don't think will be as cheap again before Christmas.

I failed to get one of the $200 laptops at Wal-Mart. Apparently we had to be there by 2:00 a.m. when they handed out tickets.

But a local department store had every sock and bath towel in the place at 50% off, and I definitely scored some bargains.

Plus, two of my kids want WII's this year and I got them for $174 a piece.

Old Navy was a bonanza for kid's clothes and t-shirts--everything I wanted was $5 each.

I know I'm supposed to despair of the rampant consumerism that is unleashed on Black Friday, but I was too busy out there buying.

My Christmas budget, which is usually $2000 for tree, decor, and gifts for 12 kids and grandkids, plus assorted spouses/boyfriends, is $1600 this year.

I'm determined to stay within the budget, and Black Friday helped me meet that goal.

ATM Fees? Ya Gotta Be Kidding!

2009-11-20T08:26:00.000-08:00

My oldest daughter (in her forties, so definitely old enough to know better!) and her husband overdrew their checking account. They now have an additional $66 in overdraft charges.

Why?

Because both of them were withdrawing $20 at a time from ATM's that did not service their bank.

So, maybe they use an obscure bank that doesn't have a lot of ATM's?

Nope. They bank with Bank of America.

They got lazy and just headed for the nearest ATM. Worse, they did not pay attention to the $2 "foreign ATM" fee. $2? No big deal, right? Well, not when it overdraws one's account! Not when subsequent checks bounce and incur more fees.

My poor daughter is getting no sympathy from me.

Only once in my life have I ever used a "foreign" ATM, and that was a really, really foreign one in Japan. It still made me unhappy to pay the fee. (Not to mention the additional $3 "foreign currency" fee my bank also tacked on.)

There are some minor expenses I am constitutionally unable to stomach--ATM fees being one of them. I will go out of my way to find an ATM that doesn't charge me extra or is connected to my bank.

News Flash! When You're Laid Off, STOP Spending!

2009-11-13T09:11:00.000-08:00

Color me cynical, but how can I feel sorry for these folks profiled in the Wall Street Journal?

I am prepared to be sympathetic to anyone laid off during the past two years, but when I read that many of them didn't cut back a bit on their lifestyle because they thought the job loss was temporary, it makes me want to scream.

If the job loss is anticipated to be temporary, then why not TEMPORARILY CUT BACK ON EXPENSES????

Why would you continue to spend even on a temporary basis, knowing that you'd have to make it all up later?

And once you've been unemployed for several months, wouldn't that be a clue that getting another position might not be as easy as it looks?

What's up with turning down jobs because one wants something better? Heck, we all want something better, even folks like me who love the work we're currently doing.

It strikes me that many of these people feel ENTITLED. Entitled to make a large salary. Entitled to own fancy and expensive vehicles. Entitled to keep using credit cards when no income is on the horizon. In general, they feel entitled to enjoy the lifestyle they once had even if the economic realities should be telling them otherwise.

Sorry, but Grace just doesn't have more compassion to give to these folks who mourn the loss of their BMW's, not when I see the working classes engaged in a struggle to survive.

October Update and Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T16:28:00.000-07:00

One thing about having 6 and 7 year old live-in grandkids--you discover that Halloween is a MAJOR holiday. The costume planning has been going on for days as have elaborate discussions of the best neighborhoods to hit up for candy. It's been a long time since I've had kids at home who went trick or treating, but I'm enjoying it. We have instituted the "Grandma gets all the Tootsie Rolls" rule, so I'm planning to receive my share of treats as well.

In the meantime, October proved to be a better month for debt reduction than I anticipated.

Altogether, I brought my debt down by $801.99.

It would take a miracle to do the same for November or December--I'm just hoping I don't further into debt during those months.

We, Bloggers

2009-10-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

Did you ever wonder who we, bloggers, collectively are?

According to a recent Technorati report, we're highly educated youngish males who make over $75,000 a year.

Hmm? Doesn't exactly describe me.

68% of us have been blogging for about two years. (Grace's blog is officially 2.25 years old.) 72% of us are hobbyists. (Count Grace in that number.)

What do we blog about? The general answer is "anything I can think of," as these statistics, also from Technorati's survey show. About 7% of the hobbyists have personal finance blogs.

I find that book blogs, Science Fiction blogs, cooking blogs (which is a laugh given the low level of culinary skill I possess) and personal finance blogs are the ones I am most likely to read, though I also tune in daily for two local political blogs.

Speaking of politics, I found some interesting facts among all the statistics. 50% of personal bloggers allow politics to color their particular topics while only 37% of professional bloggers allow it. Frankly, I don't know how one can discuss most topics outside of one's immediate family without at least touching on politics. Certainly, it's hard not to bring up the subject when it comes to personal finance blogging.

Like 70% of the responders in the Technorati survey, I blog for personal pleasure (and in an attempt to exercise some personal financial discipline!) but I was surprised at the number of folks who are in it for the money--not that overall, they are making that much from their blogs.

At this point in time, I don't have advertising on my blog. I'm not opposed to it but I've never quite figured out exactly how to do it or whether it would be worth it.

Maybe I should ask one of those young, well-educated men out there?

Now They Want to Gore Grace's Ox!

2009-10-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

Yep! Now the Center for Science in the Public Interest has come out with a proposal to tax soda. President Obama has said it's not a bad idea so far as he is concerned.

If such a tax ever passes, I'll definitely feel the pinch because I drink more than my fair share of Diet Pepsi (or Diet Coke or Diet Store Brand Cola if it's cheaper).

But, you know what?

I'm OK with this tax.

It might hurt financially. I might have to cut down on my soda consumption. I might gripe some about the nanny-state. (OK, I'll probably gripe a LOT!)
But I do know that cola drinks are, in no way, necessary to my diet or my budget. They are a luxury. If I'm not willing to give them up, it shouldn't kill me to pay a little more for them, particularly if it will go to providing needed public services.

For the same reasons, I don't mind taxes on cigarettes or alcoholic beverages. Of course that's easier for me to say because I don't smoke and I drink only occasionally.

As one might expect, The American Beverage Association strongly disfavors the tax proposal, never mind that several states already have one in place.

The American Beverage Association is only interested in our constitutional rights, and has no personal interest in the proposal (and, um, could I interest you in some beachfront property in Arizona?) To quote them:

"This kind of thinking is exactly why Americans
don't want government using the tax code to tell
them what to eat or drink. Furthermore, there
couldn't be a worse time to raise taxes on people.
In an economy like this, the last thing government
should be doing is raising taxes on the middle-class."

When it comes to raising revenue, I tend to oppose taxes that impact the poor and middle class more than any other.

So gas taxes bother me, even though I would like to see the auto industry become more environmentally sound, and our citizenry use public transportation to a greater extent. Unless one lives in an urban area, cars are a necessity for rich and poor alike.

Taxes on food generally gall me. Nothing strikes the poor more unfairly.

Taxes on soda? Not so much. I don't know if taxing sugary drinks (or even the diet ones, which aren't good for us, either) would truly make a dent in obesity, but it's a fast, easy, not very onerous way to raise revenue on an item none of us have any actual use for.

So do it!

What Should be Going Down Isn't

2009-10-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

I don't pretend to understand the politics or finances of big oil.

I know only that I drive a car (so I use gas) and I have a furnace, (so I use heating oil).

But we're talking about petroleum-based products in both scenarios, right?

So why is gasoline coming down in price over the last two weeks but heating oil costs went up?

Am I being paranoid to think that the oil companies know that those of us who heat with oil must have it during the winter months?

All I really know is that at the first of October, I could get 100 gallons of oil for $229. Yet by the time I actually bought it, on October 16th, it cost me $253.

But during the same period, regular gas was decreasing in price. It went from $2.62 per gallon to $2.55.

Go figure.

More Real Life Curves

2009-10-13T08:31:00.001-07:00

At least it's NOT health-related.

But life-changing? Oh yeah!

I've written before about my five adopted daughters. All but one came to me with significant emotional issues. Over time, some of those issues resolved. Some didn't. But resolved or not, eventually all five girls left home to make their way in the world as adults.

My most seriously-disturbed daughter has always had a sad and chaotic life. Unfortunately, she has four children who share in that life. Last week, the chaos became too great and the state stepped in.

The end result is that two children went with one father and two others went with another.

But one of those fathers was not in a residential setting conducive to rearing children.

Which explains how Grace, after finally living all by herself and loving it, now has a six year old and a seven year old, along with their father, sharing her home.

It IS an adjustment!

And it DOES affect my finances.

The heating bills are going up. The food expenses are increasing. And I'd forgotten all those niggling school costs that hit you every time you turn around--school lunches, PTA, Gift wrap and cookie sales, field trips, birthday parties, etc.

One one hand, I love having my grandchildren around, and knowing that they are safe. On the other hand, I get to kiss my free time and savings good-by.

I'm not sure how long this is going to last, but several months at least.

Early Retiree Follow-Up

2009-10-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today's article on MSN Money by Liz Pulliam Weston Retired By 50. Where Are They Now? is an interesting follow-up on four couples she's profiled in September, 2007.

It's a good read and inspirational in terms of where frugality, savings and good planning will take you.

However, it's a bit of a cheat to say that these folks RETIRED.

Most just left their prior jobs, (some with a pension, some without) and moved on to different careers. That's hardly my definition of retirement.

Some downshifted to less stressful lives, moved onto a houseboat, cool things like that. But again, that's NOT retirement. It may just be changing to a better lifestyle.

As it turns out, only one couple truly is retired. They are living off of investments and doing well even during the recession, which is reassuring.

I don't understand Liz' definition of retirement. If I leave the job I'm currently in to, say, open a bookstore (one of those impossible dreams that always sounds better as a fantasy than it plays out in real life), I haven't retired. I've just changed fields. If I move to a cabin in the woods to write books, I haven't retired if I intend to make my living doing so.

At least to me, retirement means not working or at least not working fulltime and not working at anything particularly remunerative. It means volunteering. It means traveling. It may even mean writing books, but having tried that in the past (the publishing world was unmoved!), I would never expect to live on those royalties.

In Grace's world, retired means RETIRED!

Mom, Dad & Money

2009-10-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on my blog reading, but when I dropped by Sunflower's blog, The Debt Chronicles, her comments about her father really got me to thinking.

I grew up in a working class family that seldom discussed finances. As children, my sister and I would ask for things or ask for money, and the answer was either yes or no, and that was it. It was only as an adult that I realized our family was always teetering on the edge of poverty. Still, because that was the same for most of the families in our small town, I never felt particuarly poor.

However, I was determined that money would not be a taboo subject with my kids. I wanted them to know the general state of my finances (which were tight while I was rearing them) so I did talk money with the children. Now I wonder if I did so too frankly.

Sunflower says that her father's comments ruined her family vacations.

I well remember one Disneyland vacation with three of my daughters where I ran out of money and we ate peanut butter sandwiches the entire two days it took us to drive home. I know that I spent those two days obsessing out loud about the money we'd spent and whether I had enough to buy gas to get us back.

Now, I'm wishing I hadn't done that. Too much information? At the expense of their pleasure in the vacation?

Not that I think my parents were necessarily correct either--it might have done me good to know the sacrifices they made to give my sister and I everything we needed and much of what we wanted.

But I don't think that reminding children of the pain of every single expenditure is the way to go. Once the decision is made to spend the money, then that should be it. Whatever is done with it should be enjoyed to the fullest--otherwise what is the point? If that enjoyment comes at the price of foregoing some other pleasure down the road, so be it. Say "no" to the new expenditure. Say why that is so. And move on.

I think I'll ask my adult kids how they now feel about the way I talked about money when they were living at home.

I wonder if I'll appreciate the answers.

September 2009 Quarterly Update

2009-09-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

On a quarterly basis, things are definitely looking up--13% up as movement on my home values and my 401(K) funds gives my net worth an increase of $66,542.21. This means I now have a total net worth of $573,722.21.

Not bad. Not up to the June, 2008 high of almost $600,000, but still fine by me.

On the monthly side of things, it's much less exciting. In fact, after all is said and done, I reduced my total indebtedness this month by a decidedly anemic $66.37.

However, I do have my excuses! September is when I have to pay in full for my transit pass, which I then recover from my flex funds over the next six pay periods. I also pay in full for my secretary, who pays me back out of her flex funds. We save several hundred dollars a year by doing it this way, but it does temporarily impact my debt reduction.

I'm going to track my spending down to the penny in October--I want to see where I'm dribbling away my funds. [Yeah, I could make some good guesses, but nothing like a few facts to make me face my own spending habits.]

More From the Social Security Administration

2009-09-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

I'm not one of the doomsayers who believes in the imminent or eventual collapse of Social Security. Nor is this story from Wallet Pop intended to panic anyone.

There IS money to cover the deficit, and no eligible retiree will go unserved or unpaid. Not for the first time, Social Security's income will be exceeded by its outgo--a rerun from the '80's. As happened then, the current shortage will be covered within a year or two.

But in the meantime, the Social Security Administration is doublely hammered--job losses equal less money from FICA while increased early retirements mean more demand for their funds.

What saddens me the most are the human stories behind the surge of early retirements.

It's one thing to retire by choice.

Another to have to retire due to disability or the need to care for a loved one.

By far the worst is to be capable mentally and physically of working, to WANT to work, and yet to have nothing available.

I suppose that folks 62 and over are lucky to have the choice to retire, given the large numbers of youthful and middle-aged jobseekers out there. But I doubt it feels very lucky to those taking their retirement years before they needed to, wanted to or ever intended to do so.

Scammed & Crammed

2009-09-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

I got my telephone bill online yesterday and nearly fell off my chair.

My landline costs $27 a month give or take the occasional call to directory assistance. My latest bill was for $67! Excuuuuse me???

When I checked the billing, there were my usual monthly charges plus two $19.99 charges by Transaction Clearing ETS for Access Voice, some sort of answering service. Since I already have an answering machine, I would hardly be signing up for voicemail.

And in fact, I hadn't.

When I called my telephone carrier, they agreed to remove the charges, though they said they had had no choice but to initially add them to my bill. (Clark Howard says this is entirely incorrect.)

I also called Transaction Clearing ETS where a cheerful operator agreed to remove the charges. She asked so few questions, and was so immediately willing to help that I asked if this happened often. "Oh Yes," she replied. "We're told to take off the charges for Access Voice whenever anyone complains."

The Rip-Off Report says I'm hardly the first consumer to be targeted by Access Voice.

OK, my problem is solved. But I'm the kind of person who checks every bill. What if I wasn't? What if I was used to much higher bills, such that an extra $40 wouldn't surprise me? What if I was a business person and just automatically paid every bill as it came in?

It must be easy money for these crooks.

Today's Carnival

2009-09-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

Emily at Taking Charge handled this week's Carnival of Personal Finance. Grace is there, with the post about Bernie Madoff. Lots of other good reading as well.

Naming Names

2009-09-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

Dave Ramsey famously tells us to "give every dollar a name" when we budget.

I tried that this month.

My problem is that other names kept intruding into my budget.

Which makes me want to use a lot of names that one shouldn't in a family-oriented blog!

I went the extra mile to delineate every expense I could think of--the "every six weeks" haircut, a grandchild's birthday, stamps, etc.

I even hauled out my envelopes to carefully keep all the expenses separate.

Good plan, except there was no envelope when my 16 year old grandson called to say he failed his driver's license exam and needed $20 to take it again. I failed to name the dollars needed to buy a baby shower gift for a colleague at work--heck, I didn't even know she was pregnant. And why is it that water bills are handed out quarterly, not monthly, so that I'm always surprised when the bill comes? Neither a name nor an envelope for that, either.

So, of course, I purloined the named dollars from the food budget and the gas budget, all of which explains why I'm pretty much out of names but the month still has another 9 days till payday.

Expect some major whining to ensue!

Childfree, Childless, or Children Everywhere

2009-09-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

I graduated high school in 1967.

I feel like I'm part of the first generation that didn't automatically assume that becoming a parent was the be-all, end-all purpose of our lives. Whether it was the feminist movement that suggested there was more out there for women than being mothers, the advent of free love that brought with it STDs which impacted our ability to give birth, or hedonistic boomer lifestyles that made children a burden as much as a blessing, it was suddenly OK not to want or have children. In fact, in some circles, it was environmentally correct to not add to the population bomb.

I'm sixty. My sister is 59. Neither of us has given birth. However, I did become a parent to five wonderful daughters through adoption.

At some point I discovered that when I initially said I didn't want children, what I really meant was that I didn't want babies and I had no particular desire to give birth. As far as passing my genes along, there are already enough chubby white women in the pool. But over time, I realized I really did want to parent. So I found a way.

Still, let there be no equivocation about the financial consequences of my decision. Even with Medicaid and monthly Adoption Assistance (all five of my adoptions were through the state foster care system), KIDS ARE EXPENSIVE! And it doesn't end with childhood. All five of my children are now adults. Adults who continue to cost their mother money!

There's an interesting discussion going on over at Voluntary Simplicity on this subject. The comments include a great deal of ambivalence as well as accusations of selfishness (though, interestingly, both lifestyles with and without children, are described as selfish).

Having children has greatly impacted my finances. Yet I don't regret my decision to parent.

Then, again, neither does my sister regret her decision to remain childfree.

A Fool By Any Other Name. . .

2009-09-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

I had lunch on Saturday with a couple, two longtime friends from the east coast. We hadn't gotten together in over five years but at one point in our lives, we had been very close. It's the kind of friendship where even after five years, no subject is taboo. So after catching up, we started talking finances. She works in fashion; he's a research physician. Both of them were caught up in the Bernie Madoff scandal, and both of them were furious at the havoc wrecked upon their finances by Madoff.

The last time we got together, five years ago, we had laughed hysterically at the small town city council in my state who had actually used city funds to participate in what turned out to be a Nigerian scam. We marveled at idiots who were foolish enough to put their faith in an e-mail that promised them millions.

But my friends weren't laughing about Madoff. They "lost" over $600,000 in Bernie's New York version of Nigeria. I put quotations around the words "lost" because they didn't actually invest that much, but they understood that the investments they HAD made were increasing rapidly. Sadly, when the dust cleared, they were out $600,000 they thought they could count on, plus the hit that their other funds took during the current recession.

They just could not believe that people of their caliber could be scammed. The physician acknowledged that the most successful large-scale cons were usually aimed at doctors, actors, and Mormons. But though he is a physician, he's in research. Plus, he's not a member of the Latter Day Saints; he's Jewish. Plus, he's really, really smart, as is his wife.

Somehow, he expected that all of those traits would protect him from the Madoffs of this world.

I have to wonder if those attributes actually made him more vulnerable--that he felt so protected by his intelligence that he didn't question where his wonderful returns were coming from. Why was everyone else hurting as the economy slid into recession but Bernie kept their money coming?

My friends are hardly out on the street though neither one will be retiring quite as soon as they had hoped. They got rid of their Manhattan co-op (bringing a check for $22,000 to the table to do so) and moved to Park Slope. For folks familiar with NYC real estate, Park Slope is not exactly the poor side of town.

But the greatest damage was done to their sense of their innate ability to manage their money. They would never have fallen prey to the e-mail plea of a Nigerian general's widow but when the scammer comes clothed in your own religion, speaks your language and projects an air of financial sophistication?

Then, almost everyone is capable of playing the fool.

The Law of Unintended Consequences hits Young Workers

2009-09-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

Who'a thunk that MY saving money in my 401(k) would work to the detriment of young workers?

As Catherine Rampell and Matthew Saltmarsh write in Thursday's New York Times, the losses that prospective retirees see in their 401(k)s are keeping them on the job longer, which means fewer positions opening to new employees.

This is less true in other recession-hit countries (those with--OH NO!--SOCIALIST agendas!) where government pensions ARE intended to cover all costs, unlike the United States, where Social Security is intended merely to supplement employer pensions (which are, of course, going the way of the Dodo!) and employee savings. According to the article, last year in the United States, almost a third of people ages 65 to 69 were still in the labor force; in France, just 4 percent of people this age were still working or looking for work.

This is the point where some folks sneer "Then, move to France if you want to!" Or they correctly point out the higher taxes that French citizens pay. I wonder why we can't take some lessons from countries who are handling issues like health care and retirement more effectively than we do in the US. I wonder why, instead, we so often resort to jingoistic responses that get nothing changed, and nothing solved.

As it happens, I will NOT have an employer-paid pension when I retire. As it also happens, I really like my current job. So Grace is definitely one of the old geezers standing in the way of recent college grads. I can't afford to retire "on time," (for me, age 65 and four months) But I probably wouldn't, anyway.

Grandma Goes In Debt

2009-08-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

More (depressing!) food for thought in USA Today's story "Credit Card Debt Rises Faster for Those 65 and older."

The great bugaboos of old age--medical bills and adult children--appear to be the culprits.

The rate of increase in debt among seniors is breathtaking. The study quoted in the article shows that low- and middle-income consumers 65 and older carried $10,235 in average card debt last year, up a whopping 26% from 2005. Compare this to credit card debt for all borrowers surveyed which rose 3% during that time, to $9,827.

Much of the increase is attributed to the cost of living, combined with reductions in available retirement funds.

According to an associate director of Demos, the organization that conducted the study, "The frivolous spending idea, that's not what's driving families into crazy debt. The expense that most affects families is the cost of living."

I dunno about you, but these statistics worry me even more than the increasing debt load being accrued by young adults in college--at least our younger citizens have another forty plus years to earn money and tame the debt.

Not helping matters was the survey's finding that older folks are not only borrowing more, but they are paying higher interest rates for the privilege.

It's stories like this that make me more determined than ever to get rid of my debts BEFORE I head into retirement.

Just a Typo Away From Retirement

2009-08-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

I was trying to figure out what Sharon from "Musings of a Midlife Mom" was talking about when she commented on my last post.

What? Me retire at age 59? How does that work when I'm already 60 years old?

OK, so I made a typo. After sixty years on this planet, I'm entitled to a typo or two. Or five.

69 years old, NOT 59! 69!

That's the current plan, God and my health willing. Of course, I'd be happy to retire sooner.

Maybe I could win the lottery?

God, are you paying attention?

I wonder if I have to buy a ticket first?

August Update

2009-08-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

August turned out much better than I anticipated, helped along by the fact that neither my TV purchase nor my van repairs (the second set) have yet registered. I reduced my total indebtedness by $737.06. Not exactly an amazing amount, but I'm just grateful it is headed in the right direction.

In the meantime, it's getting exciting watching my 401(k) recover. I now have $8000 more in my retirement savings than I had last month, and only $1025 of that comes from new contributions. According to Financial Engines (my favorite website when it comes to figuring out what I need for retirement and how I currently stand in my effort to get there), I have a 72% chance of retiring at age 59 with an income of at least $43,000. (My retirement goal is to have at least $40,000 per year, but preferably $50,000.)

So August turned out OK, if not spectacular.

On the other hand, with September comes school clothes and tuition for the grandkids.

I'm going to follow AA's example, and just take it one day and one month at a time.

Tweaking My Bloglist

2009-08-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

I went through my bloglist and checked that all the links work. I also removed anyone who hadn't posted to their blog in the last six months. And, since I'm always finding new personal finance blogs to read, I added a few new ones to my mix.

If you think I missed a good blog, or you want to know where YOUR blog is, leave a comment.