Here is an interesting update:
I am over 6 years into my Public Service Loan Forgiveness! Less than 4 years to go!
Here is an interesting update:
I am over 6 years into my Public Service Loan Forgiveness! Less than 4 years to go!
Congratulations. Any plans for what changes you may make when the burden is lifted? Does it become more stressful thinking some mishap could occur in the final innings?
Your presence has been missed around here.
My plans are to continue making better financial choices and to simply put that “payment” into a retirement plan.Originally Posted by LDAHL
The stress of a mishap feels steady and somewhat nagging. Could happen, might not happen. Time will tell.
Thanks, missed being here and the interesting perspectives you all have!
I woke up this and saw a long list of new posts, and I said to myself "what the heck! This is great!" and then I saw your avatar and said "Oh, now it all makes sense! Ultralight is back!" Thanks for your updates!
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
www.silententry.wordpress.com
You are more than half way there, yay! Downhill slide now. An advantage is you are getting older and time goes more quickly! Haha.
That’s true. I swear I can see kids grow up before my very eyes. It’s like being the Flash, which is surprising considering I’ve never been slower.
I was always somewhat risk averse, but since getting covid, I’m financially conservative to a fault.
This is the first job in my 23 year nursing career where my benefits are good enough to get me through this with full pay. I hadn’t used any sick time since I hired into this company in 2010. So my first 3 months off work was 100% covered by my sick leave that had accrued. Full paychecks and benefits. Now I’ve started to use my accrued vacation pay, which will cover me through mid-December. But I hope to return to work before that.
So I used to keep a few thousand in liquid cash for emergencies. Now I’m keeping a 8-12 month supply of liquid cash. It’s never been more clear to me that I am NOT in control of my future. I need to be ready, rather than paying off our house at record speed, who cares if we have a mortgage??? All other debts are long ago paid, and our mortgage interest rate is very low.
I also was happy to see that we live very well on 1/2 my income. I hadn’t really paid attention when I was working. My job was very consuming and I just paid large chunks of money toward the mortgage when we had extra. Now I know our budget in detail and that’s reassuring for an uncertain future.
Also - I’ve never been so aware of how vulnerable these few years are between my age of almost 59 and my planned retirement age of 64. If I can return to work and follow my plan, I’ll have a full pension for the rest of my life. If not, I’ll be out of money in about 18-24 months, and we will then be deciding which IRAs to cash out early, not to mention having 5 years of trying to figure out health insurance. These 5 years are the difference between comfort and barely paying the bills in retirement.
I read that about half of retirements are not happening as planned. They are forced either by health problems or layoffs.
Tammy, my husband was laid off at 53 and couldn’t find work. He had to take his pension early which cost us 600/month. If we had been willing to relocate he could have found work as he’s a engineer. Is your husband still working?
My husband retired a year ago. His work was outdoors in the phx heat and he just couldn’t do it anymore. He voluntarily retired just prior to age 60, and is not taking any income/SS/etc as my salary is more than plenty for us. He has been the house husband for a year so all I had to focus on was my job. Sometimes he was even my chauffeur and would drop me off at the door so I didn’t have to park and walk in 115 degrees. Then he was also my nurses aide for a while there when I got sick ...
We’ve talked about a perfectly balanced life where we both would work at less stressful jobs for 20 hours a week for the next 5 years. But our society is set up so that someone needs to be full time to get health insurance, and it is in both of our best interests for me to get the full pension, it’s transferable to him f I die first. And then there’s covid .... so many jobs have an exposure risk. Especially part time ones, as they are in the service industries.
So the plan is for me to return to work when fully recovered. If that becomes impossible then we will reevaluate.
Almost there! Stay on target :-)
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