Retirement Finances

Hubby and I went to talk to a financial adviser about our retirement plan. Seemed a little late to be talking about it, since I'm already retired, but Hubby isn't, and he is a worrier. So we went.

Hubby had a 401K from a previous employer that had been losing ground in the stock market. Well, three quarters of that account was invested in the stock of that former employer, and we knew that wasn't very good, wasn't ... 'balanced'. Hubby had also heard that a couple needed to have a $1 million retirement account in order to provide a 'comfortable' living for however long you live. (Never touch the principle, just use the interest.)

Hubby also revealed he doesn't believe social security will be there when we are old enough to claim it, because the Republicans would have dismantled it by then. And even though I'm currently getting a pension, and he is working for the same government entity I worked for and should therefore get one, too, he doesn't believe those pensions will last, either, since ALL government entities are experiencing hard financial times, and the pension plan we've been paying into is underfunded. The workers have been paying into it, but our employer hasn't matched our dollars as fully as it should have. So he figures it won't be there. And I've never had a 401K. So he figures the only thing we could count on was that account of his.

He's just a little bit too much of a pessimist.

And I might be a little bit too much of an optimist, because I always figured I'd get by ... somehow.

We had our meeting, started working out a plan, and came away with some sense of relief. You know what? This is one instance when I'm glad I married a worrier.

This is Math

In response to President Obama's adoption of Warren Buffet's suggestion that millionaires should pay a higher rate in taxes – perhaps the same percentage as middle-class workers – the Republicans were quick to call it 'Class Warfare'. I found that an entertaining comment, since I have felt for many years that we were in a type of class warfare, and that the rich people were winning. I and most of the middle class people I know have been slipping further and further down the societal ladder toward poverty. And though we might complain, for the most part, WE do not object to paying our 'fair share' of taxes.

They also quickly figured out that 'it wouldn't work'. If they raised the rate of taxes on millionaires, well there aren't that many of them, and the results would be a mere fraction of what's needed to balance the budget.

Obviously, they are far too rich to have any idea how to make a real budget work. Maybe we need a few middle-class (sliding towards poverty) housewives to work on the national budget. They're the ones who know that if you have a big bill that absolutely must be covered right away, you aren't likely to find that much money in any one place. They know you have to look for that money a nickel at a time. If you can find a way to bring in even just one more dollar to help pay that bill, then that makes it that much easier. If I have an unexpected bill of $500, and I'm trying to get it paid by looking for nickels... Don't tell me a 'mere fraction' won't do any good.

Keeping Track of TV

Back when I was a kid, you knew what to expect on TV. You quickly figured out what channel had a good show on what day, and at what time. Things got a bit dicey around Christmas, when half the shows skipped a week so the other shows could have a Christmas show twice as long as normal, but otherwise, the day, time and channel for all the shows you liked remained the same from the start of school until school let out. Then, us kids didn't care if the summer was full of re-runs, because we were probably outside, playing kick the can or chasing fireflies.

Of course, back then we only got the 3 national channels, and maybe – if the wind was right – a snowy rendition of the closest public broadcast station. Remembering your TV schedule was simple.

Well, leave it to the suits in charge of the tv stations to make it impossible!
These days, a 'season' might be as little as 9 weeks long. And if you're really, really lucky, they might make 2 of these 'seasons' in any one year. Even then, that’s 18 weeks, out of 52. That leaves 34 weeks for them to show re-runs. But apparently, that isn't enough for them. I've discovered that if I miss an 'all new' episode at 8 or 9 PM, it will be shown again at 11 or midnight. Not only that, it will be shown a couple times (at least) the next day, and the next day ... a couple dozen times before the next 'all new' episode is shown the next week. After seeing the same show 3 or 4 times, I grab the remote in sheer desperation to see what's on the cooking channel. I hate cooking.

I've made notes about when and on what channel my favorite shows appear. But many times, I've turned to that channel at that time, and my show isn't on. Hope I can catch it tomorrow, I guess.

Why I Don't Believe Politicians

The City of Omaha, Nebraska, has been saying for about 15 years that it is on the verge of financial ruin. I have listened to (civilian) friends who worked for the city complain that after the union negotiated a 3-year contract with the city (which included miniscule 'cost of living' raises that came nowhere near the actual cost of living, and paying ever more and more in insurance premiums), they might get that tiny increase in pay the first year, but not the following two years. The city was too broke! The workers complained so much that the City Council took the unprecedented step of freezing their own pay! "You see?" they were saying. "The situation is so bad, we are forgoing a raise ourselves to help keep the city afloat!"

The following year, they told the civilians once again the city could not honor the contract by giving them their miniscule pay raises. One of those civilians went to the weekly city council meeting to protest, and suggested if things were all that bad, then the council should also forego their raises. "Oh, no!" was the response. "You can't expect the City Council to not get a raise two years in a row!"

Apparently, what was good for the goose was NOT good enough for the gander, for that was exactly what they were expecting from the civilian employees, and had already expected of them several times.

In the meantime, the city hired experts and department heads from outside the city and paid them exorbitant salaries, because "We have to pay (them) the amount they could get in the public sector!" After renovating the Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the Omaha Royals, the city decided to abandon it and has built a NEW stadium in the heart of downtown, eliminating a large parking lot for the Quest Center. The Rosenblatt – still in good shape after having all that work done to it – will be torn down and made into a parking lot, while the Royals have moved south and adopted a new name. So much for having a team in Omaha.

And now they tell me one of the newest libraries in Omaha is closed for renovations. Once again I wonder, "Where did that money come from?" I know better than to ask the politicians.