Sunday, December 24, 2006

Thoughts to Ponder on Christmas Eve

I have just finished reading a very thoughtful and honest assessment of the state of Christianity as it exists today. As many of us are contemplating, honoring or even doubting our beliefs on this Christmas Eve, I'd like to share this essay by a fellow blogger.

http://thesuburbsofhell.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Retirement or Death, which will come first?

So, I've been hearing these dire warnings about the shrinking dollars in Social Security and the need to save money elsewhere for that golden time of life. I even got a notice from my 403B account holder telling me the good news, I could put away an additional $20,000 this year, tax free!

Wow! Of course, where that extra 20K is supposed to come from I haven't a clue. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be deducting that out of my paycheck! Then, I see in the online issue of Fortune Magazine, after an article about how a family is poverty-stricken on $150,000 a year, a retirement calculator. What fun, I thought. How much money will I actually have at that magic age of 65?

The calculator doesn't work quite that way, instead, it tries to determine how much money you have to put away in the remaining years until age 65. (For those of you keeping count, that's 14 years to me.) The calculator then goes about telling me that I have a 0% chance of having enough money to retire on, based on current contributions and my anticipated social security.

This was not very comforting, but the calculator had a solution for me, all I have to do is, every year for the next 14 years is to contribute an additional $20,000 yearly to my 403B. That's all!

What the calculator did not tell me, was that at the current contribution rate, at what age I could retire. I suspect this is because it will be long after my anticipated life expectancy. I'm sure the calculator doesn't want to give me depressing news like that.

The funny thing is, $20K is such a ridiculous figure that I am actually finding this amusing. If I was short something like $5 or $6 thousand, I might have actually tried to shave that much off my household budget (I think food would go first, followed by medications and (sorry Zelda) dog food).

I figure now that I have just as much of a chance of retiring as I do of winning the lottery. And I never buy lottery tickets.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

A Little Holiday Greeting

Well, the taxes aren't paid, and there is still a tuition bill looming somewhere, and I'm still not ready for it to be December, but, in the spirit of the season, I can at least offer a simple greeting.

http://www.noreensdigitaldreams.com/Holidays.html

and by the way, to the Rutgers football team, fans, alumni and everyone who has been following this great season: Yes, it was a heartbreaking loss, but more proof that Rutgers football is now a force to be reckoned with. HOO-RAH!