My Future
I've been thinking allot about my future. All this talk about Social Security has been making me think beyond tomorrow and next week, which is actually something I haven't done since my divorce. I had to keep a focus on the here and now so that I wouldn't give up on my self. I place no blame on anyone, not even myself. Sometimes you just have to do what ever it takes to get through stressful periods in your life.
Anyway, so now I have my first "Adult" job. You know the kind - it has benefits, sick days, paid holidays, and a 401 k plan. Of course the down side to this particular job is that it only pays 8.25 an hour. Times that by 80 hours and it's only 660.00 every two weeks... I have to laugh though because that's a HUGE amount of money to me right now. BUT, with this job comes the responsibilities that I've not had to face yet, like trying to pay half the monthly mortgage on the house my mom and I bought together, as well as part of the bills. And I don't mind paying them, I actually want to very much. There is strength in paying your own way. AND the fact that I can tell my mom to take a hike when she thinks I should do this or that because if I pay MY share then I don't HAVE to listen right? Besides, I'd really like for her to eventually be able to retire and go on neat vacations with a friend or out to California and Washington to visit my brothers.
I also don't want to count on my bf - which he will remain my bf because i don't want to get married again - no matter how often he asks. But I don't want to count on him for a couple of reasons. 1. I want to be my own boss. 2. I am 15 years older and he may someday get tired of that. He hates when I talk like that so I rarely do, but that's still a fact that I wont forget, because it's reality. If he's still with me when I die, then I will die knowing that he stuck it out and I'll have been a happy woman.
But what about my future. I'm 42, so I'm looking at 23 years before I'm 65, 25 years before I'm eligible for SS if I still get that. And of course I can get my ex's because we were married X amount of years and spouses and ex spouses get that choice. So I will probably go with his because he'll have had more years to put into it than I did since I stayed home raising the kids and moving with him from state to state thanks to the USCG.
I'm thinking what I really need is to get a job with the Government because they have a security I'm most comfortable with. We have a military depot right here, so that would be very convenient. Besides, they don't pay too bad either considering the pay that's available in the civilian sector of this county.
My ex-co worker Lou likes to invest money, he's always giving me good advice and said the first thing I should do with each paycheck is to pay myself a percentage. The way he figured it out it came to 21.00 a payday which didn't seem like much but he said it wasn't to go to dinner on, it was to either invest or save. And he feels I should put as much as I can into the 401k since the company will match it at the end of my 1 yr anniversary with the company. I just don't understand a 401k... if I quit for a better job do I still get to keep my money? Does it stay in a 401? What if I quit after 1 year, do I still get the money they matched?
I wish I had friends in the right places that could help me make these decisions. I don't want to have to pay some stranger to tell me how to handle my money. But I need to know so I have some when I'm old and have emphazima! I wont be able to mooch off my kids, well maybe Ashley, she's always got it, but she works very hard for it so I just couldn't. Besides, I want to feel I can do this on my own. I got married too young, I should have had some time to become an adult on my own before I made such a leap. I have encouraged both my daughters to do just that, so that when they do get married, they can make just as good as decisions as their spouses and will be more on equal footing than their mom was.
So much to think about...
Anyone have any ideas?
Anyway, so now I have my first "Adult" job. You know the kind - it has benefits, sick days, paid holidays, and a 401 k plan. Of course the down side to this particular job is that it only pays 8.25 an hour. Times that by 80 hours and it's only 660.00 every two weeks... I have to laugh though because that's a HUGE amount of money to me right now. BUT, with this job comes the responsibilities that I've not had to face yet, like trying to pay half the monthly mortgage on the house my mom and I bought together, as well as part of the bills. And I don't mind paying them, I actually want to very much. There is strength in paying your own way. AND the fact that I can tell my mom to take a hike when she thinks I should do this or that because if I pay MY share then I don't HAVE to listen right? Besides, I'd really like for her to eventually be able to retire and go on neat vacations with a friend or out to California and Washington to visit my brothers.
I also don't want to count on my bf - which he will remain my bf because i don't want to get married again - no matter how often he asks. But I don't want to count on him for a couple of reasons. 1. I want to be my own boss. 2. I am 15 years older and he may someday get tired of that. He hates when I talk like that so I rarely do, but that's still a fact that I wont forget, because it's reality. If he's still with me when I die, then I will die knowing that he stuck it out and I'll have been a happy woman.
But what about my future. I'm 42, so I'm looking at 23 years before I'm 65, 25 years before I'm eligible for SS if I still get that. And of course I can get my ex's because we were married X amount of years and spouses and ex spouses get that choice. So I will probably go with his because he'll have had more years to put into it than I did since I stayed home raising the kids and moving with him from state to state thanks to the USCG.
I'm thinking what I really need is to get a job with the Government because they have a security I'm most comfortable with. We have a military depot right here, so that would be very convenient. Besides, they don't pay too bad either considering the pay that's available in the civilian sector of this county.
My ex-co worker Lou likes to invest money, he's always giving me good advice and said the first thing I should do with each paycheck is to pay myself a percentage. The way he figured it out it came to 21.00 a payday which didn't seem like much but he said it wasn't to go to dinner on, it was to either invest or save. And he feels I should put as much as I can into the 401k since the company will match it at the end of my 1 yr anniversary with the company. I just don't understand a 401k... if I quit for a better job do I still get to keep my money? Does it stay in a 401? What if I quit after 1 year, do I still get the money they matched?
I wish I had friends in the right places that could help me make these decisions. I don't want to have to pay some stranger to tell me how to handle my money. But I need to know so I have some when I'm old and have emphazima! I wont be able to mooch off my kids, well maybe Ashley, she's always got it, but she works very hard for it so I just couldn't. Besides, I want to feel I can do this on my own. I got married too young, I should have had some time to become an adult on my own before I made such a leap. I have encouraged both my daughters to do just that, so that when they do get married, they can make just as good as decisions as their spouses and will be more on equal footing than their mom was.
So much to think about...
Anyone have any ideas?
posted by Wench` at 11:42 PM
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