Keystone State Thread

Being retired -- the pay sucks and I have to buy my own benefits -- the time off policy is awesome however.

 

Nice post. A bit envy!! But someday I can post that.

 

Good point. When I started my job nearly 30 years ago the pay was not good but the benefits were great. Over the years the pay managed to increase to a point that was actually good but then some of the benefits were reduced as a compromise. We had people who worked there on both sides of the fence. Some wanted more pay at all cost. Others, wanted the perks and benefits even if that meant less pay. Interestingly, besides this being based upon things like who was the main breadwinner vs. those who were a secondary income to the family, I saw over the years the younger workers coming in generally had an inclination for benefits and perks over max pay.

 

After running some numbers my financial adviser said "If you can manage to live on $xx I think you can pull it off".

My blood pressure is routinely 25 points lower now, my body doesn't hurt constantly, I don't feel constantly on edge. I was allowing my job to slowly pulverize me.

The health benefits far outweigh my limited income. Life is pretty fine now.

 

Luckily/sadly my wife is the main bread winner in my household. Otherwise I would be driving a Ford Ranger still instead of a beautiful Tacoma. I will say this much, I had opportunities to make $100,000/year flying all over the country, but chose to prioritize my family life over money. It still doesn’t help it sting any less when the wife makes 3x more than me though. Times have changed though from how things were in my parents day, so I try to just remember, she is my wife so it is really our money.

 

When my father got laid off from his steel job in 1981 my mother was the main source of income as my dad looked for a job as a middle aged man with no special skills. I know it was hard on him, as he was certainly old school. For me, I was the main bread winner and still am even though I am now retired. Still, when I did retire I lost my health care insurance and am now on my wife's. She is due for retirement soon, complete with Medicare, but is considering continuing to work so I have health coverage a a very low cost. I have told her, don't keep working for my sake. If need be, I'll purchase health care - albeit it will be costly, but I took that cost into account when I retired early. It's a change for me, but, like you say, it's 2021 and we don't need to constantly be proving things today.

 

Nice. This has been much on my mind since the stroke. Trying to figure out how to retire AND build a small house on our property in Oley...that's the tricky part.

 

Check out PA Healthcare market place. Pennie.com this is something new , it's from the ACA . There is a calculator on there for u to enter ur income and see what plans/rates are out there. It's income based health care. I think it's really cheap, $ 200 for my wife and I with an average income. If weren't for this I would have to work longer, with these rates we can afford to retire earlier. Also if ur income is from a Roth Ira it's does count towards the health care formula. A few years ago we were planning on apx 2000 dollars a month , now it maybe around 200.

 

I’m fortunate in the vacation DEPT.
With my tenure at HD I get 5 paid weeks off every year. Will be using one starting about 5 hours from now.

Howdy neighbor! I’m just below you in Sounthampton

 

Feasterville here.

 

Matt can you get a price on a rear window. I stopped at home this morning and noticed my next door neighbor broke his center slider. So I know the question is coming when I get home on Sunday.

 

He did mine and did a fantastic job Jerry

 

Officially on Vacation.

 

I bought myself a toy at the goodwill today.

 

Great color

 

I was actually thinking about painting it Barcelona Red

 

Dirty word! I picked this up in my right front tire this evening heading to crew a balloon flight. Luckily I was only about 2 miles from home and it held pressure so I was able to limp the truck home and grab Lynn’s Subaru. Flat now. No sidewall issues so I’m assuming I can plug it. Pretty sure I have a plug kit in the garage. Ugh.

 

Sorry for your bad fortune.
At least it is in the best place on the tire to be plugged and on the front too, don't even need to take it off.

 

always something! Good to keep your tire patching skills up to snuff, at least it didn’t leave you stranded.