I feel like all I do any more is wait for medical results (just more infinite up/down/up/down). MH just got MRI results; all clear for another year. My Dad and BIL seem to be on the up/down/up/down merry-go-round. They both have biopsies this week? I don't know, who can keep track...
In other randomness, I am very pleased with a recent purchase/upgrade.
These were my bed sheets:
They are probably 20 years old. (I presume, because I have pictures of my kids on these sheets when they were babies). What I like about the sheets is that they are sturdy. There is nothing wrong with them.
I did well with internet shopping recently and got a nice mattress protector. I decided to just buy a second one as a backup. I don't remember why, maybe because my sheets are 20 years old, but I was looking at sheets. OMG, these new sheets are the best! Not only are they cute, but they are so soft. I don't know if they are just going to fall apart in a few years or what, but am enjoying in the here and now:
It's possible I have aged/matured a bit during the past 2 decades. But... I also bought these:
These are fleece sheets, I haven't tried them out yet. They may be nice in December/January.
The cotton sheets were so nice that I ended up buying a set for MM(17).
We got MM(17) set up at our credit union that had 3.5% interest. It's gone down this year, but is still over 2%. The limit is $5,000 (for that rate) but that's about what MM(17) has to put into savings.
That reminds me too that the kids' other credit union (where they have 7% interest accounts) is merging with some other CU. It's official as of last week. I was pleased to see they are keeping the 7% accounts for now, but not holding my breath. They moved that to youth accounts only (that part is new) so MM(17) will age out of that pretty soon.
Probably the *big* thing here is college applications. We are maxing out MM's IRA before we start financial aid forms. So, figuring out what to do with that. We decided to shelter some of his gift/college money and to just leave all of his (earned) cash since we are making this decision so early. For reference, he decided around July 2020 (extended deadlines) what he wanted to do for 2019. We don't even know if he will have a job next summer (with the pandemic) and college is still a choice between two extremes (pennies or $$$$$). Anyway, if he's keeping his salary (parked in savings) this year in case (for the "who knows if he will need the money" factor), we will officially move it to some higher interest rate savings. College stuff and these decisions has been the catalyst for opening up this new bank account.
It wasn't our plan whatsoever to put his college/gift money into IRAs, but it is what it is. It's how we are dealing with this one-off limbo year. It's limbo all around. Aside from the pandemic, it's complete limbo until we start to solidify a college choice. I expect this to be entirely moot during second year of college. If he chooses the one pricey college where it matters at all, he won't have any assets left for the second year.
Our assets are not as important (mostly sheltered in home equity & retirement accounts), but I am going to pay our property taxes first, and pay down this big credit card bill (for reward) before we start filling out financial aid forms. Also, we won't have any clarity on IRA contributions (how much/which kinds) until we do our taxes, which is why I always fund after we do our taxes. I can't speed up in this case (without a lot of red tape that's just not worth it). This is why we are doing a super early (for us) IRA contribution for MM, but are not bothering for ourselves. Actually, there's another reason...
We hit a tax cliff, with all the extra unemployment income this year. This puts with 50% of the extra income going to the IRS (though we are in the lowest tax brackets). Blech. I decided to put my entire salary to my 401K last month; rather keep (in retirement funds) than give half to the IRS.
I know that "too much cash" is a thing, but... It's a problem I have yet to experience in my lifetime. With kids starting college next year and an unemployed spouse, I can't say putting 33% of our income to retirement funds topped the list for this year. But, financial efficiency for the win. (I don't think that MH or I have it in us to spend $3K just to keep $3K in more accessible cash).
I don't even know if we will do our IRA contributions in addition to the extra in the 401k. I suppose we most likely will because we have taxable investments we can shift over to retirement funds. I have the luxury to make that decision next April. I did count IRA contributions (presuming we max out) in that 33% figure.
November 8th, 2020 at 10:58 pm 1604876306
November 9th, 2020 at 12:50 am 1604883012
November 9th, 2020 at 02:58 am 1604890680
November 9th, 2020 at 04:45 am 1604897157
November 9th, 2020 at 05:08 am 1604898520
November 9th, 2020 at 01:30 pm 1604928642
November 9th, 2020 at 02:16 pm 1604931395
November 13th, 2020 at 07:08 pm 1605294483