So we've passed the 4 month mark with Hubs retirement and things are humming along.
I am no longer freaking out by all the "extra" bills we are paying....because they aren't extra really, they were just paid before I got the paycheck before retirement. Silly me.
We were slated to start tapping the 401K account in October, as Hubs turned 59.5 this month, to add to our annuity income.
But we've found we haven't had to last month. Even with forgetting about the $450 Long Term Care premium which was due in October, taking out $650 of income to create the Sinking Fund for irregular bill payment and spending $270 at a local church auction. We had enough of a cushion after paying all the bills to have a $2.37 leftover from our annuity income this month.
Any month we don't have to access the 401K funds is a bonus, as that means it will last just that little bit longer than we have planned. 8-)))
Hubs had a "wtf?!" moment in September(his/our first full month retired and home from traveling). We got the WAM(aka Walking Around Money)the first of September. Two weeks later Hubs tells me he's going to the bank to get $100. I asked him why and he said he needed more WAM. Even though we sat down in June and wrote down our monthly budget in which we agreed on $200 per month of WAM w/each of us getting $100, he was under the assumption that he got $200 to himself. He had run through his WAM halfway through the month. When I asked what he had spent it on he had no clue, other than coffees. Later we figured out that he had bought take-out with some of it, instead of putting that on the c/c so I gave him part of my WAM for the month, which I had not even spent a dime of it yet.
And now he is more cognizant of what he spends his WAM on......personal small expenses--good, picking up groceries, buying gas or take-out--bad. lolz
Hubs is taking it easy still and not wanting to "engage" with friends/work friends, join any groups or "do" volunteer work. He may not ever do any of these things. We are both pretty much homebodies. We don't "need" to socialize much and are perfectly happy to stay home and read, putter online and play chess(Hubs not me).....at least for now. Just staying on top of house stuff, financial stuff and the day-to-day chores keep us busy.
And of course the new member of the family and training him keeps us busy now too. ;-)
Hubs had been saying for years that once he is retired and home full time he wanted to get another dog. So since I have to have a dog "I" got to pick which one out.
We had been without a dog since our old female beagle passed right after Thanksgiving in 2014 so it's an adjustment for sure and getting a puppy has been even more of a challenge.
Our food waste has also gone down, not that it was bad to begin with, but still it's been reduced to nonexistent with Hubs home. He LOVES leftovers and he'd rather eat those for lunches than a sandwich like he'd take to the office when he worked. I like leftovers on occasion but not as a regular "thing" for lunch time. I often don't eat a proper lunch anyway as long as I get a good breakfast meal.
No food waste means less spending on food......well it would if I didn't keep going to the grocery store and stocking up on food. lolz
The biggest retirement "glitch" we have encountered is financial--the RMSA account which reimburses us for our healthcare premium payments. It's administered by United Healthcare and frankly they are dropping the ball big time when it comes to handling our account!
We pay OOP for healthcare premiums each month and then submit for reimbursement to United Healthcare from our account there.
The November premium was $1771.94, which we paid already(it's due the 1st of the month). We have an automatic reimbursement now once UH receives payment.
So we get the reimbursement check last Saturday not for $1771.94 but for $125.90.
WTF?!?
Incidentally $125.90 is the amount of Hubs' life insurance premium per month if he had elected to have that once retired. Hubs elected NOT to keep the term life insurance policy.
So we pay a health insurance premium and they reimburse us for a life insurance payment......really??
Let's not even "go there" about how it's ILLEGAL to pay life insurance premiums out of our RMSA healthcare account.
Yeah, United Healthcare so far has pretty much sucked at doing their job.
So another phone call to UH Customer Service(ha!)happened last week. If I could move that RMSA account I would at this point. They've had four MONTHS to get it right and still they are incompetent. Ugh!
* Another point that we were just notified about is our HSA. Well it's not really just a retirement issue as it affects all the employees of Hubs ex-employer. The employer is no longer affiliated with the HSA company/administrator so now instead of a company product it's a retail product, which means we all get charges fees for it's use.
Well crap.
So at least we have to pay $3 a month service fee so $36 a year. The money is earning .14% so any pitiful earnings on it is negated.
I was saving the HSA funds to use later on in retirement but it makes sense now to drain that account asap. I'll be able to use about half of what is in there per year meeting our yearly high deductible($3K for next year and who knows how much the following year)plus a year of co-pays(which I had been paying out of regular income, now the annuity income)on blood work, dr. visits and prescriptions.
That's about all I can think of to talk about as far as how the retirement is going so far.
Besides Hubs is driving me nuts being home all. day. long. Having him be in charge of Chester's potty training is helping on that score though. ;-)
If anyone has any questions on some aspect of retirement and how we are handling it, feel free to ask.
Sluggy
