7 Months from Retirement, aka: Is the World Ending?
A few months ago, I decided to delete all (two) of my social media accounts. It seems that this is a thing right now- when the current events get to be more than our bodies and nervous systems can hold, we say “no thank you.” And that’s definitely what it was for me. I’d notice my anxiety creeping up up up as I kept my finger scrolling down. So I opted out.
It’s tricky though, right? Deleting social media means that I’m also not taking in a lot of news- and at a time when there is a LOT of news to take in, it feels conflicting.
Is keeping up with current events the “right” thing to do, like I taught my high school students over a decade ago? Is it what a good citizen does? Am I wrongly exercising my privilege as a white, cis, etc etc woman who (so far) isn’t much impacted by all of this craziness?
If you came here for answers, I don’t have them.
What I do know, is that every few weeks or so, usually on one of our morning dog walks, Ryan and I talk about where our charitable giving money is going. He brought this up recently as SNAP funding is about to be cut. What can we do to help? How can we feed our neighbors?
I understand this desire. See a big problem, donate some money, feel slightly better about helping out. And there’s nothing wrong with this- but after listening to a fantastic ChooseFI episode a few years ago about efficient giving, I learned that there is a better way.
The gist of the episode is this: there will forever and always be a firehose of big problems happening in our world. There will be fires that take down cities, and hurricanes that wipe out mountain towns. There will be governments full of people who are very very interested in lining the pockets of their wealthy friends and very very not interested at all in making sure people’s children will eat tonight.
We can throw money at these things, and I have. But, what the good folks at Yield & Spread argue (and I agree) is that for your giving to be effective, it is better to choose a charity or charities that line up with your values, and make a monthly, recurring donation that is some percentage of your gross income.
For us those charities are Clean Air Task Force (a very highly rated nonprofit working on global warming) and NPR, which was a recent addition following the cut in federal funding to public media. I may not want to consume the news right now, but I sure want it to keep being reported.
So. That’s my take, and I’d love to know yours. How do you give? Which organizations are important to you? Put them in the comments!
What We’ve Done & Learned in the Last Month
October was fantastic. We traveled to the mountains to see my extended family for a long weekend, and the leaves and mountain views did not disappoint. We also met up with our local ChooseFI group, and have plans to meet up again in November.
Apart from that, not much happened that was finance-adjacent this month. Everything is really kind of sailing along.
Where Our Finances Stand Currently
Woof! If you read last month’s post, we were 94% of the way to our full retirement number. This month, with 7 months to go, we are… 95.7% of the way there! Ba ha ha. These percentage increases feel a bit ridiculous to be reporting month after month. Maybe I’ll figure out a new way of doing finances before the 6 month mark rolls around. Still though- gratitude abounds.
Next Steps
Well, November is a reallllly big month for us. Ryan turns 50 this month! Apart from this being a very momentous occasion in every young man’s life, it is also the age at which Ryan can start taking his pension. This is a pretty big deal for us. Because Ryan has been at the same local government organization since 2002 (!!!), he qualifies for the NC state pension- which calculates to half of our yearly spend. Simply put, without this pension, we would not be retiring in 2026. More than likely, it would be another 4-5 years before we could retire, depending on market conditions.
So, yeah. Praise be for the pension! And for Ryan being the steady Eddie that he is, and working at the same dang place for so long. I couldn’t have done it.
See you next month!