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29.0353 Years
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I was spending a bit of time doing some personal tasks the other day and I happened to log into my retirement account through the state of Michigan. I was actually checking to see if I needed to add our trust as a secondary or contingent beneficiary on the account. However, while I was in looking at my account a number caught my attention and caused me to take a long pause.
29.0353
It didn't specifically say years like the total of this post, I think instead it referred to the number as "service credits". I never really took it that seriously when I used to tell people that I could technically retire when I was 50, and yet here I am and the reality is finally staring me right in the face.
I've actually on got about 24.0353 years under my belt in the public education system, but when I first started working we had the option to "buy years". For a small fee of $50 per paycheck for an eight year period, I was able to buy five years (or service credits). That means at 25 years I can retire with the same benefits as having 30 years of service. At 30 years it would be like I had worked 35. You get the idea...
I'm still on the fence about what I want to do. As fun as it sounds to spend my days lounging around the deck and grilling dinner, I know I would probably get bored. In fact, things aren't that bad where I work now, so I could honestly see myself putting in another five years if I wanted to. @mrsbozz still has several before she can retire anyway.
Then again, we all know that life in the public sector pays the bills, but it doesn't pay the greatest. I could always retire and then try to find something in the private sector to supplement my income. The idea of starting all over is quite scary to me though. I'm pretty comfortable here and I have things running in a pretty efficient way.
My dream job would be some small business with an abundance of funding that needs someone to run their IT for them. Manage some servers, manage some users, keep things running, play with new technology, actually, exactly what I am doing right now. Just way better pay.
But money isn't everything right? I've learned over the past several years that my time is much more important than my money. I can always make more money. Time on the other hand is fleeting and it slips through your fingers much quicker than you can even comprehend. Where I work now gives me time to spend on HIVE, I get plentiful time to camp in the summer, and if an emergency comes up I know I can step out without much push back from those around me.
That likely wouldn't be the case in the private sector. Time is money in that world and every penny is tracked down to the second. Since the $1.787 Billion Powerball jackpot is now off the table and they aren't pushing me out the door here, I might have to just stick around.
It's humbling to think I have been doing this career thing as long as I have. I find myself in a quite reflective mood this morning and with who knows how much time ahead of me, I absolutely want to make the most of it.
One other thing I noticed while I was in my account was the fact that my year to date contributions seemed quite low. It's not that big of a deal since the pension system is more of a pool than an individual investment system, but like I said the number seemed low. In fact, it was about 3x less than the amount I have invested on my own in other accounts. Which makes me pretty glad that I started those other investments now!
The scary thing is, my good friend is proof that one major medical incident can flip all that upside down in the blink of an eye. We just never know...
So yeah, I guess I took a bit of a detour there in my train of thought, but less than a year until I can retire. What would you do? I don't think @mrsbozz would let it fly, but spending my days sleeping, playing disc golf, and BBQ'ing does sound like a lot of fun doesn't it?
SMR
The price of my favorite small modular nuclear reactor company NuScale has taken a bit of a dip lately. It sounds like holders are taking some profits while the price is up and that in turn is driving the price down a bit. With their recent agreement with the TVA, I still think SMR is a long term hold. I won't be selling my shares any time soon.
Silver
I got a nice message the other day with a welcome surprise from someone in the #silvergoldstackers community. I don't want to ruin it for you, but I will be sharing more about it in the future. Keep an eye out for that!
The next ten days look pretty amazing in my neck of the woods. There is a good chance I will be doing several of the things you saw in this posts photos. Plus maybe a little disc golf and some mandatory yard work thrown in for good measure. Oh yeah, we might drive down to catch one of my nieces soccer games too. Sounds like my weekend is booked solid already!
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