We're almost halfway through the month so I thought I'd post a quick update.
Our federal tax refund arrived on Wednesday. $518, so not a huge amount but I'll take it. Our state refund is bigger - $3,000 - but that always takes longer.
We aren't eligible for stimulus money but our daughter is, so that's nice for her. She is also due federal and state refunds. She filed last week so should have that money soon.
I sold the JETS shares I bought after last March's crash. I made an 81% profit which was nice. I'm still holding the AAL I bought but will probably sell it this week. It's at its 52-week high and I want to trim our stock allocation anyway.
DW gets her 2nd vaccine on Tuesday. Once we're both fully vaccinated, we may consider returning to indoor dining. One nice thing is that we will no longer need to wear masks to visit my mom since she had both of her shots already.
My cousin with cancer is doing okay. Things seem stable at the moment. He is on hospice service now which is good since he lives alone and we're 1,200 miles away. We're glad to know someone is checking in on him regularly. He also just started getting Meals on Wheels. He's had a couple of them so far and says they're very good. He really isn't a cook so having those on hand for an easy, balanced, nutritious dinner is great.
I've got PTO coming up starting 3/20. We were supposed to be in Florida that week but the event got cancelled due to COVID. No big plans, though DW and I were talking about tearing up the carpet in our bedroom so we'll probably do that. I'm hoping the floor isn't in too bad of a shape when we do.
The siding on the wall of our garage is coming loose. I contacted a couple of contracters to come out and take a look. Both are backed up for weeks so hopefully it doesn't get worse before one of them is able to get to us.
Otherwise, we're plugging along. I was spending a lot of time playing with retirement calculators and figuring out where we stand. I've pretty much determined that once my cousin is gone and his estate is settled, I should be good to drop down to part time. Right now, I'm figuring on remaining full time through the end of 2022 and maybe transitioning at that point. We shall see how it all plays out. How the market performs is a factor, too.
I hope everyone has a great weekend.
March 15th, 2021 at 07:39 pm 1615837183
March 15th, 2021 at 10:12 pm 1615846349
One factor is when I receive the inheritance and how much it turns out to be. Some of the assets pass to me as beneficiary, others are through the will, so it may take some time to get everything. So that's kind of why I'm figuring end of next year before everything is done and settled. Then I can really assess where we stand.
How long part time? The big factor there is health care. If I stay part time, I keep my employer plan. I have looked into ACA coverage and if we're under the income cap and can get the subsidy, it wouldn't be too bad, but if we have to pay full price that's not happening.
Another fuzzy issue is our spending. The past year, our spending has been down significantly thanks to COVID. I'm basing projections on our 2019 spending, though we have trimmed some expenses since then and if we drop our life insurance, that would knock it down even more so I need to see where we settle once we're back to "normal".
March 17th, 2021 at 08:09 pm 1616011772