Moving On

The last time I posted I was in a very, very negative space.  While the situation itself hasn't changed a whole lot, Congress isn't even talking about EUC, I still don't have a job, that kind of thing, I'm in a bit better of a place emotionally.

It turns out that I did decide to touch the retirement accounts.  That in and of itself was very hard to do.  I don't have a lot in there, and have no hope of ever fully retiring and I know touching them will put me even further behind the 8-ball in the future.  But, hopefully I have another 30 years to worry about that.  On the one hand, while it was hard to do, I'm glad I did it.  Yes, the way the account was structured I had to take a withdrawal instead of a loan so I'll have to deal with taxes come next year.  (But, 20% of my withdrawal was sent to the IRS, so hopefully the tax hit at the end of the year will only be minimal...)  I also talked with an adviser and finally, finally rolled my savings from the Big Corp that sold us to the Other Big Corp that laid me off into an account with the same company Other Big Corp has our savings set up with.  I think I'm pretty happy with how I have things set up... I left OBC's savings plan as it was, just taking a withdrawal.  I rolled over BC's stocks that I had in their savings plan into a brokerage account with the current Financial Institute.  I then took everything else (quite a bit more than I had in OBC's plan, since I'd been with BC much longer) and put it into a fairly aggressive, but not scarily so  mutual fund.  Since it bounced back after the 2007 mess, it has been gaining at a respectable rate that is very similar to what it was doing before 2007.  And yes, this is all the detail you're going to get.  Suffice to say, I'm happy over all with my choices and feel like I have at least a small handle on what my money is doing and someone I can call with questions.

I've also managed to do my Federal taxes.  Thank you e-file!  It turns out even with my nice severance package and an entire quarter of my normal earnings, we're getting a very nice chunk of change back.  That and the withdrawal from my retirement savings let me breathe a huge sigh of relief.  Once I get the state filed, we're actually getting money back from them too.  I'm not sure about local, that's always a pot shot.

So, with a firmer, if temporary, financial footing, I can breathe at least a small sigh of relief and focus on job hunting.

There have been a few ups and downs and some more snow the past few weeks.  And the whole family has been dealing with minor, but irritating tummy troubles the last few days.  It started with a Boo-boy being sick Thursday and Daddy and I feeling a bit run over late yesterday and through today.  I'm just so thankful that Boo-boy is as easy going as he is and let Gak and I have a fairly down day today.



I've also been thinking about Gram a good bit the last few days.  Today she would have been 91.  Yeah.  I really could have used her advice, or at least her shoulder to lean on this past year.  I always could count on her for sound advice and the wisdom to know when to just let me ramble and rant away and follow it up with a hug.
I've been not saying this here, because, well, some days I'm so good at denial, I think I should live in Egypt... Anyhow, I felt like I haven't had either of my two best advisers this past year.  Yes, I'm talking about Dad.  It is so hard to have a conversation with him some days.  And I don't want to worry him, because he's so very good at worrying.  And right now, there really isn't anything he can do to help, other than worry.  So, I find myself relying on past advice and pointers and life lessons.  It's not quite the same, but it's what I'll make do with.  Like I told a friend the other day, our loved ones may physically leave us, but they never really die as long as we keep remembering them and asking ourselves how they would approach something or what advice they'd have.  I'm so thankful that I've had such wonderful advisers in my life.  Yes, Mom is on that list too, but our relationship is different that the kind of relationship I have with Dad and Gram.  In some ways Mom and I are too much alike and both too good at ignoring what we want to.

Anyhow, I'm not sure where I'm going with this.  Other than to say that life isn't quite as gray and desperate seeming as it was a few weeks ago, even if it isn't all happy and on a positive track.

Peace to all and may you have good advisers in your life who know when to listen, and know when to talk and have good advice.