My Story...

In 2005, I was married to a man who made a good salary working for the federal government and  I worked when I wanted to. We had a good life, with no debt, but not much savings or retirement investment. We were the kind of people who lived within our means well, but the extra stuff (like money from Mom and Dad) got spent. We also lived in Europe for seven years and spent most of our disposable income experiencing Europe and specifically every nook and corner of Germany and exposing our son to the same. I mean heck, it was Europe and I could afford a house keeper two times a week as a stay at home wife. 

My husband had deliberately chosen to be a federal employee, earning  much less than he could have elsewhere, knowing that the opportunity for overseas travel existed, as well as being safe in the knowledge of a small pension, really good health care, and the other bennies he got from being a cog in the machine at times instead of his own guy.

At the end of 2006,  I was a widow with a dependent kid, a family on the other side of the world, no 401K to speak of and $600 life insurance policy. The next few years were filled with severe depression, financial mistakes that could not be reversed, and the attempt to get a minor kid through high school and into college.

By the end of 2010 I had barely $100 thousand dollars left of said insurance, a small pension (my husband died before he was of retirement age so his benefits were less), a college student mainly dependent on me, no job for myself in sight and in the middle of a downside economy. Never mind the seventy some pounds gained after a year of severe depression where I did nothing but eat all day (at least when my son was in school) and spend money online.

This blog is about where I've gone since then, but a paragraph on those mistakes are in order at least as a warning to others. I was still in Germany and had no family to interfere. While my husband and I talked money, we have never talked about a financial advisor or the need for help. We shared everything including passwords and locations of money and documents and I thought that was all I needed. I invested all of that money in a roll over IRA, which meant when I realized there was no job forthcoming (I had been a Federal Employee with preference), I was not only spending my retirement funds, I was taking them out of investments, paying capital gains and owing huge amounts in taxes every year. All mistakes which piled upon each other, never mind the basic costs of moving a family around the world and getting re-established, which had it's own costs.

Since 2010 or so, I have made a new life for myself. A life based on a fixed income that includes my husbands social security, a small pension, and here and there small earnings from jobs. Determined to reset, have the retirement I wanted and move forward,  I have done so. Part of that movement forward (as well as moving back) has been this blog.

Since 2010 I have:

• Supported an adult child who could not get a job as a dog catcher after his first educational foray into the field of golf course administration. That has included dealing with his depression of not being able to be on his own, helping him do casual work during the down times and supporting him and having him live at home as he returned to get a second degree in IT in his late twenties.
• Owned and maintained a home in Dallas, making new friends after moving from Europe and getting to know my in-laws (and having my son learn more about his father).
• Traveled, together and alone, along the road. From Denver to San Diego to Arizona, to New Mexico, to Utah to Idaho to Seattle and Vancouver to Montana to Denver to Santa Fe and more.
• Had an active social life, and enjoyed live and said travel even on a budget.
• Realized that I was house poor (financially, emotionally, and physically), and sold my house, downsized and moved close to siblings in Denver, planning on renting an apartment or condo.
• Decided to share a two finished level home with my sister, renting a home owned by my brother).
• Started over making new friends and a new social life on a budget ( I am one of those people who is great once I know a group but have difficulty taking that first step)
• Put much of my life on hold in order to subsidize my son's last year of expensive college after he realized he had no more financial aid coming due.
• Committed to going out into the world again next summer, by taking a river cruise and a train trip back to Washington DC.
• Recently considered becoming a "snowbird" if I can find a way to do so in an economical fashion
• Had small businesses and income periods that included selling quilts I made, doing online research, and doing the passive income game.
• Downsized more and moved cross country during the time of Covid to an income limit active adult apartment community (or active during the normal times) that is in a warmer clime and closer to my other kid.

This is not  a frugal retirement blog as such. I am not an expert on frugality, nor will I ever be.  However, there are an awful lot of people out there who have retired or will retire on less than they hoped. Some folks were forced into early retirement and spend all their savings on COBRA costs. Single retirees generally have less retiree savings than couples, and those who have been on the lower end of the pay scale may have had extreme difficulty getting retirement savings. Some folks simply make the wrong financial decisions, and some folks have catastrophic issues pre or mid retirement.

I hope that by writing about the things I do and enjoy, and about how I life my life-all through the lens of living on $30,000 a year more and less, I can encourage people and let them know that they are not doomed as such. If you don't have as much saved as you would like, if you are living on social security with an annuity or a pension and no savings, well, there are alternatives and solutions. Your solutions may not be mine, and your lifestyle may not be mine. But I enjoy sharing where I've been and where I'm going. I've learned a great deal from other bloggers and readers, and maybe they've learned a few things from me. Who knows?

Either way, I hope you come back and come back often. Comment, comment and comment again. Whether you agree with me, disagree with me, or just want to say hi!