Do you work for one of the big ones like H&R, Jackson Lewitt, a smaller company, or are you doing the tax work on your own?
DW currently works for one of the big ones and that's kinda her semi-retirement plan, if nothing then just to stay active. We figure that would work to cover both of us in the unlikely case the stock markets crash towards zero in TEOTWAWKI insofar people keep paying taxes. If not, I'll cover us instead
anomie here, about your age, maybe different econ situation ...
congrats on the semi-retirement plan ! that's pretty awesome.
And congratulations on the 47% savings rate. That's much higher than when you started this journal, yes? (.. yeah, I know the savings rate can be wrecked month to month by surprises!! )
Jacob - I work for H&R Block which is headquartered here in Kansas City. I do tax research so I make a little more than I would as a tax preparer. When the season is in full swing unlimited overtime is available. I didn't take advantage of that too much last year because I also had a part-time job. This year I should be able to rack up the overtime. I'm thinking I should make about $12-$14k during the tax season. And I will still make some money the rest of the year from non-job sources.
Anomie- Thanks, the savings rate is much higher than when I started. I did over double my life savings during the year. Of course, that was because I didn't have very much savings for my age. Oh well, at least I'm improving my situation now.
My monthly numbers are late again. I haven't been doing much reading at the forums or posting. I am doing fairly good at saving and making progress financially, which is what really counts. Here are my January and February numbers.
January Expenses
Household $400.00
Entertainment $39.93
Transportation $399.03
Food $120.57
Phone $26.81
Health $56.31
Travel $157.00
Total $1199.65
January Income
Online Income $525.60
Interest $3.64
Dividends $12.92
Cash Back $25.85
Job $2165.19
Total $2733.20
My January savings rate was 45.73%.
February Expenses
Household $427.88
Entertainment $101.77
Transportation $79.21
Food $121.39
Phone $26.81
Health $61.11
Travel $74.00
Total $892.17
February Income
Online Income $444.90
Interest $3.77
Dividends $19.77
Cash Back $37.18
Job $2408.49
Tax Return $1152.01
Mystery Shop $12
Stock Sale $60.18
Total $4138.30
My February Savings rate was 48.32% and my SWR is now at 42.89%. It is still a long way to 4%, but I've made a lot of progress from the 86% SWR where I was when I started. Even though I managed to get terrible returns on my money in last year's bull market I have still more than doubled my savings in a little over a year. I should have a good savings rate this month and an OK savings rate next month. My tax job will end when tax season ends so the income will dry up at that point. I also plan on doing a lot of traveling once my job ends. I think I can travel as cheaply as I live at home. We will see if that is true. Progress will stall for at least a couple of months while I'm traveling and not making money from a job. When I'm done traveling I think I'll be able to kick the savings back in gear again. Both of the document review companies have offered me positions on projects during this tax season. I'm hoping there will be some projects available again when I'm done traveling and ready to resume work. This year is my semi-retirement experiment year so I don't plan to work too much. I figure I need to be off at least six months of the year to consider myself semi-retired. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.
It has been a year since I last wrote in here. I knew it had been a while but I didn't think it had been that long. I got out of the habit of posting here since I was mainly posting the same stuff I post on my blog. Now I have some ideas I want to write about that will be a little different than what I put on my blog so I intend to start updating this journal again.
Last year I had intended to try semi-retirement, but I ended up working most of the year. I never got around to calculating my savings percentage for the year but I'm guessing it was about 40%. My yearly expenses totaled $15,776. For that spending I managed totake two trips to Las Vegas, a 5 day trip to an all-inclusive resort in Cancun, a two-week hiking trip in PA/NJ, and some shorter in state trips. There were also lots of trips to the movies and restaurants. I feel like I lived somewhat extravagantly for that level of spending.
My plan for this year is to actually give semi-retirement a real try. I don't intend to work another job after my tax job ends in April. I'll share what I plan to do with my time in my next post.
Last year I failed at semi-retirement. I ended up working most of the year and when I wasn't working I didn't make very good use of my time. I need to do better this year. There is no reason to think I will make good use of my free time when I'm retired if I don't make good use of my time now. If I spend most of my free time this year watching TV and surfing the internet that is probably what I would end up doing with my time if I wasn't working at all. My tax job is ending April 16 so I'll have a lot of free time soon. This year I plan to hike, get in shape, sell a lot of stuff, and more during my free time. There will still be TV watching and web surfing, but that should only occupy a fraction of my free time rather than most of it.
This month I'll be starting a section hike of the Appalachian Trail. I've got about 900 miles of the AT left to have completed hiking the whole trail. Completing this hike should get me off to a good start on better using my free time. I consider hiking all day to be a good use of my free time. It helps me lose weight and improve my conditioning. Also, I won't be watching TV or surfing the web while hiking (I will be using the internet during the hike when I have access in order to update my journals and maintain my blogs) which might get me out of the habit of spending most of my free time on those activities. Finally, completing this hike should strengthen my self-discipline. I usually hike for two or three weeks and then quit because I'm bored with it and/or I want to return to the comforts of home. Being able to put up with a little discomfort while completing this hike should help me when I return home and want to watch TV rather than do something productive. I'll update my hike progress here when I have the chance.
I might have to change the hiking plans I just made in my last post. I got hit by a car while I was walking across the street yesterday. I did get a concussion, but my injuries are not too bad for a pedestrian v car accident. My hike was supposed to start on April 21 and I'm hoping I will be given the go ahead to keep that start date. Even if I am physically able to go on the hike I might have to stay home to deal with the medical bills and getting the driver's insurance to pay for everything. I'm hoping that the driver's insurance company will pay for everything without too much hassle, but that hasn't been my previous experience. For now I plan to start my hike on the planned date and I'll return home early if necessary. If I'm not able to start the hike as planned I will come up with a new plan. I'll post an update here once I know for certain what will be happening. If you want to read more about the accident I wrote about it on my blog.
My hike has been delayed until at least August. The hike will most likely be delayed until next year.
I've now decided that I need to repay my student loans as soon as possible rather than letting them be forgiven in 20 years. Depending on my income over the next 20 years using the IBR repayment plan could end up costing me a lot more than paying off the student loans ASAP. Either way I don't want to be facing an almost six figure tax bill at 67. That's how old I'll be when my loans would be forgiven under the IBR. That means I'll be working most of the year and won't get to try semi-retirement like I planned and I probably won't be able to try it for a few years since it will take a while to pay off my six figures of student loans.
