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Dec. 19th, 2007 08:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickLooked for water leaks today, didn't find any. Took a water meter reading to see what the damage is on an overnight basis. The water bill is from 6-07 to 9-07, which would have included the big under-the-pavement water leak of the summer. I thought they were more up-to-date than that on their billing, but it appears not.
I have done only xmas shopping for my cousin Heather. Dad may get cookies if the spirit moves me. The rest of ya'll... not really. Mom wants stuff from Penzey's and I have some few other things for her, but they'll keep until I see her. Also, note to self, must send her check for opera season. I'll try to get that done tomorrow at work.
Also, a cheerful holiday reminder that it's that time of year again for those of us who do not wish to eat cat food in our rockin' years. (This would be the porch rocker rockin' years, not the spandex-pants-and-big-hair rockin' years.) You can contribute to your 2008 Roth IRA (which, of course, you have one of due to the endless years of me nagging like hell that you should go get one) from January 1, 2008 until April 15, 2009. Get in on the ground floor, here, and Git "R" Done. The 2008 contribution limit for people under 50 who make normal amounts of money is 5K. (If you're either in the about-six-figures-or-more-income-bracket OR are over 50, please check the official rules to determine what is appropriate for you.)
You cannot contribute to your Roth IRA "later" for 2008. There is no make-up period for fixing what you did when you were young and stupid and "planning for the future" seemed impossibly dull, boring, and groan-up. There is no second chance. You need to be doing this right now, John, because you will not be able to do it later. Do not be letting the days go by, here.
Perhaps a fable will help illustrate the importance of contributing to your Roth IRA. Return with us now to the thrilling days of Yesteryear, when Mr. Aesop regaled us with the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper. Ant was a boring, hardworking, thrifty soul who worked his ass off in the hot fields all summer long, putting away food for the winter. His neighbor, Grasshopper hopped about and played and had a grand old time making fun of boring dumb-ass hardworking Ant all summer long. Then winter came. Ant, he stayed in his warm house and ate his food and watched the snow fly outside and happily thought to himself, "Damn, I'm glad I am not out in that shit, yo." Grasshopper did not have a house and didn't have any saved-up food because he'd been too damn busy having fun and mocking Ant. He started drinking sterno, wrapped himself in cast-off newspapers, and slept on heating grates to keep warm. One night, when it got exceptionally cold, he froze to death like an unlovely, unshaven raggedy-ass match girl. The next morning, people kicked his corpsicle to the fucking curb and talked about how fucking dumb he was not to have worked and saved during the summer.
(We are not going to talk about how the fucking government looks at the mess Grasshopper has made of his life, makes Ant let Grasshopper move in, and tells Ant that he has to share his food with that lazy-ass Grasshopper. In my story, Grasshopper dies cold and hungry on the fucking street. If the story ends with the government making Ant let Grasshopper stay with him, then who the fuck would want to be Ant? Note to government: You feelin' me, here?)
Anyway, you gonna be the ant or the grasshopper? This, this right here, this is the summer of your life. Thing is, you gotta remember, even in the heart of summer, that winter is coming.
Too soon, you say, too soon to be planning and responsible and shit. You're only 25. You need to pay off school debt and you'd like a car that didn't have a hundred thousand miles on it and health care would be nice and possibly even some furniture that wasn't fucking particleboard...
Too soon, you say, too soon to be planning for the future. You're 35 -- the school debt is finally gone but now you have a mortgage and kids and the oldest one needs braces and you're just barely scraping by as it is. There's no slack in the budget for retirement.
Too soon, you say, too soon to be planning for the future. You're 45 and have kids in fucking college, like that isn't a financial drain. You've refinanced the house and have got to put that equity back so you're making bigger payments and there's just nothing left to save for retirement.
So now you're 55 and have ten years (or so) to retirement. Your financial advisor (at work, if you have one, or the one you've hired because you're really running scared) has to break the news gently that you really should have been doing the whole save for retirement thing from your very first paychecks, some thirty years ago. You thought it was too soon back then. Now, you're a dumb-ass grasshopper. Have a nice winter.
I have done only xmas shopping for my cousin Heather. Dad may get cookies if the spirit moves me. The rest of ya'll... not really. Mom wants stuff from Penzey's and I have some few other things for her, but they'll keep until I see her. Also, note to self, must send her check for opera season. I'll try to get that done tomorrow at work.
Also, a cheerful holiday reminder that it's that time of year again for those of us who do not wish to eat cat food in our rockin' years. (This would be the porch rocker rockin' years, not the spandex-pants-and-big-hair rockin' years.) You can contribute to your 2008 Roth IRA (which, of course, you have one of due to the endless years of me nagging like hell that you should go get one) from January 1, 2008 until April 15, 2009. Get in on the ground floor, here, and Git "R" Done. The 2008 contribution limit for people under 50 who make normal amounts of money is 5K. (If you're either in the about-six-figures-or-more-income-bracket OR are over 50, please check the official rules to determine what is appropriate for you.)
You cannot contribute to your Roth IRA "later" for 2008. There is no make-up period for fixing what you did when you were young and stupid and "planning for the future" seemed impossibly dull, boring, and groan-up. There is no second chance. You need to be doing this right now, John, because you will not be able to do it later. Do not be letting the days go by, here.
Perhaps a fable will help illustrate the importance of contributing to your Roth IRA. Return with us now to the thrilling days of Yesteryear, when Mr. Aesop regaled us with the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper. Ant was a boring, hardworking, thrifty soul who worked his ass off in the hot fields all summer long, putting away food for the winter. His neighbor, Grasshopper hopped about and played and had a grand old time making fun of boring dumb-ass hardworking Ant all summer long. Then winter came. Ant, he stayed in his warm house and ate his food and watched the snow fly outside and happily thought to himself, "Damn, I'm glad I am not out in that shit, yo." Grasshopper did not have a house and didn't have any saved-up food because he'd been too damn busy having fun and mocking Ant. He started drinking sterno, wrapped himself in cast-off newspapers, and slept on heating grates to keep warm. One night, when it got exceptionally cold, he froze to death like an unlovely, unshaven raggedy-ass match girl. The next morning, people kicked his corpsicle to the fucking curb and talked about how fucking dumb he was not to have worked and saved during the summer.
(We are not going to talk about how the fucking government looks at the mess Grasshopper has made of his life, makes Ant let Grasshopper move in, and tells Ant that he has to share his food with that lazy-ass Grasshopper. In my story, Grasshopper dies cold and hungry on the fucking street. If the story ends with the government making Ant let Grasshopper stay with him, then who the fuck would want to be Ant? Note to government: You feelin' me, here?)
Anyway, you gonna be the ant or the grasshopper? This, this right here, this is the summer of your life. Thing is, you gotta remember, even in the heart of summer, that winter is coming.
Too soon, you say, too soon to be planning and responsible and shit. You're only 25. You need to pay off school debt and you'd like a car that didn't have a hundred thousand miles on it and health care would be nice and possibly even some furniture that wasn't fucking particleboard...
Too soon, you say, too soon to be planning for the future. You're 35 -- the school debt is finally gone but now you have a mortgage and kids and the oldest one needs braces and you're just barely scraping by as it is. There's no slack in the budget for retirement.
Too soon, you say, too soon to be planning for the future. You're 45 and have kids in fucking college, like that isn't a financial drain. You've refinanced the house and have got to put that equity back so you're making bigger payments and there's just nothing left to save for retirement.
So now you're 55 and have ten years (or so) to retirement. Your financial advisor (at work, if you have one, or the one you've hired because you're really running scared) has to break the news gently that you really should have been doing the whole save for retirement thing from your very first paychecks, some thirty years ago. You thought it was too soon back then. Now, you're a dumb-ass grasshopper. Have a nice winter.
