Did my employer remove the lump sum pension payout option?
If you’re planning to retire at the end of this year, and your pension has both an annuity and a lump sum payout option, you may be confused as to why you can’t look at the lump sum value for your planned retirement date. First, some background. A 403b or…
My employer is paying us back withheld pay, and giving us a thank you bonus, so what?
Many people across the US found their pay cut earlier this year due to COVID-19. Some employers have recovered more quickly than expected. When the two of those intersect, it may result in an employer giving employees back the portion of their salaries withheld earlier in the year. This is…
Is it a bad thing that my employer is refusing to participate in the payroll tax deferral?
So first, what is this payroll tax deferral? As part of the CARES act for economic relief during COVID-19, employers can choose to not withhold employee contributions to Social Security (6.2%) or Medicare (1.45%) for some employees, for a while. Is it a bad thing if my employer is refusing…
My employer is resuming our 403b/401k match, what do I need to do?
If your retirement contribution match was suspended earlier this year due to COVID-19, it’s possible that that match is resuming, as some companies are feeling more stable on their financial footing. Remember that your employer match is essentially free money that gets put into your retirement account by your employer,…
I paid off my mortgage! Now what?
This isn’t a “what do I do with my money next?” post. This is an important logistical point that is missed by many, and should be done before mentally moving on. First, what is a lien? A lien is essentially a statement that you don’t own an item in its…
Would You Rather Discuss Sex Or Money?
During a mentoring session last week, one of the panel said that in our country people would rather talk about sex than money, because that’s how much emotional baggage there is around money in our country. I thought this was surprising. My groups of friends have discussed money many times…
Start With Why
It’s inevitable, all parents will run into this at some point, today was just my day. The day you catch your kids lying, deliberately, at an age old enough to know both the difference between truth and lie, and old enough to know better. In fact, actually both yesterday and…
Ups and Downs
I was catching up with someone today, entertaining them with stories of parenting while working during the months of stay at home time for COVID-19. Tales of distance learning. Life got a lot easier here once school ended, with my having to manage the executive functioning for the kids. “Where…
Dates of Reckoning
One of the advantage of crisis schooling at home is that I often get to listen to what my kiddos are learning, via their distance classes. My big kid had been working through polygons in her math class. Today was the first day of circles; I was really glad we…
Worrying about Grandma, aka the value (and limitations) of secondary data
My nonagenarian Grandma lives in Midland, MI. Home of the current floods that are making the news. I didn’t find out about the floods until too late at night to be making phone calls. And I love my Grandma, I would have a really hard time going to sleep if…