An early retirement milestone

Recently our household passed an interesting financial milestone. We now have 1x our annual salary in retirement savings (The strong market over the last few years has helped). Evaluating retirement savings can be voodoo math, but several experts say that you should have 1x your salary at age 30, others put that goal at age 35. Often that milestone sounded out of reach, especially looking at how slowly we started. Other experts say you should save 15% a year, which is a rate we have never hit. But as a couple we consistently save for retirement and reached that important milestone alongside paying off debts and the evil student loans (I’m getting close). It’s fun to celebrate a milestone and see how far we have come, but that is not the main reason I’m writing this.

The Millennial generation has been facing a tough financial environment for years. We have rising education and health care costs on one side and lower employment rates and household pay on the other. It also takes some faith to invest, adjusting for inflation the market is still below the high point that was reached while I was in college.

It seems clear that this generation faces a very difficult challenge in finding financial security. I think the only way for us to do it is to be better informed and to make wise decisions when it comes to our finances. I think the Wired generation has the tools to evaluate our spending, loans, and investments. I hope that we can learn from some of the mistakes around us and start preparing now.

Note: I think the 1x by 30 rule is simplified and overemphasizes your current salary. But even simple projections are better than nothing, if this simple goal doesn’t help you then find your own goal. Also, to quote J. Scott Armstrong “One of the most enduring and useful conclusions from research on forecasting is that simple methods are generally as accurate as complex methods.”

One

One Year Old

And then she wakes up and is one.
Well, there were many days and steps before that, but it did all pass by rather quickly.
She says uh-oh and da. Though da is what she says for almost everything.
She shares and offers you toys.
She loves pancakes.
She walks. Everywhere.
She started those first tentative steps right after 11 months and now she zooms to wherever she wants to go.
She babbles. She likes to "read" us books by babbling an appropriate length and then turning the page.

Everywhere she goes we hear "oh what beautiful big blue eyes."
She melts hearts.
She coos and snuggles.

She likes to say "ooo" and point.
She likes to snuggle with all her stuffed animals. Especially her bunnies.

She is growing. She is in the 50% for height and 30% for weight.
She has five teeth.

She has the most adorable pouty bottom lip when she is unhappy. It juts straight out and those big blue saucers plead with you to make it better. I don't think I have a picture because it is so precious it makes me laugh and then she can't stay upset.

She likes phones and remotes. She likes to press buttons over and over. She will turn up the volume on the receiver over and over until she scares herself with how loud it gets.
She loves her trucks and backhoe and elemental building blocks.

She loves to giggle. She loves when you scoop her up and dance. She loves hanging upside down.
She loves to crawl over daddy when he is doing his exercises. She has a great downward dog.

She loves carrots, sweet potatoes and chicken with apples. She loves bites from daddy's plate and pancakes. She does not care for peas nor avocado nor peaches.

When she is tired, she rubs her hair.
She sleeps with her head down, butt up in the air with her knees underneath.
She is a good sleeper.

She is a tremendous little person and we love her dearly.

Countdown to 1

This grid shows Kiri's dramatic growth in the past 11 months.

She has 4 teeth and curls in hair. She weighs about 19 pounds.
She eats a lot of food and drinks a lot of milk and enjoys a little bit of juice.
She is walking with assistance. She uses walls or furniture or hands or her little walking toy.  She will come over to us and grab our fingers to tell us she wants to go walking.
She is so precious and adorable. We are totally in love.
Now the countdown to turning one.  She is looking more and more like a little girl rather than a baby, but it is still hard to believe she is now officially becoming a toddler.
Better start thinking about a party to celebrate all this growth...

Remembering Jason Timmerman

 

A good friend

It’s been ten years since the Iraq war started and it’s been a little over eight years since my friend Jason Timmerman died in Iraq. Jason and I went to college at Dakota State University and we both studied math. I saw Jason pretty much every day at college, we were always in the same classes and he was very active around campus.

Jason became a teacher and taught high school math for a while before he was eventually deployed. He was killed in February 2005 by a roadside bomb. It’s very sad for me to think about losing a great leader and teacher like Jason. Remembering those we have lost can be a great inspiration and Jason has been one for me.

I’m excited to announce that this year we will award the Jason Timmerman Memorial Scholarship at Dakota State University. This scholarship will go to a student who is working toward a Math Education major. I wanted to ask my friends if you would help with a donation to remember Jason and the many others who have sacrificed for our country. The scholarship is just starting up and it would mean a lot to me if you would consider helping us out.

Steps to give

1.       Open http://foundation.dsu.edu/giving-online.aspx

2.       In the “Select a Fund” box choose “Annual Academic Scholarships”.

3.       The “Annual Academic Scholarship Designation” field will display.

4.       Enter “Jason Timmerman Memorial Scholarship” in as the scholarship name.