Potpourri for $100 please, Alex.

This week’s post is a potpourri of things.

You may remember a reader suggested more personal anecdotes and pictures.  The picture is below a couple of sections. The anecdote is that the budget tracking is going well. We did discover that I left off my wife’s health club dues, so those got added in.  Plus, I had some bagels and leftover pork roast, so I brought lunch to work instead of eating out three days last week. Saved money (no entries on budget tracking for those!) and enjoyed some fantastic roast pork from the Showtime rotisserie.  Remember that you can still comment below or email nosurprisesretirement.com with suggestions for content.

Time management

I usually try to publish a No Surprises Retirement post on Sundays.  This weekend was a time management problem as I had about 14 hours of tax classes and tests for my volunteer gig. I volunteer at an organization that does free tax preparation for low-income people, mostly families and very small business owners. So, No Surprises Retirement took second place in terms of completion.

Volunteering

I place volunteering on the Activity-Social quadrant of the Retirement Activity Plan Compass, so if your RAP is lacking there, volunteering may be an opportunity. I had an Aunt, Mildred W. of Sun City, AZ, who was volunteering at the local hospital into her late-80’s. Don’t let yourself be limited by age if you don’t have to.

I found my volunteer organization about 20 years ago through the IRS, the happy way – I contacted them. You may want to try a volunteer position or two in pre-retirement to see what fits for you.  If you’re looking for a volunteer position, check out Volunteer Match. You can put in your zip code and key words and find the volunteer opportunity that’s perfect for you. Last week I looked up some opportunities for a young lad, who is between IT jobs, to help keep his skills fresh and there were plenty of opportunities out there.

Memento mori*

It was a great day until I got the mail. I received a memento mori^* from Globe Life today:

A reminder to us all, I guess. Now that it’s the new year, you might want to revisit, or draft your first, living will (aka advanced directive).  Make it easier on those who may have to make decisions for you when you cannot.

Actions you can take include:

-Check out Volunteer Match for a volunteer opportunity that fits you.

-Memento mori yourself – create or update your living will.  Your local hospital or library will likely have forms for you for free.

And if you have not seen the “Why you should read this blog…WIIFY” post, it’s here.

Questions, comments, or suggestions for retirement surprise areas you want to know more about?
-Leave a comment
-Use ‘Contact’, above, to send an email.

*  Memento mori is the medieval Latin Christian theory and practice of reflection on mortality, especially as a means of considering the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits. (Wikipedia)