Tag Archives: Mental Health

The Pension Couch: 8 More Years

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Believe it or not, I get fan emails from time to time. They come in many different forms. Some of it is precisely what it sounds like, meaning people take the time to drop me a nice note and say how much they liked the blog, the book (or both), or how much something I wrote resonated with them. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that my ego likes those emails. I’d also be lying if I said I have great tracking system for responding to all them. So, if I owe you a response, please accept my apology in advance as I try to work through the backlog. More importantly, please keep sending those types of emails because I find them extremely motivating. They help me write, even on days when I’m not feeling particularly creative.

Advice requests are another form of fan emails I receive. Those motivate me too because I get to help people directly. Most of the time, the advice being sought is pension-related. For instance, sometimes, people want me to analyze their pension as a whole. In contrast, others ask about a specific pension design element. Anyone who’d like to see or listen to me provide an overall analysis of a pension can check out the ChooseFI episode where I counseled a young married couple about the wife’s pension.

Less often, advice requests center on career/life issues associated with pensionable jobs. These issues sometimes include a mental health angle. Since I blog about my mental health issues connected to my previous pensionable job, it’s no surprise that readers reach out with similar problems or questions. That’s the gist of the latest email, which I discuss below. Continue reading →

The Pension Series (Part 26): Continuance Commitment

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An Albatross By Another Name

Guess what? I may not have needed to coin the Golden Albatross metaphor! It’s sad but true. I cried (on the inside) when I discovered that business management academics had an entire theory that captured employees’ stay-or-go psychological condition long before I arrived on the scene with the Golden Albatross. It’s called ‘continuance commitment.’

While neither as catchy as the Golden Albatross nor limited to just pensionable workers, continuance commitment fits the Golden Albatross metaphor perfectly. The only difference is that the Golden Albatross describes the situation for pensionable workers. On the other hand, continuance commitment captures the stay or go feeling that any worker might face while working any type of job.

continuance commitment

Is this albatross masquerading as a management theory?

This post is all about continuance commitment and why I think it’s vital that pensionable workers know about it. The article starts small, with a definition of continuance commitment, and then moves on to the general theory. I then explain how continuance commitment fits into the study of voluntary employee turnover. I also link continuance commitment, voluntary turnover, and defined benefit pensions (DBPs) together. Afterward, I take a quick look at how continuance commitment ties into pension plan design, which I discussed in Pension Series Part 25. I do this to set up the discussion for Part 27 of the Pension Series. Finally, I end on a cautionary note about the types of employees continuance commitment produces. Continue reading →

Thankful For My Bronze Medal

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Thankful, Again

Happy Thanksgiving to all my U.S. readers! After a long hiatus, I’m back to writing new blog posts. My return just happens to coincide with my favorite American holiday and is in time for my annual Thanksgiving post. Fittingly, I have a long list of reasons to be thankful this year, some of which I will discuss in this article and some of which I will discuss in future ones. But, first things first. Does anyone know how much work it takes to properly retire from the U.S. military after 20 years of service?

thankful

The Grumpus Maximus household has a lot to be thankful again for this year.

I can reliably report that it takes a lot of effort if you want to do it correctly. Between Veteran’s Administration (VA) medical appointments, retirement paperwork, turnover with my relief, and a plethora of other tasks, my last few months of active duty just flew by! And then like that, it was over. I say that because in the last month I started Terminal Leave and hosted my retirement ceremony. Continue reading →

Pre-Retirement and Mental Health

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Everyone Take Note

May is Mental Health Awareness month in the United States. I make no secret on this blog that I struggle with depression and anxiety linked to Post Traumatic Stress (PTS). Just the opposite, I shine a light on those issues and their interplay with my pensionable career whenever practical. Furthermore, I try hard to discuss themes and subjects which I believe are common among anyone in a similar situation. I do that to foster conversation with other pensionable workers who might also struggle from mental health issues linked to their careers.

It’s also no secret that I’m retiring this year, which means I will soon become a veteran. As a result of my pending veteran status, and everything I just listed above, I spent some time researching veteran mental health statistics and issues. A portion of this article covers those findings, which I share in the hope that it prompts robust discussions in your professional and/or personal lives. The other part of this article discusses some of the steps I’ve taken to make sure my mental health issues don’t impede my retirement.

Continue reading →

Choices and Thankfulness

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Choices

I’ll have you know that I do most the cooking on Thanksgiving in our house.

Happy Thanksgiving

“What are you thankful for this year?” is a commonly asked Thanksgiving question. It’s usually asked around dinner tables, which is where we Americans typically celebrate this holiday designed to bring us together and reflect on the bounty in our lives. In fact, Mrs. Grumpus and I asked our children the same question tonight as we ate.

Grumpus Minimus #1 (the older one) dutifully answered that he was thankful for his mom, dad, family, and friends. He then proceeded to list every single one of his friends. Grumpus Minimus #2 (the younger one) said he was thankful for Hickam Air Force Base, where he likes to go and watch Hawaiian airline’s planes land (Hickam AFB shares a flight line with the Honolulu airport). I bet no Air Force Base has ever been loved as much as GM#2 loves Hickam.

Continue reading →

Retirement Anxiety: How I Retired Mine

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Anxiety Check

Retirement anxiety

I think it will take more than this to calm me down.

How are your retirement anxiety levels at the moment? I must admit my levels were high earlier this week. As described in my previous post, I recently realized that I’m (probably) not going to make it to 21-years of military service. Thus, I’m (probably) going to retire after my pension vests at 20-years. This means that I won’t secure the transferability of my GI Bill to my kids prior to retiring. As a result, I’m leaving a lot of potential money on the table.

I spiked my anxiety levels even further this week by breaking the above news to Mrs. Grumpus. She doesn’t routinely read my blog. She’s too busy with the kids and running the household to find the time to read my 3500+ word tomes (i.e. articles). As a result, if I come to some major insight about my life while writing, I can’t rely on her to read about it. This means I actually have to talk to her. Unfortunately, I’m a much better writer than a talker, so I usually make a mess of the conversation. Continue reading →

Work, Mental Health, Disability, and Retirement Planning

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Time For a Rethink

I recently started ramping down my anti-depression and anxiety medication that I take for my PTS linked issues. I didn’t make this mental health decision lightly. You see, based on my doctor’s recommendation, I tried to ramp down before. I wasn’t successful. My mood swings were too erratic and unpredictable. After the failed attempt, I decided to stay on the medication until I ended my Active Duty military career. I figured the natural stress relief created by retirement would greatly assist efforts to balance my moods more naturally.

However, a few recent experiences persuaded me to reconsider that decision. The first is a continuing deterioration of my physical health. The cascading effects that issue has created, and my attempts to manage the pain, built a desire to end all but the most benign medications. My psychotropic medication is anything but benign. While it definitely evens my temperament and smooths my erratic behavior, the side effects are numerous. This includes interruptions of my sleep cycle, weight gain, and a heightened tendency to sweat and dehydrate. Continue reading →

The Opposite of Gutting It Out

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My Gutting It Out post must have struck a chord with many of my readers. It prompted numerous comments, re-posts, and questions on the Book of Face. It continues to be one of my most read articles, and it even prompted a fellow Financial Independence (FI) blogger to write an article about my article. That’s pretty cool if you ask me, and a fairly large ego stroke too!

However, as popular as that article proved to be, I don’t want anyone to think that “gutting it out” is the only path I advocate. It’s not. Nor could it ever be, since the entire premise which surrounds my self-described Golden Albatross inflection point implies a choice that someone makes to stay or leave a pensionable job. Thus, if some people choose to stay and “gut out” a pensionable job, it means others don’t or won’t. It’s for those contemplating that alternative that I dedicate this post. Continue reading →

Four Golden Albatross Financial Lessons

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A Message to Future You

financial lessons

Four Golden Albatrosses take flight

If you’re reading my articles in chronological order, either in real time or at some undetermined time in the future, you’ll know that my two preceding articles were counter-points to other people’s financial ideas. As much fun as I had writing articles that used macroeconomics to argue against other people’s theories; doing so courts a certain amount of negativity. Granted, the counter-points needed to be made, and I believe I kept the articles congenial, lighthearted, and fact-based. However, at the end of the day, I still argued against someone’s work as opposed to building my own. As a result, I hit the pause button on the Risk Series this week, in order to focus on a more positive message.

Ironically, despite my online negativity I’ve actually been doing some positive stuff in the real world — which just might be the understatement of a lifetime in regards to the internet. Over the past three weeks, I counseled three different military members and/or their spouses on financial issues. Two of those counseling sessions took place face-to-face; while the third took place via email. All of them proved a great experience … for me at least. I learn a lot about myself and other people every time I counsel someone. Whereas I felt like a reluctant financial voyeur during my first counseling session; I actually enjoy them now. Continue reading →

The Golden Albatross Financial Philosophy

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The Request

Golden Albatross

Professor X enjoying his lunch break.

A few months ago a military member from a mid-career service school approached me through my blog with a request. He’s an instructor, so let’s call him Professor X. One of Professor X’s topics is personal finance as it relates to effective management of one’s career. He’d read my blog and believed several of my articles were appropriate material for his students. As a result, he asked me to speak via video to his class. After we exchanged a few emails on proposed topics, legal conflicts of interest, and technical hurdles; I agreed to appear in uniform as a military member, smart in the ways of finance, but without mention of my blog.

With this scheduled event now only a few days away, I thought it prudent to script my remarks. I also thought it would be worth turning those remarks into a blog post. Since Professor X’s request forced me to distill numerous blog posts into one coherent speech about my financial philosophy, I figured some of my readers might find it useful. As a result, this post doesn’t cover any new territory. It simply synthesizes a lot of what I’ve written previously in one place. Who knows? If I ever write a book, this article might form a good basis for the first chapter.

Continue reading →