Tag Archives: tracking money

The Pension Series (Part 30): Pension Maximization

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Pension Maximization

Helping pensionable workers determine the value of their defined benefit (DB) pension to make well-informed Golden Albatross decisions is the raison d’être for this website. Thus, I write most of my articles for pensionable workers trying to determine whether staying for their DB pension is worth it. However, those aren’t the only articles I write. Although much smaller in number, I also publish articles for pensionable workers who decide to stay. If a unifying theme to those articles exists, it’s pension maximization.

What’s pension maximization? In practical terms, pension maximization ensures your pension’s positive impact in retirement is as significant as possible. You maximize your pension by taking active steps during your pensionable career. My Gap Number, Roth vs. Traditional, buying back years, and pension geoarbitrage articles provide examples of actionable steps pensioners can take. That said, unlike my Golden Albatross-themed articles, I never laid out a framework for pension maximization. In other words, after a worker decides to stay, I never answered the simple “now what?” question.

The remainder of this article, and its follow-on, layout my framework for answering “now what?” I call this framework Grumpus Maximization.

Yes, it’s a somewhat cheesy metaphor. But, Grumpus Maximization is a catchphrase designed to stick, much like the Golden Albatross. Who knows? It might even aid future marketing attempts like printing t-shirts with “Got Pension?” on the front and “Get Maximized @ grumpusmaximus.com” on the back …

That’s not helping, is it? Fine, I’ll sidebar the marketing discussion for now. Continue reading →

Death Binder 2.0: The Pensioner’s Edition

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A New Hope … For Time to Create a Better Death Binder

Young kids fractionalize your free time as a parent, making long-term projects difficult. That may sound ironic coming from an early retiree and pensioner like me, but it’s nonetheless true, especially during the summer holidays. As I pen this post, it’s February, and we’re nearing the end of summer in New Zealand (NZ). The kids recently started their new school year, which is great because my family and I were busy with all the fun things that typify the NZ summer lifestyle for the six preceding weeks. This includes going to the beach, road-tripping, camping, hiking, kayaking, bike riding, summer football (i.e., soccer), and rock jumping into emerald pools of cold mountain river water! Needless to say, all that fun didn’t leave much time for the long-overdue transformation of my original death binder into a pensioner’s death binder. Continue reading →

The Pension Couch: Pension Roll-Over Questions

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What should pensionable employees who leave their job before normal retirement age (NRA) do with their pension at their former employer? Should they roll the pension over into a self-directed retirement account like an IRA? Or, should they wait until NRA and collect the annuity?

These are simple enough questions, but not ones I ever had to deal with personally since my pension never accrued a value while I worked. That said, there are ways to determine the answers to these questions. But, as with many things connected to pensions, such as the Golden Albatross inflection point, it often involves a mix of math and emotion. It certainly did for one reader who had a pension roll-over question, so I made it the topic of this Pension Couch post.

For those that don’t remember, Pension Couch articles are created from lightly edited and sanitized email/message exchanges in which I answer readers’ pension questions. Names and some details have been sanitized to protect the innocent. Also, don’t forget that I speak in general about pensions throughout this post because every pension plan is different. So, make sure you research your specific plan before taking any action! Continue reading →

18 Months of Kiwiarbitrage

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In my original Kiwiarbitrage article, I explained how I determined that my family and I could afford to “retire” to New Zealand (NZ). I also stated that I would write many more articles on New Zealand and geoarbitrage. Since then, I’ve written precisely none … until now!

This article starts with general lessons that any expatriate (EXPAT) pensioner should know before moving, some of which I didn’t. Secondly, since several readers contacted me over the past few months and asked what the cost of living in New Zealand is like, I discuss that below. The article is organized so people can read the sections they’re interested in and skip the rest. I also try not to concentrate too much on COVID-19 pandemic-specific lessons but rather lessons that apply to all environments.

Finally, this article is anything but definitive. There will be others. For instance, I want to write one for EXPAT US military retirees and veterans. However, I limited this article to just the general lessons I’ve learned from retiring overseas and cost of living insights for the sake of time. Continue reading →

6 Lessons From 18 Months as a Pensioner

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Back in Time

Wow! Where did the time go? I blinked, and my first year-and-a-half as a pensioner flew by. Before you start laughing about my use of the term “pensioner,” I’m aware that in many parts of the world, “old age” comes in front of the word “pensioner.” However, since I’m only in my mid-40s, I’m not ready for the Old Man Grumpus moniker just yet. Let’s just agree that pensioner describes someone who receives defined benefit pension payments, like me, for the past 18 months.

I’m not the first personal finance or Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) blogger to write about the lessons from their first X number of months in retirement. In fact, it’s a popular topic. That said, none of the articles specifically address pension-related lessons learned. This article fills that void. So, I’ll put aside my usually verbose introduction and reveal six pension-related lessons that I’ve learned during my first 18 months as a pensioner.

Continue reading →

The Golden Albatross vs. Kiwi Arbitrage

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Long Time Comin’

For more than nine months I’ve promised several readers an article covering the geoarbitrage potential behind Grumpus Familias’ pending move to New Zealand — which I’m calling “Kiwi Arbitrage” in honor of the beloved flightless bird native to New Zealand. Yet, for one reason or another, I kept putting-off that particular task. In other words, I procrastinated. That’s something of an Olympic sport in certain parts of my life.

That said, I had several good reasons for procrastinating this time around. The most legitimate was the lack of approved entry visas. I didn’t want to waste time writing an article on New Zealand only for some reason to appear that would prevent us from moving. If you don’t think that was a realistic possibility, then you obviously haven’t read about my lifetime of Charlie Brown-like luck.

Alas, I can procrastinate no longer. Grumpus Familias’ visas arrived several weeks ago and no major obstacles sprang out of the military retirement process. As a result, flights and movers are booked and Mrs. Grumpus and I are busy selling off or donating a large fraction of our worldly possessions that we can’t or don’t want to take with us. While we haven’t “burnt the boats” just yet, we are close — which means this move is on like the proverbial simian made famous by ColecoVision! Continue reading →

Golden Albatrosses Killed Your Golden Goose

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No Birds Were Hurt In The Making of This Post

Wondering where I’ve been lately? Well, I’ve taken advantage of some post-operative convalescent leave to concentrate on finishing my book. As a result, I haven’t spent any time writing new content for the blog. Fortunately, though, Chris Pascale saved the day and offered to write a guest post for this month. Chris is a published author, father, husband, accountant, teacher, and former U.S. Marine (although I’ve been informed there’s no such thing as a former Marine). He’s also a big fan and friend of the blog.

Chris reached out to me last year (2018) after he heard my interview on the ChooseFI podcast. He believed we had a lot in common including military service, money issues, and PTS. To prove it, he sent me a copy of his most recent book of published poetry called War Poems: A Marine’s Tour 2003-2008. Continue reading →

Paradigm Shifts

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New Year, Same Goal(s)

Happy 2019 everyone! I read somewhere recently that we should make goals and not resolutions at New Year’s, which brings me to the inevitable question:

What are your goals for 2019?

goal

Wait a minute, does one of those goals say “kill Grumpus Maximus”?

Since we’ve officially entered the last calendar year that I’ll be a part of the U.S. military, my goal for 2019 should come as no surprise. In October 2019, I’ll begin terminal leave, and on 01 January 2020, I’ll be officially retired … if all goes according to plan. I’m excited but also nervous. I got a lot of work to do in order to retire on the best terms possible from the military and to make sure my family and I are financially prepared. 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 →

The Death Binder!

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I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter. — Winston Churchill

Death Binder

Death and Binders

I did something different this week for work. I deployed to a foreign country for a military exercise. I’m writing this post from that country as a matter of fact. It’s the first time since my Afghanistan tour in 2013 that I’ve deployed abroad with all my gear. It’s also the first time since my financial awakening that I’ve deployed. Granted, I traveled multiple times on official orders since Afghanistan and was also stationed overseas for multiple years. However, except for our Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move from Europe to Hawaii, I consider my travel comparable to business trips. There’s something different about packing up all your combat gear that sharpens the mind. As a result, while not a tour to a combat zone, I used this military exercise as an excuse to build my “Death Binder”.

Just for the record, Mrs. Grumpus hates the term, Death Binder. In fact, she won’t let me call it the Death Binder in the house. Instead, we call it the “Financial Binder” or “Financial Folder”. However, I call it the Death Binder when she’s not around. I do that partly because of my love of heavy metal. There’s something about the term Death Binder that makes me want to throw the devil sign up in the air and bang my head while shouting “DEATH BINDER” in my loudest metal voice.

Continue reading →