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I like Wednesday now; it’s my favorite day of the week. When I was organizing everything before selling my business and retiring, I was so uptight and stressed about sorting out a cash flow stream for our everyday spending. I decided to pay ourselves weekly, reasoning it would make things easier to track what we spent this way. If you think about it, it’s a silly thing to do. It’s not like it was a surprise to me what we spent; I’d been funding that for countless years.
I ran a small business with a multimillion-dollar turnover. My focus was on optimizing cash flow, generating income, and maximizing profit to keep the enterprise healthy and flourishing. Paying staff and suppliers was an easy thing for me to do. Surprisingly, I had a harder time paying myself. Taking the business’s life-giving cash to fund my lifestyle always deeply bothered me. Definitely a weird tension for a business owner!
But now I don’t have this issue. It’s just a joy to see the money drop into our account every week. I actually log into my online banking on a Wednesday morning, coffee in hand, just for the satisfaction of seeing the deposit. I’m easily pleased! Prior to pulling the trigger, I had spreadsheets about retirement income streams coming out of my ears. I would obsess over them nearly every day and get an itch if I hadn’t looked in a while. Totally and utterly over the top.
Nowadays, I really don’t even think about them. I’ve set my sail, chartered my course, and it’s on autopilot. It’s a revelation to seemingly receive cash on a weekly basis without having perceived to hustle and work for it. It’s a wonderful feeling that I know will fade when it becomes mundane everyday, but at the moment, I’m enjoying it immensely and wanted to remind you old-time retirees what a super thing it is to seemingly get money for nothing. Now all I need is the chicks for free!
Not receiving SS yet, so our favorite day, “payday”, is the last business day of each month when our pensions magically appear in our checking account. The absolute best “payday” each year is the last day of July as that is when the COLA hits our pensions!
By the way, I’m also thinking of “Money” by Pink Floyd: “I’m alright, Jack, keep your hands off of my stack.”
Mark Knopfler could not have said it better.
Don’t forget Sting
Measure twice, cut once!
Sounds like you approached things the right way. Though I suspect the planning didn’t create anxiety rather the opposite, that you planned to salve the anxiety of approaching a new stage.
Autopilot works but I’m curious how you’d adjust it if there was a shock to the economy that challenged some of your assumptions. (Because those are things I think about heading towards retirement)
I’ve liability matched my net income needs in money market and short bonds for 10 years. I’m confident the stock market will perform over that time frame.
Here in the US, most people get Social Security checks on Wednesdays, so I thought you were talking about that when I read your headline, Mark. LOL! Chris
Wait a minute. All this and many comments sounds quite similar to what I have been advocating for years.
Put it on autopilot and let the bank/ broker do the work.
On the 1st of the month my pension is deposited in a checking account. That is then auto allocated among Connie’s checking account, eleven 529 college plans, a saving account and to a brokerage MM.
I don’t do a thing for the transactions.
On the 2nd Wednesday my SS arrives in the bank and into a separate account. On the 4th Wednesday Connie’s SS is deposited in the same account, that is designated for travel, or was in the past. Today it’s TBD. Most bills are auto taken from initial deposit account.
All automatic, all just like working years, except the source of the funds. The arrival of my pension is still referred to as payday. For most retirees that income is periodic withdrawals, interest and dividends and/or an annuity. Same concept of money flow though I suspect.
We have seen AI systems trading with each other in financial markets. Now, we’re entering a territory where AI-to-AI communication is evolving in unpredictable manner, difficult for the non-technical population to understand.
In the meantime, the dawn of computer automated transactions has brought ease and freedom to mortals. One unacquainted neighbor in a private gated community 2 miles from my house set up auto deposits and auto pays for everything they need. Their twice annual property taxes, home insurance bill, mortgages, utility bills, monthly HOA dues all paid on time out of their monthly deposits. For three years, the lights stayed on, the sprinklers ticked on schedule and the bills were paid – until a distant relative finally asked for a wellness check. That’s when the police found them, quietly gone in their own home.
Rest in peace, silent neighbor. In a world of automation, your existence faded without notice – but your humanity deserves remembrance.
Almost sounds like an urban legend. What is really sad is they had no one close to them who cared enough to check on them.
Yes, it does sound like an urban legend – and yes it was sad to hear the story on my local news. But I have profound respect for their choices: to move to that newly built community, to lead a solitude life among the well-kept trails and parks behind the gate, to pay their dues on time and without fuss. In a world of automation, even absence can look like independence.
I can’t help but wonder if the common wish among the elderly not being a burden – as noble as it is – might also be a quiet recipe for social invisibility. I hope that the next evolution of “smart living” is to enhance human connection – less high tech and more high touch.
Using fixed income and the same distribution system… you would think I’ve stolen your playbook lol
Mark: Kick back and have Guinness on your Wednesday paycheck.
BTW chicks?
David, did you miss that particular cultural touchstone? One of the best songs of its era.
”I want my MTV…”
Sorry that was a play on my last sentence: money for nothing…. and the chicks are free, dire straits 😁
Or you’re secretly a Kiwi who also likes to have a BBQ on his deck/dick!
Autopilot for me is another word for Simplicity.
We have five income streams that cover well above our expenses, and that all come monthly. All of our bills are on autopilot except for our lawn care service.
The opposite of simple reminds me of the decades I spent balancing our checkbook
What exactly have you automated for this payday? Is this just the fixed term annuity you’ve written about dropping into the current account?
I can understand the emotional value of it. Without a defined income source I have been trying to run most out of pocket expenses through a single account to get a sense of what monthly top up I’ll need to put into it.
We do something similar. About 90% of our expenses go on the credit card each month. The day after the statement arrives via email we check the checkbook balance, figure out how much we need to withdraw from our portfolio and withdraw enough to have a 2K balance just for comfort. As I’ve written before we don’t have a budget (and never had one when we were working) because our expenses are so low.
You guys have such better rewards on credit cards than this side of the pond. I’m jealous.
Without getting too personal can you give an example of low expenses like property taxes, health insurance, rent, food bill?
Sure, like I wrote above 90% of our expenses are on the credit card which averages 4-5K per month (that includes our food, utilities -electric <$100/month-as all lights are LED, and propane), property insurance, supplemental Medicare health insurance. We pay the minimal Federal part B premiums with our HSA), property taxes are about 7K (which is our “rent” as we have no mortgage).
We live a very inexpensive life style despite taking 2-3 weeks of “vacation” yearly in retirement. I’ve been shocked when you have reported your expenses there in NJ.
All told I say we spend maybe @70k per year. That’s why I have written numerous times we have NEVER had a budget in nearly 43 years of marriage.
PS- No car payments, paid cash for both new vehicles in ‘20/‘24.
You should be proud of our lifestyle as in the past you have railed against the typical Americans’ spendthrift lifestyle.😊
Nope, all cashflows are aggregated into a single account on a monthly basis. From this a weekly amount is transferred into a joint account we run for everyday expenses: Groceries, meals out, fuel etc….and the odd pint of Guinness!
From the central aggregated account other payments fund different accounts for specific purposes: travel, recurring bills, gifting and a few others….a bit like Mr Quinn’s approach.
Not sure I understand what “all cashflows” are. I’d understood you had a rather more modern portfolio you would need to draw down rather than automatically (your fixed term annuity excepted). I would have thought this was rather more manual i.e. cash transfers from GIA, ISA etc than RDQ’s approach but possibily you’ve already liquidated the cash in various wrappers.
Both our annuities, some passive income from intellectual rights plus seller finance payments
Ah OK understand.
Gee, my name appears and no red arrow- yet.
I also receive a e-mail or text that a payment is about to be taken and then when the bill payment occurs. No surprises, no fuss, no muss
No red arrows? people do like you today 😁
Give me time.
G’day Mark, glad to hear that “magic money” feels so good. I hear what you’re saying about taking money from your own business. Our view has been to leave as much in the business as a cash buffer for downturns, capital investment etc. Now that you’ve sold, none of that matters!
And it’s a liberating feeling!