Guns and money

I don't think I mentioned - on Monday, dh did go up to have that other gunsmith (is that what they are called?) look at his childhood rifle. There was another guy there (who apparently is a frequent customer of this guy). Turns out he is a cabinetmaker. DH was explaining to the gunsmith that he had it "restored" but....the guy said whoever did this, did a good job. Dh said his heart kind of sunk. Then dh tried to explain again. He wanted the rifle to look like it did originally and it is much lighter now AND nothing got cleaned in regards to all the gun parts. The cabinet maker guy said the stock was sanded and finished nice and the grain shows through really nice (which it does, it's just not what color it was before (albeit all scratched and dinged and dirty). He said he would keep the stain color, showing the nice grain. The cabinet maker (who of course knows wood and staining) said really all's it needs is a clear finish added to it to give it some shine. Then the gunsmith looked closer and agreed that the parts do need cleaning and the gun re-sighted. So, between the 3 of them the plan is the cabinet maker is taking the wood stock of the gun and finishing that up, while the gunsmith cleans up the parts and then he will put it all back together. Hopefully, this will end up closer to what dh wants and hopefully not in 3 months, like it took the first guy. They sounded more like 3 weeks time. We'll see.....

Retirement talk:

I think, once I retire, we should pretty comfortably be able to live off of our combined social security. Here's my budget I worked up, based on current monthly expenses and expected additional monthly expenses in retirement (like medicare and supplement premiums). I'm using today's dollars for my future budget. As inflation goes up, so will SS.

Our combined monthly social security income will be $4212, with me taking at age 67.

Below is the monthly budget I worked up:

Property taxes                    542
Homeowners insurance     225
Medicare/Part B                340
Medicare/Part G               200
Food/misc supplies           600
Gas - auto                           80
Cell phone                          92
Landline/internet              119
Meds                                    6
Yard maintenance            100
Garbage service                 60
Electricity                        200
Propane                            150
Car insurance                   150
Car tabs/registration          40
Pet                                      15
Subscriptions                     80
House maintenance            40
              Total                   3,039

Annual income from SS= $50,544

Annual expenses           = $36,468

 

That gives us a little over $14,000 a year/$1,173/mo to cover whatever else may come up. I didn't budget gifts (Christmas and birthday), but the extra monthly income can go towards stuff like that, eating out every so often, etc. Basically misc/fun stuff.  It seems to be a very nice cushion to cover extras we may want to buy each month. Extra medical expenses like co-pays, etc, can come out of my HSA account, when needed.

I just did up this budget recently, so I haven't put a ton of thought into it. It's likely I'm missing/forgetting about something, but I certainly have time (7 years) to figure that out. LOL.

 

Some notes about some expenses: 

Telephone/internet (we are rural, so the only other option would be satellite internet) is through the telephone company and they only offer internet along with home phone service, so we have to pay for a landline, even though we could get by without one. They just raised the rate $5 a month last month.

Pet - the cat. I budget his food and litter in food/misc, but the $15/mo is to budget for his annual vet visit and vaccines.

Homeowner's insurance - ours is high due to where we live: in a high fire zone and the nearest fire dept help (and volunteer at that) 10 miles away. I do try to shop around for better rates every couple of years. They are supposed to add another small fire station 5 miles from us, so that may help our fire rating when it happens.

I will also have retirement savings to draw from, if needed. Medical expenses can first come out of my HSA. I will need to start withdrawing from my 401k at age 73 (per current IRS rules), so that will be additional income, if we need it.