I set up a Simple IRA plan at my business, and my first contribution went through this week: $504.

If I’m able to keep that up, every two weeks, that’s about $13,000/year, and I’ll be a millionaire in 76 years.  OK: that’s not quite realistic; it doesn’t consider the magic of compound interest.  So it’ll take maybe thirty-something years.

But I’ll be an old man by then, and before that, the government will insist that I start making withdrawals.  Moreover, by then, a million dollars will probably be half a month’s rent.
Still, I have to at least try,

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The electric bill arrived yesterday, and I actually felt good about it before I opened it.

During the winter, our monthly electric bill is typically $70-80.  We have a modest apartment in terms of size, and although we don’t make any great efforts to be ‘green,’ we try not to be too wasteful.

The July bill was for about $165, and reflected the first month of heavy air-conditioner use,  This was in line with past years, so it didn’t really bother me.

Then the August bill came in at $220, a new record.  We had gotten lazy, and in particular, on some days I just wanted to sit in front of the air conditioner and not do anything.   I told my wife and son about the bill, and we all made some effort to reduce our use.  Moreover, the worst of the summer heat had passed.

So when I opened the bill this morning, I expected that it would be in the $120-130 range.  But no: it was $195.  We used 15% less electricity than in the July bill, but will have to pay 18% more.