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,
* * *
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.