PessOptimist's Account Talk

[PessOptimist]

Heard this on an oldies station during that damned commute. Took me back to Rhein main AB, GE in 1975. I was married with a rug rat but was an A1C so no accompanied tour for me. So I went and got assigned a room with four people. All in my Squadron and 3 in my workcenter. One was a Sgt (E4) from Iowa who was our mentor at work and off duty. He had a reel to reel and had of course made some tapes. We would leave work daily and play one tape every night. This Roberta Flack song was in the mix. First time I ever heard the song on quality equipment (for the time). I loved the way the band kicked in after the A cappella part. This video doesn’t do justice to the bass/drum part.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgl-VRdXr7I

Another song we liked was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6srfnkqS4M.

I don’t really remember what else was on this tape except the Horse with No Name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQzW6wz2JQk&list=RDSQzW6wz2JQk

I posted the songs in oldies but will put the remembrances in my home.

We were just 20 somethings doing a job we were taught to do with pride. There may have been some Henniger-Brau involved.

Soon, to paraphrase Billy Joel, wife closed the house, sold the car and bought a ticket to Deutschland.

PO

 

[Mcqlives]

same place, but army, same music 10 years later. Oh, apfelcorn instead of beer

 

[nnuut]

Good Music!

 

[nasa1974]

We were just 20 somethings doing a job we were taught to do with pride. There may have been some Henniger-Brau involved.


PO

It's amazing how a bunch of 20 somethings in the service are/were responsible for millions of dollars worth of equipment. You are correct about "taught to do with pride". Never got out of the States; Lackland, Chanute and F.E. Warren (70-74). Always remember the sacrifice of our men and women in service.

 

[PessOptimist]

It's amazing how a bunch of 20 somethings in the service are/were responsible for millions of dollars worth of equipment. You are correct about "taught to do with pride". Never got out of the States; Lackland, Chanute and F.E. Warren (70-74). Always remember the sacrifice of our men and women in service.

Pocket Rocket guy. Remember when everyone predicted you would never have a trade when you got out? I think most of you did well. Thank you.

No matter what any of you did in your service, remember nasa’s words

Always remember the sacrifice of our men and women in service.

PO

 

[PessOptimist]

This is supposed to be about TSP investments, right? Status quo for now, 13% C, 87% G. I retire in 6 months. I am huhner oder schüchtern about investing.

The stuff below brings back a flood of memories from that time.

Sgt Mark had a 12 or so year old Opel Rekord. One of those cars that could no longer pass the FRG TÜV but could pass the USAREUR test. Part of his mentorship was taking us into “Germany” a couple times a month. Rules were we only went on weekends that did not include the 15[SUP]th[/SUP] or end of the month. Common paydays for US military in FRG. We started out going to Gasthauses and having a meal along with beer of wine. Save your money between paydays. All mine was going to my family except for $20 per month. He also took us to some of the gentleman’s clubs in the area. What money we had would disappear at an amazing rate in those places. Then when he saw fit he took us in to Frankfurt am Main on a Friday that coincided with the end of the month Army/Air Force payday. What a crowded zoo that was. KaiserStraße was unbelievable. Roaming the stairwells and gawking at the prostitutes and price lists on the wall. Then over to Sachsenhausen. Apfelkorn, apfelwine some places even called it apfelsaft which is juice. That apfel stuff will make you feel bad for days.

Thanks to Sgt Mark for the introduction to Germany. After my wife and daughter arrived (remember, sold everything and bought a plane ticket) and we found a humble abode “on the economy”, we had house guests every weekend. They would bring food, drink and sometimes take us on incredible road trips. My daughter had three “uncles” who all surprised me with their child care skills. Including diaper changing and rinsing if necessary due to a “big one”. The down side was three less than sober airmen sleeping on the furniture. I would never want to repeat that part of my life but do cherish it.

PO

 

[PessOptimist]

Updated the autotracker to reflect reality. No IFT, just payroll allocation to C fund and C fund slowly rising overall. I am on track for about 4% this year which is fine since I am retiring. Maybe after retirement when I have more time to watch things and make my best guess I will take a percentage of the TSP fund to play with.

About 90 work days left.

PO

 

[evilanne]

The great countdown...should be about 85 work days now Wait til you get closer, to the calendar day count down

 

[PessOptimist]

Ah jeez. Here I sit 68 days from retiring and 16% of TSP in C fund as of Friday. Payroll allocation still goes to C fund. Am I buying bargains or pissing it away. Should I sell C at a loss or hang in there? Three more pay periods left and three more buy opportunities before the end of contributions.
What to do, what to do? Guess I will let her ride and if C keeps making the balance go down finally sell it at a loss. Or wait. I don’t plan on drawing anything out of TSP until mid 2019.
It looks like I am on track to break even this year, I hope.
PO

 

[Cactus]

So, are you still going to retire after all this? You have to be able to aford to retire. You don't want to quit the government to go stand on your feet all day at Lowe's/Home Depot. I've known too many people doing that and it aint great.

 

[Tsunami]

Ah jeez. Here I sit 68 days from retiring and 16% of TSP in C fund as of Friday. Payroll allocation still goes to C fund. Am I buying bargains or pissing it away. Should I sell C at a loss or hang in there? Three more pay periods left and three more buy opportunities before the end of contributions.
What to do, what to do? Guess I will let her ride and if C keeps making the balance go down finally sell it at a loss. Or wait. I don’t plan on drawing anything out of TSP until mid 2019.
It looks like I am on track to break even this year, I hope.
PO

I've turned in my papers and am not looking back. 12/31/18 is my last day. I'm confident that there will be a nice year-end rally, a "wave B" in Elliott wave terms, and am hoping to get back in and catch that. Right now it's looking to me like the main reason for this selloff is fear over the election. So it should bottom on or before election day is my guess.

 

[PessOptimist]

So, are you still going to retire after all this? You have to be able to aford to retire. You don't want to quit the government to go stand on your feet all day at Lowe's/Home Depot. I've known too many people doing that and it aint great.

Prior Proper Planning Promotes…what? Prosperity isn’t really the right word. Peace of mind? Doesn’t fit really, need a catchy one word synonym for survival that starts with P. Perpetuation? No nothing lasts forever, even those perpetual care contracts you buy at cemeteries. Prolongation? Perseverance? Presence? Not really happy with any of them but Presence will do. While it is one of the “legs” of the FERS three legged stool, my TSP is not really essential to presence. Maybe stool isn’t a good analogy?

I've turned in my papers and am not looking back. 12/31/18 is my last day. I'm confident that there will be a nice year-end rally, a "wave B" in Elliott wave terms, and am hoping to get back in and catch that. Right now it's looking to me like the main reason for this selloff is fear over the election. So it should bottom on or before election day is my guess.

I am with you on the not looking back part. Not so confident about the end of year rally.
Thanks for the replies.
PO

 

[uscfanhawaii]

Originally Posted by Cactus
So, are you still going to retire after all this? You have to be able to aford to retire. You don't want to quit the government to go stand on your feet all day at Lowe's/Home Depot. I've known too many people doing that and it aint great.



Prior Proper Planning Promotes…what? Prosperity isn’t really the right word. Peace of mind? Doesn’t fit really, need a catchy one word synonym for survival that starts with P. Perpetuation? No nothing lasts forever, even those perpetual care contracts you buy at cemeteries. Prolongation? Perseverance? Presence? Not really happy with any of them but Presence will do. While it is one of the “legs” of the FERS three legged stool, my TSP is not really essential to presence. Maybe stool isn’t a good analogy?

Originally Posted by Tsunami
I've turned in my papers and am not looking back. 12/31/18 is my last day. I'm confident that there will be a nice year-end rally, a "wave B" in Elliott wave terms, and am hoping to get back in and catch that. Right now it's looking to me like the main reason for this selloff is fear over the election. So it should bottom on or before election day is my guess.



I am with you on the not looking back part. Not so confident about the end of year rally.
Thanks for the replies.
PO​

I also have my papers in for a Dec 31 retirement!

Not looking back! 36 yrs of TSP will not be wiped out, and besides, I plan to stay invested over my LONG retirement!!
Plenty of time to get it back! :dance:

​

 

[PessOptimist]

Any big plans for New Year’s eve? I plan to celebrate almost as usual. Try to stay awake to drink champagne the SO bought. Fall asleep in a chair. Wake up and NOT go to bed around 2100. Drink champagne with SO at midnight. Go to bed and remember I DO NOT have to remember to turn on the alarm. Maybe ever again but never for 0434. Never say never?

After that-not worry about leaving the house between 0510 and 0520 to make the 15 mile commute by 0600. Only get out of bed when I can no longer sleep for some reason. Forget what day of the week it is.

Possibly this belongs in my retirement talk thread?

PO

 

[Scout333]

Any big plans for New Year’s eve? I plan to celebrate almost as usual. Try to stay awake to drink champagne the SO bought. Fall asleep in a chair. Wake up and NOT go to bed around 2100. Drink champagne with SO at midnight. Go to bed and remember I DO NOT have to remember to turn on the alarm. Maybe ever again but never for 0434. Never say never?

After that-not worry about leaving the house between 0510 and 0520 to make the 15 mile commute by 0600. Only get out of bed when I can no longer sleep for some reason. Forget what day of the week it is.

Possibly this belongs in my retirement talk thread?

PO

Warning from an old retiree Its really easy to get your days and nights mixed up. Stay up all night watching old TV shows and sleep all day. Not that great for your health! But you get to decide not Uncle Sam!

 

[nnuut]

I retired Jan 3rd in 2010 and haven't regretted it, GOOD Stuff. It takes a while to get used to but well worth it. Yes I never know what day of the week it is, thankfully my computer has a calendar.:laugh: Best of luck Newbies you will LOVE IT!!~

 

[PessOptimist]

Warning from an old retiree Its really easy to get your days and nights mixed up. Stay up all night watching old TV shows and sleep all day. Not that great for your health! But you get to decide not Uncle Sam!

Perhaps other household members get a say in the decision?

 

[Scout333]

Perhaps other household members get a say in the decision?

Of course, SO always gets a say! Seems staying up all night used to be a lot more fun! LOL

 

[PessOptimist]

Is the bottom in? Will it break to the upside? Will I get back to the high balance for the year? No telling.

About 30 work days left. Getting excited and a bit frustrated. Not getting all the inputs to all the projects done, people seem to be asking for more tutoring about stuff. A project I thought was completed has popped up again, seems someone promised something without telling the people who fulfill the promise. Typical. My immediate boss had a talk with me today. Said I wasn’t going to get it all done so just make sure what info I have is available and prep for leaving. Settled me down some.

Got home after the usual 50 minute 15 mile commute and fired up the lap top. It seemed to start real quickly. It had also been moved and was dust free including the keyboard. No wifi connection. Hmmm. Cleaning service was here today. Check the cable modem and router. Yup, shiny clean. All lights on steady, no blinking. FWIW to anyone, instead of powering down modem and router I disconnected the network from the modem to the router. Router showed connection down. Reconnected cable and router started looking “normal” port lights blinking. Powered down laptop and powered back up. Took the normal time to boot and get all the windows stuff going and had a wifi connection. I suspect that the lap top was turned on during the dusting and was in sleep mode. I suspect power was interrupted to router or modem during dusting and immediately restored not allowing normal DHCP or other startup stuff to happen. Great to have clean equipment! I hate having to do stuff like this on week nights. Eats in to the time I should be reading emails, packing lunch and eating.

Good luck to everyone and I hope the market comes up some more and starts a sideways movement. I fear the gains of earlier this year will not happen again soon. No loss is better than big loss.

PO

 

[PessOptimist]

Yuckeeesssh this market sucks. Almost makes me want to listen to Cactus about not retiring. Almost. Need to get that 16% out of the C fund but at what cost? It may be below 16% after today. 23 workdays and 42 calendar days left until I am unemployed.

Stopped by the local HR person's office today. She was out. Her admin assistant checked her list and found I wasn't on it. I submitted the paperwork to the mercenary HR retirement people, told all of my chain of command but turns out my local HR office is "out of the loop". The admin promised she would create a checklist for out processing and email it to me. I need to start working on that this week.

Good luck with your investments.

PO