Money, Money, Money
Must be funny
In the rich man's world
Money, money, money
Always sunny
In the rich man's world
Aha
All the things I could do
If I had a little money
It's a rich man's world
It's a rich man's world
In September, I will finally be old enough to receive my pension! Woohoo! All the things I will be able to do with that "little money" . . .
When I retired from teaching, I was still such a young pup that even though I'd given a full THIRTY YEARS of my life to that profession, in the eyes of the state of Nebraska I wasn't yet old enough to receive the fruits of my hard-earned retirement pension.
Initially, I saw the time between retirement and being age eligible in years. TWO YEARS to go, I'd tell myself. After the first year passed, I looked at it in months. TWELVE MONTHS to go. Now that 2023, the year in which I will finally be age eligible, is upon me, I am counting down the DAYS.
I find myself almost salivating at the thought of having a regular income again. Yes, I could have stayed with teaching or I could have got a different job that would have been paying me a regular salary this past year and a half, but the entire point of leaving teaching when I did was to focus on my writing career, so if I'd found a different full-time job, it would have defeated the point.
I've made huge strides with my writing career, as anyone who knows me is aware. Since leaving teaching, I've published three more novels, made progress on others, started two Substack weekly writings that earn me a tiny bit of money, managed to get my column into three more newspapers, and wrote feature articles for a newspaper and a magazine. Additionally, I've made many appearances at literary events and libraries. I wouldn't have been able to do any of those things if I'd stayed with teaching or if I'd found a different job.
However, I'm tired of being dead-ass broke and almost entirely reliant on my boyfriend for financial support. Not that my pension will catapult me into "the rich man's world," but it will pay the bulk of the bills and make me self-reliant once more. I am so looking forward to that, and no matter how wonderful my boyfriend is, I'm pretty sure he's looking forward to it, too.
I'm thankful for the Rule of 85, so I can start drawing my pension at a much earlier age than many people can in other careers with other retirement plans. Rule of 85 says that once your age and your years of teaching equal 85, then you can receive full retirement benefits. However, the state stipulates that you must be at least 55 before you can receive the benefits, so that's why I'm counting down the days until my birthday in September of this year.
Rule of 85 is no more, though. It was replaced by Rule of 90 a few years ago. Yep, your years of experience and your age now have to equal 90 before you can get the retirement pay, and the minimum age is now 60. I sure am glad that I taught under the Rule of 85 era.
When I complain about not having any money, people ask me why I don't substitute teach. Believe me, I have thought about it, but once again, by doing that, I'm negating the entire point of why I left teaching. Also, I'd be taking a day away from myself and my goals and dreams. I already gave away 30 years -- even one more day is too much to give up. Additionally, schools are so desperate for subs that once I let down my guard and subbed once, I know I'd cave over and over to help the teachers who need subs. I remember how difficult it was to find subs when I had to be gone, so I would want to help and would feel bad every time I said "no." Thus, it's best that I not even go down that road.
I do make money with my writing. I just don't make enough to live off; however, what I make will be a great addition to a regular monthly pension paycheck. With luck and continued perseverance, too, I will surely earn more and more as a writer, but in order to do that, I must stay the course and not give up on my dream just to get some silly job that adds nothing of value to my life beyond a little bit of money.
Value.
That's what matters to me at this stage in my life. I have no desire to do anything that doesn't add value to my life. Writing adds value far beyond any dollar amount you could put on it. Painting adds value. Spending time with people I love adds value. Travel adds value. Reading adds value.
Life is far too short to do anything at all that isn't of value to me, to my internal self and my soul. After losing Kim's son, Trever; my best friend, Amy; my amazing friend and coworker, Nate; and my beloved uncle, Paul; all within two years, and then watching my dear friend, Silvia, who is like family to me, suffer through kidney failure and almost lose her, I decided that I couldn't waste one more day not going after my dream. So, that's what I'm doing.
Every aspect of my life is better since I left teaching to focus on my writing career and dream. Every aspect except the financial one.
Maybe someday I will get financially rich off a book. Maybe not. My books have made me rich, though, in other ways. I don't need to be financially rich, but I do need to get by, so that's why I am now counting down those days until I turn 55.
I'm not a singer, but there's another song about money called "For the Love of Money" by The O'Jays that keeps going through my mind. It's really just that initial part where they sing "Money, money, money . . . money" over and over again. I find myself singing that as I think about that day in September that's only a little over 200 DAYS away.
Here is a link to my author website if you've never visited it and would like to poke around a little to see the things I write: Tammy Marshall - Author
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