Recently, some ultra rich people made a public statement that they didn’t need the tax cut recently signed by Trump. They might be in the minority of the ultra rich, but I’m certain their sentiment is absolutely true. There is a point at which the only point of more money is to one-up someone else. Your needs – and indeed, your wants – have been satisfied.

We are not there yet. In fact, every time I relax a bit and think we are OK, something happens to shake my confidence. Here’s some history of our financial life. We got married when we were still in grad school. I had a $200/mo. stipend from a fellowship. He had a $200/mo. check as a RA. We paid $80/mo. rent and ate at a corner bar & grill more often than we should have. We saved enough to make a down payment on a basic VW bus, modified it into a camper, and took off most weekends for somewhere. 

We also saved some money for a trip to Alaska on a state ferry. (People could sleep on the deck in those days.) But suddenly, the beloved bus needed an expensive repair and that was the end of our dream trip to AK. Next, he suffered a TBI (traumatic brain injury) in a bicycle race. Suddenly, our minimalist two income lifestyle was a zero income lifestyle. He couldn’t work, and I couldn’t leave him alone. Things eased up a bit when his boss let him come back to work long before he could do anything useful. I started work mid-August for my first year teaching, not knowing that I wouldn’t get a paycheck until October 1. When September 1 came around with no check, I panicked, but we scraped together enough to survive the month. Together, we agreed we needed to keep some money untouched, and we would never, ever build a budget based on two incomes. 

In 1975, Seattle voted down a school levy and laid off teachers. I survived that layoff because the district opted not to lay off any special ed teachers, of which I was one. I survived future layoffs based on seniority because I now had one year over the layoff threshold. Unfair, but hey. Spouse was self-employed during these years, always making some money, but the amount varied from year to year. By this time, we were building a savings account so that we could survive a few months in event of a new mishap. We realized that we had enough money to make a down payment on a house, which we did. Mortgage payment, taxes and insurance was equal to the rent we had been paying. (Life was different back then.) 

We continued to live as a one-income couple despite our two incomes. We made basic improvements to the house, but nothing fancy, and sold it twelve years later at a handsome profit, which we applied to a duplex where we lived in half and rented the other half. After which, we moved to a boat and sold the duplex at a profit. We did not sell the boat at a profit, but we didn’t lose a lot. And somewhere along the way line, a great aunt died, willed some money to my mom who divided it in half and gave my sister and me each $10,000. That doesn’t sound like a lot today, but we didn’t need it at the time and put it into savings. Later, my mom died, and we inherited another sum, again a modest amount that we didn’t need at the time. We bought a new car for $10,000, two tax deferred annuities, and a handful of blue chip stocks just as the market was starting on a huge upward trend. 

Meanwhile, spouse took a job with a paycheck in lieu of the unpredictability of being self employed. His employer had a 401K plan, so when his plant eventually closed, he had a little pile of money to invest. No. We did not buy Microsoft when it went public. Most of our initial investments paid off before they tanked as the 80s blue chips gave way to the 90s tech boom which gave way to the dot com bubble. We did eventually buy some Microsoft, but after the initial investors had made many millions of dollars. We bought Apple at it’s peak in the ‘90s and watched its value plummet on rumors of impending bankruptcy. But Bill Gates bailed out Steve Jobs, and we didn’t sell at the bottom, and now it’s worth a lot more than we paid for it despite its uncertain future re: China.. We lost money in the dot com bust, but came out with enough to keep us afloat.

I’ve read lots of advice about saving for retirement, about renting vs owning, about the 4% rule (theoretically, you can use 4% of your total pile of money each year and you’ll never run out of money). But right now the present is chaotic, the future so unpredictable, that who knows if we’ll be OK until we die. We don’t have long term care insurance. Many friends do, but I just don’t trust insurance companies. Yes, some have benefitted, and it’s a bit risky to be self-insured for what could be massive expenses in the future. We will either be OK or we won’t. Spouse’s opinion is that if we run out of money, the whole world will be a shambles, so we’ll have lots of company. Occasionally, he’s right.

In any event, we got a call last Thursday from the real estate agent who has the listing for the house we want to sell. I really like the house, but we might be the only people who do. It’s been on the market a month, some lookers, right price, but people always have some nit-picky issue with it. The reason for her call was that another agent was showing the house and saw that a toilet was leaking. Water damage. If there are any two words you never want to hear about your house, it’s “water damage.” 

We were already on our way there to pull some weeds, so when we arrived, she explained it all to us. Our handyman is on vacation, so we had to call a real plumber. Simple fix, and $275 later the new part had restored the toilet back to normal. Then I had to call a company that deals with water damage. Good news, they were able to start work on Friday afternoon. The first part, ripping out the damaged bits, will take a few days and a few thousand dollars. The last part will take a few more days and a few thousand more dollars. The house will be “temporarily unlisted” for about two weeks (we hope not more), and will forever be tainted as I suspect word will get around about “water damage.” 

Meanwhile, spouse continues to make coffee in the morning. Also sometimes in the evening as he can’t tell 7:30 a.m. from 7:30 p.m., especially at this time of year. He also takes care of our garbage and our recycles and asks me many times a day what day is it. I still love bumming around with him. So that’s good. 

Well, back to the point about money. It’s great to have some, I’m glad we do, I hope it lasts, and I just wish the damn toilet hadn’t leaked.