This month, I get my new contract. My understanding is that it'll be a two-year contract, but what's really important to me is the payout that now comes with the end of my current three-year contract. We get paid a "retirement allowance" equivalent to a month's pay for every year of the contract worked. So a three-year contract means I get three months' pay, all in a lump sum. Of course, it won't be literally that: by the time taxes and fees are taken out, it'll be closer to getting two months' pay, I'm sure; that's how it's worked in the past, so you have to prepare for disappointment. Still, that's better than nothing, and I can finally begin investing in earnest (I found an interesting app that's supposed to be a good help for investment newbies like me: it's called Acorns, with all the symbolic potential that that image implies).
What I'd like to do more immediately, though, is get myself a new desktop computer. I've been hunched over this tiny MacBook Air laptop since, oh, 2012, and the time has come for a change. Of course, there are several things I'd like to change about my life's circumstances, and a new computer is just one of them. I'd love to live in a bigger place where I can entertain people and have traveling guests over to stay the night if they want. I want a new pair of glasses; I've been using Mom's old glasses since I-don't-know-when. I want a new, bigger desk and a more comfortable chair. There's a lot I want but can't have right now. I'm still not quite where I need to be, financially, but the problem is that I'm not getting any younger.
I only just discovered there's a glasses shop in my apartment building; I might go give that place a visit before the end of the year so I can at least have some better glasses. As for the computer... technically, I could get it now with my credit card, but I'm not keen to load myself up with more debt. And which computer to get? I think I want to stick with a Mac, but obtaining a cheap Windows machine is a lot easier in Korea. Macs here are hellaciously expensive, although it might be nice to finally benefit from having a Korean Mac with a Korean/English keyboard and the all-important 한/영 (Korean/English) key.
While I don't want to burden myself with more things, the things I want fall under the label of conveniences, and those are important the older you get.
1 comment:
Glad to hear you are making a plan for those golden retirement years. I know some long-term expats in Korea who didn't and are screwed--not even eligible for Social Security unless they go back and work some BS job to get to the required number of quarters. You'll need a nest egg to make those Wyoming dreams come true!
As much time as you spend on the computer, it seems that may be an investment that warrants a sooner rather than later attitude. It's hard to put a price tag on comfort and ease of use--a daily reward for the money spent.
Glad to hear the new contract is on the horizon. Wasn't there some doubt expressed here previously in that regard?
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