Saturday, April 15, 2023

C-KAPE: Old & Money

Time for a new C-KAPE class (Captain Kirk Academy for the Pursuit of Excellence):

How to Old & Money, 101

(That book Kirk's holding---it's The Tale of Two Cities. I wonder if that's where Penny Cooper knows it from...)

I need to enroll in such a pursuit because money is scary to me, and not interesting, so I really don't know anything about finances. But I'd better straighten mine out, since
in three years I'll be sixty-five and have to figure out Medicare and when I'm going to claim social security and how I'm going to live when I'm old old.
My finances are pretty simple--I don't own or owe (or earn) much of anything--but dead relatives left me some, and I have a mysterious retirement plan from an old job.

(If you have any tips--reading or video suggestions--on aging + money, please email me them, eh? frescadp at the Big G)

I want to work
at least until I'm seventy, health permitting.
It would be prudent get a full-time job that pays more than minimum wage.
And not just for the money. After five years, the dysfunctions of the thrift store and environs are really wearing me down.
With the warmer weather, the drug dealers & co. are out in force across the street again. A couple weeks ago, I didn't have much reaction to news of two gun murders there, and neither did my coworkers. Mr Christian Big Boss didn't even suggest we say a prayer or anything, it's just business as usual.
My (our) hard-heartedness is troublesome (though it also allows me to function without falling apart).
I don't know. I'd be brokenhearted to leave BOOK's. And yet...

Anyway, this morning, I avoided doing my taxes by starting to look into financial things. One of the first things I found was that I am now old enough (62) to take cheap or free classes at the U!

onestop.umn.edu/registration/senior-citizen-education-program

The Senior Citizen Education Program (SCEP) applies to all state-supported institutions of higher education in Minnesota... Residents who are 62 or older may enroll in courses at the University. They may audit courses free of charge, or take classes for credit at $10 per credit, regardless of whether they have already earned a degree.

(I already have a BA from the U.)
I'd been thinking that maybe taking classes would be a good thing,
whether I get a new job or not, something engaging and entirely out of the grind. Now I know it'd be financially easy, I'm going to look into summer school!