Category Archives: retirement

How Much Did the First 24 Hours in Omaha Cost?

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We’re one full day into our first “slomad” journey and are settling into our new home in Omaha, Nebraska. I get a lot of questions about costs, and, even though we’re renting furnished places, I’ve also been curious about what unexpected expenses might pop up during these moves. So here’s a breakdown of everything we spent in our first 24 hours in Omaha:

Lodging

We pulled into town around noon and moved into our place. It’s a fully furnished, utilities-included two-bedroom apartment right on the edge of the Old Market neighborhood in downtown Omaha. At $1,500 a month, that comes out to about $50 per day of lodging.

Exercise

A couple of blocks away, we checked out the neighborhood YMCA. Our building has a decent workout room, but Katie and I swim a lot and we wanted access to a pool, plus classes and the chance to be social. I bargained away the joining fee by agreeing to pay the first month up front. For both of us, with full access to every YMCA in the region, it’s $75/month—or $2.50 for the first day.

Library

On the way back, we ducked into Omaha’s downtown public library. It was spacious, modern, and definitely a place we’ll return to when we want a work spot outside the apartment. We signed up for cards for $0 and now have access to meeting rooms, printers, copiers, and, of course, endless digital and physical media.

Household Goods & Groceries

Our next trip was to grab some household essentials and groceries. Honestly, I was worried we’d need a lot, but the apartment was remarkably well equipped.  They even gave us starter sets of consumables like paper towels, soap, and laundry detergent. That said, we still picked up a Brita filter, a laundry basket, a drying rack, and a few other upgrades, most of which will stay behind when we move out.

  • Groceries: $52
  • Household odds and ends: $121 → amortized over our stay: $1.15 for day one

Dinner Out

By the time we finished shopping (and skipped lunch), we were starving. Friends had suggested Pizza Ranch, a buffet I was skeptical of until we tried it. Yes, it’s family-friendly, but the food was solid: salad bar, pizza, fried chicken, dessert, the works. Maybe more than we should have eaten, but worth it 🙂  $37 for the two of us.

Free Fun

The next morning, I used the new gym membership, then Katie and I took a long walk around downtown, hung out at a park, and even tried out the public hammocks. Cost? $0

Day One Total: $152.15

So, what did we learn?

  • Furnished rentals can save big money. Filling a place from scratch adds up fast; Furnished Finder has already proven cheaper and easier.
  • Hidden costs still pop up. Even with a well-stocked apartment, there are always “little” things you want—like a water filter or a laundry basket—that need to be budgeted for.
  • Entertainment doesn’t have to cost much. Libraries, parks, and neighborhood walks are free, and they’re going to be a bigger part of our lifestyle as we check out different locations.
  • Life has a baseline cost. A chunk of this spending—food, exercise, even some household items—would have happened whether we were home or traveling.  Too often we look at all travel expenses as additional money out of pocket, but if I am buying groceries here, I am not buying them in Texas.  Even the monthly YMCA expense just replaces a gym membership that we cancelled last week.

When you look at it that way, traveling isn’t necessarily more expensive than staying put. In fact, with the right planning, it can be cheaper and a lot more fun.

Of course this was just day one in Omaha. We’re curious to see how the averages shake out as the days and weeks go on, but so far, the experiment looks promising 🙂

Don’t Let Your State Tell You When You Can Retire

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The Three-Legged Stool of Retirement: Why Teachers Need to Build Their Own Leg

It is the start of the school year, which means a typical conversation I have with teacher friends involves the phrase,

“I can retire in X years.”

For many, it’s even a countdown:

“Only nine years left until I can retire!”

It always bothers me that my friends are allowing the arbitrary formulas adopted by state pension systems to control their lives. Putting aside for a minute the limitations of most teacher pensions, what really gets me is the quiet surrender of personal autonomy.  Katie and I believe that retirement should be about your goals, your timeline, and your freedom and not about waiting for a bureaucratic clock to hit zero. This is especially true as state legislatures increasingly work against the interests of public school teachers.

Katie and I left our W-2 jobs before the state said that we “could” retire.  Sure, it slowed down the date before we hit the “rule of 80” and start drawing a pension, but these years are too valuable to us to be trapped by the bronze handcuffs of our retirement system (because let’s be real, a teacher pension isn’t good enough to even be called golden handcuffs 🙂   

The Three-Legged Stool — and Why Yours Might Be Wobbly

You’ve probably seen the “three-legged stool” model of retirement: Pension, Social Security, and Private Savings. For many teachers, that stool is already missing a leg or two.

  • Social Security?
    In many states, teachers won’t qualify at all unless they’ve worked 40 quarters outside the school district. Even if they do, their benefit is often low because only their non-school earnings are counted.
  • Pension?
    Teacher pensions can be valuable, but they often replace far less of your working income than expected. Without regular cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), purchasing power declines every year.

That leaves the third leg — Private Savings — as the one you have full control over. Building it strong is essential if you want choices and flexibility in your life.

Where to Start

1. Roth IRA – Make this your first priority. Contributions are made with after-tax dollars, and withdrawals in retirement are tax-free. For teachers, whose salaries will be relatively modest to start with, the up-front tax deduction of a 403(b) or 457 is often less valuable than the long-term benefit of tax-free income.

2. After-Tax Brokerage Account – No tax break now, but maximum flexibility later. Perfect for early retirement or bridging the gap before pensions or Social Security begin.

3. 457 or 403(b) – After maxing your Roth, look at your district’s tax-advantaged plans. Be cautious: many 403(b) options are laden with high fees and sold by aggressive insurance reps. A 457 plan is often a better choice because it allows penalty-free withdrawals if you leave your job before 59½.

Personally, Katie and I invested in a mix of all three account types. This gives us flexibility in early retirement and allows us to control our taxable income year-by-year, optimizing for taxes, health care subsidies, and college financial aid opportunities.For teachers, retirement security means taking ownership of that third leg of the stool. The earlier you start, and the more intentional you are, the steadier your retirement seat will be — and the more it will be your decision when to step away from the classroom and reclaim your freedom.

Zero-Based Thinking: What’s Right for Today?

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I was recently listening to a ChooseFI podcast where Alan and Katie Donnegan talk about a concept they call zero-based thinking—the idea of asking yourself:  “Knowing what I know now, would I make the same decision today?”  It’s a powerful way to fight the sunk cost fallacy—the tendency to hold on to something just because of the time, money, or energy you’ve already put into it. Instead, zero-based thinking challenges us to re-evaluate our choices based on current circumstances, not past ones.  It got me thinking about how Katie and I have tried to transition our mindset in this way as we move into our “slomad” stage of life.

Not long ago, Katie was really surprised when I mentioned trading in the Camry she thought I “loved.” And to be fair, when I bought it, it was the perfect fit for me: reliable, fuel-efficient, comfortable, and spacious enough for long solo commutes through downtown Dallas.  Same for her minivan.  A van with third row seating, leather seats and built in DVD player?  Perfect for young kids and road trips… ten years ago.  But today? Our lifestyle has changed. What once felt essential now feels excessive. Zero-based thinking forced me to ask: If I didn’t already own these cars, would I buy them today? The answer was no, so we made changes.

Our house is another example of this principle. When we purchased it, we had young kids and jobs in the local schools. The location was perfect—between the elementary and junior high, right next to the neighborhood pool, and just a few miles from work. The four bedrooms and converted playroom suited our family perfectly.  Fast forward to today, and our needs aren’t the same. The house still holds memories, but practically speaking, it’s way larger than we need and tied to a location and a lifestyle that no longer reflects who we are.  Zero-based thinking asks: If we were house shopping today, would this be the right fit for us?

This mindset also applies to finances. The way we invested during the accumulation phase of life was appropriate at the time—maximizing growth, taking on risk, and planning for the long haul. But as we enter the drawdown phase, the question changes. If I had our net worth in cash right now, would I buy the same investments? Probably not. My risk tolerance and goals have shifted and my investments should follow.

Zero-based thinking doesn’t mean abandoning every past decision. It just means holding your choices up to the light of your current reality. The car, the house, the investments—they all made sense once, but the people we were then aren’t the people we are today (and definitely not the people we’ll be tomorrow).

Maybe the best philosophy is this:  Strong convictions, loosely held. Believe deeply in your choices when you make them, but be willing to release them when you have new data or they no longer serve you in other ways.

So what about you—what’s one area of your life that could use some zero-based thinking?

Why Omaha? Did You Lose a Bet?

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When we told friends and family that our first “test drive” city for our slow-travel experiment was Omaha, Nebraska, we got a lot of raised eyebrows. Some people laughed. One person even asked me if we had lost a bet.  But the truth is, there are a lot of reasons to like Nebraska, and Omaha in particular.

First, although Katie has some family here and I have worked in the area off and on over the past couple of years, this corner of the country is still fairly new territory for us.  We’ve been to all 50 states on short trips, but we’ve never really dug into this part of the Midwest. That makes Omaha a perfect launchpad for road trips to underexplored places like Kansas City (hello, BBQ), the quirky roadside attractions of Iowa, and even the wide-open spaces of western Nebraska and South Dakota.

Second, the cost of living here is refreshingly low compared to what we’re used to in the Dallas area. For less than the monthly cost of our paid off suburban home, we can rent a two-story, furnished apartment in the heart of Omaha’s Old Market district—utilities included. This historic neighborhood is a mix of brick streets, art galleries, and local restaurants.  For our Texas friends, the best comparison I can think of is the Stockyards area in Fort Worth.   Plus it’s walkable to parks, shops, and even riverfront trails. That walkability matters, especially since we’re going to be sharing one car during our stay.

Third, Omaha has some surprises up its sleeve. There’s a thriving restaurant scene, one of the top-ranked zoos in the country, and because it is the largest city in hundreds of miles in any direction, a pretty  impressive live music and theater lineup.  Add in friendly Midwestern hospitality, and you’ve got a place that we think will be easy to settle into, even for just the fall semester.

Of course, the real reason we’re here is that this is just stop number one in our search for a “forever home.” We don’t know yet if Omaha will be the winner, but that’s the fun of slow travel.  We get to try on different lifestyles and locations for size. For now, we’re keeping an open mind and enjoying the adventure.