Social Security

I am now officially retired. I had intended to wait until my 65th birthday because of the difference in benefits, but today the Social Security office called and explained that the monthly difference will be under $30/mos if I retire now and if I wait until the end of December. The amount is insignificant considering my waiting for five additional months, so I made the decision to go for it now. Everything is settled and I'm officially retired. I get my first check next month.

It will still be the first of December before I get Medicare coverage, but I have picked a good program that will allow me to have a lot of coverage. It's not cheap, but I have checked out half a dozen or more programs and this is the best coverage for the money I can get here. I sign up for the supplemental insurance in November and am fully covered in December.

I am not sure how I really feel about this. It feels sort of sad in a way that I simply cannot find work. I am still working at trying to write and putting together a book proposal (non-fiction). I'll try to find other things. I still want to do a grant proposal for an idea I have, but cannot go through the Gates foundation as I intended as they don't take individual requests. Maybe I can go through the Everett Senior Center. It will be something I can investigate.

So as of today I'm officially old. *sigh*