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Carla Loomis: Welcome to Gen X Trustfall, the podcast dedicated to planned and unplanned midlife changes and the ability to trust in the unknown. I'm Carla Loomis. On this week's mini episode, Chico Girl Amy and I chat about investing in retirement plans. Well, in all honesty, we intended to talk about those topics. But we actually veered off into unplanned territory that included virginity, fax machines, and Daniel Steele. Eventually we found the runway and landed the plane. I'm not sure that metaphor makes sense, but few of our conversations do. Thanks so much for listening. I hope you enjoy. So I just wanna tell you that this is my first time working without a bra. I never went to school to teach without a bra. I never waitressed or did any of my jobs without a bra. And I just wanna tell you this is a first for me, which is kind of hard to find at fifty nine. You mean it's hard to find a first? I would like to graduate first. Thank you. On this absolutely stellar moment. Monument's huge accomplishment. It is. It's not pretty. It's not a pretty accomplishment. It's not an attractive thing. Well, they never are at our age. No, no. But I am proud of it. I'm proud that I'm going to work today without a bra on. I really like that. Well, congratulations. I'd like you to know that from a girl who has worked from home since two thousand four, at least part of the time. I have much experience in working without a bra. And also Not pretty. Yeah. Well but freeing. It is. It's a non virginal moment for me, which is real hard to come by. Wait, non virginal? It's virginal. Well, not anymore. I just ⁓ you got rid of your virginity. Yes. Congratulations on that as well. I mean, whenever you use the word virginity, I feel I need to c congratulate or wonder. I don't know what the word is. I know. What is the right word at this stage? So I was wondering if you wanted to talk about another almost virginal experience for me, which is Setting up investments for retirement. Right. And congratulations again on the new almost virginal situation. I'm probably not using that word right, but ⁓ let's use it anyway. I'm really enjoying it. Okay. And I'll use like a virgin to promote this episode. ⁓ my gosh, you just got me completely engaged. Okay, good. Yeah. So Angela and I seriously started thinking about retirement investing a couple years ago because In our fifties and he really wants to retire. And I had already quit my job. So I I wouldn't call it retirement, but I also was not working. So we really started thinking about it. And so we met with someone and I have to say it wasn't an easy thing to do. I know that when you work for a big company like Oracle, yes. There's a lot of investment that is kind of done for you, correct? Or easy to do. Easy. Yes, because your retirement is four your own four ⁓ one K, which they provide you with a free service and they g kinda give you guidelines around what to choose and then you're on your own to figure out your four ⁓ one K.
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And so that was done for you, but then your husband is in public education, which Yes he is. Is Calsters or what's the other one? Cal Purrz, I think he's Calsters and Cal Purz, yep. Okay. Yeah. I set everything up when I was twenty two years old. That was my first job. You're automatically put into that as a public school teacher. I had no idea, and we can talk about beneficiaries, but you know, I put my parents on as beneficiaries. I didn't have a boyfriend even. Right. I know. That's I know. I get that. That isn't it weird? Yes. Yes. And I don't know how to freaking get them off and put my husband on. I can't forget Well, listen. I understand that because I have been dealing with calisters and calipers for years now with Jim. And Yikes. I will leave it at that. Okay, I'm glad. I'm glad I'm not the only one because I felt like teachers don't have to be smart. I thought I had to be smart to be a teacher, but I can't fucking figure this shit out. And I must not be that smart. No, let me tell you, right out the gate, you're smart because you joined a union, which is something in a corporation that I I didn't have exposure to until I had a husband in a union. And that's smart. I think it's smart when you stay in the same place. When you get mad at your administration and quit the job and move around a lot, it's not that smart. But now I get it when people were like, Well, I only have ten more years than this and I'm out. You're gonna suffer for ten years? ⁓ yeah, you know why? Cause you fucking score at the end. Right. I have a lot of positive things to say about a union, never having been in one and seeing the My husband who doesn't, ⁓ he's not a guy who likes change. So he's been in the same job for I don't know how many years. I I think they're really great. I think there's a lot of red tape around them. And so to manage and ask questions, I think that's really difficult. And for me, I manage my entire four ⁓ one K and all of my stocks. I got stocks at Oracle as well, and I manage all those myself, like zero red tape. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. Isn't it weird? Yeah. And so when I retired, I basically was like, Yeah, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, Amy. Because you just leave. Versus right now with Jim, if he wants to retire, I mean, just the number of phone calls that need to be made. No one is telling him not to let the door hit his ass on the way out, Carla. Right. And no one's gonna tell you that either. Yeah. They're gonna say, Can you sign this other paper? Can you get this other thing sign? I know the educational system is so far behind electronically. I think you were telling me that you had to fax something. Yes. Yes. Is that even a word now? That's what I said. Because I was in a meeting and there was a conversation happening between my husband and the person in the HR department. And she said, We can mail it or fax it. And I'm like, Well, hold on. Did I just hear you say we could fax it? And she said yes. I'm like, ⁓ we're
faxing it. Can I follow you to the fax machine? I just gotta watch this whole experience. Right. Right. And it didn't work. Yeah. Of course it didn't work. No. No. No. ⁓ At Oracle, I worked with education colleges for a long time. And for the longest time, we still let them fax things in. Yeah. And the professors we worked with still didn't know how even what a fax machine was. So I do know your industry is it's just different than corporate America. It's behind. It's all these lofty ideas that no one wants to update because no one feels comfortable using a computer. That's the reality of teaching. Well, if you're a Gen Xer. If you're a Gen X teacher, you don't want to see a computer. Well, I'm gonna take that back. I love my smart board. I love PowerPoint presentations, love ⁓ But Do I want to learn how to attach a file and send it here? No, I don't. I don't want to learn any of that. You don't. Nor does Jim, my husband. I will tell our listeners that this has been a thing between you and I in a really positive and funny way because Carla likes to get on her wall post-its. And I always open my computer and create a spreadsheet. Yeah. With some formulas to get us through it automatically. Nope. And this has been a very fun. It's been fun working with you. I love it because of that. Two ends of the spectrum, but I could not make a formula in a spreadsheet, probably to save my life. Maybe if a gun was held to my head and someone was forcing me to make a some type of a formula in a spreadsheet, I might be able to pull it out of my ass. But for the most part, no. No, I know you could, but I see the disinterest and that's what it is. And listen, as I told you, I have a lot of admiration and also complete disgust for your post-its on your wall. Well, they look good and I I like them, but I do understand it. I get it, and it's fine, and that's why you're helping me out with this whole thing. No, and I want to tell you why I love them. The idea of getting up out of a chair to move a post-it one inch over. Actually, I like the whole checking off a checklist thing. That's gone for me because I have it all automated. That I really do have admiration for it. That kind of stuff does make you like remember what you did and get you to the next step and make you feel accomplished. Yeah. It's a visual that I need. Yeah. And it's action. It's action that probably helps you remember what you did versus I don't know what I did, Carla, but the damn spreadsheet does. Well, and also as a teacher, you like you really have to show every step. of a process, at least at the level that I taught. You know, it's very visual. You have so many visual learners that you really want to show them. Like so I think that that's just a result now in my life of how things work. But let's get back to investing. So Okay. I want to tell you about the experience we had. So we decided we haven't talked to our investor. So I'm a saver. I'm a saver and I like to watch my money pile up in a bank. I like to go on the app and see ⁓ I just got twenty dollars of interest, you know, or whatever. Like it makes me super happy to watch an account go up. It was hard to transfer money to someone else to say, here I trust you with money. So anyway, Angelo and I go in. I don't know where we thought we were going. He had shorts and flip flops on. I had cutoff jeans and a t shirt. And we go into this super nice office and They're in suits. Everyone's in suits. And they offer us Evian water. And You know you're in the fine area. You got Evian? We Evion. It was not Costco. It wasn't a Costco water bottle. It was a Evian. Wow, you guys are rich. I know. And we didn't give them that much money though. I don't know what we did. So we walk over, they're like, ⁓ hi. Two people come out to meet us. I think it was a slow day. That's all I can say. Like They didn't have a lot going on. But there's a whiteboard with our name all fancy. Welcome, Angelo and Carla Loomis. Like we were gonna do a song and dance or something, which I love it. Anyway, so we get in there, two guys, two men, they're talking, they're showing us all this stuff. I'm sure they saw the look on my face, which was I don't have a fucking clue what's happening right now. And so Your mind you're thinking, and if I don't, I know my husband doesn't. I was not thinking that. Sorry, Angelo. I was thinking, I hope he's understanding what they're saying because I'm not. And so finally I'm like, you know, gentlemen, they were really nice. I didn't say gentlemen, but I should have. It would have looked fancier. Gentlemen, as I'm sitting here in cutoffs and a t-shirt, I said, Look, I don't really understand what you're saying. I said The only way I understand something is if I can teach it back to someone else. That's when I know I really got this. And I'm telling you, I don't got this. Like I'm not sure what's happening. Cause they're talking about this kind of stock and this kind of stock and this kind of I couldn't even tell you. You know how You're okay looking a small level of dumb, but you don't want to look ninety-nine percent dumb. Like have you ever felt that? Like I'm a Well yeah, and that you're pretending to say, Yes, I get it. You're even gonna say, I don't understand. But really what you want them to hear is, I'm super smart and I think this tiny thing I don't understand is really worth understanding. Correct? Yes. But it's not a tiny thing. I'm not asking about one word. I'm asking about, can you start over? Can you start over and pretend like I'm twelve and then maybe that's why you're going there, Carla. So they expect that, just as an FYI. They expect that. Hmm. Okay. If you totally understood, you don't need them. I think they're expecting people to not understand and act like they do. That's what I think they're expecting. ⁓ I'm sure. I'm sure. But that would be the best case for them. Because then they they can go wild with your money. It was it was something. And then they did
think of everything. I'm gonna just give them props. I learned a lot. I wish I had learned all of it, 'cause I did not learn all of it. I would say I learned a good forty percent of what they were trying to tell me, which ⁓ I'm gonna take as a win. So they thought of everything. They were like, Okay, you're gonna have to fix up your house and you know, they just they drug it out to like eighty five, which I I did in a mean moment say, He's not living till eighty five. I'm gonna live forever. He's not. That was not very nice of me. They said, Okay, well, how much do you think you're gonna spend on vacations when you're older? How ⁓ how much money per year are you gonna spend on vacations? And the amount that Angelo said it was so exorbitant. Is that the right word? I don't even know if I'm pronouncing that word right. I think. Whatever. That Like it was enough to buy a house. Well, you are gonna enjoy your retirement, Carla. Where are we going? Where are you taking me? It was so high. For vacations in one year, I was like, hang on a second. And I I couldn't stop. ⁓ usually I wanna look like a team. I do. Like in front of people, I wanna look a hundred percent like we're a team. And and I just was like, ⁓ my we are never ever spending that much money on a trip. Like Yeah, you probably should have had some quick conversations beforehand, right? I had no idea they were gonna ask that question. Otherwise I would have prepped him. Yeah. I had no prepped him idea. Here's your answer when I'll give you some note cards. Hang on. This is kind of good news for you. Angelo wants to vacation all retirement. Either that or he wants to go on a week long vacation with a private chef and a private jet and all that stuff. Like there's no way. There's no I'm kind of into it, but I don't it's not my money. No. It's insanity. And I just looked at them and I was like, ⁓ that's not happening. I just said, he doesn't book the hotel. He doesn't book the reservations. He doesn't book the flights. He has no idea. What That's what I was gonna ask. Did you follow up with him afterward? Like, how much do you think we spend on vacations right now? Like, does he have no idea? He has no idea. And so he is like gonna be working for a long time if you just keep him thinking that's how much a vacation costs. Well that's the problem. He doesn't want to be working and I want him to be able to retire. So I'm like, no, no, no, no. But do you have an investment person? I don't. And so I'm scared because you're talking to my investment gal. Just, you know, it's me. ⁓ And what the hell do I know? But I do, as you know, because you work with me, Chat GPT and the internet are my friends. And I live a life typically of conservative with some like some low risk. Low risk. Yeah. Right. Very low risk. Yeah. Yeah. I've been in the stock market via my four and one K and my Oracle options now for twenty five years. And one would think I bothered to get to know something and I didn't well until I decided to retire. I guess I could have probably looked into it and I don't know, made millions off of AI or whatever, but I haven't. Yeah. But it's just me and I I check it and I'm not of that afraid of it. But again, it's because I'm conservative. But lady, you and Angelo might need to take me and Jim on vacation because you're using a financial advisor. Well, yeah, we definitely are. But I I feel that at this point in my life, maybe I should take a clasp to just get the basics. Remember those books, Investing for Dummies? They were all yellow. I need that because we did invest. I think we're doing the right thing, but it would be nice to go to my third meeting with these people and go, ⁓ I understand what you're saying now. I feel like it would maybe elevate me a just one step higher in their eyes. And I will not be wearing cutoffs this time. I'm gonna wear like even a nice pair of jeans. I want to talk about your attire because two things come to mind. One, you live in California and it really doesn't matter. And two, Daniel still hates the way we Californians dress. That's what I want to say. You know that, right? Who? Danielle Steele. The writer? Yeah. Did you see me at my investment meeting? She said California. I mean, really San Francisco, but let's just we're too casual. Dressing nice is gone. So you were appropriately dressed. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. And thank you for this conversation. I think I'm gonna sign up for some type of class. Do you wanna go with me? Of course I do. Okay. Let's do it. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do a class. I'm your girl. I'm your ⁓ writer die or whatever co I know. I know you are. You can go in there, girl. Let's do LSD the next time. I'll walk into my investment meeting on LSD and be like, ⁓ my god, you guys are smart. I th Daniel still would love that. I think so too. All right. Thanks, Amy. All right. See ya. Thank you for joining me on today's adventure. Special thanks to my girl Amy, whose investment expertise may not put her in the top 1%, but it will keep her rich in Danielle Steele novels. Thank you for listening to Gen X Trustfall. If you liked this episode or have a suggestion for a potential guest, check out our website at GenXTrustfall.com. Gen X Trustfall is produced by me and the recording master, Ryan Loomis. At Double Banger Studio. Music by Ryan and Sam. Website and advisory by Amy Clifford.