ziggy29
Moderator Emeritus
I just (possibly foollishly, we'll see) accepted an offer to become the next postmaster of our tiny little town. I've been working a day or two a week in small town post offices (including the one in our town occasionally) since the beginning of last July. I've enjoyed it for the most part since I never really felt much pressure and have a lot of autonomy to do things as I see fit as long as I don't screw things up (and everything gets scanned).
Well, I didn't really plan it but the regular postmaster in our town gave notice two days ago, finding a full-time j*b with benefits as a mail clerk in a prison not far from here. So I got a call from the larger town postmaster (who has oversight over these smaller part-time offices) and was offered the position. I slept on it, wavered over it, but I decided the upside to taking it was greater than the downside.
It's part-time -- maybe 25-26 hours a week, and the station is only open 8-12 Monday through Friday. My biggest concern is actually keeping our MAGI low enough that we stay under the $46K threshold that allows me, as an American Indian, to get any policy off the exchange without having any copays or deductibles at all. It looks like we can still do that if I max out our IRAs and contribute the $11K maximum or close to it, combined with DW's 403B contributions from her church employment. (Normally it would be silly to use a TIRA instead of a Roth in the 15% bracket, but I think the combination of ACA and my Indian status is a game-changer.)
We really don't need the extra money, but it's gravy and makes things a little less tight. And if it sucks doing this every day, I won't hesitate to ask to go back to "relief" status, basically the substitute teacher of the small-town postmaster world, once a replacement has been hired. But I also think it's a good thing for my wife's ministry and getting visibility. Someone in our congregation joked this morning that we are the rare couple in a small town that has some status and visibility despite only living here for a year -- being the only preacher in town and the postmaster. We'll see.
I am just reminding myself that we don't *need* this and I don't plan to open up our budget to more "stuff" (apart from a vacation, perhaps) at all. And as long as we keep to that I can easily bail out of this if it's not right.
Well, I didn't really plan it but the regular postmaster in our town gave notice two days ago, finding a full-time j*b with benefits as a mail clerk in a prison not far from here. So I got a call from the larger town postmaster (who has oversight over these smaller part-time offices) and was offered the position. I slept on it, wavered over it, but I decided the upside to taking it was greater than the downside.
It's part-time -- maybe 25-26 hours a week, and the station is only open 8-12 Monday through Friday. My biggest concern is actually keeping our MAGI low enough that we stay under the $46K threshold that allows me, as an American Indian, to get any policy off the exchange without having any copays or deductibles at all. It looks like we can still do that if I max out our IRAs and contribute the $11K maximum or close to it, combined with DW's 403B contributions from her church employment. (Normally it would be silly to use a TIRA instead of a Roth in the 15% bracket, but I think the combination of ACA and my Indian status is a game-changer.)
We really don't need the extra money, but it's gravy and makes things a little less tight. And if it sucks doing this every day, I won't hesitate to ask to go back to "relief" status, basically the substitute teacher of the small-town postmaster world, once a replacement has been hired. But I also think it's a good thing for my wife's ministry and getting visibility. Someone in our congregation joked this morning that we are the rare couple in a small town that has some status and visibility despite only living here for a year -- being the only preacher in town and the postmaster. We'll see.
I am just reminding myself that we don't *need* this and I don't plan to open up our budget to more "stuff" (apart from a vacation, perhaps) at all. And as long as we keep to that I can easily bail out of this if it's not right.
