Gripe...

I saw this lady, carrying a really cute clutch...very art deco...and white...I think it was glomesh...The odd thing was that this lady was carrying it at the Macquarie Centre and she was a big lady in a sweat shirt, baggy jeans and chuck taylors...so not right...incredible fashion faux pas! It wasn't the fact that she was big that was the problem...it was the whole ensemble she was wearing with the bag that made it seem so off.

I've resorted to listening to my ipod while I work. I don't know what it is, but it helps me focus, so I can do the boring menial admin tasks - like project reporting. I really don't want this to become a habit, but it seems to work.

I really hate it when all my resources assigned to my projects go on leave without telling me. They sort of like drop a bomb on you mid-week before they go on leave. So, any planning gets reduced to a frantic panic attack, because there is no one left to do any work to ensure the deliverables get...well...delivered.

I also hate the days where I am scheduled in back to back meetings for the whole day...no work gets done. Instead I sit in meetings that various new technical terminology gets thrown around...different solutions get thrown around...new teams get referred to and names get thrown around...basically by the time I get out, my eyes have glazed over and I wonder what all these new things are, but I have no time to really find out what they are because I have to go back to my desk and try to do some work so that the day is not a complete ride off.

My workmates and I had formed a syndicate and for the last 3 weeks we re-invested our small winnings into the next highest jackpot for Lotto/Oz Lotto/Powerball. But today we got informed by the organizer that the run has come to an end...I guess I won't be retiring early.

I need to speak to a financial planner/advisor...I need to work out how much extra I should put into my Super so that I can retire comfortably...and perhaps earlier...I also should consider my options for investment. I tried a calculator on CFS website and found that for retirement at 60 y/o, I had over estimated and would be living very comfortably...that is assuming that I will always be paid as much as I am now for the next 33 years. I had also used a calculator on the HSBC website and found that if I made extra repayments, I could reduce my home loan from the 30 years it is now to 9 years. So, as you can see, I need to speak to a specialist in this area to help me figure these things out. The trouble is finding the time and making the effort...I'm going to deal with this after my holiday to NY and Mauritius.