“You gets no bread with one meat ball.” So go the final words in the song One Meat Ball, a lament written in 1944 and recorded the same year by Josh White. I remember Two-Ton Baker singing the song on his children’s TV show The Happy Pirates. Ry Cooder covered the song in his 1970 debut album. In 1944, when the song was written, the Great Depression still loomed large in the minds of Americans and World War II was still raging in both the European and Pacific theatres of operation. Post war optimism was still in the future.
The song tells of a “little man” who had but fifteen cents and was searching for a place to have dinner. Well, his money was enough to buy him one meat ball. Unfortunately, he ran into a derisive waiter who shamed him.
“The guests were startled one and all
To hear the waiter loudly call
One meat ball
One meat ball
Hey, this here gent wants one meat ball.”When the customer asked if he could have a piece of bread,
“The waiter hollered down the hall
You gets no bread with one meat ball.”
So, what’s the message in this article? The message is that you don’t want to be the “little man” who can only afford one meat ball!
As federal employees, uniformed service members, or retirees from one or the other, we will be able to afford more than one meat ball. Our civilian annuity or military pension, coupled with Social Security (which was in its infancy back in 1944) will be enough that few, if any, waiters would scoff at our dinner orders. We might be able to have spaghetti and meat balls with a side salad and a glass of Chianti.
But what if we could have Osso Buco with a nice glass of Asti Spumante and tiramisu for dessert? We can if we make use of the Thrift Savings Plan! The TSP is the dressing to our salad; it’s the hot fudge to our sundae; it’s what we need to break through retirement planning and have the resources needed to have our best retirement.
If we are full career federal employees, it is likely that we will have about 60% of our pre-retirement income provided by our FERS annuity and Social Security – spaghetti and meat balls here we come. But if we can replace an extra 20% of our pre-retirement income, reaching the 80% level, we’re at the same standard of living that we had before we retired. If we can replace more than 20%, then we’ll have a higher standard of living in retirement than we did while still working.
This is doable. Save early and save often and you’ll reach your goal.
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