“Honey, can you go ahead and set up an IRA account for me?”

Husbands do a lot of things for their wives, don’t they? Some of them bring their sweeties flowers, fix their cars, cook dinner, take care of the kids, help bury the bodies when things get dicey…

But yeah, it’s those “boring” things husbands do that can mean the most!

Realizing we had a deadline within just a couple of days, we had to set up an IRA account for me so that my old pension account – which my company no longer administers – has a place to go. Our options were to take a lump sum payment, take monthly annuity payments, or let it sit until we are the right age to take it out.

Well, I don’t know what’s going to happen between now and the next 20 years or so, so I opted to take my money as a lump sum and invest it into an IRA. The whole process should have been a lot simpler, but, well, it wasn’t. I spent lots of time on hold listening to elevator music. I spent lots of time telling my customer service person “No, I didn’t check “X” box,” and telling them that I was hitting the “continue” button repeatedly with no avail. The process just stopped at a certain point with zero explanation why.

“This is how insanity starts,” I said to the rep of the my futile attempts to make the “continue” button do just that.

Thankfully we resolved the problem. Now all I have to do is print some forms, have my husband co-sign them (he is my beneficiary), have the signatures notarized, and get them sent back to the pension plan people by February 4. We can use the electronic “scan the documents and email them” option or mail them in and hope for the best.

Then I’ll get the check mailed to me and I can take it to a local office for my investment firm and deposit it.

The good news about all of this will affect a couple of my co-workers – whom are both thinking of buying their first homes. Don’t quote me on this since I’m not a financial expert, but it appears they avoid tax penalties for taking their pension money if they use it buy a first home.

By the time we were done being on the phone, my customer service rep said she’d make sure to report the glitch about the malfunctioning “continue” button.

“I’m sure you’ll be talking to a lot of my co-workers today,” I joked.

Well, now that I have the most difficult part done I can breath a bit of a sigh of relief. And revel in the victory of meeting a goddamn deadline (see I really can adult)!