Patricia Kimball takes the measure of her life once a month when issues of Parenting and AARP magazines drop simultaneously through the front-door mail slot of her North Hills home.
"I never thought I'd end up with four small kids at this age," said the 65-year-old special education teacher and mother of three adult sons.
The disparate magazines mirror the joy she has with four adopted children, ages 3 to 7, and her concern that they'll be stretching her financial resources, including state funds she receives for taking care of the special-needs children.
Kimball had wanted to retire in a few years, even though she has saved only $69,000. But now she'll have to work a decade longer to pay for the children's upbringing and for her retirement, said financial planner Donald Hance, president of Glenmore Financial in Pacific Palisades.
"Having those kids is a fabulous thing. God bless you," Hance told her, while also cautioning that she needs to save more money. "You don't have the cash reserves to carry you through rough times."
Pixie-small, with a dazzling smile, spiky gray hair and an eyebrow ring, Kimball looks like a hippie version of a fairy godmother. But she doesn't have a magic wand to help her do more for her children.
She earns $85,000 a year at the Glendale Unified School District and receives $32,880 from the state for the children's care. She doesn't live extravagantly, and her only debt is $157,000 left on the mortgage on her home.
But fate has left her without a fortune or much of a nest egg. That she has any savings, much less a home, is more a testament to her perseverance since her husband died from a stroke 22 years ago. At the time, their sons were 7, 12 and 16; she was a housewife and wasn't aware of the family's financial situation.
After her husband's death, she found out that their house had gone into foreclosure and that he had allowed an $8,000 federal tax debt to balloon to $50,000 over eight years.
She sold the home before the bank took it over and used the proceeds to pay a negotiated settlement with the Internal Revenue Service. Nevertheless, she went into bankruptcy, which ruined her credit, and spent eight years in a hodgepodge of jobs, including aerobics leader and teacher at a preschool for autistic children.
In the process, Kimball repaired her credit and took classes to improve her job prospects. At 51, she earned her credentials to teach special education.
