Where do you feel you need to be career wise before you retire?

Mitchell wrote:

mndsm wrote: I quit my job back in December. It wasn't meant to be a long term unemployment. However, through fate and my wifes' desire to succeed at what she does and her overwhelming investment in the well being of our child- my temporary lay-off has become.....permanent. I don't have the cash to spend on stupid E36 M3 like I used to, we don't eat out hardly ever, and I have had to cut back on most of what I do. I couldn't be happier. My goal in life has never been money absorbed, my jobs were always a means to an end. I elected to change my end, and as a result, the means neccesity reduced greatly. In other words, I'm sorta broke, plenty jobless, and quite pleased with myself.

I was recently talking to my neighbor about living a one-income household. He presented the perspective that with two people working, the scale of living tends to accommodate the available cash flow, and should a financial emergency arise, there is little room for increasing earnings on the spot. Conversely, if only one spouse works, the standard of living tends to accommodate that one income, and should an emergency arise, the second spouse can find a job.

Having left employment 11 years ago to raise the kids, yea, that's pretty accurate. I think emergency funds are also more important in a one income household.
My career goals are to help my wife achieve her goals. If she wins, then we win.

As turning 50 is staring me in the face, my days of really making it big are disappearing. I've also come to the conclusion I don't give a crap.

I've never been interested in status. Impressing people I don't know and probably wouldn't like has never appealed to me. I see people driving $70,000 "personal luxury cars" and just shake my head at the wasted money. The more you make, the more you spend, often foolishly.

I'm squirreling away as much money as I can. The house should be paid off in about 5 years, and when retirement age arrives we'll probably downsize the house (and hopefully upsize the car storage) putting the difference in savings for other things. No other debt. That alone should give us a leg up on most people.

I just took a ten grand pay cut to change jobs from one I hated to one I mostly enjoy. There's little opportunity for advancement but I don't care. I'm happy with my position on the ladder; I'm left alone to do my thing (now) and just do it as best I can so I stay off the radar and the paychecks keep coming. I like what I do, but my job doesn't define me. What I do in the off hours is what makes my existence worthwhile to me. A job is something I have to do in order to be able to do the things I WANT to do, but since I spend most of my waking hours there it has to at least be tolerable.

So to answer the original question, I hope to be debt free, in good health from not being stressed out and with something lined up to at least generate enough income to have some play money. I don't see myself ever not 'working'. That would be rather boring, frankly.

I'm like ddavidv: I have no intention of 'climbing the ladder' just to piss it all away on the trappings of so called success such as the luxury car, the 'right' address, etc.

Part of climbing the ladder is that as you rise, the expectations of those you work with on a reasonably equal footing and those above you who have the power to help you rise most certainly do focus on the appearance you project so that kind of silly bullE36 M3 suddenly becomes essential. That's what is referred to as the rat race and I have absolutely no intention of getting trapped in it.

At one time, I did want to be part of it. I went up to management, discovered REAL quick that it's babysitting and ass kissing and you don't really accomplish squat except to play with numbers all day long so at the earliest opportunity I scooted right back down again. Okay, so I'm one of the drones. That's fine. My sanity is worth more to me than all the money in the world.

As it stands, I should be able to retire in reasonably decent shape in 8-10 years. No, I won't be in some huge McMansion but again that's not my goal.

My goal is to retire at all. Financially speaking, I will most likely die of old age at my desk.

Mitchell wrote:

mndsm wrote: I quit my job back in December. It wasn't meant to be a long term unemployment. However, through fate and my wifes' desire to succeed at what she does and her overwhelming investment in the well being of our child- my temporary lay-off has become.....permanent. I don't have the cash to spend on stupid E36 M3 like I used to, we don't eat out hardly ever, and I have had to cut back on most of what I do. I couldn't be happier. My goal in life has never been money absorbed, my jobs were always a means to an end. I elected to change my end, and as a result, the means neccesity reduced greatly. In other words, I'm sorta broke, plenty jobless, and quite pleased with myself.

I was recently talking to my neighbor about living a one-income household. He presented the perspective that with two people working, the scale of living tends to accommodate the available cash flow, and should a financial emergency arise, there is little room for increasing earnings on the spot. Conversely, if only one spouse works, the standard of living tends to accommodate that one income, and should an emergency arise, the second spouse can find a job.

Exactly. The other side of it is too- I'm NEVER pressed for time. I don't have to come home from work all tired and pissed off, then thrash to get dinner done and get the mini-me into a bath and bed and leave myself 15min before I pass out in my mashed potatoes in front of reruns of NCIS. We usually get up in the morning, eat a little breakfast, screw around some, maybe grab an episode of mickey off DVR. After that, it's locate some pants, socks and so on (for both of us) and figure out what we're doing. I might go grocery shopping, I might go to the mall and wander around with the old people, today as soon as the rain clears out, I'm gonna go find a park to terrorize. Later in the afternoon, I'll come home and whip up something tasty for dinner, wife will come home, eat some chow, hang out, and we'll screw around some more till it's time to go to sleep. Not a whole lot of stress. I can handle all the normal weekend duties during the week- leaving weekends truly free. It works out well.

I've recently changed my thinking on this.

I spent a lot of my life living carefully, following all the financial gurus and squirreling away enough that I could one day retire.

Life changes the last few years have made that impossible. I am no longer at a stage where I can save enough and count on compounding interest to build up enough to live on when I retire.

But then I had a revelation...

I realized the point of having a retirement account never was to have a retirement account. It was to have the revenue stream coming off of it.

And I found a method that taps into my skills and gifts that should be able to generate that revenue stream indefinitely regardless of how much I have not saved. So, we are transitioning all of our money from the retirement accounts, paying the required penalties, putting it into this business plan. It's a little scary, but freeing. It will let me live as I was created, instead of living in drudgery hoping for a respite at the end of the career.

So, 6 months ago it was apparent I would never be able to retire, now I expect to do it within 2 years. I'll quit my job in a few weeks in pursuit of it.

But retirement is no longer the same thing for me. It used to be this moment when you drop out of the productive workforce and live off whatever money you have put aside. Now, it's more like a re-deployment.

The goals: de-stress, enjoy what I am doing daily, spend lots of time with my family, and get rid of all the extra stuff that is cluttering my life, demanding my time, and requiring my attention- Yes, this includes extra project cars that I'll never get to.

I am with a huge company that is in every corner of the world. (Think yellow tractors...) I only have one more promotion to go before the fact that my 2 year degree will be holding me back. I like where I am, but also like taking on new challenges. I would like to take on a side job of something that I really enjoy, but be able to keep the benefits and security of my current job.

I would like to retire at a reasonable age (~65) with enough savings to travel some, and have a good hobby.

I have decided that work my tail of early and build a large cash reserve and more up the ladder right under management. Management guys are easy to replace the guys right under not so much.

Then sort of hold the line until I have enough built up from interest to drop down not to a drone position but something that I can do myself in 10-20 hours or so a week that will cover healthcare. The affordable care act "might" make that happen at 40. Maybe reselling cars or going back doing a bit of contract design/programming work.

If I am lucky and I can can keep my average return above 5% then I can walk away at 42.7 with full income for both my wife and I without touching principal. I would like to keep working though as long as I can.

Want to see something scary.

This is the average retirement savings of people in the use by year averaged.

And the average at retirement balance at 60-69

I have quite a bit more then that squirreled away and I am worried and I am only 32.

Mitchell wrote:

mndsm wrote: I quit my job back in December. It wasn't meant to be a long term unemployment. However, through fate and my wifes' desire to succeed at what she does and her overwhelming investment in the well being of our child- my temporary lay-off has become.....permanent. I don't have the cash to spend on stupid E36 M3 like I used to, we don't eat out hardly ever, and I have had to cut back on most of what I do. I couldn't be happier. My goal in life has never been money absorbed, my jobs were always a means to an end. I elected to change my end, and as a result, the means neccesity reduced greatly. In other words, I'm sorta broke, plenty jobless, and quite pleased with myself.

I was recently talking to my neighbor about living a one-income household. He presented the perspective that with two people working, the scale of living tends to accommodate the available cash flow, and should a financial emergency arise, there is little room for increasing earnings on the spot. Conversely, if only one spouse works, the standard of living tends to accommodate that one income, and should an emergency arise, the second spouse can find a job.

Interesting perspective, but I disagree.

Have a two income household and live well within your means. It's pretty easy to do if you aren't "keeping up with the Joneses"

What are you disagreeing with?

FlyinMikeyJ wrote: ^ Thanks. I did vinyl for a few years, but it just made me feel dirty. Ditched the plotter and went back to paint a couple/few years back, due mostly to it being a dying art. Less competition = better wages.

Sorry, I deleted that post you were replying to right after I posted it. I was a little hammered and wasn't sure if it made sense. Anyway, it's awesome that there are still a few sign painters around. It is truly a dying art that could be a couple generations away from extinction. My grandfather was a sign painter. I have the utmost respect for the craft. Actually, our signage at the shop is looking beat, and I want to go hand-painted.

SVreX wrote: I've recently changed my thinking on this. I spent a lot of my life living carefully, following all the financial gurus and squirreling away enough that I could one day retire. Life changes the last few years have made that impossible. I am no longer at a stage where I can save enough and count on compounding interest to build up enough to live on when I retire. But then I had a revelation... I realized the point of having a retirement account never was to have a retirement account. It was to have the revenue stream coming off of it. And I found a method that taps into my skills and gifts that should be able to generate that revenue stream indefinitely regardless of how much I have not saved. So, we are transitioning all of our money from the retirement accounts, paying the required penalties, putting it into this business plan. It's a little scary, but freeing. It will let me live as I was created, instead of living in drudgery hoping for a respite at the end of the career. So, 6 months ago it was apparent I would never be able to retire, now I expect to do it within 2 years. I'll quit my job in a few weeks in pursuit of it. But retirement is no longer the same thing for me. It used to be this moment when you drop out of the productive workforce and live off whatever money you have put aside. Now, it's more like a re-deployment. The goals: de-stress, enjoy what I am doing daily, spend lots of time with my family, and get rid of all the extra stuff that is cluttering my life, demanding my time, and requiring my attention- Yes, this includes extra project cars that I'll never get to.

Let us know what you are doing. I don't have much money, but I try to spend what I do on GRM advertisers. Same concept applies...if you are doing something board members need, we'd support you.

(OK, I can't speak for the other members, but you know what I mean)

ddavidv wrote: As turning 50 is staring me in the face, my days of really making it big are disappearing.

I'm sorry ddavidv, but I think that's a crock!!!!

The older you get the more knowledge and experience you have plus the more people you know so the greater your chances are of doing something right & making it big. I cringe when I think of the opportunities I mismanaged or didn't take when I was young & stooopid.

Harlen Sanders was how old when he started Kentucky Fried Chicken? Late 60's? 70's?

When you get older you also have more "things" so you aren't struggling just to survive which gives you the ability to squander your resources on your "next big thing."

I'm in my 60's and I've hardly slowed down at all. I still have more projects than I have money or time to finish and more just keep popping into my head or dropping in my lap. The only difference between now and when I was in my 20's is that I am more realistic about what my abilities are, what time it will take to finish a project, and will it be worth the time and effort I'll be putting into it.

They say with age comes wisdom, but really I think it's more aptly called experience. It's not you're any smarter than you were when you were younger, it's that you have the experience to know what's less likely to work. You've had time to see other people and other projects play out and see which experiments work.

I still don't see a slowing down or stopping point in my life. I might think about slowing down when I get old, but that's decades off.

I'd much rather drop in mid stride than restrained in a bed slobbering & messing myself.

Retirement is for sissies!

z31maniac wrote: It's pretty easy to do if you aren't "keeping up with the Joneses"

berkeley those Joneses. unless they buy a berkeleying Daytona prototype they arent keeping up with me.

Boy do they have some cool patio furniture though.

Zomby Woof wrote: What are you disagreeing with?

That you can have a two income household AND keep yourself from spending like a two income household. His neighbor's hypothesis is that the more you make, the more you spend. All it takes is a bit of self-control.

As I have mentioned before, we live in a small enough house that if either one of us lost our income, we could still easily pay all of our bills/mortgage/etc. But we wouldn't get to eat/drink the way we do now.

We have friends that make much less and live in 2x the amount of house (with no kids).

My point is that you can have two incomes and not treat your lifestyle as such, while still enjoying yourself. Of course, no kids helps that dramatically. We spend that money on eating/drinking/traveling, so if something happened, we wouldn't have the same lifestyle, but we wouldn't have to worry about the roof over our head, paying bills, or putting food on the table.

My friend has worked out his plans by doing an exceptional job choosing his parents. By picking a billionaire for a dad he and his children are pretty much set. I don't see just sitting on the porch watching the world go by - but maybe reprioritizing stuff and living in a less berked up place than Illinois.

fasted58 wrote: Where do you feel you need to be career wise before you retire? Not totally based on finances tho but mainly job goal/ satisfaction wise. Climb the ladder as high as you can go? Find that dream job you always wanted? Does prestige matter? Be content w/ where you are and ride it out till you pull the plug? Bag all the OT you can or take it easier? Take a less stressful job? Y'all get the idea. Whether already retired, 5-10 or so yrs away what did/ would you do?

For me:
Find a gig that is fun. Do that. (especially if it takes a few years to get into that gig. You'll appreciate it more.)
Live humbly enough that you're not in debt. (Ignore the Joneses)
Avoid politics and ladder climbing.
Don't work your fingers to the bone and end up with no time to do fun things

Any time I'm feeling dissatisfied with my soft hands indoor job, I can drive by an industrial construction site where they are doing roofing. The smell of the pitch/tar is enough to remind me of my past and make me happy to be where I am.

oldtin wrote: but maybe reprioritizing stuff and living in a less berked up place than Illinois.

Hey now, don't lump us down-state folk in with the Chicago/Springfield mess. Once you get away(and start ignoring) that whole shebang it's not such a bad place down here.

In reply to wearymicrobe:

Those are some scary numbers. I started my life out of college under the impression that I will never see a dime that I pay into Social Security so I am contributing to the 401k up to what my employer matches then squirreling money into a Roth IRA for the end of year tax write off. I figure worst case scenario is that I get some extra money from the government when I reach that age.

As far as the question goes for the thread, I hit the glass ceiling with the company I hired on with as soon as I was hired. My job keeps me on the road 8 months a year and I work 84 hour weeks when I am gone. I'm away from my wife and my newly purchased home a lot of the year.

Despite all this it is a means to an end. I am compensated very well for what I do, well over 99% of other A&P mechanics in the country. I have good health care, a 401k, and education benefits I am using to pursue a masters degree. I know that I couldn't do something like buy a house at 28 if I didn't have this job or put that sizable (and expensive) ring on my wifes finger.

I don't intend to do it forever. I keep the toys I buy to a minimum, I pay off my student loans, I have a sizable amount left, and I live comfortably when I am home. My wife does not have to work if she does not want to. I'm not particularly sure I care about job fulfillment I treat my job as a means to an end. It doesn't mean I don't enjoy what I do, I enjoy it quite a bit actually, but it supports my hobbies and allows me to live life outside of work the way I want.

I want to go retire back to the northeast on a sizable chunk of land where no one will bother me if I go shoot some guns and hunt in my back yard or race around the property in a car/off road vehicle.

I skipped over anyone who wrote more than two lines. Retire from the military and all is yours. I'm five years out, pretty berkeleying cheap, and don't need much.

A word to the wise on the subject:

I watched my father in law die the year he was supposed to retire. His death changed a LOT of E36 M3 for me. My attitude toward work, saving, and retiring was one of them.

I'm not saying spend like congress, but I will say I'm determined to go on vacation at least once a year with my family now. And I'll be damned if I miss an opportunity to do some once in a lifetime E36 M3 (racing at Road Atlanta, going on tour with my buddy's band in a couple months) over a couple bucks.

I'm never gonna be sitting on my death bed going "You know, I just wish I'd taken less vacations."

Just food for thought.

M3h... I'm going to be paying student loans for another 10 years (that's into my 40's, folks)... Unless I can get my wife to go back to work. She is home with the kids now. She goes back to work and the student loans go to 0 in 2 years. That's the benefit of living off one income and economizing to that point. Come on.. Go back to work.

The0retical wrote: In reply to wearymicrobe: Those are some scary numbers. I started my life out of college under the impression that I will never see a dime that I pay into Social Security so I am contributing to the 401k up to what my employer matches then squirreling money into a Roth IRA for the end of year tax write off. I figure worst case scenario is that I get some extra money from the government when I reach that age.

Most people who have that in savings though typically own the house they are in and have some form of income through SS or small pension. Its amazing though to think about surviving like that though. I would stress myself out into a heart attack.

I do the same thing you do except for the IRA which I don't qualify for and use that cash to buy into the market. For retirement I fear more then anything having sufficient funds for when I get to 65 and then being unemployed from 55 on out which is pretty common nowadays.

At 32 I am not counting down the days or anything but if I can get out on the better side of 60 I would be very very happy.

Keep in mind there are 2 types of retirement.

1) quit everything and die soon thereafter. (the stats back that up)

2) Change. It's really like changing jobs when you were younger, only this time you do what you want.

Also just like poopshovel said, don't put off doing everything till you retire. LIVE!

poopshovel wrote: A word to the wise on the subject: I watched my father in law die the year he was supposed to retire. His death changed a LOT of E36 M3 for me. My attitude toward work, saving, and retiring was one of them. I'm not saying spend like congress, but I will say I'm determined to go on vacation at least once a year with my family now. And I'll be damned if I miss an opportunity to do some once in a lifetime E36 M3 (racing at Road Atlanta, going on tour with my buddy's band in a couple months) over a couple bucks. I'm never gonna be sitting on my death bed going "You know, I just wish I'd taken less vacations." Just food for thought.

I couldn't agree more. In theory I'm set. When I turn 55 I'll have 30 years with transit and my wife will have 30 years with the state and we can walk away with half our pay. In reality that's 18 years away and neither of our jobs will last that long. Add in that no one in my family has lived long enough to enjoy retirement and I really don't think about it. I'm happy with my job and life. We are putting money into our 401s but not to the point that we are losing out on things now.