Your escape plan.

Lesley wrote: I'll be working til I drop. Got 100k in a locked-in pension plan, hoping that keeps me in the good kind of catfood instead of the cheap stuff.

Looks like I will be battling Binky the Wonder Cat or his successor at the dinner dish.

In reply to Curmudgeon:

Screw that, if I get that bad off, I'll be wondering if I want Binky The Wonder Cat fried or baked.

My nest egg is knowing that I have 1200 lbs. of fresh horse meat

Lesley wrote: My nest egg is knowing that I have 1200 lbs. of fresh horse meat

Salt cured?

It's still wandering around the fields staying fresh.

You own the field?

We're to the point (in our mid 30's) where we could consolidate and live a very very very modest existence without ever working again. As long as my wife enjoys her job all we're doing is upping the life style we could lead without working. When the lifestyle we could fund crosses the one we're currently living then we'll reevaluate. It takes a lot of stress off life when things are going well.

Hell no, if I owned a field, I'd build a bunker in the middle of it and hide. I board my horse on a farm about 40 min. away.

In reply to Lesley:

that's gonna take alotta marinade

Sod house. Dirt farmer

400 acres on the water, a couple of bags of seed and 60 cows. My family will get by.

Farming, fishing and hunting. I've been tempted to change lifestyles. The slower, simpler, healthier life sure is tempting, then it gets hot outside. A/C sure is nice to have.

Well all this talk has me excited, my office life has gone from really bad to soul crushing in the last couple months. In fact its 3:00 in the morning here and I woke up in a panic thinking that it was monday and I needed to get to work earl so I could call the UK.

Astonishingly I have found jobs I am qualified for on the big island, also there is a opening for a major seed company. I used to work for DOW agro and there are more then a few engineering jobs as well.

Keep looking because its therapeutic to know that at least I could get a possibly get a job in someplace other then a major US or Euro city. Couple manufacturing plant positions overseas as well that look cool mainly in France. Plus a job with one of my old companies in Singapore.

If you wake up dreading work on your days off, it's time to move on. Life's too short to be miserable all the time.

In my early 60's now ... IRA's and 401K's converted to interest paying accounts ( my broker says he can get me 7% anytime I decide to pull the plug ) will get me a net income (about half of which will be tax free .... Roth IRA) + SS will be equal to, or actually greater ( $10K/yr put into IRA's and 401K's) than my gross while working ....

I'm starting to look for insurance to get me to 65 .. then I'm gone ............... ( + I have the VA as my primary care, so the price for most things are a bit less expensive than regional hospital )

Toyman01 wrote: If you wake up dreading work on your days off, it's time to move on. Life's too short to be miserable all the time.

I'm only 27, but this line of thinking has me setting up my escape plan already. Work the miserable jobs long enough to pay off my school loans, save some cash, take some HVAC/Plumbing courses, arborist/tree service courses, and start looking into jobs that I can do year round, outside, preferably as a contractor.

In the short time I've worked as a "professional" I've realized that its not the pay that matters, its the amount of time spent outside that really determines my enjoyment of a job.

Twin_Cam wrote:

petegossett wrote: In reply to poopshovel: I've also always wondered how much insulation would it take to keep a shipping container from heating up like an oven on a hot summer day?

'Bout the same as your house, I guess. And paint it a light color, I think it'd be fine.

Way off.

I've built a couple. Insulation is a huge issue.

First off, you can't use less expensive types like fiberglass, because there is no wall cavity, and because the metal can sweat, which will destroy the insulation and mold the structure.

Secondly, metal roof and walls conduct heat in a manner unlike conventional house building materials.

Thirdly, there is no natural airflow or ventilation.

And paint is not enough to combat the issues.

Container houses can be stunning. They are NOT cheap (unless you are wiling to live in a very unhealthy unventilated sweatbox with floors made of materials full of carcinogens) .

My plan is wrapping up. I turned 50 recently, and have been working toward a 55 retirement. All those years when my friends were driving big new cars, moving into 2500 sq.ft. houses with pools, and buying every new gadget that came out, we were living (comfortably) in our little 1000 sq.ft. bungalow, paying bills, and trying to save what was left over. It's paid off. I could walk tomorrow, but I'm so busy having fun (and fun costs money), that I'm going to work till 55, then either retire, or work winters, and take summers off. What's funny, is that once I didn't have to go to work anymore, I didn't mind doing it as much. We've looked at bush properties, and cabins up north, but I don't want to spend the money. One option is to sell the farm, take 1/3 of that money and buy something up north. Take another 1/3, and buy a small place in the sticks near lake Erie for the winters, and bank the other 1/3. Decisions, decisions.

My secondary (maybe this should be primary?) plan is: Sell my toys/unnecessary E36 M3 (common theme in this thread). Go back to school for my masters. Between a research assistantship, and the $ I can pull together, affording it should be quite easy. That'll push any job related problems back about 2 years :)

Move to Montana and become a dental floss tycoon.

In reply to fast_eddie_72:

That'll require at least one pygmy pony, keep that in mind.

If it makes any of you guys feel better, this thread makes me feel better about where I am at at 23 years old

wearymicrobe wrote: Just going to leave this here. http://freecabinporn.com/

Thanks. Have wasted many hours of my days staring at those houses now. Heavenly:

My escape plan is Belize, I figure with 200k cash and some residual income, I can build myself a nice simple, easy to maintain, concrete house with a roof deck on a beach in Belize. They're a former British colony, so everyone speaks English, cost of living is <$500 a month, and the currency is tied to the USD so conversion is dead simple. It also has a great mix of beach, jungle, and activities and rum to keep you occupied for quite some time.

Also, for anyone thinking of bugging out soon, start watching House Hunters International, it is mind boggling how cheap some places in the European countryside can be, and still have million dollar views.

Zomby Woof wrote: My plan is wrapping up. I turned 50 recently, and have been working toward a 55 retirement. All those years when my friends were driving big new cars, moving into 2500 sq.ft. houses with pools, and buying every new gadget that came out, we were living (comfortably) in our little 1000 sq.ft. bungalow, paying bills, and trying to save what was left over. It's paid off. I could walk tomorrow, but I'm so busy having fun (and fun costs money), that I'm going to work till 55, then either retire, or work winters, and take summers off. What's funny, is that once I didn't have to go to work anymore, I didn't mind doing it as much. We've looked at bush properties, and cabins up north, but I don't want to spend the money. One option is to sell the farm, take 1/3 of that money and buy something up north. Take another 1/3, and buy a small place in the sticks near lake Erie for the winters, and bank the other 1/3. Decisions, decisions.

I don't know man, if you've worked that hard and made that many sacrifices over the years I'd be very leary on purchasing two properties - it seems like a good way to increase your chances of getting screwed on a deal somewhere.

SVreX wrote:

Twin_Cam wrote:

petegossett wrote: In reply to poopshovel: I've also always wondered how much insulation would it take to keep a shipping container from heating up like an oven on a hot summer day?

'Bout the same as your house, I guess. And paint it a light color, I think it'd be fine.

Way off. I've built a couple. Insulation is a huge issue. First off, you can't use less expensive types like fiberglass, because there is no wall cavity, and because the metal can sweat, which will destroy the insulation and mold the structure. Secondly, metal roof and walls conduct heat in a manner unlike conventional house building materials. Thirdly, there is no natural airflow or ventilation. And paint is not enough to combat the issues. Container houses can be stunning. They are NOT cheap (unless you are wiling to live in a very unhealthy unventilated sweatbox with floors made of materials full of carcinogens) .

We have been told that there is a spray on insulation for container homes now. Ceramic substrate to be precise. Now the crap they spray on the wood floors of those things are nasty to a major degree.

More dreaming.

The wife and I have been talking this up now since I broached it and she is now fully on board. In fact she went as far as finding a 40 acre plot about 45 minutes from where we work, ~200K, electrical and city water on site, mature fruit tree's on ~2 acres of it.

There is a 2.7 acre one that I little a little bit closer and that has a view for around 44K. Private road into the area though. City hookup's as well, would need septic though.

Plus she has been digging into the container homes and found what we both think is a better idea now. Single slope roof homes. Plus we can use concrete for the back wall. Apparently they are significantly easier to build to code, the city has very little problem with them and there are pre-drawn plans that we both like. Pretty cheap to build apparently maybe 125K-150K to get what we want.

We both are super ready for a change, and if we did this locally we could both continue our jobs. I have three years left on my contract, about the same for her.
Going down to 10-20 hours a week consulting after that.

Minus the mortgage it would actually be more money in our pocket at the end of the month then we have now even at 10 hours a week. Add in the cash from those 3-5 years working plus what we have and we could effectively just walk away from working if invested right.