Mikelly Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 So a couple of things came across my mind today as I started back to "work" in the "place" I do work... Retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be when you don't have the money to enjoy it... Also, Honey Do lists suck. I have been off for almost five months. I really thought it would be easy. Instead, I was gripped with fear of costing my household money. I didn't work out, didn't bike much, and didn't do much in the garage. I did little out of fear of costing myself money or injury... Crazy how the mind works. I Realized that it will take me about $5,000,000 to retire comfortably. That gives me a little over $120K per year to live on for the next 40 years. So, I really enjoy being back at WORK. Company is going well, work is going to be a LOT of fun and now this new assignement puts me within 40 minutes of home and ZERO traffic, so I'll be able to make the new company eeck along as well. But man, the work, the stability, the added six figures coming in again... I missed it all. If you have an employer provided retirement plan, I seriously recommend contributing the max to it. If you can, do a Roth IRA account as well, and do as much "safe" investment as you can. Retirement comes quick. I recommend you start. The sooner you start, the sooner you can become as bored as hell as I was with it! I AM SO HAPPY TO BE WORKING again! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 Congrats, It'll wear off in a week or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Poly Zmanaustin Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 Congrats' date=' It'll wear off in a week or two. [/quote'] I give it 3 days!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest norm[T12SDSUD] Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 Mike I didn't think you were old enough to retire. Aren't you like 47? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 '']Mike I didn't think you were old enough to retire. Aren't you like 47? Ewww. Not quite that ancient. I'm not even THAT old (Close though!) Mike wants to retire early. But now he sees that his hobbies mean that he'll need a HUGE retirement bundle to do that without worrying or getting bored because he can't DO his hobbies. Mike, I'd take a few months off at this point. It's been one of those weeks that I really hate my job. I'm glad to hear you're doing better with your situation though. That stress, no one needs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 1, 2006 Author Share Posted March 1, 2006 Norm, I'm 39, Going on 40 this July! I took the last 4.5 months off to stand up our corporation. Since this little company is being operated out of our two homes (My partner's and mine) and our employees work in government office space, I stayed home quite a bit of that time. Yea, I really need quite a bit of change to retire and play full time. I expect that including what I currently have in investments, I'd expect to need another minimum of 3.5 million to retire on. That sounds like big money until you think about living until you're 80. AND the last 10-15 years are potentially the most expensive from a medical expenses standpoint. Our business projections are very good at this point. We've got over 50 slots to fill with personnel. Our first hurdle was getting the work. Now we have it. Our next will be getting the people. We're working on that. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest norm[T12SDSUD] Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 I guess I'm screwed then Mike! I'm 38 and have all of $1500 saved for retirement!! uugghhh Looks like while you are playing at 80 I'll be working my tired old balls off!! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 1, 2006 Author Share Posted March 1, 2006 Well, The beauty is you can always start saving now... The later you start, the less years you have to be worried about! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 Good luck with it, Mike. Your own business always presents some special challenges, but also some special rewards. jt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jersey Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 Retirement? I'm surprised i can spell it let alone think about it ever happening!!! lol. I'll be 39 this October and with the mortgage, my wife who is good for the most part but could spend more then a few bucks every now and then, 3 kids (6, 4, 2) that will (hopefully) all go to college AND at least 2 weddings for my girls i'll need to pay for... well, I'm looking into some kind of life-long career. Seems more likely to happen at this point to work until i'm dead. haha. Hey Mike, i bet it would've been a more enjoyable 5 months "off" if the weather was a little nicer where we could go outside and "play". I know these winter months in the east are tough on me being stuck in the house for the most part. Seems like the wife can fire out those honey-do lists twice as fast! Anyway, hope the business continues to grow and the 5mil comes quicker than you think it would so you can enjoy life just that little bit sooner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silicone boy Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 Mike, we're about the same age, and I think about retirement all the time. For all the youngsters out there, listen up and start to save early if you can. I couldn't start until relatively late in life and i's killing me. Another tip--don't do what I did and create a monster lifestyle you have to feed. I said I would never do it, but I have a hell of a mortgage to pay. To give you an idea, my neighbors include John Elway (Hall of Fame quarterback) and Champ Bailey (former Washington Redskins and now Denver Bronco all world cornerback). I have to run like hell to support this lifestyle, and you would all be well advised to avoid my mistake and save, save, save (then again, I have a garage that's like a car lover's dream--one of the garage bays goes down to the basement, where I can store up to 5 cars). Oh well, looks like I'll be putting in breast implants for a few more years to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil280zxt Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 I'm starting to believe the key is not to have kids. I have four sons, 21,16 and twin 14 year olds. It starts off rather innocently with daycare costs, then clothes, $300 little league baseball bats, cars and then $40,000 / year college costs. It never ends!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 Yup, Mine (Stepkids) are out of the house, one on his own in a new career and doing well, the other is living with his dad, failing his senior year in high school and just being a slacker... No college for him at this point. On the plus side, we're not dealing with his dramas since he's "An adult" and "can handle it" and wants us to "butt out"... On the negative side, I expect he'll be repeating the 12th grade or will just drop out and get a GED. That said, He's gonna have to prove to me he's damned serious about any formal education beyond highschool before I dip into our researves to assist with formal education. No, right now we're shopping for either land, or a new home out in the coutry side... We don't want a large seven figure home. We just want to not see our neighbores. We're looking at sub $500K homes, and I'll be budgeting enough for my garage after that, assuming the new place doesn't come with one. We'll have about $100K in equity once all fees are paid and we're settled up with everyone, so we're only looking at financing somewhere in the $350-400K range. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest norm[T12SDSUD] Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 HAHAHA Silicone Boy, I think most men would want to keep fondling and modifying different women's breats for as long as they could and hey you don't even have to worry about going to divorce court !! HAHA Sounds like a high paying dream job to me!!! hahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Hmm - well - I'm 57 and retirement isn't that far away. At this point I have a healthy 401K at work and significant investments through a broker. My house and cars are paid for so I have no debt. I looked at what I had last week at realized I could last 16 years on what I have now without changing my lifestyle or earning another dollar. Oh yeah - I forgot to mention that I'll be pulling in Navy retirement in a few years which not only adds monthly income but covers medical. It's been a slow, methodical plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 3, 2006 Author Share Posted March 3, 2006 Phantom has the correct plan! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Yup, you’re never too young or too old to start investing – which means that you’re never too young or too old to start losing money in the stock market! I’ve been working full-time and saving aggressively for almost 13 years – and I’m quite a few years younger than Mike. But in 2000-2003 I lost my a$$ in the market, and am only now crawling my way back to half-a$$. But there’s something to be said for a government job with a government pension. Unfortunately, unlike investments, defined benefit pensions are back-loaded. You don’t really get rewarded for starting early, but you really get penalized for finishing early. The way that defined-benefit pensions work (with the exception of the uniformed military), you’re better off messing around and being stupid in your 20’s and 30’s, then settling down for a stable job in your 40’s-60’s. Fortunately my wife still thinks that a Super-Value Meal is 5-star dining, and luxury living in Midwestern winters means turning up the thermostat to 60 deg F. With such moderate expenses, early retirement becomes possible, even with the pension penalty. But the real reason to retire is that work sucks, whether you work in the private sector or public sector, small business or large business, or even self-employed. Sometimes I think about getting a faculty position, but that probably sucks too. Then again, sitting at home sucks…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 3, 2006 Author Share Posted March 3, 2006 Sitting at home without the money to enjoy living SUX. I have no doubt that it would suck much less if I had a budget close to the combined gross income of my household. That would make "living" a bit less stressed and a lot more fun. The key is to find things you enjoy and do them for as long as you can stand it. I've got the best of both worlds right now, because "technically" I'm working for another company while in this new position, and the commute is KILLER (30 minutes of country roads door to door) and my own little company is flourishing! I'll keep this gig for up to 3 years and then punch out. It'll buy us time to grow the company to a large enough size (*about 30 people) that we can afford to step back and just manage the work between my partner and myself. Meanwhile, I'm stashing cash into sensible investments, nothing crazy risky, and following good sound advice... As to that crash between 2000-2002... Everyone I spoke with back then advised to slow down on the risk. The three advisers I worked with on the plans I have ALL stated that it was at its peak and would only go down... Like everyone else, I was greedy and kept on going, although I did modify a little... Fortunately I only lost about $40K and have since made it back up. However, The signs were there. I will be more cautious and LISTEN to my invester from now on. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 posted by micheal you’re better off messing around and being stupid in your 20’s and 30’s, then settling down for a stable job in your 40’s-60’s. In my 20's I definitely had the stupid part covered. At least today it's somewhere in the gray area. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 I understand the stock market crater of a few years ago. I watched my investments be reduced to half of what they were. The point is that you need to find the right fund and get in it for the long haul. I've been preaching that to my kids the past two years as they've watched their bank savings accounts growing at a higher rate than their investments. I made my point last month, though, when the monthly statement came from the investment showing an annualized growth rate of 60% for that month. That is not at all typical but was a "strong economic indicator" that things are starting to get better. I'm starting to hesitantly breathe a little now and feeling a bit more comforatable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.