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sounds like a boring life if you ask me. Life needs its ups and downs..
1) Nobody needs downs
2) We don't know if it wasn't boring. We do know that it had a lot of stability - not necessarily mutually exclusive from not being boring.
3) With seven kids, it probably wasn't boring
Sounds like Mr. 44 knew exactly what he was doing. Good for him.
The only thing that we don't know about is his health. Are they healthy? Exercise? If so, this guy sounds like a winner.
DH has worked for the same employer for 30 years. We are married almost 33 years. We have lived in the same house since 1987.
I do not think we are amazing. Many of my neighbors are the same way.
This was the dream. Find an employer who you could work for until you retired. Unfortunately, that's not realistic for young people today. I was 48 when I was downsized out of the company I had worked for 17 years. I would much rather have retired at 65 but I didn't get that option.
Anyone who can do this today should count themselves lucky.
I do agree on the debt free part. The only debt dh and I carry is our mortgage which we would have paid off if I'd kept that job just 5 more year. That was a lifesaver when I lost my job and we had to learn to live on half the income I had before. I'm sad to say I can't do debt free anymore. This time I wasn't able to save enough money to buy a car cash so we have a car payment.
I love hearing stories like this but it makes me sad because I so wanted it to be me. I'm finding that being over 50 and looking for work really sucks.
My advice to young people is save, save, save. Be ready for the unexpected. It's wonderful when you can have that 40 year career and then retire but sometimes, through no fault of your own, that gets cut in half. The employment world is very unforgiving if your career doesn't go as planned.
Nothing really amazing out this, but I think it will be rare to see people working at the same company in the future. I'm pretty similar to your co-worker. I've been married for 35 years, working for the same company for 35 years, living in the same house for 33 years. A new car will never be on our agenda. I do make my own lunch.
I feel fortunate, but I also feel decisions made everyday along the way to live on much less than we make made our life less stressful and have put us in a situation to help others. Don't get me wrong, we have and continue to enjoy life, we just budget it all out. I think there are two types of people... Those that plan for tomorrow and those free spirits that live for today, put blinders on to what tomorrow might bring and then expect others to pay for their irresponsibility.
Makes me sad...I was at an employer for close to 15 years and I always thought I would be there my entire working career. They had excellent benefits, pension, I felt happy going to work every day...until the corporate mission changed and everything good about working there was eliminated. Then I had to report to this dopey woman who made working there even more miserable. I left for a better paying job but then that company went under. I am now at an "okay" place with crappy health insurance, less pay, but better work-life balance...
. I am now at an "okay" place with crappy health insurance, less pay, but better work-life balance...
Changing jobs is fine. For many, it is a key way to earn more money. For most employees, staying with the same company means about a 2% to 4% annual raise every year. Change jobs a couple of times for 10% to 20% more money and your net future value is significantly increased. (I once changed jobs twice in 14 months, each time I changed jobs it was a 22% raise. On top of that I went from company A to company B and then BACK to company A.)
Also, don't fret too much about health insurance. Every company has significantly raised the contributions employees pay in the past ten years. I used to pay zero out of paycheck for a 100% PPO, $600 deductible for a family and only $15 copays. Those days are gone. Now it's a 90/10 PPO, and $2700 out of paycheck and closer to $1000 deductible.
After reading the posts let me follow up with some more info.
We work in a hospital. Our hospital is in the black and has always made a profit. The hospital has been in business since 1903 I think. Currently we are building a new replacement 325,000 square feet, 6 floor and a full basement, 240 bed private acute care facility. It will be completed in early 2015. We will also retain an 8 story 200,000 square feet hospital building that will be turned into a medical office building. Many non patient care services and out patient services will remain at the current building. Working at a hospital is much different than working for many other industries. You can work for a hospital and change careers.
The co-worker that I am talking about worked for two different departments at the hospital. During his time with both he moved up into leadership roles. If you were to ask him he would tell you that his job has been rewarding. It is true with us that remaining in your same position will probably mean a 2 to 4% raise each year. Changing positions though within a department or moving into another department would be similar to getting another job at another company with a high increase in pay. This co-worker has done just that over the years.
Employees at our hospital get anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks of vacation time mixed with a couple weeks of sick time. Since it is all in a PTO budget you could have up to 6 weeks of vacation time during the year if you have been working at the hospital for over 10 years. I would bet that is plenty of time to take vacations and have some fun during the year. Within a hospital many people work 12 hour shifts. I know some people that try and work 6 in a row so that they can have the remainder of the pay period off. Imagine working at a place where you can work full time and still get 8 days off in a row.
Our insurance is free for the employee with the first dependent at $62 a pay period and two or more dependents at $124 a pay period, or every other week. That is if we use our own facilities. LOL
Working at a hospital may be one of the places that a person can work for a lifetime and never have to worry about moving on to some other place, even for new workers. As far as I know the hospital is not going anywhere. It should be there 40 or 50 years from now.
I think that sounds wonderful. Ten years ago I might have thought that sounded kind of dry but now it sounds just about perfect. It's hard to get it right the first time, marriage, family, house, job, and kids. It sounds like they have their values and priorities in order.
44 years at one employer? Work for the government? All three are longshots, together that is almost unique.
But in that generation it was taken for granted that you stayed with one employer. It's nothing remarkable. Now if today's 20- and 30-somethings stay at one employer for 40 years, that would be unusual. Still happens, though. People get a good gov't job, and work their way up the payscale. Great federal retirement benefits, often pretty good vacation allowance, depending on the job. It still happens.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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40+ yrs at a GREAT employer who paid for 5 college degrees, gave me 5 international assignments (with family accompanying), and 20 different positions.
nearly 40 yrs married to The Best. Through thick and thin, feast and famine + 12 yrs of Homeschooling and building MANY houses. CRAZY times and adventures. And Extensive traveling. (gone more than home, often solo trips then meeting up somewhere fun for a weekend or a couple weeks)
~40th house / property. (Wish I would have kept them all).
~40th car. (actually probably 100th... I drive Beaters ;-)
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