Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,570 posts, read 81,147,605 times
Reputation: 57793
Advertisements
I will stop working (in 3-4 years)but do a small side gig, the same one I do now while working. I make about $6,000 working 3-4 weekends a year, great for extra vacation money, manufacturing parts for 2 companies, one tech and one in the hobby industry. As long a small they need my work, I’ll continue to do it.
So Why work? I'd die a slow death sitting on the couch. Plus, I cannot turn off my brain.
Due to physical limitations my wife finds it very difficult to travel. A two hour plane ride is about her limit. Therefore, travel is very restricted.
My work has always been my hobby so it's not really work. A 20 hour per week gig is like working on a project in my garage. The difference is that when I work, I have access to multi million dollars worth of lab and electronic equipment. I'm getting paid to play. I also am enjoying training my replacement, a very sharp 24 year old EE.
The money is nice but that's not my main motivation.
No choice really. The stock market tanked two of my investments I was set to use in retirement. Lesson learned. Now I get to live paycheck to paycheck til I get fired or found without a pulse.
Some of us don't get to plan the golden years...they just don't exist. Work work work.
There's no doubt I'm angry about not being able to have a retirement...it's completely my fault that I followed the sheep and had money managed by fidelity. Who knew that twice the market would dip soooo low.! I do believe in saving but investing...what a joke.
Dipped so low ? What year are you talking ? We are about 5-10% from all time highs , unless you speculated in individual stocks and took on individual company risk which is more speculating then investing and is never a good idea coming up on retirement .
At any age ,individual stocks can be risky . But diversified funds are just fine which are just market risk..taking on individual company risk is betting on the whims of a particular company .
You hope you picked the right stock at the right time in the right business in the right sector . Even if you got all that right you still don’t know what competitors have on their drawing board.
So there is a big difference in risk taking on both market and individual company risk
So Why work? I'd die a slow death sitting on the couch. Plus, I cannot turn off my brain.
Do you have any idea how insulting that statement is to those who have chosen not to work in retirement?
Ironically, you've actually insulted yourself by demonstrating the dearth of intellectual thought that led to you posting such a ridiculous and idiotic statement.
I didn't need to work, but I saw an opportunity to do something in my field, fish management, work with people I had already worked with and enjoyed being around. I only worked for a few months. I was doing creel census on a local reservoir, worked about 3 months, and at the end had a very negative interaction with a group of people who blocked my access to cross a bridge. I had to drive for 30 minutes or so just to get back to the main road. I said the hell with that and quit.
BTW-I love retirement, playing music, growing marijuana (it's legal in Oregon) and spending lots of quality time with my wife.
I voted 'other'. I would love to retire early and work at things I want to work at - like gardening, painting, things I do for pure joy alone.
But, I don't know what life will bring. I already have to postpone retirement longer than I wanted to, so plans have already changed, and will continue to change on an as needed basis. If I do end up needing to work in retirement, I hope it wont be more than 2 to 3 days a week.
I did everything late. Got married and started a family late, waited too long to buy a house, went back to school in my 40s and accumulated large student loans.
I'm going to be paying for mortgages on two houses into my 80s. My wife makes barely any money from her crap job teaching ESL. So I have to work until I drop!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
