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I've followed this entire thread, both "Before" and "After" the housecleaning by the mod, and I'd like to make a REAL out-of-the-box suggestion you might want to explore before summarily dismissing it out of hand:
Yeah, that's pretty "out-of-the-box".
Truth is, I'm not exactly what you would call a "people person" (oh boy, there's an opening for the hecklers). What I enjoy and have done for most of my life is to work on mentally demanding, highly abstract problems that require concentration, creativity and solitude. Computer programming is the kind of thing I'm talking about.
Problem is, we are no longer a country that makes things. It's largely a service economy now. "Customer service" is just not in my genes so there seems to be no place for me. If I were a butler, I probably would wind up killing someone.
A variation on "work camping" might be to live at a mini-storage warehouse and manage it.
I'll refer you to the previous post. A "jack-of-all-trades" I'm definitely not. Too many years specializing in a field almost wholly disconnected from reality. I guess I'm a "one-trick pony" ready to be put out to pasture (hopefully not made into glue).
Thanks for your input. (What I think I'm still capable of doing depends on the time of day. That's why my responses are not consistant.)
I'll refer you to the previous post. A "jack-of-all-trades" I'm definitely not. Too many years specializing in a field almost wholly disconnected from reality. I guess I'm a "one-trick pony" ready to be put out to pasture (hopefully not made into glue).
Thanks for your input. (What I think I'm still capable of doing depends on the time of day. That's why my responses are not consistant.)
While you certainly don't need to be specific about your needs here on an international forum, I think to be successful in your endeavor with the original question, you need to treat retirement as another one of those jobs that the original WHAT COLOR IS MY PARACHUTE book that you might remember from the 70's.
IMO, you need to determine exactly what you can do as an avocation or for small pay(or as a volunteer), exactly what your expenses are, and then find your self a university town with your engineering/computer area as a major, and find an inexpensive rental there. You may be able to reach out to the university as a volunteer, and then edge your way into a part time position of some kind.
After watching the conversation, having one of my posts removed(not an unusual circumstance for me since I tend to be rather opinionated), and posting a couple a strong and perhaps useful posts, I'm still not sure that you know what it is that you actually want, let alone need.
IMO, you need to sit down with the aforementioned book, and determine your physical needs, your projected income, and your mental and emotional needs. Then you need to set up a plan to determine very specifically how you might research them, and then set up a plan to make that happen. Most of these activities are abstract plans which according to your description of yourself, should be right down your own personal alley.
Having done that, you might be in a better position to come back to this group with very specific questions and then get very specific answers.
However, the answers in a group like this will be answers based on the personal experience of the posters, not necessarily answers with a solid research base.
In my case, I traveled all over the USA east of the Mississippi during my young and middle adult years. I didn't go west as my daughter was scared to death of tornados and would let us go there(go figure that she actually went to college in the midwest and now lives in SF,CA.) This process allowed us to travel but also to purposely determine places that we might most want to live in retirement. So my answers are based on MY experience. Others who could not have traveled for 6 weeks every summer for 15 years would have a different way of determining a potential permanent Saturday place.
Also sprach Zarathustra (my German's getting better)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zarathu
After watching the conversation, having one of my posts removed(not an unusual circumstance for me since I tend to be rather opinionated), and posting a couple a strong and perhaps useful posts, I'm still not sure that you know what it is that you actually want, let alone need.
Having done that, you might be in a better position to come back to this group with very specific questions and then get very specific answers.
[T]he answers in a group like this will be answers based on the personal experience of the posters, not necessarily answers with a solid research base.
About your deleted post: The moderator who did the cleanup (Keeper) was apparently not the designated mod for this forum but volunteered her time in the interest of restoring sanity. I'd say she did a great job but in a couple of cases deleted the wheat and left in some chaff. I'm sure the deletion was unintentional.
About, "... strong and perhaps useful posts": Definitely useful but perhaps just a bit didactic. (I sense the ghost of Friedrich Nietzsche in the room.)
As for, "... what it is that you actually want, let alone need.": I'm not sure I know either. You seem to imply that this can only be discovered by sitting alone in a room practicing your prescribed analytic technique. I would argue that this kind of soul-searching and hearing from people with (admittedly anecdotal) information are not mutually exclusive activities.
Regarding, "... you might be in a better position to come back to this group with very specific questions and then get very specific answers.": I'm sure that will come. In the meantime I'm interested in hearing about possibilities that I've never even considered and thereby expanding my "option space". I have no intention of leaving to go sit in the corner until I'm worthy of this august company.
Regarding, "... answers in a group like this will be answers based on the personal experience of the posters, not necessarily answers with a solid research base.": Perhaps you haven't noticed that some participants have provided links to useful factual information. That's what I try to do. Read the original post if you haven't already and you'll see that what I was proposing was an exchange of information useful to anyone who finds themselves in a situation similar to mine - not a personal counseling session.
Thank you. But I've got to admit that I've read the book in question while job-hunting and dismissed it due to the fact that the author seemed to be obvious to the cost of retraining etc. That was a while ago. Maybe later editions are not so pollyannaish. I'd like to see the "Great Recession Edition".
Read the original post if you haven't already and you'll see that what I was proposing was an exchange of information useful to anyone who finds themselves in a situation similar to mine - not a personal counseling session.
Thanks for the input.
Sorry if it looked like a counseling session. You don't spend a 40 year career in mental health services and be able to not sound like a counselor most of the time.
One of the main features of brainstorming is to encourage people to do it. One of the ways to close it down, is to make negative comments about people's brainstormed choices(or even worse, the equivalent of "Thanks for Nuthin" about something that the brainstormer thought was really somethin'). During such a session, I have often stopped and asked brainstormers who had their idea knocked down during the session whether they felt like giving any more ideas. Uniformily every grownup(kids have other replies) said the equivalent of something about using a screwdriver and a 2 inch thick coarse drywall screw on the one who knocked their brainstorm, and a desire to walk out of the session after said deed.
I believe that you don't need any more input from me. Good luck in your quest though.
Thank you. But I've got to admit that I've read the book in question while job-hunting and dismissed it due to the fact that the author seemed to be obvious to the cost of retraining etc. That was a while ago. Maybe later editions are not so pollyannaish. I'd like to see the "Great Recession Edition".
You are so right. Older people who have been laid off are encouraged to go back to school and learn a new trade or career. I did that. But I found I was competing with so many 20-somethings I didn't have a chance. Also even with a job it means years of student loans to have to pay off. Fifty year olds aren't going to have has long to pay these off as the young graduates. I figure my student loan will outlive me although I diligently may my minium payments per month.
Regarding places to live. This is just me but after checking out various possibilities I am almost settled on......wait for it......Cleveland Ohio. It's not the retirement spot of the day but it suits my needs more than any other place.
I think it's a pretty subjective situation. For instance I notice a plus for many places listed to retire to is sunshine. But not for me. I dislike sun. Or property prices; not for me though, I am a life-long renter.
What I did was make a list of what I was wanting to get away from where I am and what I wanted in where I would go to. For many reasons, Cleveland was the city that had more pluses than minuses for me.
I know you are seeking more speicfics but I hope this may help a little in determing your criteria for the best place for you.
You are so right. Older people who have been laid off are encouraged to go back to school and learn a new trade or career. I did that. But I found I was competing with so many 20-somethings I didn't have a chance. Also even with a job it means years of student loans to have to pay off. Fifty year olds aren't going to have has long to pay these off as the young graduates. I figure my student loan will outlive me although I diligently may my minium payments per month.
Got my degree in Electrical Engineering just in time to see all the electronics manufacturing jobs outsourced to Mexico.
Retrained in Computer Science just in time to see all the software development jobs outsourced to India. (CNBC's list of fastest shrinking jobs includes computer programmers.)
I would love to work in Genetic Engineering but I'm sixty years old and having lost out to global competition I had to default on a student loan that will literally follow me beyond the grave (government is entitled to garnish my S.S. death benefit) so I can't get any type of loan or aid. And, like you said, there's all those twentysomethings out there.
I've been turned down for jobs bagging groceries because I don't know how to run a cash register (they didn't teach that in college).
I'll keep looking for something while I wait for that first early S.S. check but I live in the Tampa, FL area which I just discovered (again, according to CNBC) is one of the worst job markets in the U.S. with an unemployment rate comparable to Detroit, MI.
In the meantime I try to plan for a very bare-bones retirement. I also am looking at Cleveland, OH as a possiblity since so many people have left there just may be a few affordable apartments there.
We'll figure something out.
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It's getting late ...
