Going from self employment to semi retirement to retirement

[Erratikmind]

I was self employed for 23 years prior to my retirement in early 2011 at the age of 51.

The hardest part was to walk away from a business that I had built. The early years were filled with 60 to 80 hour work weeks. However, the business afforded my family a good quality of life. I was able to purchased a handful of properties in San Francisco during that time. That was always the goal . . . To create additional revenue streams.

One day, in mid 2010, I came to realize that I had enough. My kids had finished their studies and were on their own. It was my turn to enjoy life while I was young and healthy.

The first year was the hardest. All of my friends were still working. I consulted from time to time in an attempt to stay connected to the world, so to speak. Eventually, I sat on 2 non profit boards and worked with outreach programs. Coupled with my hobbies, I became quite busy.

In my 3rd year, I was at a wedding in Las Vegas. The day after the wedding, a friend drove me around the Summerlin area of Vegas. She took me to west Summerlin where they were building new homes in the western foothills of Vegas. That was in June. In October, I flew back to Vegas to look for a get-away home. Compared to where I was living, homes in Vegas were very affordable, to say the least. Within a week, I had found a community to my liking and I signed a contract to build a home away from home.

Now, I home base out of Vegas for the majority of the year. I spend time in the San Diego area visiting family and friends. I travel home to visit my parents, friends, and check in on properties. It's also nice to be able to go back to a home in CA when it gets extremely warm in Vegas.

Looking back . . . If you have the means to live divorced from a job . . . Retire as soon as you can. The best years are truly ahead of you. Life is much more interesting and exciting, now.

For the younger people . . . Start planning and saving for your retirement as soon as you can. Please do not make decisions, which drag you into long term debt, which yield no future benefits. Monies saved and/or invested now are worth exponentially more, later.

[Bette]

Originally Posted by Pat Answers

This is a good question. We are self-employed. I am collecting ss but I must still work to support my husband who can't do the work and the administrative both. He is resisting retiring because this is what he's always done to the point where it's become what he IS. I know he fears losing his identity when he shuts down the business.

The ideal thing would be to sell the business. But first off years ago he named this business after himself so that would never go away. Who wants their name on a business someone else is running, wisely or not? So we've come to think maybe we can find someone who would buy all the tools, trucks, equipment for their own business. Not likely, but sure would be nice.

Now we always thought we could go out and do little jobs. I was going to help with that, we would have an ongoing source of income to supplement. Then I started to age and no way could I do that and neither could he without employees. The downturn in the economy showed us that many of our expenses are fixed, regardless of the volume of work. Low volume means a loss to the company because of the expenses. So being semi-retired does not work. After we're collecting full SS, it wouldn't pay to work full time or even part time.

Husband turns 70 in the middle of the year. I've told him since the expenses will be paid for that year anyway, he has the rest of that year to finish all projects and wrap it all up. He's not happy about that. In our industry / area there are a lot of licenses and insurances to keep going and there's no way we can afford to put our money into that if we're not working. It is what it is. The problem is he's spent a lifetime building this up and has no one to pass the business to. I think it's easier when someone works for another company, it doesn't feel like such a loss to quit.

I can relate to what you are experiencing. I know for a fact that is what my husband feels; his actions tell me that; he will say "in the future...." but it is who he IS, exactly.

Thanks for your comments and I hope you get to enjoy life after all this.