YM friends, where are you at? $$-wise?

[laterbloomer]

I just got on permanent to my current position. This is my dream job so YAY! This is a wfh, flex hours, good vacation, can travel and work from other locations kinda job. I'm not in such a panic to retire now. I need to reevaluate my plan.

[laterbloomer]

Jun 12, 2022 20:49:10 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

What do you still hope to accomplish career-wise?

I love the job I have now and would just like to keep it for at least 3.5 more years. It's contract and I'm counting on extensions, but it looks like I should get them. I have dreams of some kind of retirement at 60, it will probably be a semi retirement.


What is your next step/s financially?


Keep putting away 45% of my net pay. It would be great if I could get one more boarder and put away that money for the next 3 years.

Do you/Are you compiling a list of what you need to get done/accomplish/achieve/before retirement?


Sort of. I'm figuring out how to arrange things so I get to do the travelling and hobbies I want to do.

Are you interested in charting that journey, having a support thread here, sharing ups and downs and ideas?
Yes. I'm doing it much lower income than most of you and I'm Canadian so I'm dealing with different Government incomes and tax laws, but I think it will still be fun to be talking about it. 

I joined the MSN money boards about 17 years ago. It really was the start of my financial education and has contributed a lot to it. If I didn't learn it here I was pointed in the right direction to find the info.

Wow, I went back and read this and realized my top 2 things happened within 4 months of writing this. Shout out to the power of putting it out in the universe.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 21, 2022 17:27:12 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

Jun 12, 2022 20:49:10 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

What do you still hope to accomplish career-wise?

I love the job I have now and would just like to keep it for at least 3.5 more years. It's contract and I'm counting on extensions, but it looks like I should get them. I have dreams of some kind of retirement at 60, it will probably be a semi retirement.


What is your next step/s financially?


Keep putting away 45% of my net pay. It would be great if I could get one more boarder and put away that money for the next 3 years.

Do you/Are you compiling a list of what you need to get done/accomplish/achieve/before retirement?


Sort of. I'm figuring out how to arrange things so I get to do the travelling and hobbies I want to do.

Are you interested in charting that journey, having a support thread here, sharing ups and downs and ideas?
Yes. I'm doing it much lower income than most of you and I'm Canadian so I'm dealing with different Government incomes and tax laws, but I think it will still be fun to be talking about it. 

I joined the MSN money boards about 17 years ago. It really was the start of my financial education and has contributed a lot to it. If I didn't learn it here I was pointed in the right direction to find the info.

Wow, I went back and read this and realized my top 2 things happened within 4 months of writing this. Shout out to the power of putting it out in the universe.

awesome sauce!!!

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 4, 2022 18:05:21 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Aug 26, 2022 20:44:36 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

wow - already a month later!

1 - selected firm for house plans, had attorney check through, sent revisions back. working on decluttering proactively, when I can, in spare time (!) to prep for planning and execution phases.

2 - dental appt is done, not as much followup there as I thought, maybe 1 thing to see to in the next year. Made 2 different doctor appts but wasn't able to get in until october for either. Have 3 other doctor appts to schedule, not sure if I should try to schedule those, or wait till these 2 are done. I think the GP work up will be informative for the others, basic blood work, etc. maybe will schedule those for early Nov to get on the books and before the end of the year rush of appts. Maybe late oct would be better now I think of it. I'll try to schedule those other ones next week, since lead time is high.

so - not thinking too far ahead, just one step in front of the other. Continuing to max 401k and HSA accounts, with some savings going to taxable and treasury direct monthly. Not worrying about balances or budgets, just keeping the autopilot on money issues while I attend to other pre-retirement steps.

Another month + a few days....and yes, a little bit of progress. That is all I am going for right now. 

1) Have date set for architect site visit, have a whole lot of work to do before then!! Very excited to take this step!

2) Have seen 3 doctors in the past 3-4 weeks. Am uptodate on vaccines (covid, tetanus, shingles - and both arms are sore and tired!), have a lot of labs submitted waiting on results, and have referrals for 2 of 3 specialist I need to see.


Continuing to save and invest, although balances continue downward, will see if the last few days of up values stick for a trend...

Been a rough day, I'm down a bit of blood on those draws....

Again, a month+ since last update, next check in will be in the new year.

1) architect visit complete, have reviewed some preliminary drawings and to make some decisions before actual plans are drawn up. I will likely just review them a couple of time between now and new years and then make some decisions in Jan and have plans and permitting stuff in feb/mar and then start work in spring. 

2) had a second round of blood tests and those came out better after I went back to eating healier for a few weeks . Just having a few dr appts really throws my schedule out of whack, so unfortunately - will be kicking the specialist work into 2023. Unfortunately because I have HDHP, so have spent a lot already but not hit deductible. Likely best to bump all this stuff than try to get it done this year and then hit deductible but still need a lot of follow up in 23. Like who knew I'd need 2 rounds of blood tests? 

So - goals for 2023 in terms of retirement prepping:

1) Complete all recommended medical screening - know exactly where I am healthwise before making thinking about retirement.

2) Have the house vision completed, and while I hope to have all necessary structural issues addressed in 2023, it may be a multi-year process so will play that by ear.

By the end of 2023, I think I should be able to envision retirement and have a timeline, even if that is 2-3 years  or even more! Hoping not later than 2027 for retiment, but depends on the economy and stock market to a great extent. Nothing I can do but keep on saving, investing, and hedging as much as I can against a variety of scenarios. Will be eligible for early soc security in 2026 as well, so can start to take that into consideration in my plans.

Also - I think things will be much easier those last few years with the house fixed up. Getting to fixed up is going to be uphill - both financially and in terms of living through the construction.....

[laterbloomer]

I have to fix a crack in my foundation, get some dental work done and I just paid off my car. I'm putting out big bucks in the next few months 😞 But all of these are things I want done before retiring or even semi retiring.
It means a vacation in Feb will have to go on my LOC. But I'm taking that vacation dammit!

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Nov 22, 2022 23:35:47 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

I have to fix a crack in my foundation, get some dental work done and I just paid off my car. I'm putting out big bucks in the next few months 😞 But all of these are things I want done before retiring or even semi retiring.
It means a vacation in Feb will have to go on my LOC. But I'm taking that vacation dammit!

I have no idea where my cash flow situation is going right now. Inflation and all that jazz....Need to crunch the numbers.

[tractor]

As I eluded to in my earlier post (much earlier), I have benefitted not only from the sale of an "extra" house last spring, but I have also been given a 30% raise at work putting our household income @ 200K. We paid off all our debt this year (except our primary home), and were gifted $10K today from my MIL whose starting to distribute portions of her estate.

We have more $$ in our accounts than we have ever had after 29-years of marriage, and find ourselves conformably sitting back and wondering how we ended up in such a position in less than 1-year. It's a strange feeling, but we have both decided that we will sit on what we have and continue to accumulate what we can, for as long as we can. It's strange, when we had very little, there were so many plans for every dollar that came in. Now that we have plenty, I feel more like hoarding, just because we can.

[laterbloomer]

So I have decided to transfer some of the money from after tax retirement investments to pretax retirement investments. (I'm Canadian, I can do this) I need the tax return to pay off some big ticket items and still maintaining my investment rate. I really don't want to lose out on cheap investments in the next few months.
Rukh O'Rorke can you pull up the thread you did for yearly goals at the beginning of 2023? I can't find it.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Dec 2, 2022 16:53:17 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

So I have decided to transfer some of the money from after tax retirement investments to pretax retirement investments. (I'm Canadian, I can do this) I need the tax return to pay off some big ticket items and still maintaining my investment rate. I really don't want to lose out on cheap investments in the next few months.
Rukh O'Rorke can you pull up the thread you did for yearly goals at the beginning of 2023? I can't find it.

is this later from the future

[laterbloomer]

Dec 2, 2022 18:52:30 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Dec 2, 2022 16:53:17 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

So I have decided to transfer some of the money from after tax retirement investments to pretax retirement investments. (I'm Canadian, I can do this) I need the tax return to pay off some big ticket items and still maintaining my investment rate. I really don't want to lose out on cheap investments in the next few months.
Rukh O'Rorke can you pull up the thread you did for yearly goals at the beginning of 2023? I can't find it.

is this later from the future

Lol I meant the beginning of 2022

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Nov 23, 2022 11:38:14 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Nov 22, 2022 23:35:47 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

I have to fix a crack in my foundation, get some dental work done and I just paid off my car. I'm putting out big bucks in the next few months 😞 But all of these are things I want done before retiring or even semi retiring.
It means a vacation in Feb will have to go on my LOC. But I'm taking that vacation dammit!

I have no idea where my cash flow situation is going right now. Inflation and all that jazz....Need to crunch the numbers.

How is 2023 going y’all? Lots of challenges for me so far, financially and otherwise.


Still haven’t done a lot of crunching…..need to figure this out….spoiler alert! It’s not going to be good! Definitely spending much more than previously (aren’t we all!), so will need to enact some austerity measures for sure!

Done with dental stuff (expensive and painful!!), will focus on completing my medical catch-up first quarter-half of this year. Then just household stuff will remain. Still working on plans with architect. That is languishing as I need to make hard decisions and am waffling….

No rush as the market continues down and much turmoil still expected. Silver lining: Gives me plenty of time to finish household stuff and keep investing. Definitely need to rethink my investment strategy as I consider using the kitty to live off of rather than just look at it!!!

Haven’t finalized all my 2023 goals yet….need to find or redo my punch list, and make those decisions….

Thankfully, my largest Rukh, inc. client is returning 2023. Was worried as I flubbed a deliverable in 2022, wasn’t sure how serious that was from their end. I’ll be stellar this year for sure!!! Rukh inc used to be icing on the cake…..with day job languishing in raise department, expenses up, and working on house upgrades…..gonna really need the extra cash!

But! I’m just one bull run away from the finish line, lol!!! At least I keep telling myself.

Keep swimming!!!

[susana1954]

My returns have been decent so far.  I am sure part of that is due to the plan that the Vanguard Financial Advisor put into place for me at the beginning of January.  I have gained back about 50k of the 150k I was down.  There is still a long way to go, but Congress keeps moving the RMD age so it has a few more years to grow.  

I am going to need a new car, probably sooner than later since mine is a 2006.  But I'm saving for that . . . or at least a nice downpayment toward it.  I have 12K just for that plus another 23k in "emergency savings" so it will be ok.

Life on the other side of the retirement river is nice, but you will definitely want to keep Rukh, Inc going then if you can.  My gig is substituting, which gets me out of the house and provides some pocket change.  But I see you spending your retirement more like Athena and Mich, travelling.  That will cost you an extra million (j/k, I think).

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Jan 21, 2023 14:12:37 GMT -5 susana1954 said:

My returns have been decent so far.  I am sure part of that is due to the plan that the Vanguard Financial Advisor put into place for me at the beginning of January.  I have gained back about 50k of the 150k I was down.  There is still a long way to go, but Congress keeps moving the RMD age so it has a few more years to grow.  

I am going to need a new car, probably sooner than later since mine is a 2006.  But I'm saving for that . . . or at least a nice downpayment toward it.  I have 12K just for that plus another 23k in "emergency savings" so it will be ok.

Life on the other side of the retirement river is nice, but you will definitely want to keep Rukh, Inc going then if you can.  My gig is substituting, which gets me out of the house and provides some pocket change.  But I see you spending your retirement more like Athena and Mich, travelling.  That will cost you an extra million (j/k, I think).

lol, I would have thought so too! But, I'm feeling a little weighed down by this cat colony I've imported indoors.....and they're very spoiled what with WFH. On the rare occasion I go out for 4 hours or so, they are all so emotionally needy on my return! The younger set will turn 2 this year so many years ahead, there is one among them that is a super cuddler, needs multiple petting sessions a day, and has never really let anyone but me touch her. When she went to the vet to get immunized/fixed, they decided to sedate her before exam she was so undone. I just can't see leaving her alone for any length of time.....breaks my heart to think of her without me to supply her snuggling needs! 

Hopefully I am healthy and welathy enough for extensive travel in 15 or so years......

I did not intend to take these on permanently, and was planning to travel extensively whenever the older crew passed on, and then settle down on a hobby farm or somesuch before thinking about pets again. Little buggers crawled under my defenses though, lol! 

They are very cute , but it's not a volume I would have signed up for a priori.....it was more of a frog in the cauldron situation......

[chiver78]

I've hit a little bit of a bump in the road in my debt payoff, having booked a bunch of travel to make up for the last 3y of lost adventures. that said, I'll be paying off one more balance this month to have just two CCs remaining on my WIRR race. my 401k isn't awesome, but it seems to be in decent shape for now. that 401k is 4y old as of today, actually. I moved all previous 401k accounts into a Roth account awhile ago. I don't check that one regularly, not that I do for the current one, but I did actually look at that one this week. 

my goal for 2023 is to win my WIRR race and that means paying off the house projects (on non-raced short-term promotional rates) first.     

[minnesotapaintlady]

Jan 21, 2023 16:13:21 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Jan 21, 2023 14:12:37 GMT -5 susana1954 said:

My returns have been decent so far.  I am sure part of that is due to the plan that the Vanguard Financial Advisor put into place for me at the beginning of January.  I have gained back about 50k of the 150k I was down.  There is still a long way to go, but Congress keeps moving the RMD age so it has a few more years to grow.  

I am going to need a new car, probably sooner than later since mine is a 2006.  But I'm saving for that . . . or at least a nice downpayment toward it.  I have 12K just for that plus another 23k in "emergency savings" so it will be ok.

Life on the other side of the retirement river is nice, but you will definitely want to keep Rukh, Inc going then if you can.  My gig is substituting, which gets me out of the house and provides some pocket change.  But I see you spending your retirement more like Athena and Mich, travelling.  That will cost you an extra million (j/k, I think).

lol, I would have thought so too! But, I'm feeling a little weighed down by this cat colony I've imported indoors.....and they're very spoiled what with WFH. On the rare occasion I go out for 4 hours or so, they are all so emotionally needy on my return! The younger set will turn 2 this year so many years ahead, there is one among them that is a super cuddler, needs multiple petting sessions a day, and has never really let anyone but me touch her. When she went to the vet to get immunized/fixed, they decided to sedate her before exam she was so undone. I just can't see leaving her alone for any length of time.....breaks my heart to think of her without me to supply her snuggling needs! 

Hopefully I am healthy and welathy enough for extensive travel in 15 or so years......

I did not intend to take these on permanently, and was planning to travel extensively whenever the older crew passed on, and then settle down on a hobby farm or somesuch before thinking about pets again. Little buggers crawled under my defenses though, lol! 

They are very cute , but it's not a volume I would have signed up for a priori.....it was more of a frog in the cauldron situation......

Years ago I got dubbed "crazy cat lady" here for just having 3.  I'm passing the torch. 

[minnesotapaintlady]

Jan 21, 2023 16:25:29 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

 I don't check that one regularly, not that I do for the current one, but I did actually look at that one this week.

I'm always amazed that people can do that.  It was a lot easier for me back before online access when they mailed quarterly statements, I remember just throwing them in a pile in the corner unopened, but now when all you have to do is open an app on your phone...pretty much daily.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Jan 21, 2023 19:56:07 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Jan 21, 2023 16:13:21 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

lol, I would have thought so too! But, I'm feeling a little weighed down by this cat colony I've imported indoors.....and they're very spoiled what with WFH. On the rare occasion I go out for 4 hours or so, they are all so emotionally needy on my return! The younger set will turn 2 this year so many years ahead, there is one among them that is a super cuddler, needs multiple petting sessions a day, and has never really let anyone but me touch her. When she went to the vet to get immunized/fixed, they decided to sedate her before exam she was so undone. I just can't see leaving her alone for any length of time.....breaks my heart to think of her without me to supply her snuggling needs! 

Hopefully I am healthy and welathy enough for extensive travel in 15 or so years......

I did not intend to take these on permanently, and was planning to travel extensively whenever the older crew passed on, and then settle down on a hobby farm or somesuch before thinking about pets again. Little buggers crawled under my defenses though, lol! 

They are very cute , but it's not a volume I would have signed up for a priori.....it was more of a frog in the cauldron situation......

Years ago I got dubbed "crazy cat lady" here for just having 3.  I'm passing the torch. 

I can no longer even attempt to deny "crazy cat lady" status.....

[chiver78]

Jan 21, 2023 20:35:20 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Jan 21, 2023 16:25:29 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

 I don't check that one regularly, not that I do for the current one, but I did actually look at that one this week.

I'm always amazed that people can do that.  It was a lot easier for me back before online access when they mailed quarterly statements, I remember just throwing them in a pile in the corner unopened, but now when all you have to do is open an app on your phone...pretty much daily.

I've had this conversation with my financial advisor, and I've said as much here. I'm pretty good with numbers, as I have a BS in an engineering discipline. however, I'm a useless PM bc you put a $ in front of those numbere, and I'm lost. 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️ so as long as he isn't spastic? I'm not gonna sweat anything.

[Deleted]

Nov 24, 2022 22:03:37 GMT -5 tractor said:

We paid off all our debt this year (except our primary home), and were gifted $10K today from my MIL whose starting to distribute portions of her estate.

I've been doing that.  I wait till I'm closer to the end of the year so I can cover any expensive surprises without withdrawing more than I planned, but it's been very nice to give checks to DS and DDIL here and there, staying under the annual limit that would require reporting.  (The reporting wouldn't make them taxable but they'd go against what they inherit from my estate for inheritance tax purposes.  I doubt mine would be subject to tax but things change.)  I have no idea what they do with the $$$ and I'm sure they give some away, especially to their church, but as long as they don't use one as a down payment on a luxury SUV and finance the rest with a 7-year loan I'm good.

As for where I am right now- VERY expensive start to the year.  My house was built in 1995 and when we moved in there was condensation between the panes in a couple of the windows.  We/I have been replacing them over time, starting with the problem ones.  This year I got two quotes that pretty much cover all the original ones left- one quote for 3 giant ones in the back, one for 4 in the front.  I'd planned to do the back ones if it wasn't too awful and the front ones if the back ones needed more time to save up.  I decided to get them all done.   I was going to stage them to even out the cash flow and then said, why? So, I've already forked over most of the cost and the work will be completed next month.

Bad year for investments in 2022 but I'm up 3% for 2023 and have plenty of cash to make planned withdrawals.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Jan 21, 2023 13:42:21 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Nov 23, 2022 11:38:14 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

I have no idea where my cash flow situation is going right now. Inflation and all that jazz....Need to crunch the numbers.

How is 2023 going y’all? Lots of challenges for me so far, financially and otherwise.


Still haven’t done a lot of crunching…..need to figure this out….spoiler alert! It’s not going to be good! Definitely spending much more than previously (aren’t we all!), so will need to enact some austerity measures for sure!

Done with dental stuff (expensive and painful!!), will focus on completing my medical catch-up first quarter-half of this year. Then just household stuff will remain. Still working on plans with architect. That is languishing as I need to make hard decisions and am waffling….

No rush as the market continues down and much turmoil still expected. Silver lining: Gives me plenty of time to finish household stuff and keep investing. Definitely need to rethink my investment strategy as I consider using the kitty to live off of rather than just look at it!!!

Haven’t finalized all my 2023 goals yet….need to find or redo my punch list, and make those decisions….

Thankfully, my largest Rukh, inc. client is returning 2023. Was worried as I flubbed a deliverable in 2022, wasn’t sure how serious that was from their end. I’ll be stellar this year for sure!!! Rukh inc used to be icing on the cake…..with day job languishing in raise department, expenses up, and working on house upgrades…..gonna really need the extra cash!

But! I’m just one bull run away from the finish line, lol!!! At least I keep telling myself.

Keep swimming!!!

I have not had any progress on anything so far in 2023. I am keeping to plans to max the 401k in 2023, but aside from that, I really lost my focus. Need to pick it back up and see where I am and what is the next step...

[jeffreymo]

Jun 26, 2022 10:23:52 GMT -5 jeffreymo said:

I’d like to be able to retire in 15 years max.
Career-wise: I have one more role/promotion that I’d like to earn. DW has potential for 2-3 more promotions. If working fully remote/enjoying our work, we could extend our careers or possibly retire at different times (I’m 6 years older).


Finances: Continue to max 401k’s/HSA’s. Some taxable investing also and get back to 529’s/Roth’s (I realize that we’re not allocating to the buckets in the most efficient manner).


Pre-retirement checklist: Purchase our last family home (soon), downsize to our retirement home (right before), launch our 3 kids. We could have some windfalls along the way that might allow us to purchase a 2nd home, and help the kids out a little extra - business sale and inheritance.


In retrospect, if I look back to the summer of 15 years ago. We were preparing for our wedding, we bought our “starter home” (that we still live in), we were contributing to 401k’s only up to the match, we had wedding/house/honeymoon debt on credit cards of around $9k. We had a plan to pay off the debt and we executed it perfectly. But once we started having kids it’s been much harder to stay on top of things and make projections. Financially, we’ve seen times of plenty and also times of scraping together. So the goal is to retire early in 15 years but life may get in the way and push that out to 20 or so.

We have had a good 12 months and most of what was laid out last June has come to fruition. DW had a health scare this spring but thankfully we’ve ruled out anything serious. One interesting turn is that we sold our house and we’re renting a space that is right sized in the general area we want and we got a great deal.
We’re thinking about possibly buying a “2nd home” before our “first”. Friends/family our age all seem to be doing well and we’ve been thinking about who we’d like to spend lots of time with in retirement and who we’d like to visit with.

[scgal]

Actually very well considering extreme poor beginnings. Have a job that ehh don't really care about pays well, but I don't have to work. In a place where a day out with a real cost of 1000 doesn't hurt or phase us. We also live cheaply day to day,very moderate house. Older nicely kept vehicles. Considering retiring in 3-5 years.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Jul 29, 2022 9:50:58 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Thanks to all who have started documenting their journey with me . 

Next steps

• House plan for upgrades with an architect/designer*
• Get up to date on medical/dental stuff**.

*been delaying on a lot of things because I want it planned out well and prioritized. the 100k I had saved for that the past 2 ish years is worth a lot less for purchasing home improvement stuff, so pretty POed at myself for my usual procrastinications. Once I have the master plan, I can do the most critical/meaningful/important to start x before y, etc. with the 100k and then move on to other stuff more peicemea/pay as I go/look into financing/decide it would be ok to wait till after retirement on. Want to make sure I am seeing the full picture with this 100 year old house before I lose my main income stream.

**I don't want to. I don't like to. Haven't been to a doctor in about 5-7 years. I can't remember when it was! I do go to dentist regularly, but have some stuff I've been delaying on due to being a whimp.

These are things I've been meaning to get to for a while. Since I can't think of retirement until they are checked off, better get on them.....

Haven't revisited this thread in a while.....going on two years later and still working on this? Well there is progress but in 18+months would have thought these initial steps out of the way, lol!

I have had yearly physicial past 2 years, so there is that! Almost all tests were good. Have one specialist to see and then the medical is all up to date.

Have finally made enough deciions on direction and house plans are now in development. In many ways I've scaled back some, prudently, and I think am in a ways to finding something doable - upgraded and modernized, but not too flash. That said, it is going to be costly no matter what, and I think I've been procrasting in some part due to not wanting to face the full truth of it all. I have eroded away the 100k set aside for the project too! Well - I am where I'm at right now, so starting over in my head from where I am today. But I need to come to terms with either the price tag of gettng the house remodel and what that means for my retirement date or making adjustments nad compromises and mvoing forward. I do tend to spin my wheels when feeling indecisive! But now things are in motion.......

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Jun 12, 2022 15:11:44 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Jun 12, 2022 13:31:21 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

What do you still hope to accomplish career-wise?

What is your next step/s financially?

Do you/Are you compiling a list of what you need to get done/accomplish/acheive/before retirement?

Are you interested in charting that journey, having a support thread here, sharing ups and downs and ideas?

For me:

What do you still hope to accomplish career-wise?
For me, this is a tough question. Maybe the tough question. I was spinning my wheels for so long and then I got the great day job title/s, then 2 clients for Rukh, Inc. fell into my lap. And day job is ok with RI! I had to fill out a potential COI - all employees did - and listed my clients and no one said boo.  I don't need the extra work, but I love the presitige of these 2 clients from my previous company. And while I don't really need the money either, it does come in handy.

But I've kept myself way to busy to work on getting published, at least for right now. But when my balance zoomed up before the pull back and I could both quit the day job and RI and walk away from everything based on that number....it did make me question how much I wanted that. How much I wanted the entire career thing I've been working so hard at for the past 25ish years. Yes, I want it. Yes, I'd like it. But how much time am I actually willing to put into it, i.e. pull away from other things? I just wish I was standing in this position 10 years ago, and I think I could spend about 5-8 years finishing off a career well done. I'm just not sure I'm willing to extend my career into my 60's, because the years after that may be too short for other things I'd like to do with what remains of my life. 


What is your next step/s financially?
The biggest thing I need to do is get my house super fixed up before thinking about retirement. You all know I've been talking about this for years, but now it is really on the cusp of happening. Unfortunately, as per above comments, that does take a lot of time. Just trying to find a new cleaning person to free up some of my time for other things is taking way too much time. I do want to stay employed until this big project is complete, in case anything needs financing.

well - its been nearly 2 years since this post!

The pandemic, high inflation, family health issues were all cropping up throughout this time - and of course the usual busy hustle of everything. But I am finally getting back on track and am nearing completion on all the house decisions.

It turned out kind of funny - but I guess a good learning exercise - in that I went round and round on a lot of things and ended up deciding that I like the character of my home and don't want to do anything that is going to potentially impact that. So the big ticket items are going to be to finish the basement and add a primary bedroom suite on the 2nd floor. The big surprise was just leaving the attic as is and putting the new suite on  the second floor instead. Zoning would have required two staircases or sprinkler up there to renovate and designer thought cheaper to expand the second floor to be same size as first floor.

The only other semi-big thing is to move the basement staircase to enlarge the kitchen and I'll lose the front closet to the new stairway. Some of you might remember this was the plan when I got my kitchen redone in 2013ish. But then after he shows up to start the job, says no can't be done.....should have backed out then and started from scratch. For closeting family stuff will go to the mudroom off the kitchen and there is a little bit of room to put something in the foyer but will start out with just a coat tree for guest stuff and see how that works out.

Everything else is just going to be new floors mostly. I love my old wood floors, but they said can't even out the wavey tilted floors and keep the old boards.....could try but would end up more money than new ones. Will remove drop ceiling that is in about 1/2 to 2/3rd of the first floor and then all the over-due exterior work, porches, siding, etc. solar roof, new HVAC system, etc.

Good lord! how much will all of this cost? Haven't gotten to that point yet, lol! 

From the finances, I did decide that I was pretty good to retire now if no big ticket items/no house upgrades. So will need to compare the price tag to how much longer to work to pay for it.

Once the plans are finalized, will decide on how I can piecemeal it out and what to do first. The priority will be safety and structural stuff and the basement cause the slab need to be redone soon anyway - but I think I'd need to get all the framing for the new addition done so that I wouldn't need to pull permits again later on. Unfortunately, I had a bunch of money put away but have siphoned about half of it these past 2-3 years!

I am open to financing a lot of it, and then I can just forget about maxing the 401k and ibonds anymore......and use that money for payments. Will just try to get the full match amount. I don't even know how much that is, lol! I think I need to do 6% but will need to check on it.

I'm just so releived that almost all of the plan decisions have been made! Just a few tweaks, then file to get the permit while deciding how to move forward, get funding etc. I'm so happy about it all! But terrified and feeling a bit unhinged too.....But here I am!

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Jun 12, 2022 13:31:21 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

 

I'm no longer sure "it! could! work!" - but the house plan and actually getting the work done makes me think that working a bit longer is worth it!

[honeysalt]

Rukh O'Rorke am mostly a lurker, but have been around since MSN days.  You seem the happiest you have been with your work in all the years I've been lurking, so why not keep at it?  There was a time you seemed miserable with your supervisor and organization, but you are working from home, cuddling your cats and kicking ass!  Keep it up and pull the plug when/if you aren't in the cat bird seat

Glad you bumped this post.  It really caused me to reflect on what has been marinating in my brain for a while. 

What do you still hope to accomplish career-wise?

I'd actually like to take what most would take as a step backwards in my career, but feel handcuffed by obligations.  After college, I taught ESL in a foreign country for a few years.  Would love to do that again and have saved enough for retirement that I could afford the big haircut in pay, especially since I would only consider countries with universal health care with premiums that are 10% of what I currently pay.

However, my parents are older and I worry about being so far away.  Also, I'm number 2 in a small company - around 50 people.  The owner has been checked out for years, is barely reachable, and has been burning cash on personal wants rather than reinvesting in the business. I've been running the show solo and don't know how the company would operate with no one running the ship.  There are talented people around me, but they have no experience or interest in operating a business - they are experts in sales, tech, media, etc...

The irony in all of this is that I didn't have kids because I never wanted to be in a situation I couldn't walk away from.  I can walk away, it would just impact many of the people I care about. 

You, minnesotapaintlady, cronewitch and Ava have all my admiration.  Lots of accomplished folks on here, but watching you ladies doing it on your own - and holding your own has been an inspiration.  Thank you!

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Feb 27, 2024 19:18:39 GMT -5 honeysalt said:

Rukh O'Rorke am mostly a lurker, but have been around since MSN days.  You seem the happiest you have been with your work in all the years I've been lurking, so why not keep at it?  There was a time you seemed miserable with your supervisor and organization, but you are working from home, cuddling your cats and kicking ass!  Keep it up and pull the plug when/if you aren't in the cat bird seat

Glad you bumped this post.  It really caused me to reflect on what has been marinating in my brain for a while. 

What do you still hope to accomplish career-wise?

I'd actually like to take what most would take as a step backwards in my career, but feel handcuffed by obligations.  After college, I taught ESL in a foreign country for a few years.  Would love to do that again and have saved enough for retirement that I could afford the big haircut in pay, especially since I would only consider countries with universal health care with premiums that are 10% of what I currently pay.

However, my parents are older and I worry about being so far away.  Also, I'm number 2 in a small company - around 50 people.  The owner has been checked out for years, is barely reachable, and has been burning cash on personal wants rather than reinvesting in the business. I've been running the show solo and don't know how the company would operate with no one running the ship.  There are talented people around me, but they have no experience or interest in operating a business - they are experts in sales, tech, media, etc...

The irony in all of this is that I didn't have kids because I never wanted to be in a situation I couldn't walk away from.  I can walk away, it would just impact many of the people I care about. 

You, minnesotapaintlady , cronewitch and Ava have all my admiration.  Lots of accomplished folks on here, but watching you ladies doing it on your own - and holding your own has been an inspiration.  Thank you!

Thank you honeysalt! My work situation is ideal in many ways right now - although I do have a lot of burnout that is catching up with me. Plus getting old! It's time for a different life now. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next year. But not too far down the line.

Not sure how old you may be, but you won't be able to keep that ship together indefinitely. So do that great job while you want or need to, but at some point you will have to step away, so step away when it makes good sense for you to do so. 

[Ava]

Feb 27, 2024 19:18:39 GMT -5 honeysalt said:

Rukh O'Rorke am mostly a lurker, but have been around since MSN days.  You seem the happiest you have been with your work in all the years I've been lurking, so why not keep at it?  There was a time you seemed miserable with your supervisor and organization, but you are working from home, cuddling your cats and kicking ass!  Keep it up and pull the plug when/if you aren't in the cat bird seat

Glad you bumped this post.  It really caused me to reflect on what has been marinating in my brain for a while. 

What do you still hope to accomplish career-wise?

I'd actually like to take what most would take as a step backwards in my career, but feel handcuffed by obligations.  After college, I taught ESL in a foreign country for a few years.  Would love to do that again and have saved enough for retirement that I could afford the big haircut in pay, especially since I would only consider countries with universal health care with premiums that are 10% of what I currently pay.

However, my parents are older and I worry about being so far away.  Also, I'm number 2 in a small company - around 50 people.  The owner has been checked out for years, is barely reachable, and has been burning cash on personal wants rather than reinvesting in the business. I've been running the show solo and don't know how the company would operate with no one running the ship.  There are talented people around me, but they have no experience or interest in operating a business - they are experts in sales, tech, media, etc...

The irony in all of this is that I didn't have kids because I never wanted to be in a situation I couldn't walk away from.  I can walk away, it would just impact many of the people I care about. 

You, minnesotapaintlady , cronewitch and Ava have all my admiration.  Lots of accomplished folks on here, but watching you ladies doing it on your own - and holding your own has been an inspiration.  Thank you!

Thank you so much for your kind words.