28, Engineer, sailor

[seabourne]

Just to say hello to everyone here. I've been occasionally reading a couple of forums like this one for the last few years, and it has been immensely helpful to both me and to some friends that I have helped to plan out their savings and planning. My background is BS in MechEng, Econ, and a minor in models and data analysis, so this sort of thing is a good fit for me. I have been working full-time as an engineer and part-time as a sailor on tallships, but I'm thinking about leaving engineering in the next few years and would like to become a financial adviser for people, at least part-time. Recommendations from people practicing would be appreciated. I'm hoping to be able to retire to sailing 9 months a year before I'm 40 - summers on Lake Michigan and in the winters take a 3-4 month contract to work a boat somewhere warm!

For a current starting point, my NW just passed $100k (excluding condo w/mort) about a week ago, about 60/30/10 ESOP/401k/Roth. Leaving soon to island hop in Italy for about 10 days with some sailor friends. Living well and looking forward to only working on things that I enjoy!

 

[Fred333]

Sounds like you got a nice life. Welcome to the forum.

 

[bssc]

Welcome to the boards.

Congratulations on passing the 100K goal. That is always a major milestone. It sounds like you have some idea where to go. There are some financial advisors on the board so you can find out more to see if this is what you really would like to do.

 

[FinallyRetired]

JI'm hoping to be able to retire to sailing 9 months a year before I'm 40 - summers on Lake Michigan and in the winters take a 3-4 month contract to work a boat somewhere warm!

Dude! You want to switch lives?
I worked for too long before sailing, should have done it the other way around.

 

[seabourne]

Haha! is that you on the chute? I work as first mate on Red Witch on the nights and weekends in the summer months. (Lakeshore Sail Charters Chicago), and aside from spending too many hours w*rking in the summer months (because I'm in the field for construction inspection this summer) I'm happy to hang on to my life at the moment. A little frustrated that I can't FIRE yet (and have some longer-term goals beyond that involving a family cabin) but greatly enjoying my life right now. Where are you sailing?

 

[FinallyRetired]

Haha! is that you on the chute? I work as first mate on Red Witch on the nights and weekends in the summer months. (Lakeshore Sail Charters Chicago), and aside from spending too many hours w*rking in the summer months (because I'm in the field for construction inspection this summer) I'm happy to hang on to my life at the moment. A little frustrated that I can't FIRE yet (and have some longer-term goals beyond that involving a family cabin) but greatly enjoying my life right now. Where are you sailing?

No, that's me on the tiller, I knew better than to work foredeck. That photo is about 10 years old when I raced my Capri 25 out of Annapolis. I no longer race her, it's more fun to race OPBs. I currently race on an Alerion 28 on the Chesapeake, and sail quite a bit on an Island Packet 38 and Mariner 35. The most beautiful boat I raced on was an old Morgan 1 ton, here is a photo. I was the tactician.

Hey I was in Chicago a few weeks ago. Next time I'm there I may look up that Lakeshore Charters.
Edit: Just looked up Lakeshore Charters and found some whale watching/happy hour tours. They have whales in the great lakes? Or do you only see them after the happy hour has been going for a while?

 

[seabourne]

a bit of both - the happy hour helps a great deal, and we do sail past the Shedd Aquarium, so you can at least see where the nearest whales are. Not necessarily what the passengers are told by the crew however. We have had some very disappointed Japanese tourists recently who were expecting to see whales while out sailing. The captain was very gentle and didn't laugh at all while he explained.

As crew, depending on the tolerance of passenger for BS, we can spin quite a yarn for the passengers. Last year I spent a great deal of time explaining about the new green tidal-power plant Daley was having built on Northerly Island (where Meigs Field used to be). People were very impressed with the environmental credentials of Chicago.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Welcome seabourne,
There are a few sailors here, I am (sigh) boatless at present but I have watched with great relish the building and launching of Charleston's own Spirit of South Carolina--what fun the tall ships must be to sail!
We'll be back into a boat when DH retires in 5 years at 50, but then we have to decide sailboat or trawler? It will come down to cheap or lazy, when it gets to that!

Congrats on the new NW milestone--and the upcoming sailing trip to Italy
Sarah