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My FA put me into HPB , capital protected bear notes, which are a play on the bubble bursting. Sounds like he steered me in the right direction!??

I guess I need to chime in.  My wife and I lived in a nice big place with a swimming pool in San Jose and a $350K mortgage.  I was employed in high tech.  I was laid off in 2001, and immediately put the house on the market and started looking for work.  Because this was in the middle of the tech...

I think the problem is the "fun" job.  Even if you find a job that is low stress and enjoyable at first, after 3 years or so, you might find yourself bored to tears and unable to stand it any longer. Of course you might then find another job that is fun and work there for a few years, then...

I've been a bit of a nomad. Born in CA. My Dad was Army, and we lived in MD for several years, then 3 years in Munich Germany, MD again for 3 years, back to CA, Dreux France (college in Munich) for 2 years, then finished college in CA. After going to work for a couple of multinationals, I had 8...

I'm 63 now, so out of the study zone, but I had 3 events in the 51-60 timeframe - 2 layoffs (one for 9 months of unemployment) and a divorce.  I'm happy to say I made it through in 1 piece, though not without some hard times, and am now quite happy and planning for retirement in a year or so. Rick

I like it. I got 53% gross required after retirement, which matches very closely with my plan. Thanks for all the good work on this.

If he really needs to get out, I'd recommend getting the misc. debt paid off, get your expenses down, and then look for another field to work in - one that may pay less, but where you can enjoy life more. I got out of high tech management at 58 (laid off for the 3rd time) five years ago. I got a...

I might be banned for this, but I spent a year doing consulting work for Delphi when it was still owned by GM, and it had the worst examples of why we couldn't compete in world markets that I had ever seen. An example: the skilled welders had a daily quota to get out. They would knock that out...

We plan to spend more on medical, recreation and travel and less on saving, mortgage, and taxes.

I've got one daughter in medical school and one at a state university. The one in med school is making it on loans and scholarships - no help from me. The younger one is making it on part time jobs and loans. Maybe $5-6K/year parental help. No way I'd give my kids a free ride through an...

I only have one SFR, but I plan to keep it during all or most of my retirement. It is in a good location and the rental income is one leg of my 3 legged plan (along with SS and nest egg). I like having inflation protection and income. I bought this place in 1976 and have experienced about a 15X...

Looks like you are on your way! My opinion would be to roll your equity into your new house. Most of the threads I've read here seem to agree with that approach. Other than that, keep maxing out the IRA's and/or 401ks, don't let your expenses get ahead of you, no credit card debt, invest in...

Let's see...... Maxed out 401K = 20K Company match=3K Mortgage principal=6K Looks like around 30% of gross.  Taxes were 15%.  We must be spending around 55%.  That sounds about right.  That included a couple of weeks in Paris.  In two weeks we leave for Italy! I've got plenty of money budgeted...

My wife and I spent 1998 in Thailand. We lived in a subdivision north of the Bangkok airport. I worked for an American company there, so we had a house with a maid and a car and driver. It was a great experience. The weather in Thailand is best described as hot and muggy, divided into the wet...

I'm also paying the quicken $9.95 monthly fee and on top of that Wells Fargo charges something like $2.50 a month for "bill pay through software". Wells Fargo has free bill pay. I guess I'm a goof for paying these fees. Does anyone else have Wells Fargo bill pay? If so, can you download these...

Oh my God, you mean you're actually using company time to fantansize about FIRE???? Heaven forbid. ::) Me too as we speak......

Yes, I'm aware that she can be covered by COBRA, but I also felt we could beat the COBRA rates for her. She's healthy, no Rx drugs, etc. Speaking of procrastination, I mentally moved my date up 6 months, but now am having second thoughts. I'll be eligible for a 15% bonus if I stay through May...

Thanks for all the great inputs! Based on all of that I've decided to move my date up. I'm going to retire in 10 months, 18 months til my 65th birthday, so I can get medical insurance through COBRA. My wife doesn't work, so I'll shop for an individual policy for her. Any suggestions? I work at...

That's southern CA for you. Rising property values have brought in speculators and it's not a great rental market. I've had the same tenants for 11 years and haven't been aggressive about wringing every available rental dollar out of them. I feel that long term tenants are valuable. Also, if I...

Hi, I've already posted this over on the other forum, so forgive me if you've seen it before! I guess I'm not exactly an early retirement candidate, since I'm 62 and still working, but I'd like to run my numbers by some members and see if my logic makes sense. I'm an obsessive number cruncher...