Will my plan work?

[Outtahere]

Jay is there a way you could find a job closer to home? Maybe something less stressful? I understand what you're dealing with, I hate my commute as well, my hours arn't as bad but I don't stay for the "bonding" stuff after work either unless it's something I need to attend.

[jug]

Quote:

Originally Posted by newguy88 Jug I have to say the NYC metro area is just too darn crowded. I mean I grew up in the Bronx in the late 50s and early 60s moved to the NJ suburbs and basically have spent the last 27+ years commuting to and from the job as a teacher in 4 different public school systems . The last 18 in Newark, NJ. My 115 mile round trip drive these days on the interstate rt 78 is just , well AWFUL! 9/11 did* not help. Watching the buildings fall from my classroom window was well ... Now my kids are grown one a doctor and married the other a professional with a wife and hey like you said maybe head out with the wife and live like hippies!! Hey I will be 50 in april. In my case it IS time. I tell the wife to sell the house everyday. She is ready right when the Xmas tree comes down, the for sale sign goes in the window. Take my 300,000 profit buy a place for cash in the raleigh area get a part time job selling kayaks and coach a private school track team. Lets take our early pensions 4 more years of this and who knows what other blood pressure meds we will be on!

This is also a problem, if you have a lousy commute, then it takes the starch out of you. I feel for you, driving is no fun with all the traffic. I take a train and ferry, so it isnt so bad, I sit a bs with my friends.

But I guess you understand me, life is only once, we dont take the dough to the grave and plenty of people who have worried about money, died with plenty of money for their kids.

We are at a peculiar age, this is why in some places, the retirement system should be 50-55 with no more that 20-25 years. Jobs burn you out if you dont have a position that challenges your psyche and gives you support to meet the challenge. The management systems today are becoming even more brutal
jub

[Lazarus]

Have you had a physical? Your post struck home for me. I was having trouble just getting through each day. Going to work was always worse than coming home, but there were days that I really didn’t want to. (I have been married for 22 years.) Nothing I could really point to but I was not happy, I seemed a little slow to myself. Just wrote it off to getting older. The physical turned up that I was hypothyroid. That’s an under active thyroid gland. One little pill a day and I feel much better. (Synthroid). It affects energy, mental function and pretty much all aspects of your metabolism. I would encourage your to have a through physical. It could change your life for the better. It did mine.

[jug]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazarus Have you had a physical? Your post struck home for me. I was having trouble just getting through each day. Going to work was always worse than coming home, but there were days that I really didn’t want to. (I have been married for 22 years.) Nothing I could really point to but I was not happy, I seemed a little slow to myself. Just wrote it off to getting older. The physical turned up that I was hypothyroid. That’s an under active thyroid gland. One little pill a day and I feel much better. (Synthroid). It affects energy, mental function and pretty much all aspects of your metabolism. I would encourage your to have a through physical. It could change your life for the better. It did mine.

I see my doctor every 4 or 5 months and he is an endocrine man, and he is the same guy treating my mother for thyroid problems, I think also similar to yours. I never thought of this, you could be right, but he's been examining me for 25 years, and I guess he would have done this test.

I suffer from depressive illness, I had all of the classical symptoms since I was in my late teens, except I didnt know it. I had panic attacks galore, extreme fatigue, extreme dizziness that was only alleviated by taking valium. I had no idea that I suffered from this until I was hospitalized in 89 at the age of about 36.

Imagine that, had no idea why I felt so lousy until I ended up in a hospital and started anti-depressant medicine. I essentially suffered from extreme depression and extreme anxiety for many years. This was probably causing my bp problems.

Right now I get may one or 2 panics a year, take a very small maintenance dose of anti depressants.

Today I feel much calmer than I did 20 years ago, take less meds but it was all probably due to traumas suffered in my young life along with a genetic predisposition. My father was very abusive to me. My life was never easy, nothing ever easy, everything was a struggle, so I kind of get a kick out of doing little work and getting paid good for it. But it also bores me.

Im not a religious person, but for those who suffer from life's woes, look at the 23rd psalm, its amazing how it is designed just to soothe you.

All most of us on this board wants is a soft place to land, free of work woes, and free to enjoy ourselves. This is all. Its not really the money, its the freedom that the money buys. Read the psalm, it contains what we are looking for.

My N. Jersey friend who wants to opt out and go to N. Carolina will understand this, even though we are probably of different faiths.

This is why I look at life a bit differently than my colleagues and may opt out earlier and take a financial hit. Health, whether mental or physical is very precious, and to walk around with inner peace is priceless. Freedom from demons is what those who stash their bucks away to opt out early simply want. Its very obvious.

jug

[dumpster56]

Jug

Hang in there my friend.

We have made it to this point in our lives all kinds of issues that as I see it are BEHIND us!

New year in a couple of weeks, yes this time of the year is the hardest, the cold weather and snow this early has not helped but take 2006 as a new beginning!

Try not to dwell on the bad, as a friend has always told me,

It is all GOOD!

Darn, I gotta get on the road, Work becons, but not for long!

[jug]

Quote:

Originally Posted by newguy88 Jug Hang in there my friend. We have made it to this point in our lives all kinds of issues that as I see it are BEHIND us! New year in a couple of weeks, yes this time of the year is the hardest, the cold weather and snow this early has not helped but take 2006 as a new beginning! Try not to dwell on the bad, as a friend has always told me, It is all GOOD! Darn, I gotta get on the road, Work becons, but not for long!

I hear you.

I woke up again with the blues, but realized it is the darkness that bothers me, the rain that comes, but you are right, things could be worse, one day at a time. Today is the annual holiday party in Battery Park, time to forget things and make like IM 16 again
jug

[tryan]

Mike,

We're in similar situations (I have more real estate but 1/2 the pension and no DW income). I jumped at 43. I say go for it!

30K net on a 950K RE porfolio seems low (>3%) ... I squeezed closer to 5% while working and hope to get 6-7% while retired (since I'll do most maintenance myself). Just an odservation (must be the CA prices; I am in MA).

[BearlyWorking]

Tyran

You are right. Real Estate in CA has gone up doubled or more in value over the past few years, but rents have stayed flat. I would need to exchange to some other state in order to get your 5 or 6%. Worth thinking about.

Mike

[MRGALT2U]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BearlyWorking Tyran You are right.* Real Estate in CA has gone up doubled or more in value over the past few years, but rents have stayed flat.* I would need to* exchange to some other state in order to get your 5 or 6%.* Worth thinking about. Mike

I was watching "Wall Street Business" ?? this morning and they were talking
real estate/mortgage rates/the "bubble" etc. Anyway, they were talking about
a guy who sold his home in the Dallas area for 300K and then replaced it in
Calif. for $1,200,000. I never heard them say why anyone would do such a thing.

JG

[BearlyWorking]

Its probably the bubble mentality. People buy as much as they can in a house, because they are sure the market will keep going up. To get the most profit, they buy the most house. Scary.

mike

[wstu32]

I am 40, make over $400k per year and live in a 3 bedroom townhouse and in Honolulu free and clear with over $1million in my portfolio...can just about retire right now, but want my last kid done with school first....that does it for me...helps me sleep at night.
My Brother in New York is 43 makes about $1+ million per year, is building a $2.5 million dollar house , has tons of bills and probably has <$50k in the bank...and will be working to pay his bills off forever. i dont know how he sleeps at night....
~he wonders how I sleep at night living my simple life...
my point is THIS:

WHAT DOES IT FOR YOU IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT THAN THE NEXT GUY.* *
~my words of wisdom is that being simple is a Blessing,
* having the need for 'stuff' is a curse.

[HFWR]

Amen!!

[old woman]

My wife just called and told me her nerves are also shot from her job which is very stressful, but she works 10 minutes from home* Its weird, maybe we both need to say F--k you to the world, move to Vegas and live like freakin hippies
jug

Go you are ready. My mom said once she started hearing about people retiring she couldn't take another day. She was supposted to work one more day to get her pension if she used up all her vacations and all other paid and unpaid days off. They let her off that one day early she just couldn't do it anymore. You will never be sorry once you have reached your personal limit.