OK, I'll say it

[retire@40]

I'm glad I haven't made the commitment to fully retire yet.

I'm glad I still have a business going......mmmmmm.....and a job that provides enough cash flow to keep me afloat.

One of the benefits of staying semi-retired is to be able to test the ER waters while still having the ability to ramp up the earned income if needed.

 

[CaseInPoint]

Semi-retirement without worrying about money beats full retirement with money worries.

I also am glad to have an ongoing cashflow.

 

[W2R]

I would rather be retired even so, but oh well.

Investing in the 2008 market does seem like treading water with anvils tied to each foot, at times.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Seems to me a primary ingredient of happy semi-retirement seems to be that you don't violently despise your work.

A lot of people (not just on this board) don't have that luxury. I'm grateful that I do.

 

[Nords]

It's not the work I dislike, it's all the bureaucratic crap that goes with it.

ER is pretty good when you realize that although your portfolio has gone down by double digits-- you have enough assets to meet your needs and you have a cash stash to ride it out.

You have to be able to sleep at night...

 

[Westernskies]

Seems to me a primary ingredient of happy semi-retirement seems to be that you don't violently despise your work.

.

Can you be semi-happy in semi-retirement if you only moderately despise your work?

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Can you be semi-happy in semi-retirement if you only moderately despise your work?

Yes, half the time.

 

[W2R]

It's not the work I dislike, it's all the bureaucratic crap that goes with it.

Exactly. Almost every job I have had, has seemed like a glorified junior high school experience in one way or another.

ER is pretty good when you realize that although your portfolio has gone down by double digits-- you have enough assets to meet your needs and you have a cash stash to ride it out.

You have to be able to sleep at night...

So true. That's a very welcome thought. Assuming we don't get into double digit inflation for years on end, the good ol' cash stash and conservative AA should work out nicely.

 

[harley]

Assuming we don't get into double digit inflation for years on end, the good ol' cash stash and conservative AA should work out nicely.

And if we do get double digit inflation for years on end, our CD ladders (or whatever) will reflect the rise in interest to partially deflect the issue. Combine that with a little belt tightening if necessary, and we're good to go.

And as someone else said recently in one of the doom and gloom threads, if the world ends I won't care about my investments.

Harley

 

[Dawg52]

Ok I'll say it. I hate to see my portfolio go down as much or more than anybody, but my worries about my portfolio is insignificant compared to the crap I put up with at work. I have come to the conclusion that even if it takes years for my portfolio to rebound, I still have enough in cd's to get me through. No, I'm glad I'm fully retired.

This doesn't mean I won't bitch and moan anymore.

 

[W2R]

And if we do get double digit inflation for years on end, our CD ladders (or whatever) will reflect the rise in interest to partially deflect the issue. Combine that with a little belt tightening if necessary, and we're good to go.

Sounds pretty good. If I receive the final portion of my windfall this afternoon as expected, I wll have enough in cash to last me until I am 321 years old at my current rate of spending (assuming no effects of inflation, and including splurges like my recent Wii). I think I can sleep with the risk of spending my 322nd year destitute, except for whatever I might gain from 262 years of growth for my equity investments.

Still, it's pretty sobering to see the market dropping like this. What a mess.

 

[W2R]

Ok I'll say it. I hate to see my portfolio go down as much or more than anybody, but my worries about my portfolio is insignificant compared to the crap I put up with at work. I have come to the conclusion that even if it takes years for my portfolio to rebound, I still have enough in cd's to get me through. No, I'm glad I'm fully retired.

This doesn't mean I won't bitch and moan anymore.

I hear you!!! I feel the same way, and I have more than enough cash right now (but hate to see my pretty VTSMX and VFWIX sinking like that!). I still have 15 months until I qualify for lifetime medical, so I might as well continue, but work is the pits.

Work is worse than you remember. Trust me. Everything looks rosier in retrospect.

 

[Alan]

Sounds pretty good. If I receive the final portion of my windfall this afternoon as expected, I wll have enough in cash to last me until I am 321 years old at my current rate of spending (assuming no effects of inflation, and including splurges like my recent Wii). I think I can sleep with the risk of spending my 322nd year destitute.

Still, it's pretty sobering to see the market dropping like this. What a mess.

To counter the sobering effect of the market you need to start hitting the booze - Hurricanes and mint julips are the tipple of choice in your neck of the woods I think

 

[laurence]

This is my first experience with a five figure loss on my portfolio, and it's definitely a weird feeling. I know some of you have lost six figures, but I've never experienced this kind of drubbing before. It's north of $20k now but I don't want to do the exact math. I won't leave the game plan, but it hurts nonetheless.

 

[rs0460a]

I'm glad I haven't made the commitment to fully retire yet.

I'm glad I still have a business going......mmmmmm.....and a job that provides enough cash flow to keep me afloat.

If you are concerned about this current "contraction" and are retired, I would have to respond that you haven't financially prepared yourself for retirement (in a good manner).

BTW - I am retired (since early last year), sleep well at night, and no - I don't have/do any wo*k. My time is too precious to remain a slave, my dear friend.

Again, here's my "view":

 

[W2R]

This is my first experience with a five figure loss on my portfolio, and it's definitely a weird feeling. I know some of you have lost six figures, but I've never experienced this kind of drubbing before. It's north of $20k now but I don't want to do the exact math. I won't leave the game plan, but it hurts nonetheless.

Don't do the math!! Just keep pouring every cent you can into your portfolio (money market for right now, maybe?) to keep your losses at a minimum. Then hide your head in the sand and pretend they never happened - - after all, you could have spent that money instead of saving it (and later when the market is up, you might). That has been working for me in dealing with my equity losses, anyway. It's all a mind game.

 

[W2R]

To counter the sobering effect of the market you need to start hitting the booze - Hurricanes and mint julips are the tipple of choice in your neck of the woods I think

I don't drink due to bad genetics for alcoholism - - but I'll toast that with a nice, fresh glass of skim milk!

 

[Alan]

This is my first experience with a five figure loss on my portfolio, and it's definitely a weird feeling. I know some of you have lost six figures, but I've never experienced this kind of drubbing before. It's north of $20k now but I don't want to do the exact math. I won't leave the game plan, but it hurts nonetheless.

This is my 3rd experience of a 5 figure loss in 13 years - $71K year to date. But at an IRR of -5.3% it is only half the IRR of my worst year ( -11%) so although it is a big figure I'm pleased that a) I have a big enough stash, and b) it is not a loss unless I need to sell

 

[Dawg52]

Hey, I've actually got one stock up today, NM. And it wasn't any stinking broker who recommended it. Now if I can just remember who did.

 

[Alan]

I don't drink due to bad genetics for alcoholism - - but I'll toast that with a nice, fresh glass of skim milk!

.... and use your windfall to invest in a bear market.

 

[haha]

Hey, I've actually got one stock up today, NM. And it wasn't any stinking broker who recommended it. Now if I can just remember who did.

I think that was one of Brewer's.

Ha

 

[Kronk]

Even though I've got a quarter mil in the market (okay, only 200k in stocks), I'm hoping for a long bear market. In my 30's, in my accumulation phase, if it stays low over the next 10 years while I keep socking money, I should be in good shape.

That is, as long as I can keep my current income...

 

[W2R]

.... and use your windfall to invest in a bear market.

I have been considering that! Now, if only I had the psychic capabilities required to detect when we have hit bottom.

I'll probably just keep DCA'ing into the market, since it seems to be allowing me to sleep at night. That will mean monthly equity investments until 2009. Still, the bear market could be with us, or perhaps even worse, in 2009.

 

[retire@40]

If you are concerned about this current "contraction" and are retired, I would have to respond that you haven't financially prepared yourself for retirement (in a good manner).

I would agree with that too (that's why I didn't make the commitment yet )

I'm not even close to panic mode yet since I have many years of cash in FDIC bank accounts and I have (even today) enough in my portfolio to sustain a higher than bare bones budget. Yet, I'm glad I still have a self-employed revenue stream outside my portfolio that I can ramp up whenever I want, even though I will do my best not to.

Although even those with a portfolio giving off a comfortable 4% SWR with some fluff built in may have some uneasiness these days.

 

[rs0460a]

I know some of you have lost six figures, but I've never experienced this kind of drubbing before... I won't leave the game plan, but it hurts nonetheless.

Yes. Happened to my DW/me in the 2000-02 timeframe (and has done so, this year). The "flip side" was that we paid off our current home in August 1999 (30-year note, paid off in 5.5 years - through a radical LBYM lifestyle ), and used the "payment" to increase our respective 401k's to the max, resulting in "buying cheap" in the subsequent down years.

The result? I'll let you figure that one out ...

- Ron