Newbee here

[jg35]

Well, after spending the last few days reading this I decided to join up. I am envious of all you "ER" people and hope to become one of you ... I am 48 years old and have been with my company for 24 years. I am burnout and have been doing all the ER calculations. ... I have about 138,000 in a 401K and about 100,000 in savings. I do have a mortgage payment that will be around for awhile (i am soon to be divorced) ... My biggest concern is ,, how are all of you paying for health care !! If I "retire" now, I have no health care until 62. I am saving money and have started a budget to see where I can cut costs. I am trying to live on a smaller amount of money ...but the health care costs !! I am an avid golfer but I am willing to really cut back on that expense if it means getting out of this rat race early ...

Any suggestions

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Well, after spending the last few days reading this I decided to join up.  I am envious of all you "ER" people and hope to become one of you ...  I am 48 years old and have been with my company for 24 years.   I am burnout and have been doing all the ER calculations. ...   I have about 138,000 in a 401K  and about 100,000 in savings.   I do have a mortgage payment that will be around for awhile (i am soon to be divorced) ...    My biggest concern is ,,  how are all of you paying for health care !!   If I "retire" now,  I have no health care until 62.   I am saving money and have started a budget to see where I can cut costs.  I am trying to live on a smaller amount of money ...but the health care costs !!  I am an avid golfer but I am willing to really cut back on that expense if it means getting out of this rat race early ...

Any suggestions

No suggestions but a couple of observations. Divorce can be and usually is a
disaster. Mine enabled me to retire completely, but then I have been
taking lemons (not talking about my ex here) and making lemonade my whole
life.

I started out with catastrophic health insurance with a $10,000 deductible,
then switched to my wife's insurance from work when I remarried.
She changed jobs and I developed some health problems. Now we have
affordable coverage but with limited benefits. DW may take a job with
good coverage for me. Otherwise, I am just hanging on for Medicare
(4.5 years).

JG

 

[TK]

Welcome

New myself .

Seems to be many informed folk in these forums with lots of
good info.

They will advise you well I am sure.

Health Care is something else isn't it.

Monthy I pay 1080 for coverage for self - wife and son.

I can remember as a kid dreaming to make 1000 per month now pay more than that in health care.

I tell my son - for his future just add a zero to the right side of everything and make those prices your goals.

Again JG35 - welcome.

 

[jg35]

I have been reading this most of the evening ... Tomorrow is Monday and really have no motivation to fight political battles thatI know I cannot win .. Do you people who are still working dread Sundays's becuase you know what day comes after it

I will read up any advice .. There are alot of good ideas.

 

[73ss454]

jg35
I will say that for many years that I have felt I'll on Sunday's knowing that I have to work on Monday.
Usually I don't even like having company on Sunday becauce I have to get my mind ready for Monday.
Looking forward to ER next year.
JOE

 

[MJ]

If I "retire" now, I have no health care until 62.

jg35,

What happens at 62?

 

[retire@40]

What happens at 62?

I think he really means 65 when he will get Medicare.

 

[Spanky]

JG35,

Most of the time, I look forward to work on Monday to start a new week. However, when I was in product mangement, I did not want to show up at work to receive constant criticism and to defend yourself all day. It seems yo me that you need to find meaningful work and simply change your attitude about work.

Spanky

 

[retire@40]

jg35
Usually I don't even like having company on Sunday becauce I have to get my mind ready for Monday.

So now you are actually sacrificing 6 out of 7 days of your life to your job! Do you also worry on Saturday that you have to start getting your mind ready on Sunday for your job on Monday?

Really, is any job worth that level of stress and self-sacrifice?

 

[73ss454]

Retire@40
No, Saturday is a good day.  The rest of the week after Monday is not as bad.
Just can't stand having to go back on Monday's.
About a year to go and this will all be a memory!
Just because something is unpleasant in life dosen't mean we can always just walk away.  At least not yet.
If you never had to do anything unpleasant in your life, God bless you.
Regards,
JOE

 

[retire@40]

Retire@40
About a year to go and this will all be a memory!
Just because something is unpleasant in life dosen't mean we can always just walk away.  At least not yet.
If you never had to do anything unpleasant in your life, God bless you.

The most unpleasant thing I can think of is going to a wake or funeral, especially for family and friends my age (in their 30s).  Compared to that, any Monday is a piece of cake.

You can't stop death, but you can stop working at a job you hate and find another job you like. 

I always preach about starting your own business doing something you have some talent in and hopefully enjoy doing.  I've been self-employed for years, and not having someone to boss me around has made for much more pleasant Mondays.  I'm not even too concerned about when the holidays are.  Once, I even started working on a Monday not even realizing it was a holiday until midmorning when I looked at the calendar (can't remember which one) and just worked until late in the evening with no interruptions.  I took the rest of the week off since I was able to get so much work done that Monday. 

That's turning a negative into a positive.

 

[Dreamer]

Welcome JG35.  I usually start on Sunday night thinking where in the world did the week-end go.  I do not like Mondays either, but as you said once I get back to work, I normally don't mind it.  The worst time that I have is after I have been off work for 1 or 2 weeks and for the first couple of hours on my day back at work, I am trying to figure out ways to quit the jobl  I really can't complain alot about my job.  I actually like it most of the time and I feel good about helping the people that I come into contact with at the office.

Our office is getting a new office manager tomorrow, so wish me luck that she is as nice as my last one!!  Speaking of work reminds me that I need to get to bed.  I will definitely be a night owl once I am able to retire!  Good night all!

Dreamer

 

[BigMoneyJim]

I'm good about not worrying about work on the weekend. The past couple of weekends I've made it a point to get work out of my mind entirely and blow off some recent stress. Both weekends were interrupted with server crash pages, but other than that things went to plan.

I usually stay up late Sunday to extend the weekend. Like, um, now. Makes Monday a bit tougher, but I'll worry about that in the morning. Besides, it's amazing how much housework and laundry I can get done when I'm avoiding something else, like starting my workweek.

Work can be stressful, but I'm debt-free and can stop all my monthly expenses within a month and I'm in a widely-demanded profession so if work starts getting to me I remind myself that quitting or getting fired has its upsides, too, and I'll make it through okay. Not that I think I'm in danger of getting fired, but it puts the stress into perspective. If you're married with kids and have a mortgage this attitude may be harder to achieve.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

I'm good about not worrying about work on the weekend. The past couple of weekends I've made it a point to get work out of my mind entirely and blow off some recent stress. Both weekends were interrupted with server crash pages, but other than that things went to plan.

I usually stay up late Sunday to extend the weekend. Like, um, now. Makes Monday a bit tougher, but I'll worry about that in the morning. Besides, it's amazing how much housework and laundry I can get done when I'm avoiding something else, like starting my workweek.

Work can be stressful, but I'm debt-free and can stop all my monthly expenses within a month and I'm in a widely-demanded profession so if work starts getting to me I remind myself that quitting or getting fired has its upsides, too, and I'll make it through okay. Not that I think I'm in danger of getting fired, but it puts the stress into perspective. If you're married with kids and have a mortgage this attitude may be harder to achieve.

When I ran my own business I avoided this problem (worrying about going back to work on Monday) by working right through the weekend

JG

 

[jg35]

Coming back from vacations is really tough .. You have probably all experienced this .. ALL those e-mails you come back too .. Sometimes I have over 600 emails .. I think back to the good old days when you would take a week's vacation, come back to the office and see about 5 interoffice envelopes on your desk ... Now, your e-mail in-basket is over-loaded after a week away .. Is this progress We created more work for ourselves.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Coming back from vacations is really tough .. You have probably all experienced this .. ALL those e-mails you come back too .. Sometimes I have over 600 emails ..  I think back to the good old days when you would take a week's vacation, come back to the office and see about 5 interoffice envelopes on your desk ...  Now, your e-mail in-basket is over-loaded after a week away ..  Is this progress   We created more work for ourselves.   

Told this one before (Disclaimer: cut me some slack as I was a man in full
bloom workaholism).

I had been on the road for a week and had just driven 400 miles,
arriving home about 11 pm. My spouse had waited up for me. Nice!
I walked in the door, dropped my bags and walked right into my home office to go through the mail.

JG

 

[Mr._johngalt]

The most unpleasant thing I can think of is going to a wake or funeral, especially for family and friends my age (in their 30s).  Compared to that, any Monday is a piece of cake.

You can't stop death, but you can stop working at a job you hate and find another job you like. 

I always preach about starting your own business doing something you have some talent in and hopefully enjoy doing.  I've been self-employed for years, and not having someone to boss me around has made for much more pleasant Mondays.  I'm not even too concerned about when the holidays are.  Once, I even started working on a Monday not even realizing it was a holiday until midmorning when I looked at the calendar (can't remember which one) and just worked until late in the evening with no interruptions.  I took the rest of the week off since I was able to get so much work done that Monday. 

That's turning a negative into a positive.

The work I enjoyed most was running the show/owning my own business.
The downside was that I worked all the time unless I was out of town.
Holidays, weekends, even nights all blended together. Seemed totally
natural at the time. This is one reason I am so wary of getting involved
in any sort of "work". I'm an all-or-nothing kind of guy. Always have been.
In school, it was "nothing". Once I started working it was "all" and
remained that way for decades. Now, thankfully, I'm back to "nothing"
again

JG

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Really, is any job worth that level of stress and self-sacrifice?

I used to think so.

JG

 

[unclemick]

I used to think so too. Being in aerospace - the Cold War mentality and plain old beat the Ruskies shadow was there for a long time - mixed with an element of romance - space program and all that.

The - been there, done that part - took hold toward the end though.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

unclemick2,
i just retired from the aeropace business after 30 years. Great money and yes space does have it attraction. I worked on what we called "national assets" and I still think they are our government's best spent money.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

unclemick2,
i just retired from the aeropace business after 30 years.  Great money and yes space does have it attraction.  I worked on what we called "national assets" and I still think they are our government's best spent money.

A lot of what I made in the final 10 years was designed to kill people
and break things. Other than to deter, that's what the military is for.
Space, I wouldn't know.

JG

 

[charlie]

When I worked in the defense business on guided missle systems
I used to take pride in the thought that I was helping fight the cold
war almost as much as the guys in uniform.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

[BUM]

jg35,

Two things:

1. Health care costs...don't let that stop you from ER. Find a good agent(s) get quotes with high deductables. Get fit. Stay healthy. Play more golf, no cart.

2. Any children? That could change things a bit.

 

[Martha]

On the health insurance issue, one good resource to see what is available in your state is www.healthinsuranceinfo.net. This web site is sponsored by Georgetown Unversity and has a state by state guide of health insurance issues.

Health insurance can be difficult to shop for as it is hard to compare various types of policies and insurance is regulated on a state basis so there may be little consistency between one state and another.

Watch for what plans cover and what they don't. Pre-existing conditions may be excluded for a period of time or forever. Drugs may or may not be excluded.

And as BUM says, do your best to take care of yourself.

 

[Dawg52]

jg35,

Two things:

1. Health care costs...don't let that stop you from ER. Find a good agent(s) get quotes with high deductables. Get fit. Stay healthy. Play more golf, no cart.

"Play more golf"     "no cart"