At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?

[Weasels wake]

All of them !?! 
If she could get thru that, then she's a keeper.

[PonoBill]

The job market is moving very quickly right now. I wrote earlier in this thread that I am in the process of swallowing 2 companies. I had a meeting on Tuesday with one firm and right when we sat down another guy I have never met sat down with us and told me he wanted to buy both companies plus my survey company.

It was a set up. It was shocking. I love my little firms with the flexibility of being an owner, and putting them under another corporation is a big step. I will probably not take the deal, but my partner would love to be flushed out, so there is going to be some hard conversations coming my way these next few weeks.

That would completely upset my retirement plan, in that I wanted to sell out closer to retirement, not now.

If there are enough zeros you can just retire now. It's also a lot easier to buy out a partner than you might think. If there's current interest in the combination of the firms by a company with bigger pockets you could certainly negotiate an earn-out based on you running all three companies for the timeframe you prefer. Then knock it out of the park for your earn-out and take it to the bank. If you choose, you could then continue running the companies for a fat salary and bonuses. Only idiots would ditch a solid earner, and you wouldn't want to work for idiots.  If the Republican tax plan flies (can shit fly?) it will be easy to show big numbers in any plan that doesn't recognize a 20 percent corporate tax as a gimme. In other words, don't base it on EBIT, base it on after-tax profit.

The job market is insane right now. If I were starting over I'd be an electrician specializing in solar and build a big solar company--ripe for buyout at silly multiples. The tech is getting great, the market is growing fast, and the spread of equipment that can be installed at silly benefit for both the installer and the customer is almost exponential. I think individual homeowners will be the largest utility supplier of electricity (considered as a category) in the USA in 20 years. Smartgrids can benefit anyone in the chain.

But hell, Ichabod, you could paint houses and get all the work you need at probably double your current salary. I looked at it for grins and determined I could easily make $200K a year. The next time someone rants about immigration I'm going to kick them in the shins. We've waited two years to get our gutters fixed. Still no dice. 1.5 years to get the house painted. At least they did the trim this year and pressure washed the house--for three grand--two people, four days, charging less per hour than I would have squawked about. That's $90K a year, and while the painters we use are super-pro (100% brush painting), they are inefficient. All they had time for. The painters haven't had the time to come back and pick up their extra scaffolding. 

[SUP Leave]

Wow thanks so much PBill. That is some solid data, and of course you are right, if it works I will run all 3.

I also agree with your statements on the market for skilled labor (and the inability to manage it). I have a brother in law who is an A+ flatwork mason. Can do crazy beautiful concrete work with colors, and stamps, and inlays, and so on. Has no ability to plan 1 day ahead, let alone a week. I have run some numbers and figure I could make $50k a year just running him and his partner from job to job, without ever doing much work other than quotes and billing.

Speaking of gutters - I also have a buddy/client who bought a gutter machine (it rolls out gutters custom lengths) that he tows behind a truck. He told me it is the easiest business he has ever taken part in. Client calls, measure length of gutter needed installed, quote by the foot, install, get paid, on to the next. He was a general contractor mostly doing custom homes, but he told me after the next 2 big houses he is going to cash in on 2 more gutter crews and rigs and ride it out.

Your advice regarding future careers is a great one. I sit on the curriculum/planning committee for a local high school STEM program and I offend some of my fellow engineers with my disdain for degrees from Universities -  but our job is to help kids get careers and technical training is the answer.

[PonoBill]

Honestly, I consider a degree these days as being less than worthless unless you're in the one percent of engineers, scientists, doctors, and such--and willing to suck every grain of information from courses that tend to plod at a pace slower than those elite few could maintain. Even in that far end of the bell curve, there are those that use their talents to cruise--they are the doctors you don't want. Knowledge is where the power is, and you don't get it plodding though a curriculum that wastes study time, concentration and effort on random shit. For most students school is less than 40 hours per week including self study.  Six months in school, six off. 1042 hours per year for four years and half of it is on bullshit. Best case, what does 4000 hours of relatively unfocused study at a cost of ranging from $60K to 330K gain students? Not much from what I've seen. I don't know, a good time? Social contacts?

Convert those 4 years into concentrated study and practice and you can easily top 10,000 hours of experience. Hell, just don't piss off that six months per year and youre at 8,000. Forget the piece of paper, do Khan academy and online Stanford, MIT, whatever.  Learn a real skill, work in a real business, grab every opportunity to learn. It's hard, and it's very easy. I compare modern college effort and results to Nuclear Power School where the navy had one year to convert unfocused dropouts into capable technicians with a deep enough understanding of what goes on under the covers to be able to respond to emergencies and problems they've never practiced on. Drinking from a firehose, 12 hours a day, six days a week, and more if you fell behind. Outstanding results, and most of the people I've known who went through it excelled in anything they chose after that.

[SUPcheat]

But hell, Ichabod, you could paint houses and get all the work you need at probably double your current salary. I looked at it for grins and determined I could easily make $200K a year. The next time someone rants about immigration I'm going to kick them in the shins. We've waited two years to get our gutters fixed. Still no dice. 1.5 years to get the house painted. At least they did the trim this year and pressure washed the house--for three grand--two people, four days, charging less per hour than I would have squawked about. That's $90K a year, and while the painters we use are super-pro (100% brush painting), they are inefficient. All they had time for. The painters haven't had the time to come back and pick up their extra scaffolding.

I have been slowly painting my own23 year old house.  I can hire people, I just don't like dealing with work men.  Also, they come in in a wam, bang, thank you m'am style.  I have been able to pick my restoration and painting battles to what matters and have completed the weather facing parts and critical windows.  Painting windows is hard.

Also, I realized the house was never painted properly to begin with.  "Proper" meaning spackle, sand where necessary, prime and two thin coats of paint.  Mostly, I found areas never painted because they were "wanded" without primer, even though the pros did the second painting. Also, the pros never painted the stuff you couldn't see without a ladder, so I had a lot of work sanding, priming, and re-painting the sun and weather facing surfaces before they went into terminal rot. I got some climbing harnesses and attachments so I could go up high on a ladder and fall off without killing myself.

I have been impressed that the areas I have painted can just be wiped clean, and they look great. I have been doing it for two years and have all the critical areas done.  I think I will continue to finish the windows and the garage door in the sheltered parts, then just hire somebody to do the roof parts and "wand" the larger, non critical surface areas.

My neighbors with the "pro" paint jobs are already looking kind of seedy after a couple of years.

[Eagle]

My son just started as an elec EIT right out but did do the coop option.  Worked away for a year and that was the best for him.  Same with his classmates.  Jobs easy and for all.  Google Tesla whatever.  Daughter will get a job in nursing for sure once she grads.  Already has tons of on the job during school.  Super high demand and can go into admin easy later.

Now for painting know someone who tried and made it work for a couple then quit that.  Kinda back to his old admin job.  Another just finished a $30k contract for us and stays mostly in Mex and surfs.  Most elec contr we know do stay busy and have done fine.  But basically can even just cut lawns.  Know that you can buy a couple of houses in very expensive Van by doing that.  So really a lot of options if you really want to work and put high quality effort in.

I kinda had no choice but to leave my post 30 yrs ago -> and in a year and a half starting my own paid off our house and all debts.  So have been semi since.  No real plans to retire as kinda like staying in the loop.  Def stay pos Icha.  Everything should work out ok.  You will no doubt land on your feet like I did.  High qual was key for me.  Peeps love that vs cheap crap.

[Eagle]

This is way more important than "retiring" for us. 

[stoneaxe]

Late to the dance on this one...lots of good advice on so many fronts as usual.

I'm almost there....59 planning on 62 or 63 probably. 401k is in good shape, no debt, own a couple homes. Looking forward to it but i also enjoy my job. I'll probably continue doing it in some fashion for awhile. We've talked about doing it in two phases. Semi-retire for a few years, stay in the current house until mid/late 60's working part time. Then fully...sell the current place and buy a cottage on the beach down the street. Summers here....and hit the road and crash on zoners couches in the winter......

Ian...keep your chin up bro. Coming out from the other side of the dark days makes the sunshine feel so sweet.

[surfinJ]

The semi retired path fits me fine, but then I’m lucky and love my job. The tempo of the semi gig is light enough that I could keep this up well into my 60’s.
It’s a shame I’m running into a mandatory retirement wall.

[maxsonic]

I'm turning 55 next year and on target to hang up my aviation ground pounder work shoes at age 60, and switching over to LOTS more water time in neoprene booties and reef walkers. I still have two daughters in college, but hope to complete that program by 2019 so I will have a couple years to pay down college tuition HELOC debt and retire debt free.  At age 60, I plan on hanging out my shingle as an Independent Contractor to see what that might bring...I like the idea of working when, and where I want in my sixties.

I currently am a Kalifornia resident, but with the onerous tax structure here and liberal nutjobs who make it worse every year, I will change that at age 60. I already have a KALEXIT plan in work...I will become a resident of the State of Washington, which has the Puget Sound, West Coast surf, Olympic National Park, and no State Income Tax. During the "big dark" months in Washington state, I'm going to be a snowbird and fly to Hawaii, Costa Rica, or some other warm region in the Pacific with great surf. When the body wears out, I'm going to pursue passions of photography...and be like my heroes Jimmy Hepp and Aaron Chang. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it!!!   

MAX

"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower


   

[Zooport]

I'm turning 55 next year and on target to hang up my aviation ground pounder work shoes at age 60, and switching over to LOTS more water time in neoprene booties and reef walkers. I still have two daughters in college, but hope to complete that program by 2019 so I will have a couple years to pay down college tuition HELOC debt and retire debt free.  At age 60, I plan on hanging out my shingle as an Independent Contractor to see what that might bring...I like the idea of working when, and where I want in my sixties.

I currently am a Kalifornia resident, but with the onerous tax structure here and liberal nutjobs who make it worse every year, I will change that at age 60. I already have a KALEXIT plan in work...I will become a resident of the State of Washington, which has the Puget Sound, West Coast surf, Olympic National Park, and no State Income Tax. During the "big dark" months in Washington state, I'm going to be a snowbird and fly to Hawaii, Costa Rica, or some other warm region in the Pacific with great surf. When the body wears out, I'm going to pursue passions of photography...and be like my heroes Jimmy Hepp and Aaron Chang. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it!!!   

MAX

"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower


   

Very good plan, I might copy a few points of that one!  I too am getting sick of Kalifornia, but I'm looking toward the east coast.

[SUP Leave]

Good plan Zooport.

I think for surfing Oregon is better than WA. No doubt you can find waves every day of the year here, but Oregon has a more varied coastline.  Then again no state income tax in WA (yet) like you said and plenty to do otherwise. Plus, Oregon Coast is not that far if you want to go for an overnighter or long day.

Wetsuit technology has come so far that really there are no off days if you want to make it work. I don't surf much in the fall/winter but that is only due to the presence of salmon, steelhead, and ducks to shoot (at).

Leaving in the dark of winter is a great idea. I have plenty of friends who do that and all agree that it is the way to go. The last two weeks have been so wet, dark and miserable that even I have complained a bit.

[SUPcheat]

I think the homeless population in Santa Cruz has tripled since I have been here seven and a half years. Drug zombies everywhere now.

[PonoBill]

I find all the zombie movies/TV as ridiculous, sick, soulless ways of offering endless graphic violence without victims until I look at the spread of opioid dependency in the USA. Then it's all too real.

[Beasho]

I just re-read the entire thread and am Bumping:

My wife and I used to say 5 years is infinity. In 5 years you could get divorced, have someone die, lose your job, go bankrupt . . . .

In the last 364 days I had my mother die, inherited my father who could not take care of himself and adopted a friend of my daughters who came from an abusive family situation.  We went from a family of 5, and an empty nest, to a family of 7 with 2 more people living in the house.  We now say 1 year is infinity. 

This thread had great insights but is now 5 years old.  In 2017 foiling was in its infancy, winging had not been invented, TSLA was $65 a share and this was all before COVID and the invasion of Ukraine to name a few things. 

People were talking about 2, 3 and 5 year expectations to retirement (some longer).  Most names were well known Zoners.  Some people have disappeared.

Question:  How is it all turning out?