[mitchntx]

Since about 30, I've been saving, scrimping and hoarding pennies, working 2 jobs, 3 sometimes, all so that I could retire at 55.

Everything ... mortgage, debt, housing amenities, shop, tools ... everything was set up on this idea that I could retire with reasonable comfort and then work as I wanted, when I needed and do what I liked.

The last year has seen that dream slowly dwindle into the reality that I will have to work at this stinking job till I'm a hundred and 55. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

My job is great ... been there since March of 1982. I really like what I do. Unfortunately it comes with it's share of migraine headaches, mostly with the title of Manager attached somewhere.

I was talking with a very good friend yesterday and he made some really good sense. Might as well pull all the money from market accounts and buy a new car. The drop in value couldn't be any worse.

Oh well, just thought I'd rant a while ... kind of feeling sorry for myself. So I want all of you to feel bad, too. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/drink.gif)

[AndyJ]

Hey all!

Yep, still around! (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/drink.gif) (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/drink.gif) .


I take a hard line on this and call it an adjustment. Way too many people were fat and happy and oblivious to the fact you can't live on credit and paycheck to paycheck. We (myself included) thought the train was gonna run forever and now it is running backwards. The people going through foreclosure and repossession etc etc were playing it too close to start with and they got caught up; I hate it for them but the rebound will see the economy on an upcycle for years to come.

Right now for me? My 401k was 'gone' in '01 when I bailed out of Corporate America. I won't be going back. Everything since then has been invested in real estate with the idea NOTHING will be sold sooner than 10 years. One of the things I saw coming was the logistic stupidity of suburban sprawl. You can't frickin' commute 60 miles a day! I bought several urban rentals and the demand for this type of housing is exponentially astronomic. Cash poor and asset rich -- I like it that way.

I thought I would never be able to get off the corporate hamster wheel. Mortgages, car payments, braces, college, health insurance-- Christ! How could a person ever, ever afford to bail out and survive? (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/banghead.gif) I felt like the guy in solitary confinement with one itty bitty window way up high where he could see a postage stamp patch of blue sky.

Most of you on the list are younger than me at a looming 53 years old, I am tellin' you right now there is more to life than being a company bitch. Those that expound on the importance of family, faith and health have it right, that is all that matters