Mlebuf, that story was great! Interpersonal relations should rank up near the top of the list of what it takes to have a successful retirement.

As far as John Greaney's article referenced in the orignal post, I found it cruelly mean-spirited.

John

Originally posted in thread: 52919

You're right, the article about Rob is very mean-spirited. It's too bad the author feels the need to do this sort of thing.

Greg

Originally posted in thread: 52919

Sometimes the truth hurts.

In my opinion, it's too bad the father feels the need to do this sort of thing to his family.

Originally posted in thread: 52919

 
"Twice as much husband & half as much money"

Best wishes for safe & prosperous times!

Originally posted in thread: 52919

Gn, thanks for that link. I can't say much about Greaney or the guy he discusses.

Michael, thanks for sharing Dave's story. He was tireless in his efforts to help out his wife. We can all learn from this.

Paul

Originally posted in thread: 52919

(age 55) from a job I greatly disliked. I stayed because the money was good and my services and experience were in demand. I saved, invested and looked to the future. My company, on the other hand, was headed by an ever-changing cast of mostly incompetents that I had to deal with. They came and went; I stayed and saved. The company was profitable in spite of itself.

A new boy or girl wonder would arrive and almost immediately announce some new plan that I, with my years of service, knew wouldn't work as outlined. My suggestions usually went unheeded. The idea would fail, I would go on with my job, the "wonder" would leave after a few years to inflict damage on some other hapless organization and the cycle would repeat itself. In thirty five years I saw seventy three (that's right, seventy three) heads of divisions come and go. I kept track. It was crazy.

Retired for seven years now, I can say absolutely it was a great decision. Several decades of saving and planning have paid off with a solid financial present and future. We diversified our holdings in the diehard fashion and included commercial real estate in our portfolio.

I read stories of people who are happy with their jobs but many have or had unstatisfying jobs for various reasons. Magazines and other media don't do stories about them for obvious reasons. Nobody is going to say in print, "I hate my job and my boss is a jerk".

My wife and I fill our days with both mutual and individual interests at home, with family, traveling and volunteering. We hoped that this part of our lives would be good but it's even better than we dared wish. We realize we will face issues of health, etc. as these things are inevitable but for now we're enjoying every minute.

When, how and if to retire are determined solely by individual circumstances.

Originally posted in thread: 52919

That link is mean-spirited, hateful, degrading, but above all, it's true.

Rob, if you are reading this, please do the right thing and get back in the work force. Leaving a $100,000+ a year job at the age of 43 was financial suicide considering the size of your nest egg. According to the link, this was in 1996 and some of the ten best years of your earnings life have already past. During this time period you could have been promoted to more senior level manager positions, vice-president posts, etc. You could have had a million dollar nest egg if you would have worked for 10 more years, saved $25,000 a year and earned 7% a year. Don't forget, that an asset allocation of 50/50 between 96-06 would have allowed you to gain an tremendous amount in what ended up being one of the greatest bull markets.

There's also the possibility that your salary would have grown by at least 4% a year while your 401(k) contributions would have been matched by Ernst & Young's generous 401(k) match.

You can still save the ship from sinking, but you're running out of time. From that link, it appears that you only have about $300,000 left. Let's assume that both of your boys go to a state college and that runs them $10,000 a year plus living expenses. How are you going to be able to support them? Will they have to borrow massive amounts to pay for school? What about leaving a legacy to your wife and kids when you're gone? Is anything going to be left in 10 years, let alone at the time of your death?

You can still be an author, although not in your current state. You need to get your butt back in the work force (even if it's only at 60-75% of what you were making in '96) and start your financial life over again. The way I see it, you have another book coming out and it's going to be about one of two things. How you failed in retirement or how you initially failed in early retirement, got back on your feet, and turned things around.

If you had just kept an allocation of 50/50 or even 40/60 ten years ago while saving hard, you would be a millionaire at this point. Instead, people are writing mean things about you on the internet.

Please, do the right thing for your family. They'll appreciate you for it.

Best Wishes,

John

Originally posted in thread: 52919

.
True or not, using a real person's name in an article of the kind Mr. Greaney wrote seems mean-spirited. The article says more about the character of the author than the subject. Reminds me of schoolyard bullying. I recommend a rewrite, removing the name used as an example, as it only serves as a distraction in the articele.

John

Originally posted in thread: 52919