Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Posting this on the B1G forum because it has the most traffic.  

Some of you may know that I work for a large multinational corporation and I also have a side business.  I just passed the 20 year mark with my company, feels like a big whoop-dee-doo nothing to tell you the truth.  

I'm currently 47, about to be 48 in a month.  20 years of service, I was checking my retirement benefits and to tell you the truth I'm not sure what I'm working for anymore.  This is the last year our company will contribute to our pension, after 2023 they will not contribute anything more to our pension and instead put extra money in our 401K.  

I have mixed feelings about this, mainly because they are changing the game on me 2/3rds of the way through.  For the younger workers I can see how this will be a great benefit to them.  They are also starting to count OT and bonuses in the contribution as well.  Right now I'm sitting at about $500K in my 401, which ain't bad, but if they had counted my OT and bonuses through the years I'm convinced I would have closer to 1 MM.  

At one time my company, like so many other large companies in past times offered great retirement benefits.  They started backing these down in the 1980's and 90's, and now I don't think they offer anything at all beyond a company sponsored 401K plan.  No health insurance options, no pension for anybody hired within the last few years, almost nothing.  

The job I have now is somewhat low-level, but it is the best job in terms of work-life balance I have had in my whole career.  I usually work about 40 hours a week, one day every two weeks from home, and every other Friday off.  I make low 100's, but I've made 30-40K more in the recent past with overtime.  I don't want that life anymore, and I chose this job so I would have more regular hours.  But to tell you the truth the pay really sucks in my opinion, especially when you've got 20 years with the company and you know that you're only making maybe 20-30 more than most new hires off the street (I do have a degree FYI, but it's not necessarily a job that requires a degree).  

I hit a wall about then in my career.  I basically started mailing it in, I did what was necessary, not an iota more, for probably 15 years.  It was a "hunker down" situation for me, I had three kids to put through college etc.  I despised work, and many of my coworkers (some were OK).  When 2008 hit, I figured I'd have to work another 5 years over my "plan" to make up for it, but things came back quicker than I thought.

Before that, I felt like I had a "career" with some incentives for working, after that, it was just work.  I couldn't quit, I couldn't find another job, I was just stuck.

In 2013 they came out with retirement packages for folks at my level, but excluded those of us on the technical side of things as we were "too valuable".  I was PO'd.  My buddy told me to stick around and it would happen for us, and it did six months later.  I was glad to be done of it.  I should write a book.

P.S.  Every year you work is a year you don't have to "cover" with your retirement.  And you'll likely need some health insurance, I'm lucky to have retiree insurance and now Medicare.

I hit a wall about then in my career.  I basically started mailing it in, I did what was necessary, not an iota more, for probably 15 years.  It was a "hunker down" situation for me, I had three kids to put through college etc.  I despised work, and many of my coworkers (some were OK).  When 2008 hit, I figured I'd have to work another 5 years over my "plan" to make up for it, but things came back quicker than I thought.

Before that, I felt like I had a "career" with some incentives for working, after that, it was just work.  I couldn't quit, I couldn't find another job, I was just stuck.

In 2013 they came out with retirement packages for folks at my level, but excluded those of us on the technical side of things as we were "too valuable".  I was PO'd.  My buddy told me to stick around and it would happen for us, and it did six months later.  I was glad to be done of it.  I should write a book.

P.S.  Every year you work is a year you don't have to "cover" with your retirement.  And you'll likely need some health insurance, I'm lucky to have retiree insurance and now Medicare.

I'm not going to stop working, I'd just spend more time building my company.  As I stated, my health insurance will be expensive, even with a high deductible plan.  $1200 a month, and will 100% increase every year but my pension/benefits will not.  

First nice job getting yourself into a place where you have the option!

Based on what you have set aside, what you can can do with your side business, and the perception I get of which makes you happy- go for it.  The day you can get out of corporate America is a day you win!

I am about ready to pull the plug myself.  I just turned 57.  My spreadsheet says work until I am 60 but emotionally I am done.  Sometimes like you said you have to suck it up and sometimes you don't.  When you know you don't have to suck it up anymore,  it's hard to find the motivation to keep coming in,  even if you know you could get away with mailing it in.

I will probably have to do some part time contract work to supplement my retirement income,  but even if I never work again, I will survive.

I don't mind corporate America.  It's been good to me.

I did my time working for a small startup during the initial Dot Com boom.  It was an interesting adventure, I'm glad I did it, but my startup was part of the 99% of those businesses that failed instead of "making it."  

I did make some fortunate moves and invested in real estate, keeping our first home and turning it into a rental, and then buying my way into a couple more rental units.  It resulted in some super lean years when we bought our new home without any money coming from the sale of the prior home, but we managed it and I'm glad we did it.

I now have a great work-life balance with a super-flexible job at an employer where I need to map out another ten years of career moves, and that should be very do-able.  I'm there for my kids, I'm there for my wife, and I'm there for my parents who aren't getting any younger or healthier.

Ten years from now the kids are done with college and I'm trading the way-too-big suburban house for some remote property, and a Class A motorhome.  I'll let you all know when I'm near you, and I'll buy you a beer when I see you.

Or maybe I move to tiny beachfront town somewhere in the Caribbean. That would do, too.

I can retire at 53, but if I wait until 55, I get a lot more payout per month.

I'm 43 and am disenfranchised by one political party attempting to disband public education.  It's not fun to give full effort towards something, only to be undercut by decision-makers who's kids never attended a public school. 

I'm exhausted with giving my all to help broken children from broken homes in impoverished neighborhoods.  They would all be fine if we didn't have to send them home each afternoon.

I'm actually looking elsewhere - jobs that would keep adding to my retirement while no longer being in the classroom.  District jobs are few and far between.  I could try the AZ Dept of Education, but I'd be in the lion's den, so to speak.  I'd literally have to watch what I said, a la living in Tehran or something.  I may also look into jobs at ASU. 

I may just need a 1-year breather.  The idea of showing up and being a productive worker bee in a quiet environment sounds amazing right now.

Idk. 

I'd honestly just rather have had to build my own cabin and hunt/grow food for myself out in nature.  Our "civilized" society kind of sucks, imo.  With all of our advancements, the only 3 things I actually value and "need" are air conditioning, hot showers, and the internet. 
You can keep all the rest of it.