RETIREMENT AND AIRPLANE OWNERSHIP

[Mooneymite]

It's great to discuss making a fortune on this thread, but all the other threads deal with how to turn a large fortune into a small one:  own a Mooney.  

[Bob_Belville]

44 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

It's great to discuss making a fortune on this thread, but all the other threads deal with how to turn a large fortune into a small one:  own a Mooney.  

Actually, my Mooney was practically free. I sold a stock at its historic high to pay for the Mooney. A few months later that stock, which I no doubt would have road down if I hadn't needed the cash, had lost the $$$ I spent on the plane. To quote some golfer or gambler or was it an investor... I'd rather be lucky than good.

Edit: Lefty Gomez! Who'd have thunk it! But he was both.

[peevee]

1 minute ago, Bob_Belville said:

Actually, my Mooney was practically free. I sold a stock at its historic high to pay for the Mooney. A few months later that stock, which I no doubt would have road down if I hadn't needed the cash, had lost the $$$ I spent on the plane. To quote some golfer or gambler or was it an investor... I'd rather be lucky than good.

Skill - L.U.C.K

[aviatoreb]

I’m quite bewildered by the several of you retiring in your early 50s.  I’m still surprised that I just turned 50!  I still sort of think I’m still getting started.  The thought of retiring hasn’t really crossed my mind yet.  Maybe the desire to retire will hit me like a ton of bricks sooner than I think but I sort of figure I should go another 30 years so I can enjoy another 30 years of retirement in good health before I slow down after that. Hah!

[Marauder]

I’m quite bewildered by the several of you retiring in your early 50s.  I’m still surprised that I just turned 50!  I still sort of think I’m still getting started.  The thought of retiring hasn’t really crossed my mind yet.  Maybe the desire to retire will hit me like a ton of bricks sooner than I think but I sort of figure I should go another 30 years so I can enjoy another 30 years of retirement in good health before I slow down after that. Hah!

It will hit you like a ton of bricks. One day you’ll wake up and say to yourself, “why am I doing this for a bunch of ___________”. Fill in the blanks.

If you are fortunate, it won’t happen. Most of us who don’t work for ourselves find a point that the fun just isn’t there anymore.


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[peevee]

31 minutes ago, Marauder said:

 

It will hit you like a ton of bricks. One day you’ll wake up and say to yourself, “why am I doing this for a bunch of ___________”. Fill in the blanks.

If you are fortunate, it won’t happen. Most of us who don’t work for ourselves find a point that the fun just isn’t there anymore.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

Hell I'm  40 and it hasn't been fun in years.

[MyNameIsNobody]

5 hours ago, Marauder said:

 

It will hit you like a ton of bricks. One day you’ll wake up and say to yourself, “why am I doing this for a bunch of ___________”. Fill in the blanks.

If you are fortunate, it won’t happen. Most of us who don’t work for ourselves find a point that the fun just isn’t there anymore.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

Fun?  I have always worked to Iive NOT lived to work.  Good for those of you that are in a career/profession that you are passionate about and enjoy.  For me, NEVER have I identified my “self” with my employment...

[bonal]

Some added thought on the subject. My career has been 35 years and during that time many changes have taken place with the increase in technology my company has become more interested in data management than serving our customers. I would have to say I spend close to 50% of my time providing reports and updating constant status requirements than I do designing and engineering for compliance work and new business customers. In other words extreme frustration. Also with an ever increasing work load and a reduction in staff I'm losing my mind. Time to get out. Initially the reduction of income will be a challenge but I intend to get back into my fine art illustration looking to market my work which is primarily motor sports and aviation. Perhaps I will be doing a beautiful painting of someone's Mooney to hang in their office or den. With the ability to market world wide I hope to generate a fair amount of business but not so much that it becomes a job or more importantly I have to rush the work causing a lowering of my standards. I am really looking forward to getting back to doing what I love rather than being a cog in a wheel that has come off its axle. As for flying I have no plans of turning in my wings any time soon.

[Mooneymite]

13 minutes ago, MyNameIsNobody said:

Fun?  I have always worked to Iive NOT lived to work.  Good for those of you that are in a career/profession that you are passionate about and enjoy.  For me, NEVER have I identified my “self” with my employment...

When we spent our summers at our lake house, we had an acquaintance who would stop by our dock about once a week to chat.  Each visit, he would tell us how many years, days, hours he had until he retired.  I always thought it so sad that a person would spend his entire life at a job he hated.

We only have one lifetime to learn to be happy.

[bonal]

7 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

When we spent our summers at our lake house, we had an acquaintance who would stop by our dock about once a week to chat.  Each visit, he would tell us how many years, days, hours he had until he retired.  I always thought it so sad that a person would spend his entire life at a job he hated.

We only have one lifetime to learn to be happy.

And I don't hate my job I hate what my company has turned it into. I still enjoy what is my real reason for being there. To serve my customers both internal and external. In all the years there are almost no two jobs with the same solution. The work can be very challenging and often very gratifying when the work is done. Regardless I am looking forward to the future and even though it's just around the corner I don't know how many months weeks and days it will be but that knowledge will be soon in coming.

[AH-1 Cobra Pilot]

12 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

I’m quite bewildered by the several of you retiring in your early 50s.  I’m still surprised that I just turned 50!  I still sort of think I’m still getting started.  The thought of retiring hasn’t really crossed my mind yet.  Maybe the desire to retire will hit me like a ton of bricks sooner than I think but I sort of figure I should go another 30 years so I can enjoy another 30 years of retirement in good health before I slow down after that. Hah!

When I was at my last duty station, I had enough time in the military to retire.  I sat down and wrote this list of all my options.  (Obviously, B and beyond is "Retire and ...")

A.  Take the next assignment I am offered.
B.  Obtain venture capital, develop engine patents.
C.  Get my PhD in Dust Combustion.
D.  Become mercenary pilot.
E.  Teach JROTC in Pago Pago.
F.  Go fishing.
G.  Go hunting.
H.  Star as the pilot in the reality show "Air Faire America".
I.  Write Just War Theory book.
J.  Finish writing SciFi novel.
K.  Get my CFI-I and teach flying.
L.  Teach online.
M.  Become an ABIMU.  (Angry Blogger In My Underwear.)
N.  Patent suppressor design, start suppressor company.
O.  Start laser machining business.
P.  Farm woody florals.
Q.  Build a Kit Plane.
R.  Build furniture.
S.  Train hunting dogs.
T.  Write historical book about American Indians.
U.  Fix all the crap wrong with the house.

As it turned out, the next assignment offered was not desirable, mercenary pay started to fall, my wife said that if we move to Pago Pago she gets to retire, (While I am still working?  BS!), and "Air Faire America" never got back to me about an interview, (I presume it was never made), so A, D, E, and H were out.  I do F, G, M, and U as often as possible, but my main focus is on N and O.  I also plan to do at least the first half of K using my GI Bill.  I got my MEL ATP and SEL Comm ratings since retiring and will continue to add ratings.

As my example shows, I would suggest you create your own list, (A might be to stay at your job), and decide what would be the most rewarding in the near- and long-term.  Always have goals and plans!

[Rick Junkin]

On 1/14/2018 at 5:29 AM, Marauder said:

It will hit you like a ton of bricks. One day you’ll wake up and say to yourself, “why am I doing this for a bunch of ___________”. Fill in the blanks.

If you are fortunate, it won’t happen. Most of us who don’t work for ourselves find a point that the fun just isn’t there anymore.

 

I am approaching the end of my second career. I have what should be one of the best jobs on the face of the planet for an aviator. And up until about 10 years ago,  it was, for me and most of the folks I work with. "I can't believe they pay us to do this!" was a common refrain. That's when the insidious creep of modern day management-in-lieu-of-leadership started having a real impact on our department. Now, I keep going to work because of the people I get to work with, and a small part of the work is still "oh my God!" fun and rewarding. I am definitely in the camp of working to live, and am looking forward to claiming all of my time to devote to the things I choose to, without giving 8 hours a day, and usually more, to someone else. But in the mean time, my coworkers are some of my best friends, and we occasionally get to do some great work together. I've been blessed with a job I love working with people I like, but it is still a job.

I'll never stop contributing in some way, especially to aviation, it will just be on my schedule and according to my priorities. I know that will be somewhat limiting and confine me to pursuits over which I have the illusion of control, but isn't that the point? A friend who just retired put it best - "We are dinosaurs here, nobody cares about what we've done or that we know how to do it better." A sad fact of where we are at our age in corporate life. Time to move to a different environment.

I didn't get hit with Marauder's ton of bricks, but they've been piling on top of me brick by brick to where the ton is finally there.

Cheers,
Rick

UPDATE! 2/19/18

My company's leadership has taken a most definite turn to the positive! My greatest fear at the moment is that when I reach my predetermined criteria for departure, the decision to leave will be a difficult one. Not just because of the great people that I get to work with, but because of the positive direction that the company is headed in and the fact that it will indeed be exciting to go in to work every day again! What a wonderful problem to have. I'm very blessed.

Edited February 20, 2018 by Junkman
New information

[MyNameIsNobody]

4 hours ago, Mooneymite said:

When we spent our summers at our lake house, we had an acquaintance who would stop by our dock about once a week to chat.  Each visit, he would tell us how many years, days, hours he had until he retired.  I always thought it so sad that a person would spend his entire life at a job he hated.

We only have one lifetime to learn to be happy.

Um, ya, I don’t HATE my job.  I totally agree with you that regardless of $ if you hate what you are doing, life is too short.  The other side of that coin is I have so many pursuits that I find fun that works gets in the way of pursuing them to the degree I would like.  I hope that by saving for the future I have my health and can enjoy my “part-time” entertainment FULL-TIME answering to no one for my time, my schedule, my production.  When many around you that you love are entering retirement and you are still “working for the man”, when you have the specter of a father that checked out only one year into his retirement you begin to think more and more about “when”...At least I do.

Edited January 14, 2018 by MyNameIsNobody

[flyboy0681]

There's an old saying, "the man who loves his job doesn't work a day in his life", which are words that I live by.

I'm in my late 50's and have been semi-retired for the last four and still work to fight the boredom. 

[EricJ]

On 1/14/2018 at 11:43 AM, bonal said:

Initially the reduction of income will be a challenge but I intend to get back into my fine art illustration looking to market my work which is primarily motor sports and aviation. Perhaps I will be doing a beautiful painting of someone's Mooney to hang in their office or den. With the ability to market world wide I hope to generate a fair amount of business but not so much that it becomes a job or more importantly I have to rush the work causing a lowering of my standards. I am really looking forward to getting back to doing what I love rather than being a cog in a wheel that has come off its axle. As for flying I have no plans of turning in my wings any time soon.

I was at the Barrett-Jackson auction on Saturday and there were at least a couple prominently-placed booths with artists with original auto/aviation/racing art.   There'll be competition, but it looks like there's a market, too.

On the subject of what might stop one from flying in retirement, yesterday I finally met one of the people on my hangar row that I hadn't encountered yet.   An old guy was updating the ELT in an RV-6A that he and his wife had built together a long time ago.   It was very nicely constructed, clean, beautiful, and obviously very well cared-for.   He invited me to sit in it to try it on, which was pretty cool.   It's smaller than I thought, but I fit (I'm 6'0", 190lbs).   He said he hadn't flown it in quite a while and eventually it came out that the reason was that his wife isn't physically able to get in the airplane any more.   It was pretty clear that that really took the wind out of his sails for flying, and he was kind of struggling to get motivated to get back in anyway.

I hope he gets back to flying, but it's totally understandable to me if he doesn't.

 

[steingar]

I love my job, and these days it’s really easy. My problem is I have other things I want to do.  I usually get summers off, so I can do some of it, or could if I didn’t have property to look after.

[Mooneymite]

My post-retirement job is 7 days on, 7 days off, so I can practice retirement every other week.    so far, I still look forward to getting home...and look forward to going to work.

[donkaye]

On 1/14/2018 at 3:03 PM, MyNameIsNobody said:

 life is too short.  

When we're young many of us think of that expression as a "cliche", until later in life we wake up and realize it is not.  Steve Jobs said in a speech he gave to the graduating class at Stanford in 2005, that if you wake up not looking forward to what you will do that day, it's time to change.  That was good advice.  All we really have is our time...

[steingar]

On 1/11/2018 at 9:06 PM, Yooper Rocketman said:

  He said anytime someone gives him flack about his Arizona home, telling him how "lucky" he is, he says "Yep, I'm lucky.  The harder I worked, the luckier I got".

I dunno, he was lucky he wasn't born in some third world poverty stricken village just west of East Bumfuck Egypt.  He was lucky that his skill set was marketable.  He was lucky all kinds of ways.

[flyboy0681]

2 minutes ago, steingar said:

I dunno, he was lucky he wasn't born in some third world poverty stricken village just west of East Bumfuck Egypt.  He was lucky that his skill set was marketable.  He was lucky all kinds of ways.

Applying your reply to Steve Jobs, he could easily have been born in his biological fathers homeland of Syria.

[gsxrpilot]

We are all lucky. I'm lucky I wasn't born a female in Afghanistan... and I had nothing to do with it. Absolutely blind luck.

[Marauder]

We are all lucky. I'm lucky I wasn't born a female in Afghanistan... and I had nothing to do with it. Absolutely blind luck.

I suspect if you were born there you’d be one hot looking babe.

[Mooneymite]

What exactly are you guys talking about when you say, "luck"?

Do you mean divine providence, or something else?  

[Andy95W]

There but for the grace of God go I...

[gsxrpilot]

13 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

What exactly are you guys talking about when you say, "luck"?

Do you mean divine providence, or something else?  

Yeah, not that.