how long have you been working? how long do you have to go?

i have been working full time for 21 years now. i figure i have about 45 years left.
kinda feeling like im over it.
i dont hate my job. im in a good spot. i make good money.
still though. would have been nice to get a sweet hand you know?

a kardashian kind of hand.
a couple hundred mill in a trust fund would have been pretty nice.

just not in the cards for some people.

more curious than anything.
how long have you been in the work force? when do you think you can be done with it

a reply to: TinySickTears

I retired about 4 years ago.... Had over 30 years in uniform... That lasted about 2 years and I realized I was a worker and could not survive long without working..

Went back to work a couple of years ago and hopefully I will work until I leave this life...

I'm 58 and I have been working since I was 12. I am currently the president of a muilty million dollars company with about 35 employees. My IRA and 401K is in the craper so I'll probably die at my desk.

We bust our cans every day to make a buck, and there is always a government agency standing by with their hand out for more taxes or another fee or requirement. The government makes much much more, many times more, from my company than I do. Yet share none of the risk or hard work. It just doesn't seem fair.

My first retirement started 18 years ago next month. Like Semper, I took a short hiatus. I've got two-and-a-half before I can safely start my second retirement. Might stretch that out quite a bit more if things are still looking good.

It's all about staying healthy and having fun.

-Cheers

I have never really had a job. I've just made things and sold them. Now I don't make anything but sell things others have made in my gallery. I used to make everything from leather sandals, to fine furniture, jewelry, bass guitars. and fine art prints and photography; traveling the world to sell my stuff at trade fairs and Galleries. My current passion is filmmaking, screenwriting, acting and working in the film/TV industry. No retirement for me! Blessed....

Union Proud, Union Strong


www.sagaftra.org...

iatse.net...

a reply to: TinySickTears

Yeah, wish I could retire now. Guess that's cause I don't much enjoy my job though it pays too much to quit. I'm 57 and been working since around 14 and I just don't want to be somewhere my interests are not being explored all day long anymore. I screwed up, I could have retired long ago but divorced, remarried and had more kids (youngest is almost 2) so I don't expect to retire any time soon.

a reply to: olaru12

I envy you olaru12, I was always making a living the same way but I guess I sold out. How I yearn for the old days...

a reply to: TinySickTears
I was in the workforce from 1967 until 2008. During that time I worked at several different types of jobs, most of them part-time, along with my full-time profession. In my youth, I was dumb enough to get deeply in debt due to impatience (Why should I wait six months and save up for that toy when I have plastic?) and spent a good three years working multiple jobs to pay off the debts accumulated by me and my ex.
While in high school I worked at a fast food joint, a drugstore, worked on the farm driving tractors or trucks or handling hay, did custom gardening, mostly sprucing up little old ladies' flower beds and worked as an auto detailer, cleaning and preparing used cars for re-sale. I also hand-addressed envelopes for a local Realtor and filled in as receptionist at a couple of local businesses.
In college it was much the same, picking up whatever I could find. I did modeling, house cleaning, more yard work, was a photographer's assistant and later, a sports and wedding photographer under his supervision and worked in a furniture restoration business where I learned to repair and restore furniture.
I began to exit my profession in the medical industry in 1985 and returned to school. In order to do that I had to go to a part-time job in my profession and because i still had mortgage payments and kids, I went back to doing a lot of part-time work that I really enjoyed---gardening, photography and modeling.
Once I decided that my new career was going to be in anthropology, I began finding work in that field. Lab assistant, day laborer (aka shovel bum), artifact washer; then on to lab supervisor and crew chief by the time I finished.

When my Beloved and I got married, we were both debt free and determined to stay that way. We'd both ended up paying off debts of an ex and were very cautious about credit cards. We began active financial planning before we ever married. Between us we had five kids to get through school! And then we had to think about retirement because neither of us had any rich relatives from which to inherit a trust fund. That's not to say our families didn't help us in any way they could! Without their help with child care and food from their gardens I can't see how we would have made it.
We sat down and figured out that my Beloved could retire after 30 years in the classroom. That just so happened to be the year that the youngest would graduate from college. That's what he did because he was fed up with the administration in his college. I continued to work because I loved my job and my administration wasn't nearly as ding-bat crazy as his. With our kids grown and weaned, we were easily able to live on his pension check. My income went into the nest-egg we'd not been able to build up while paying college tuition.
My retirement in 2008 wasn't because I didn't love my job. It was due to family health issues. I've always put my family before career. My Beloved had a debilitating stroke and for some time was unable to manage on his own. Since my jobs often took me on the road for weeks I could no longer do that. I turned to volunteering in the same field so I could care for him and still keep my hand in the profession. He has since recovered but I've learned to enjoy the slower pace of retirement. And in the meantime more health issues have popped up in my family. It's the price of living I suppose. I still do a lot of volunteer work but leave the paycheck gigs to the younger generation.
I always have a list of former students and current students who are looking for work so when I get a call about a job I can recommend them.
We LOVE retirement. We can read whatever we fancy. We can travel on our own schedule. We can eat and sleep on our own schedule. It is entirely worth the struggle and the years of living frugally (like grad school students) to be able to enjoy our "Golden Years" free of debt and able to pay forward some of our good fortune.

I'm sorry you hate your job. That's a really miserable life. It's a scary thing but have you thought of changing jobs? Is it the job or the circumstance of the job? Money isn't worth being miserable.
In my entire working life I had two really horrid bosses. Both were miserable and made everyone around them miserable. Both had been more or less forced into a career for which they had no passion.

a reply to: TinySickTears

I work in the private sector. No taxpayer funded pension so I will work until I am dead since I am pretty sure Social Security and my 401k will not be there in 25 years when I am in my early 70's.

Started working at 14 as a dishwasher at a bar on weekends.

Hope to retire,... Wednesday.

Otherwise got quite a few years left.

a reply to: TinySickTears

I have 2.5 years left to retire. I own my house and I have reasonable superannuation. I enjoy my work but I've now been out of work for 5 of the last 9 months. During this one half of my savings are gone.

I started work as an apprentice when I was 15.5 years old. With the exception of a 3 year stint and several periods of short employment I have worked all my life and unless I get a job soon I will have to sell my home and trade down to survive.

However, It does not change the fact that I am better off than 99.9% of humanity.

A few years ago I read some stats that said if one gets even one dollar of social security from the government, then at the global level, that person is a member of the 1% ers.

I worked full time (sometimes 3 jobs at a time) for 26 years. I finished work when I had my child by IVF at 40. I had waited so long I just wanted to treasure those first years. My intention had been to return when my child was at nursery. However, my mum's health started to deteriorate and she was diagnosed with vascular dementia. My dad was also diagnosed with terminal cancer and I nursed him until he died. I am now a single parent to an 8 year old and also a full time carer to my mum, I also have fibromyalgia and severe arthritis.

Being a carer is the hardest job I have ever done. My mum is now 88 and getting worse day by day. There is never a break from the continous stress and emotional turmoil. My friends all work full time and so I feel completely isolated from real life.

I miss work, I miss earning a wage and feeling the pride of buying things I have paid for. I also miss the social side of working.

I will be 50 next year and worry if I am ever going to be able to back to work. I was always really confident in work capabilities and yet noe find myself doubting if I am up to the job.

I hate being on welfare and being spoken to like the dregs of society by people half my age who have probably been workjng 5 years tops.

I kerp thinking about doing some voluntary work to build my confidence but then when my mum is having a bad week I fail to see where I could fit it in.

a reply to: anxiouswens

I've been working a long time as well and have much longer to go unless, as one poster above stated, I am able to retire on Wednesday...HEY that's tomorrow!
I shall buy the old man the Playboy Mansion and I and my girls are headed somewhere...TROPICAL!

anxiouswens,
You have an unbelievably difficult job as a caretaker. I know, I too, have been there. People told me to "hang in there", "you are doing an honorable thing", and "if you ever need anything". Well, I couldn't bring myself to impose on folks to give me a break, after all she was MY Mom, MY responsibility.
However, looking back, I did myself nor my family any favors by not reaching out, at least on occasion, to clear my head, to just allow myself a moment to breathe...
Almost a year and a half later I am still, nearly constantly, in a state of perpetual mourning. I see Mom in the shadows, I hear her in the night saying my name, I feel rushed to complete tasks because I must get back to her.
She consumed my life for years and now that she is gone, I struggle to return to "normal" (what is that?), I am still searching for my new identity.
I know I went WAY off topic but, I wanted (felt compelled really) to share my experience and offer some support and unsolicited advice.
Find someone to give you some relief, for yourself AND for your daughter...

Good luck to you!

Year 22 of a career doing something i have always enjoyed but now I get paid very very well for it while working in a place that makes a difference in the world. My mind is constantly going from a work perspective.

Because of that opening and the sacrifices that go alone with it I can live life exactly the way I want, I dont live pay check to pay check, can buy, go , do , listen to, eat, look at whatever I want.

If i was to win the lottery I would keep working for at least another 5 years because I am doing what I enjoy and I have not reached my professional goals yet.

I retired a few years ago... been working since I was 15 and worked in my chosen career (accountant) for 25 years.

Now I just have a couple of small home businesses. One is doing income taxes during tax time, and the other is making/selling candles, jewelry, crafts, and canned goods.

They help to keep me from getting too bored with the added bonus of making a little extra pocket change on the side.

I left school 38 years ago; barring a couple or three years when I was between jobs, including a failed attempt at university, I've been working.

I'm eligible for state pension in 12 years' time, so I can (in theory)retire then, though probably wont because it's a pitiful amount, merely designed to keep you alive. I used to look forward to retirement but there's poverty to think about, plus I'll be ready for my box then in all likelihood.

Got around 100 grand sat in various accounts, doing nothing. I'm thinking of investing 20 or 30 grand in sheet metal. Probably wont, but it keeps me going.

24 now...weeks away from 25 been working from the time I was 15. So been working 10 years at the moment and I'll most likely die working. I just love spending money and going on trips. I am also paying into two pension just in case but I think id rather do it like my mom did. Retired,started to draw her pension and start working again to double dip! Plus using her 25+ years work experience in her field she landed a better job in retirement then she had her whole life.


a reply to: TinySickTears

a reply to: TinySickTears

50 years. Retired 3 times in my life.Age 29 after 16 years, age 53 after 20 years/w pension, and 10 years major auto company.

Back working 1st Responder DHS, FEMA-EMT/ERT city....I like working...

P's Applied for Social Security and pension, but cancelled it to keep working....

a reply to: TinySickTears

I have been working since I was eighteen, had a small gap where no work was available, and ever since that gap ended, have been a locksmith. I cannot afford to retire, ever, and have no reason to suspect a change in that status. I am thirty years old now, and have been in my trade for ten and a bit years.

I am so sorry to hear of your grief and although fortunately my mum is still here I do dread the day when she isnt.

I am aware that my whole time is consumed with is she OK, guilt I am not doing enough, worried about her loneliness, just constantly worried and I am aware that when the time comes and that worry is gone along with it will come not only the grief of losing a mother but also a huge hole if self iďentity.

I feel your sadness and loneliness. If you ever need to talk privately PM me, sometimes it helps to speak to someone who just absolutely understands. x a reply to: TNMockingbird