Where do you feel you need to be career wise before you retire?

Where do you feel you need to be career wise before you retire? Not totally based on finances tho but mainly job goal/ satisfaction wise.

Climb the ladder as high as you can go? Find that dream job you always wanted? Does prestige matter? Be content w/ where you are and ride it out till you pull the plug? Bag all the OT you can or take it easier? Take a less stressful job?

Y'all get the idea. Whether already retired, 5-10 or so yrs away what did/ would you do?

I have to say at 31, I couldn't care less where I end up on the corporate ladder (just not important to me) vs financially where I am in ~25 years.

I came to the realization several years ago that given the financial freedom to do so, I'd rather not be working a full-time gig. Not saying that I wouldn't be busy doing things I enjoy, just that for the most part, the things I enjoy end up costing money, rather than earning me money. I've also realized I'm not the kind of person who can "compartmentalize" and suffer through a well-paying E36 M3-job, for an indefinite period of time, regardless of the pay.

To that extent, I spent quite a bit of time pondering my most recent career move, and 10-months later I'm still happy with my choice. It's a job I could use to cross industries, as well as an industry I could use to cross jobs. There is potential for a pretty decent paycheck as my skills and experience grow, and at this company at least, the stress level is very manageable.

Other than our old house, which we're upside-down on by about $10k, we're debt free. We don't have much saved for retirement, but if our kids can get out and become independent over the next 10-years, the house will be paid off, and we could still have ~15-years to save for a real retirement. And I do have a side-business that I enjoy, and probably won't give up. But it would be nice to not have to depend on it all the time during retirement.

Biggest regret? I was always under the delusion that somewhere "out there" was a dream-job for me, and I just needed to figure out what it was. It never occurred to me that people don't get paid to do the things they "like", they get paid for tolerating all the crap they don't. Even if they truly like many facets of their employment. If I'd realized that 20-years ago, I probably could have earned a decent income then, and started saving for retirement earlier. But I always felt like I was just scraping by, and never really could set aside that much extra.

Circus Mangler.

Independent wealth is where I'd like to be, so I can retire as soon as possible. Seriously - I actively enjoy both my career and my current job, but I don't have any "unfinished business" to take care of. If I could retire right now, I would put in my notice on Monday.

Employed

Duke wrote: If I could retire right now, I would put in my notice on Monday.

My sentiments exactly. I like my job most of the time but if I didn't need it - I wouldn't have it.

I expected to be at a higher career level and making more at 50 years of age. Then other days I feel blessed to be employed.

When younger you think you could be a ML baseball player and then reality hits as you age. My career is following the same; as I get older doors slowly close in the corporate world and I realize I might not be the top guy.

Then again I fell blessed to have nonstop work since I started slinging newspapers in the 5th grade.

following

Grizz wrote: Employed

Yeah, I'd like to have a career...I thought I did.

When I started with my current company 6 years ago I was told they'd never promote me into management unless I completed my degree. I said, thank god.

I'm happy where Im at, I've been management, its a hassle. I dont base my self worth or satisfaction on my job, my job pays me the money to do the things I care about.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Duke wrote: If I could retire right now, I would put in my notice on Monday.

My sentiments exactly. I like my job most of the time but if I didn't need it - I wouldn't have it.

X eleventy. Career goals? Um. Make big berkeleying pile of money. Retire on private island. Go fishing and when I hit 80 and/or am diagnosed as terminally ill, discover the joys of heroin. The End.

I quit my job back in December. It wasn't meant to be a long term unemployment. However, through fate and my wifes' desire to succeed at what she does and her overwhelming investment in the well being of our child- my temporary lay-off has become.....permanent. I don't have the cash to spend on stupid E36 M3 like I used to, we don't eat out hardly ever, and I have had to cut back on most of what I do. I couldn't be happier. My goal in life has never been money absorbed, my jobs were always a means to an end. I elected to change my end, and as a result, the means neccesity reduced greatly. In other words, I'm sorta broke, plenty jobless, and quite pleased with myself.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Duke wrote: If I could retire right now, I would put in my notice on Monday.

My sentiments exactly. I like my job most of the time but if I didn't need it - I wouldn't have it.

Same here. I've been avoiding my annual "self evaluation" because it just seems like stupid b.s. to me. Right now, I'm happy being employed and making decent money. Other than the 2+ hrs of commuting every day, I could see me still doing this in 20 years, at which time I should be financially set to retire while still having some youth left to enjoy it.

I've climbed the ladder. I'll just need to be able to climb back down.

Bear in mind, of course, that I climb ladders for a living.

z31maniac wrote: I have to say at 31, I couldn't care less where I end up on the corporate ladder (just not important to me) vs financially where I am in ~25 years.

Agreed. I would LIKE to end up high on the corporate ladder, but its mainly to secure myself financially :)

Right now I don't need to go any further. They have made the next few steps worse then my current job in almost every way. If I thought I go beyond the next couple of steps I would think about it but the higher you go the more who you know matters and I don't know any of the right people and I would hate to spend the next 20 years stuck at the next level above me.

I'm spending as much time as I can enjoying myself now. That will make retirement a little leaner, but since I've always been a cheap bastard, it won't matter much. I don't want to retire filthy rich and die 6 months later.

poopshovel wrote: X eleventy. Career goals? Um. Make big berkeleying pile of money. Retire on private island. Go fishing and when I hit 80 and/or am diagnosed as terminally ill, discover the joys of heroin. The End.

poopshovel, I may not always subscribe to your newsletter, but right now I'm buying extra copies and mailing them to people I care about.

I've never had the desire to retire. Work a little less maybe, but not retire. For most people when you retire you begin dying.

I need to stay busy. If I were to retire, retire I'd need to be so stinking rich to do all the things I'd want to be doing that I'd need to go to work to fund the fun.

Maybe my mindset will change one day, but not even in HS did I ever envision retiring.

mndsm wrote: I quit my job back in December. It wasn't meant to be a long term unemployment. However, through fate and my wifes' desire to succeed at what she does and her overwhelming investment in the well being of our child- my temporary lay-off has become.....permanent. I don't have the cash to spend on stupid E36 M3 like I used to, we don't eat out hardly ever, and I have had to cut back on most of what I do. I couldn't be happier. My goal in life has never been money absorbed, my jobs were always a means to an end. I elected to change my end, and as a result, the means neccesity reduced greatly. In other words, I'm sorta broke, plenty jobless, and quite pleased with myself.

I was recently talking to my neighbor about living a one-income household. He presented the perspective that with two people working, the scale of living tends to accommodate the available cash flow, and should a financial emergency arise, there is little room for increasing earnings on the spot. Conversely, if only one spouse works, the standard of living tends to accommodate that one income, and should an emergency arise, the second spouse can find a job.

Seeing as I have been a signpainter/pinstriper since I was 12 years old, getting to work on all sorts of Race Cars, Harleys and Hot Rods my whole life, I am quite happy with the daily grind.

That being said, I was supposed to be working my way through Law School, but that fell through. And other than financially, I am glad it did.

^ Thanks. I did vinyl for a few years, but it just made me feel dirty. Ditched the plotter and went back to paint a couple/few years back, due mostly to it being a dying art. Less competition = better wages.

I was supervising 30 tradesmen, in a plant that was closing. I got a chance a few years ago to transfer into a (much closer) job making the same money, but back on the tools. I may have the oppurtunity to move back into that role here, but have decided to take the easy, and comfortable route and stay on the tools. I have almost no responsibility, get to work 12 hr shifts, and can work as much overtime as I want, which now, is almost none. I will retire in 3 1/2 years, and do the things I want to do with my time.

I guess what you have to decide is what purpose the job serves for you. Is it a means to an end, or is it the end? Most of us are only in it for the money.

When I was 8, I found something I loved doing. When I was 16, I figured out one could make a living at it.

I got into my industry at the bottom, and worked my way up. I quickly learned that the farther you climb from the bottom rung, the further away you get from doing the fun stuff that I love.

So I moved back down to the bottom rung, and plan to sit there until I retire.