Week - 3 Retirement Job, Not a WalMart Greeter or Grocery Bagger

After investigating all the different jobs that were available to elder folks and taking note of what all the working retirees I came across were doing I knew that working a job that I may have had when I was 16 was not the way I wanted to live the good life I had planned.  So what could my retirement job be? All I could do is come up with questions, most of which the answers did not fit my age, if I was 30 or even 40 I had ideas, answers and solutions but not at 50 and knowing how quick time will fly. I wanted my retirement job to be fun; I wanted my retirement job to incorporate my interests.

I came to the realization that I had to change the way I have thought of many things that affect my life. I have determined that food, shelter, health, happiness, and family make the most impact on the life of the retiree and to have and enjoy these simple things in life I need some kind of income. We have been conditioned over the years to believe that only money equals income but that’s not the case.

So a retirement job(s) must be multi faceted. I will need to have a cash income from savings, investments, and social (in) security as well as a paying job and the skills to build an alternative income that will help me become a self-reliant person.

Week - 2 My Retirement Job

One day my youngest child asked me a question as I scanning a job website, “Daddy, why are you looking for a job, you like what you do?” I said to her “In  fact I do like what I do and I was not looking for a new job I was looking for my retirement job”
When I hit 50 I realized that I needed a better handle on my personal finances because I was going to retire in 16 years and I wanted the dream. After close examination I knew the dream was a fantasy.

I have worked for small business or myself most of my life in either sales or sales management mostly in a retail environment. When available, I always participated in the 401k programs but never quite understood what that meant. I made contributions and they went up. The tech bubble burst it came tumbling down, I rebuilt the coffers again to watch the market fall.

Fast forward to October 2009 and I came to the honest conclusion that I will need to earn money to support myself until I am unable to work or I die. This was the time of my epiphany. I had to make a straightforward plan to survive,and to live a good life for the rest of my life.

My continued posts will be how I plan on accomplishing my goal

Week -1 The Start

As I sit and contemplate my retirement fate as a 50 year old man, I realize that the retirement of the greatest generation, the silent generation, and even the one enjoyed by the first boomers is difficult at best to have; and more realistically it is unobtainable. So I am on a quest to find a way to enjoy my “golden years” to optimize the balance of my years of life to enjoy my family and create a true balance in my life. In doing this I hope to create a resource and reference guide for people like me and for the generations to come.

Let’s face it; social security is anything but secure. Pensions are virtually non-existent and my 401k has had more gains and losses than Oprah Winfrey. So I am seeking a way to create a lifestyle that will allow me and my wife to live a full and rewarding life with some self-reliance, until we leave this wonderful world for our next adventure. My hope is that this blog will become a manual and resource for this journey.

I will be place links throughout this Blog that will point to books, websites and other materials that I find intersting and I have used for reffrence.