Where do you fall into the money vs time dilemma?

[rennigade]

Well this thread has become a train wreck.

[bjl584]

There are definitely different scales of wealth. I think I am a little above average for most of America, but compared to most of the people in my home town (average combined household income $38k), I am filthy rich. Also there are people who look like they own a lot of really nice things, but in reality are in debt up to their eyeballs.

Car sales is one of those funny jobs where you can make just barely enough to eat, to blowing it out of the water on a daily basis.

I have a friend who works as a car salesman. I will say, she is built to sale cars. She has let it slip in passing that she averages $500 to $1,000 per sale. She post photos on facebook multiple times a day of her customers and their new vehicles. She averages 40-60 sales a month. I'm talking an income of $20,000 per week on the low end. She also had an expensive habit that involved her nose and blows the rest god knows where. If she had half the sense that she has good looks she could be a millionaire several times over by now.

As for QuarterMillionMan's friend, he very well may be independently wealthy being that he owns a car dealership. But I don't suspect that happened over night. Hopefully he saves and invest some in the off chance that his car lot ever goes under.

I know someone who owns a car dealership, among other things.
I don't know how much money he has, but he owns a 6 million dollar airplane, a multi-million dollar vacation home, and pretty much everything else he wants.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Some old posters who I perceived had both money & time in abundance were Texas husker, 97 guns, and shaggy. I think Texas had two hair cutting franchises, 97 guns had multiple properties, etc. I see a pattern and all of them were not 9 to 5 people like the rest of us. They ran their own businesses or owned property and were able to retire young so to speak and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Us 9 to 5 people are doing it all wrong working and toiling our entire lives into our 50's & 60's only to reach the pinnacle in our old age to retire and hope to live long enough to enjoy our newfound free time.

[myrdale]

Some old posters who I perceived had both money & time in abundance were Texas husker, 97 guns, and shaggy. I think Texas had two hair cutting franchises, 97 guns had multiple properties, etc. I see a pattern and all of them were not 9 to 5 people like the rest of us. They ran their own businesses or owned property and were able to retire young so to speak and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Us 9 to 5 people are doing it all wrong working and toiling our entire lives into our 50's & 60's only to reach the pinnacle in our old age to retire and hope to live long enough to enjoy our newfound free time.

This is reflected in Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad Poor Dad. Basically if you want to have an income and make a living, get a job. If you want to be fabulously rich own assets that create streams of income.

[riverwed070707]

It definitely takes time to develop a new routine. Even when I switched from full time to part time last fall, it took me about a month to figure out what to do with the extra time. Once I go per diem in August, it will be another adjustment. Plus in my case, I'm going to be ramping up my ebay business further so I need to schedule in shopping for inventory, listing, packing, shipping, etc.

As far as being alone, I'm personally okay with that but if you're not, find something social to do. Maybe some volunteer work. Or see if any local friends are available to meet for lunch occasionally. Or join a gym if you're so inclined. Take a class or two at your local community college. I have a friend who after retiring started auditing a class each semester. He picks all sorts of topics, things that have nothing to do with his career or previous interests. Not only has he learned a lot, he's also met many people, and it kind of makes him feel younger being around college students regularly.

It's really kind of an interesting balancing act. I too very much enjoy alone time and *need* it after a lot of human interaction. When I worked from the office, I would come home and spend an hour or so just winding down from the day and I didn't want to have any conversation or interact with anyone. Now that I work from home and have reduced hours, I get plenty of down/alone time so by the time everyone else gets home I want to chat and go and do things, while they are winding down from having spent all day with people. Love all your suggestions! Volleyball season is getting ready to start back up so that helps but something during the day time once or twice a week would be really great to help fill some of that void.

[disneysteve]

something during the day time once or twice a week would be really great to help fill some of that void.

Keep yourself open to new opportunities. Check your community newsletter for classes and activities. Our town sends out a guide a couple of times a year with a ton of things. Maybe you'll decide to explore a new craft or hobby that seems interesting. Maybe cooking classes at a local kitchen store or restaurant. Maybe the community center has card games or dance classes or speaker programs or a history club or.... Most areas except the super rural places have endless possibilities that most of us pay zero attention to, and a great deal of it is free or very inexpensive (just pay for supplies, for example).

[disneysteve]

This is reflected in Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad Poor Dad. Basically if you want to have an income and make a living, get a job. If you want to be fabulously rich own assets that create streams of income.

I don't need to be "fabulously rich". As long as I have enough to cover our expenses, we're good, and you can certainly do that with "just" a job as long as you manage your money well. I'm essentially retiring this year right around when I turn 58 and I absolutely could have done it sooner had we really focused on doing so.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

This is reflected in Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad Poor Dad. Basically if you want to have an income and make a living, get a job. If you want to be fabulously rich own assets that create streams of income.

Actually in the millionaire next door the majority are small business owners as well. They ran businesses and invested in them and then saved and retired. Lots of small business owners do well but people never know it. Doing my own business I can easily say that it's way easier to make money owning your own business. Also DH and I wouldn't be making the leap we are if not for the financial payout. I suspect the risk has been reduced substantially than a year ago when we had no clue and I think we've been rewarded for it. So we'll be small business owners who made it. We were working and could retire early working and did fine. but to get to the next level? We had to do something else.

[rennigade]

My FIL was a business owner for his entire working life. Made a good living but its absolutely not something I would want, at least in his line of work. Hell my wife could have graduated with a different major and took over the business and she wanted zero part of it. More power to those people. I would rather work for someone and have significantly less responsibility. We live extremely comfortable lives working for "the man." As far as retiring early, yes, we plan on it. Still hoping to retire between 50-53. We'll see.

[Fishindude77]

My FIL was a business owner for his entire working life. Made a good living but its absolutely not something I would want, at least in his line of work. Hell my wife could have graduated with a different major and took over the business and she wanted zero part of it. More power to those people. I would rather work for someone and have significantly less responsibility.

The trick to this deal is having an exit strategy.
I started working full time at 17, bought into the business at 25, set up a buyout out plan for some younger employees, then retired and got out at 57.
Some business owners get so caught up in it, they don't ever consider an exit, think anybody else will do things right, or have simply worked so long that it is their entire identity and they forgot how to have fun outside of work.

[rennigade]

The trick to this deal is having an exit strategy.
I started working full time at 17, bought into the business at 25, set up a buyout out plan for some younger employees, then retired and got out at 57.
Some business owners get so caught up in it, they don't ever consider an exit, think anybody else will do things right, or have simply worked so long that it is their entire identity and they forgot how to have fun outside of work.

He had an exit strategy that was implemented 3 years ago when he turned 65. He sold the business.

[srblanco7]

I don't need to be "fabulously rich". As long as I have enough to cover our expenses, we're good, and you can certainly do that with "just" a job as long as you manage your money well. I'm essentially retiring this year right around when I turn 58 and I absolutely could have done it sooner had we really focused on doing so.

I'm another that worked a "job", lived fairly modestly, did a reasonable job with managing our finances, and will ER in near future at 54-ish. Have solid retirement savings which should be plenty for us to live well in ER (and hopefully leave something of a legacy for DD & DS). There are many paths to success.

[scfr]

Best of both worlds in our household: I have a job with benefits (well actually 2 part-time jobs and 1 has pro-rated benefits but you get the idea) and DH has a small business. It's true that there are many paths to success, definitely made easier when partners support each other.