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/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> The Cafe >> You know your old when... /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1428127284 Message started by Rylee on 04/03/15 at 23:01:24 |
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Title: You know your old when... Post by Rylee on 04/03/15 at 23:01:24 So I'm a few months away from 40. I know it's not old compared to so e of you but it's 40 and it's made me look back and wonder. I got a letter from social security the other day telling me what my retirement benefits would be at 65 as of money paid in up until now. It was cool to see my yearly earnings since my 1st job in 1989 as a bag boy in a grocery store. I got to see the slow increase until I finished culinary school then a big jump to salary. Got to see the 1st year as an executive chef and a real salary. And the steady increase until now. Made me think about when I started the career journey and the grand illusion that by now Id own my own restaurant and be making the big bucks. Also made me realize that I'm gonna be a broke mofo when I retire if all I have is SSI benefits. I have a 401k but I've tapped into it a few times in the last 2 decades and it's not what it should be. Between college savings for my kids and all my "toys " expenses I really need to start stuffing extra cash somewhere soon or I'm gonna be a 70 year old greeter at Walmart. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by jcstokes on 04/03/15 at 23:46:10 Unfortunately, this appears to be the way much of the world is going, not just the USA. I'm inclined to wonder how people can save for their own home on the wages that many get. You say you are an executive chef, so you must be on a "reasonable" salary I wonder how a forty year old Walmart "greeter"??? views his pension entitlements, or the person behind the counter at the local petrol station, or driving a city bus gets on. In much of the western world the gap between have mores, have less and have nots is growing rapidly. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by KennyG on 04/04/15 at 08:21:57 At 77 years old I can tell you that expenses go up everyday and income goes down every year. The smart guy gets a job working for the government when they are young. Lifetime medical benefits and million programs to avoid having to ever work. Kenny G |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/04/15 at 08:38:53 That smart guys approach is part of the problem. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Rylee on 04/04/15 at 10:23:06 @jcstokes. As an executive chef i am at the top of the "average" for salary but that is because I have 20 years in the business, as much education in my field as most medical practitioners, I am a level II Cicerone and a Master Sommelier. I won a James Beard award in 2008 and have worked at 3 Michelin Starred restaurants both in the US and Europe. I pay more income tax a year than someone who makes $12 an hour earns in a year. With all that being said a few months shy of 40 that SSI letter hit me. I don't own a house, don't "own" my vehicles (except motorcycle) and have about enough in a 401k to live 3 years at my current cost of living. I have 3 children one of which is autistic and will need medical attention her entire life. It was an intended wake up call from the social security administration I'm sure and it worked. With the way the economy is investing scares me but aside from decreasing my current cost of living in hopes of putting the money not spent away I'm not sure what else to do. Because of my profession and the option of relocation is what's kept me from buying a house. For example I moved from Alabama to California just over 6 years ago for job purposes. That and the real estate market here is terrible. I pretty much have 2 options here in the Los Angeles area. Buy something older than I am or buy something in a "not so great" part of LA. Or move to one of the valleys and nobody wants to do that because of traffic. The wife and I have talked about scaling back on a large level. We currently rent a townhouse in one of the nicer areas of long beach. We could have something just as nice for much less. She also drives a "status symbol" vehicle that's not necessary. That change alone would cut our cost of living by over 1k a month which could go into savings and we would be none the lessor for doing it. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Art Webb on 04/04/15 at 10:55:12 At 48 with an annual income of just over 25k, I have already concluded that full retirement will never be an option for me fortunately it's my belief that full retirement would likely bore me so badly I might be tempted to clean my ears out with a gun, anyway I do live a frugal lifestyle though for the most part |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Rylee on 04/04/15 at 14:55:21 @Art Webb I'm pretty much on the same page. I don't see myself retiring at 65. I'll most likely transition to a director of operations or food and beverage director and just keep going. My wife to be is 12 years younger than me and my master plan is to live off her working when I hit that age as retribution to her living off me working up until that point. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Art Webb on 04/04/15 at 16:34:00 ;D all righty then |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/04/15 at 16:40:05 I've followed Rylees posts. The man has impeccable logic. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Rylee on 04/04/15 at 17:32:23 @justin I'm not sure about impeccable logic but thanks for the complement. I didn't plan for us to have that age gap it was just a blessing in disguise. She actually co-owns a very successful commercial cleaning business so she doesn't exactly live off me. She does however bring enough to the table finance wise that I can screw off with my quarterly bonuses instead of having to use them to survive. Which is why you will see major change to my bike happening in 3 month increments. She was my fathers care taker when he got sick which was why I relocated to California. We hit it off immediately because I quickly realized if she could deal with my dad's nonsense then she could definitely put up with me. Her mother had a small yet successful cleaning company and when I got my wrecks settlement I invested in that so she could partner with her mom and they could expand. In the last 2 years it has grown to a solid operation that completely supports her mother who lives a lavish lifestyle and compensates my wife well enough that we can afford to be comfortable. Plus it allows her to work here and there since we have children. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/04/15 at 17:51:20 Such bravery in the face of such pain. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Art Webb on 04/04/15 at 19:53:24 That's awesome Rylee, glad to see folks making good on life's challenges |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by savskad on 04/05/15 at 15:41:22 4C5355524F4879497941535F14260 wrote:
---------------------------------------- Sir, could you elaborate? If you don't mind that is...You've sparked my curiosity. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/05/15 at 18:17:43 Too much typing. The Kindle is slow and that would take forever to explain. Please, don't think me rude. But think about it some. Government is not a businesses Profit Center, but a cost for all to share. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Art Webb on 04/05/15 at 19:10:38 382A3D38202A2F4B0 wrote:
---------------------------------------- Sir, could you elaborate? If you don't mind that is...You've sparked my curiosity.[/quote] Essentially he's saying that the smart guy's approach (working for the gov't, with the sooper dooper benefits packages that provides), while smart and effective for the smart guy, places a large burden on the taxpayer This is not the fault of the smart guy, he's just being smart, it's the fault of the way such agencies are run There's a reason a lot of such agencies have taken to subcontracting to private businesses these days: it's more economical overall Everyone has heard the stories of the military paying 250 bux for a crescent wrench: this isn't because a crescent wrench costs anywhere near that much, nor is it due to the military buying the highest priced wrenches it can find, it's the cost of the bureaucracy involved in the way the military procures, tracks, and store such wrenches civilian branches are more efficient, due to smaller size of agencies, but not a whole lot better |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by old_rider on 04/05/15 at 22:17:23 I wouldn't exactly blame the smart guy.... he does pay into the system... be it with his tax paying and blood, sweat, tears and sometimes body parts. And if you get some illnesses and receive SSD for more than a year, they take away your govt. insurance and make you take medicare and you end up paying $104 a month out of your disability for your health insurance. Yeah its not much, but it is a tenth of your SSD (in some cases)... and for those who can't work and spent over 25 years in the system, i'd say it is a good trade out. If I had my druthers.... i'd still be in...but they only let you stay so long... even sick I can still outwork any of them youngens....LOL, I would have worked up until I reached retirement age if they would have let me... and they would have paid less money for me than when I came back and did the same job as a contractor.( I worked in the same shop for 7 years after I got out) P.S. Don't try to die.... they give you less and take more back. :( |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/06/15 at 04:20:57 What's the highest percentage of the population that CAN Be Smart and the nation not go bankrupt? |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Art Webb on 04/06/15 at 07:13:57 Like I said, I don't blame the smart guy at all, he's just being smart |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/06/15 at 07:44:16 584741465B5C6D5D6D55474B00320 wrote:
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Art Webb on 04/06/15 at 08:17:18 who is actually responsible for the path being open? clue: it's NOT the smart guy |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/06/15 at 11:08:51 nice point dodge Government produces nothing. Businesses create. A goob teat is a goob teat. It's not good for America. Really smart people get a law degree and go into politics and make laws and sell influence,, is that the goal of a Good man? |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Art Webb on 04/07/15 at 16:30:15 I don't know what %, JOG I'm sure the number of Gov't jobs, and the economic strain, of Gov't workers pales in comparison to the number of the institutional welfare cases, though And exactly how does a gov't work with NO gov't workers? no one will do the job if it doesn't pay And Gov't does serve a purpose, though we could darn sure use less of it |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by savskad on 04/09/15 at 11:49:50 I was only asking because at the age of 20 I began working for a municipality (as far as I'm concerned, it's the gov't) in an attempt to make a smart man's choice. Granted, I work for a water utility, so we DO produce something, clean drinking water for people. Still, I get where you're coming from JOG. The issue is, in my opinion, there aren't enough jobs like govt jobs to go around. What I have learned though, it's seems like there's quite a few people out there don't seem to be interested in getting a job with the govt. I have multiple friends who I've offered to throw in a good word for to help get them a job, and they really don't seem to care. I tell them anytime I see a posting for a job they qualify for, and they don't seem to put any effort into trying for it. When I see stuff like that, I don't feel as bad. Some of them make more than I do, but I get a lot of vacation time and other great benefits. I still continue to try to make myself as versatile as possible so in the event the govt doesn't turn out to be as "secure" as everyone makes it out to be, I can transition to another job no problem. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Art Webb on 04/09/15 at 20:23:35 I think most of the vitriol over gov't jobs is directed at the more bureaucratic type workers who often generate waste a water utility provides a service, cleaning up polluted water so it's safe to drink people forget these types of jobs when they start grumbling over gov't workers As much as I'd like less gov't interference in my life, some of the things the gov't does I'm not sure I'd trust private industry with |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by savskad on 04/10/15 at 05:49:51 :) Thanks Art! For what it's worth, the municipality I work for recently took over a small water treatment plant that was privately ran. You always hear people saying the "govt" wastes money. Which, I can't argue with, even my water utility will waste money sometimes, but when the for-profit water industry saves any money, it goes right back into the pocket of the owner. Having said that...this plant, which hadn't been maintained like it should have, did meet the state standards as far as I know, but in the clarifiers (part of the water treatment process where any solids present sink to the bottom to be removed)there were algae "lillipads" growing. Which, doesn't make the water dangerous or anything, it's just laziness and probably someone being too stingy. They only had one operator working there most of the time. They didn't wanna fork over any more money than they had to, to maintain the bare minimum standards to pass state regulation. Most people never see that side of it, they only see the crew with "4 guys standing around and one guy working", (I have an explanation for that too, but I don't wanna digress too much :D ) Just remember everyone, not all of us in the public sector are dirty-rotten-no-good politicians. We leave that to congress ::) |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Dave on 04/10/15 at 06:12:41 I do work for Cities, Counties and occasionally the State. We all work pretty hard....but sometimes it doesn't look that way! One project involved a new roadway through a flood wall on the Ohio River. The new road required new traffic lights to be set, and it was going to require new poles in the public Right of Way along the street. The new poles would require large concrete bases to be placed in the ground. We had a meeting on the site to discuss what needed to be done. Since the construction involved digging large holes along the edge of the road for the concrete base, and since the intersection was loaded with above and underground utilities.....the meeting included me as the Design Engineer, the City Public Works Director, a couple of fellows from the Department of Transportation, a couple of guys from the Electrical Contractors who would be wiring the new lights and running the underground electric, a couple of folks each from the Electric Utility, gas utility, water utility and sanitation district. I think there were about a dozen of us standing around at this intersection looking around and discussing what needed to be done to make this project work. A lady pulled up in a car and stopped, looked at us....looked at the traffic light, rolled down her window....and said to us: "Look....it is just a traffic light - we have them all over town!".....then she drove off. It did look a bit weird to have so many folks just standing around looking at things - but we all had to be there! |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Art Webb on 04/10/15 at 10:29:37 *Insert appropriate 'rush to judgement' comment here ;D |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by savskad on 04/10/15 at 11:48:19 Dave, I know EXACTLY what you mean, I've been in that same position. My last job, is when I started with my municipality, was collection system maintenance, essentially repairing sewer pipes and manholes. It was a regular thing for 1 guy to be in the hole uncovering the pipe, and 3 others (4 if the supervisor showed up to check on us) would be standing around watching him. ********** WARNING: ON COMING RANT ********** 1. It's a safety hazard to have more than one guy in the hole digging, often times you would only need one guy to uncover the pipe, 2 guys would bump into each other when trying to work. A lot of the time, if we were ALL standing around, it's because we were taking a break, I mean, we could keep working and pass out from heat exhaustion...it wouldn't matter to us, we'd still be getting paid by the hour and on the job injury we wouldn't have to pay the medical bills out of our pocket...I may be exaggerating, but I mean really, what's cheaper, a 15 minute break for a crew, or someone ending up in the hospital? You get the idea. 2. Usually we would have 1 Crew leader, 1 Equipment Operator, 1 Dump truck driver, 1 "worker" (that's what I was for a while). Having said that, all of the above did a little part when it came to the physical part of the work, the hand digging part in our case. But in order to knock jobs out in one day, you needed an extra guy for dump truck so he could run to dump and bring material as necessary, an operator to operate the equipment while the dump truck was out, he could continue to excavate. The crew leader and worker would "spot" for anything that the operator may not be able to see while he was digging. So you look at it that way, and it makes sense. It wasn't uncommon for crews to be short the "worker" guy making it a 3 man crew. You could not perform jobs with anything less than a 3 man crew. For safety purposes of course. 3. Contractor who the municipality would hire, would probably charge us 3X what it cost the municipality to just do it in house. The contractor would then have a bunch of guys "just standing around" and the tax payers (or customers) would end up paying for it anyways. The only difference is, instead of a City Seal, they have a company logo so people don't pay as much attention to it. 4. I make a substantial amount less than a friend of mine who is my age does working for a construction company does. I'm guessing, he probably makes 3-4 bucks more an hour than I do, plus, it's not uncommon for him to get 60+ hours a week. We normally would make a little bit of O.T., but nothing like private sector has to offer. I remember a job I got called in for once. One of our 3 man crews was working on it (and keep in mind, we did contract out a lot of jobs that we didn't have the proper equipment to work on, we did a lot of "small" jobs, but the bigger, massive construction jobs, the municipality would contract out) and it ended up being more than they could manage, the contractor came in to do it and most of it had already been excavated by our crew, but the contractor had like 8-10 guys show up. 2 guys to unload a pump, 4 guys who looked like "workers", 2 guys looked like crew leaders or something, and an engineer or supervisor looking guy. A bunch of them were "just standing around" for the remainder of time I was on site and I wondered "Man, how much are these guys gonna charge us?" I can't even imagine, but I doubt they got any dirty looks from the public. ********** END OF RANT ********** Also, I do live within the service area of the municipality, so you could say I "waste" my own money! :P |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by ToesNose on 04/12/15 at 04:09:20 3F2026213C3B0A3A0A32202C67550 wrote:
I know you've seen our national debit JOG, who's to say we're not bankrupt already LOL :D |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by savskad on 04/12/15 at 20:13:23 4D767C6A57766A7C190 wrote:
---------------------------------------------------- When I looked it up, it seemed we owe most of the money to ourselves. This source is a bit dated, but for your viewing pleasure.... : http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/12/chart-who-does-the-u-s-govt-owe-17-trillion-to/ |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/12/15 at 21:53:37 I'm running a little short. I'm considering borrowing a few thousand from myself. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Pine on 04/13/15 at 07:47:52 First sorry to be to so late to the party.. and congratz on turning 40! AS for me... I turned 52 this year. I am a state employee ( work at a university medical school) and have my 27 years in.. so I could retire. No complaints, its kept us fed and clothed. But I will never be rich, nor even comfortable. Retirement is 50% .. but half of little is very little.. so I would still be a Walmart greeter. I bought a book last week "Get whats yours, a guide to SSN". Not because I have an illusion of cheating or anything. I can save you the $15 I spent... Thier advice is: If you retire at age 62 or before your actual retiment age ( commonly 67) your a fool as you get a PERMANENT cut in benefits. Retire at 67 to get full benefits Retire at age 70 to get MAX benefits. Don't hold out past 70 as there is no further benefit. Thats 99% of their book. Other tidbits: Don't ask or expect the SSA to tell you whats best for you, they can't/won't. You can only draw against ONE benefit. Yours or your spouses, but not BOTH. The SSA will describe as though you are, but your not. However you can SWAP the benefit you are drawing against. For example a spouse could draw against her deceased husbands SS, until she becomes 70 then draw against hers, from then on. While many of us feel the sting of the current economy, I do really worry that many retirement plans depend on the stock market too much. Should that fail, many of us could be in a world of hurt. |
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Title: Re: You know your old when... Post by Rylee on 04/13/15 at 08:45:34 @Pine 70 would be my magic number. With the 12 year gap between my wife to be and I that would put her at 58 and still drawing an income so that would be the magic number. My concern is I've never worked for or even met a 70 year old chef. Most at that point I would imagine own their own place by then. I need to start considering the next move up the ladder which is a food and beverage director or director of operations. Unfortunately I do not work for a restaurant group that employees either of those positions. I currently work for a small private owner who has a few locations. I did this in the hopes of one day becoming a managing partner with the option to buy in, but even that at this point seems as if it may not happen. It may be time to go back to the hotel field. I started my career with Hilton and spent just over a decade with them. Owe my education (tuition reimbursement) to them and much of my success. I only recently left to pursue other cuisines and to build my resume a bit. Maybe a few more years where I'm at as I'm happy with my current location,staff and workload vs quality of life setting. With small children at home 60 hours a week is the max I can work (and my wife can handle) We've talked about using a portion of tax returns each year to invest since we usually spend most of it on vacations and other fun stuff and I think that's our first step to putting away a nest egg. And we've already started looking for a cheaper place to shave off some of our cost of living to move that spending to savings as well. |
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