<p>Its stinking rich…</p>
<p>Hey, I call it stinking rich.</p>
<p>He definitely made the right choice.</p>
<p>Actually, I googled and his company was sold for $95 million not $200 million.</p>
<p>What company, out if idle curiousity?</p>
<p>Was this guy into cars?</p>
<p><a href=“Zerohedge”>http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-29/there-are-199235-ultra-high-net-worth-people-world-over-30-million-assets</a></p>
<p>HImom, I tried to PM you the name of the company 3 times. I hope you received the messages.</p>
<p>So is that middle class or rich? /Smirk. </p>
<p>Thx Dr G. Fascinating far-ranging discussion! </p>
<p>It’s not hard to figure out:</p>
<p><a href=“List of acquisitions by Cisco - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Cisco_Systems</a></p>
<p>“So is that middle class or rich? /Smirk”</p>
<p>Probably middle class, to the billionaire.</p>
<p>Comments about the ‘hit and miss’ with being a pilot is true of many fields.</p>
<p>When people change careers mid-life and take on debt - like another poster commented. A friend told me last night she is taking on over $100K in student loan debt, switching from tenured city school teacher to ministry - will have a ministry job at completion, but evidently the financial risk is worth the internal rewards of the new job. Paying COBRA for medical ($400/mo) but should get into a paid ministry job with health benefits by the time COBRA ends.</p>
<p>I told her both professions were challenging ones!</p>
<p>You can find joys in free time or during paid work - my DD is going for good paying career while her joys of ‘interior design’ are getting fulfilled on her free time via pinterest and her own personal shopping! She is good in math and science and finds the courses rewarding. Had a good paid internship already.</p>
<p>You can always change careers and jobs. Who you marry and keeping that relationship solid (and marrying someone who also takes their vows seriously) is important to many for happiness and also financial stability. Of course you can find happiness and financial stability as a single person or after divorce too, however no one plans to have their marriage end when they get married.</p>
<p>It takes a lot of guts to take on 6 figure debt and make a mid-life career change. I hope your friend will find the rewards outweigh all that she is staking. I give folks credit that follow their dreams in this manner; it is something that affects their significant other and loved ones as well.</p>
<p>I am fortunate that H has supported the various roles I’ve played over the year–full-time attorney, legal researcher, full-time volunteer, various other positions and circling back to part-time to full-time volunteer. We have kept our relationship strong and it has sustained us through many of the bumps in life. </p>
<p>My husband and I are still the working stiffs. Every time we go to work, we’re feeling stiff.
I think sometimes, people are forced to take risk and it works out for them. </p>
<p>Back to retirement subject. I’ve been trying to find out what to do with lump sum distribution from overseas, tax wise, it looks like I might have to delay H taking SS to a year later. We don’t want to pay too much tax all at once. I also found out about WEP, I think it stands for Windfall Elimination Provision. I think my husband’s SS will be reduced in US due to WEP because he also will be receiving SS in another country. I think if one works in the USA at least 30 years, there is no WEP. Anybody here is in that situation?</p>
<p>I switched my fileds in my mid. 30s, without loans, many employers are paying for education. I am glad that I switched, it did not take any guts from me, it just made me happy. I switched from engineering (which I hated with all my heart) to IT, which is fun (for me, my H. loves engineering as many others would agree). Not much difference in compensation, depend more on the place of employment. </p>
<p>The number of employers who will pay for an employee’s education nowadays is much smaller than it was 30 years ago.</p>
<p>" A friend told me last night she is taking on over $100K in student loan debt, switching from tenured city school teacher to ministry - will have a ministry job at completion, but evidently the financial risk is worth the internal rewards of the new job. Paying COBRA for medical ($400/mo) but should get into a paid ministry job with health benefits by the time COBRA ends"</p>
<p>That sounds like a very irresponsible decision on her part. It is not necessary to take out a massive loan in order to get a ministry job, does it? Ministry work usually pays very low salaries. How is she ever going to pay that off? It will be hanging over her head forever. Why doesn’t she just go to a cheaper school, and work while she does it? She can get the internal satisfaction without the debt. </p>
<p>Why don’t you tell her to consult good old Dave Ramsey about that? As pro religion as he is, he would still bite her head off. </p>
<p>I prefer my pilot not use phrases like “hit or miss.” </p>
<p>Different strokes–personally, I would counsel anyone I cared about NOT to take on huge debt like $100,000 to go into ministry. I’d think degree from local U or on-line would suffice for many openings and not require significant debt.</p>
<p>Our S has an emploer who will pay for him to get an MBA, with strings. S is contemplating it. </p>
<p>With regard to WEP, I’d ask your CPA about it, or perhaps HR or SS would know. You don’t want to plan to get $$$ dollars and then find that after WEP, you get $0. My H’s HR said definitively he would have WEP apply to him, even tho he worked in US for federal govt for over 45 years. </p>
<p>^ SOSConcern hits it just right with that comment! Dh has been with the same firm for 26? 27? years. I’ve only had one employer since my college graduation (though I’m in my second round with this employer). Stability is a huge part of retirement. </p>
<p>A sibling of mine is a pilot. Flies a private plane for a movie studio. Flies famous people all over the world for movie premieres, vacations, just because events. The path to get there wasn’t straight- bachelors degree, Navy (did ROTC), flew for a firm that hired out flight crews, sometimes to awful machine gun toting dictators of third world nations and finally co-owning a company that did flight training of commercial jets (which is a business model that quite disappeared after 9/11.) It’s taken decades to get to the current point of job stability. But stability isn’t everything. </p>
<p>For me, it’s a steady career and family (spouse, kids) that makes me happy and working toward retirement. For my sibling, it’s living and traveling all over the world that makes them happy (no spouse, no kids.) Their retirement will look much different from mine.</p>
<p>"I prefer my pilot not use phrases like “hit or miss.” </p>
<p>Funny, but we use phrases like that all the time. And we try very, very hard not to hit things.</p>
<p>Sounds like your brother or sister has had an exciting life, missb. But I’m with you right there on the stability, and having a husband and kids has made me very happy (unless they’re cranky). I personally can’t wait for retirement.</p>