Turning down high paying job. Am I crazy?

[JaxRed]

You couldn't afford the paycut RBA......

[RBA]

You couldn't afford the paycut RBA......

I wish that was true. The military doesn't want me anymore.

[edabbs44]

I was just messin' with ya ......

I know that...NJ is in my blood. But I'm not a huge Springsteen fan.

[edabbs44]

Plus depending on where you live NJ can be REALLY nice.

I graduated high school in Summit, NJ.

Summit is a really nice area. I live in northern Bergen County. Just insanely expensive.

[defender]

CA also has sales tax of about 9% (it varies by county).

[BuckeyeRed27]

I only live about 60 miles from Riverside and I don't think I would take a 40k raise to move there.


Good choice.

[RBA]

I only live about 60 miles from Riverside and I don't think I would take a 40k raise to move there.


Good choice.

I had an Aunt/Counsins that use to live on Strand St. Do you live close to there.

[pedro]

Summit is a really nice area. I live in northern Bergen County. Just insanely expensive.

I like Ridgewood quite a lot. It sure ain't cheap though.

[BuckeyeRed27]

I had an Aunt/Counsins that use to live on Strand St. Do you live close to there.

Fairly. I actually live in Marina del Rey now, but it's only a few miles.

[edabbs44]

I like Ridgewood quite a lot. It sure ain't cheap though.

I am 5 min from Ridgewood. Can be a little snooty but a very nice town. Great downtown area.

[JaxRed]

It's been more than 3 years so I thought I might bump this for an update. At the time I was 58 (and 3/4), had just got the boss from hell, which is why I was thinking of moving on from my old job, even if I didn't take the new one.

I mentioned that I might pay off the house with my IRA's when I hit 59 1/2 and might buy a house in Goodyear.

So what went down was this: Boss in Cali lost her ability to hire someone so she made me an offer of consulting at $75 an hour. My current job would pay me $30 an hour for 20 hours per week. So I punched out 3 months after writing this. (June 2010).

My $75 an hour gig only lasted till Sep when she finally got permission to hire someone and did. My $30 an hour gig lasted about 20 months until Feb 2012. However fate was kind and I picked up another $30 an hour consulting job at that point and I'm still doing it today. I usually only work 10-15 hours, but that is my choice.

I did pay off the house which meant my military retirement could be used as pay and not go strictly to house payments. I also grabbed enough money out of IRA's to make down payments on 2 Arizona houses. (turned out to be Avondale, not Goodyear....other side of the ballpark). They have been rented continously ever since we bought them.

So, between the consulting, my retired pay, my wife's pay and the rental income, I've survived and treaded water financially for the last 3 years. I hit 62 in June and in 15 days I get my first Social Security check. I plan to keep on doing the current level of consulting for the forseebale future. In fact my big boss at the College, who did not back me when there was a power struggle, has gone to another position and I'm now doing consulting for him at that job. (I have a unique skill set involving a particular software package)

In hindsight, I was correct to turn down Riverside, probably should have put up with the boss from hell for a longer period of time. I'm glad I bought the houses. Working part time though has let me keep my sanity. I was getting kind of burned out.

I always felt if I could just make it to 62 without having no consulting income I'd be ok, since my Social Security is about equal to my consulting. I made it, and now the consulting money will be "extra" to improve things.

[dougdirt]

Yes, you are crazy. But that isn't a bad thing.

[medford]

thanks for the update, never saw the original post, but happy to see the outcome some 3 years later.

If you don't mind me asking, w/ the house paid for (I assume the rental properites as well?) what are your monthly living expenses? What are the things you find yourself paying for in retirement that you didn't think about 20-30 years ago? I've often wondered myself just how much I'll need for retirement.

I've read alot about something I think is called the theory of 20 or something along those lines, where basically you take your yearly living expenses, multiple it by 20 and that is how much you need in retirement. You take out 5% each year, and even if you started your retirement in the worst time frame for the S&P (It was the early 70s at the time I believe where it took a sharp dive over 2 years) you still ended up growing your portfolio showing that traditional returns, even if you pick the wrong year to start should get you thru assuming you can start limit your self to a 5% withdrawl each year (the historical return would outpace inflation so each year you'd take out a little more money in theory than the year before to overcome the rise in cost)

I'm currently on "pace" to have a little over 1 mil in my 401(k) when I hit 60. I've got a small personal account outside of that that I hope to continue contributing to again some day, plus we'll have my wife's retirement from STRS (teacher's retirement plan). Throw on Social Security (if its still there) as well. The 5% would be 50k a year, plus 5% of whatever my personal accounts are at the time, plus the SS and my wife's pension plan (there are so many changes I haven't even bothered to begin worrying about what that will be yearly at this point). All told, $75 to $100k a year, I'd hope to have my house paid off at that point, perhaps even a retirement getaway somewhere. Inflation will eat into that number from today; I think that would all be enough, we live fairly simple, probably wouldn't start getting all extravagent in retirement.

[vaticanplum]

Plus depending on where you live NJ can be REALLY nice.

I graduated high school in Summit, NJ.

I used to live in Madison! it's a small world. And a small state.

[remdog]

Also, if you move to California, don't say "Cali". Nobody from California says that.

That's very true. Nothing will get a 'back', up as much as that when someone says 'Cali'.

It shows that you don't hail from there, have no respect for the state or the people that live and work there or that you are somehow thinking that you're 'cool'.

After all, Cali is a city in Columbia.



PS: Is this at UC Riverside? The City of Riverside is actually pretty nice but it's a drive to get to the ocean/beach. And it gets hot in the summertime.

Any chance you can get the employer to fly you and the wife out there for a few days to look over the area/

I've been stuck in Cleveland with some health issues and, I have to tell you that, other than housing costs, the cost of living in in SoCal is cheaper than Cleveland. The roads are good, thereby eliminating things like broken springs (suffered the first day I had my car in Ohio, costing $1700.00 to repair, fresh fruits and veggies, as well as steak and other meats, all year long at cheaper rates than Ohio, courtesy of the 'Central Valley and Mexico and South America, low heating costs in winter. Of course, the cost of wine is lower. No need for a 'winter wardrobe', and, of course, great weather.

Rem