So this guy in my office had a rage episode recently and he was “asked to leave”. Turns out that he is starting a food-related business outside of the city. Anyway, I am sort of thinking that I don’t want to do this finance stuff forever - just long enough to build a decent nest egg. Full retirement seems like it would be pretty boring, so the idea of running some sort of low stress business seems appealing.
Has anyone ever thought about this? If so, what sort of ideas have you thought about?
I would drop out and become a travel writer. That’s not exactly running a business, but it would be fun and low stress.
I don’t think there is a such a thing as a low stress business for people like those of us here.
vineyard
I am also a strong believer that this investment management thing is temporary. Over the last couple of years I’ve been diversifying my income sources to the point I could walk away pretty much now and still be comfortable with my income level. I’m not doing so because I want to reach retirement-level money before turning 38. Wifey is not super high maintenance so she won’t drag me into poverty—barring she finds a boyfriend and takes my shirt and my cat.
Calling all the shots in your business and feeling reasonably confident that if you bomb it badly you won’t end up in the line of soup is really nice. That’s the real source of a low-stress business, rather than the actual nature of its planning or operational stages.
my boss, head of corporate banking left the bank to open a resturant chain, he got a few of them started, realised he was not made out for running resturants so he got a partner who is made out for it, let him run the resturants and went back to banking
just sharing a story, i am worried about keeping my job while banks in my area are firing right and left, i let you folks worry about retirement
you can make retirement money by age 38 in investment management? you must be pretty good…
According to this random sketchy annuity website, if you are 40 years old, $1,000,000 buys you about $42,000 per year with a survivor’s option for your spouse. So, I guess scale that to your desired level of living expenses. Obviously, healthcare and inflation should be considered.
I need a Rolex to match every pair of limited editions Air Jordans, so I’m going to have to work for a while.
I would love to buy a cash-cow business in a vacation spot. I could run it for a while if I want, train somebody I trust to run it and pay them well if I don’t feel like running it anymore. Stuff like established restaurants in vacation spots are great for this. I know somebody that did exactly this and is loving life.
They’re practically giving away such establishments, right?
Beerfest coach
if finance doesnt work out …male porn star
^^
Yeah, the sum you need to secure a good portion of your normal expenses for life is not small, but is not Tiger Woodish either. If someone is into models and bottles, well then that’s more complicated. I’m by no means a star investor or anything, but fortunately I’ve found a couple of good niches in the past. For instance these days I’ve been visiting a few poor countries in Asia and South America in which I believe there are attractive investment opportunities. Poverty in the world creates huge inefficiencies leading to profitable business models, and I think I just can’t evaluate or identify them while sitting in my office. The payoff is usually very good if you connect the right dots in those environments.
I don’t have the answer Ohai, but for what’s it’s worth, I’m thinking the same. I can’t really see myself doing this stuff when I’m 40 (6 years from now). I want an out strategy but I also haven’t figured out what that is yet. A guy I used to work with resigned his job as head of a trading desk and went into teaching high school science. He came back to finance after 2 years though so not exactly a success story.
I’m hoping to maybe eventually do some kind of online business of some kind, something that’s scalable (i.e. not a grocery store), and that allows me to work from wherever I want (i.e. just need a laptop). I don’t know what exactly, but that’s the areas I’m brainstorming. I knew a guy at an old job who set up an online business selling baby stuff that he got made in China. That kind of thing. It would also allow me to move away from the big city where I could get a nice sized block of land for not much and maybe set up a bed and breakfast, something to supplement our income. My wife wants to write a novel so I’d like her to be able to pursue that dream and hopefully write the next DaVinci Code. What I’d do then is probably best left for another thread (i.e. how to spend it if you made it).
Eventually I want to achieve my dream of being a white thugged out depak chopra. Spitting spiritual knowledge for sheltered and clueless oprah watching yuppies.
I’ve been realizing as I spend 4 days a week on the road for work (all charged to the corp amex of course), I’d LOVE to own a restaurant/bar. I know they have a high failure rate, but if you succeed…the $$ is there.
I have a good friend who is a chef and who has a friend who has done front house mgmt. Shit I’d love to do manage all the finances of my own company by day, socialize by night. Sounds awesome to me.
I can’t take working for the MAN for the indefinite future.
restaurant businesses are super tough to operate…would you consider a high end strip bar of classy babes?
I just turned 40 and am about retired. You don’t wanna be doing this for much longer than that. Some people do, but not sure how or why. Anyhow there’s lots of stuff to do besides sit in an office!!
what did you do so you can retire at 40? you have enough money to go on for another 40 years?
i was planning to get started by 40 lol…
It’s not hard, people in the US make more than anyone in history. Crazy unjustified piles of cash!! If people can’t retire by 40 in this age of easy money they really need to step back and look at the situation.
BTW OP, we want to know what was entailed in the meltdown?