Author Topic: Commute to job is killing me  (Read 6766 times)

albireo13

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Commute to job is killing me
« on: April 15, 2017, 06:15:55 AM »
I have a cushy engineering job at a high-tech company.  I actually have enjoyed what I do but, the corporate beaurocracy is starting to eat at me.

I am 61yo now and looking to land the big "career plane" on the runway soon.  My problem is I have a 50mi commute each way/each day and it is starting kill my quality of life.  Too much time driving, gas/car expenses, physical toll of spending almost 2hrs in a car 5 days a week, etc.

I really am thinking of pulling the plug sooner rather than later.
A thought or two ...
I have an annuty pension that I can draw if I quit .... $1840/month.  It is frozen and stays at that amount no matter when I quit. So, each month I keep working I am "losing" $1840.
If I pull SS early at 62 I'd get ~$2100/mo.   

These would help ease the pain of loss in income if I quit early.  I am thinking of retiring after killing off our non-mortgage debt, in about a year or two.  Hard choice.




cats

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2017, 06:26:26 AM »
My immediate thought would be to look into whether or not you could work remotely 2-3 (or heck, even 5) days/week to reduce the commute time, if that's the only thing you hate about the job.  I telework 1 day/week and the difference even that makes in my mood and job tolerance is significant. 

However, you also mention being tired of the corporate bureaucracy, so, a few questions to answer if you want any further advice from this forum: How much non-mortgage debt do you have?  Do you have any idea of what your current or anticipated retirement expenses are? Do you have any savings or are you totally reliant on pension and social security?

albireo13

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2017, 07:13:40 AM »
We have ~ $1.4M in retirement savings (IRA, 401K, 403B). 

$25K in non-mortgage debt.
Want to scrape up $20K more to help kids' college before we retire.

SS (me and wife) + pension + about $6K/mo.

Looking at future expenses we would be fine, assuming we clear our nonmortgage debt.

Optimiser

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2017, 07:27:57 AM »
If those were my numbers I would already be FIREd

big_slacker

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2017, 07:44:02 AM »
You talked in the other thread about your wife not buying in. Is it possible that you'll retire and your wife will continue working? That can give you some stability and health insurance. Then you can stop commuting and start taking care of shit around the house, haha!

FWIW my wife hasn't worked in over a decade (although she's going back into the workforce later this year) and I never resented it a bit since she took care of the house, appointments and later the kids. You'll have to have the talk with your wife to make sure this is ok, but I would HATE to be 60+ and driving 100 miles a day.

Alternately someone above mentioned going remote. I've worked remote at least part of the time for the better part of the last decade and setting your own schedule and working in a way that fits in with your life is huge.

Or consider working a job that doesn't pay as well closer to your home? Just throwing some ideas out, you'd need to run the numbers.

alsoknownasDean

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2017, 08:19:02 AM »
Are you in a position to go part time? Going down to 3 days a week would improve your quality of life significantly and give you a chance to prepare for retirement proper.

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onecoolcat

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2017, 08:37:21 AM »
Isnt that the equivalent of $10,000 a month (assuming a 4% withdrawal rate from your investments)?  Everyone is different but if you didn't want to work I would think you could live comfortably on what you have.

Davids

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2017, 06:11:18 AM »
If I had $1.4M in retirement savings plus a guaranteed $1840/mo pension and SS I would have pulled the plug a long time ago. Without knowing your expenses (and hopefully it is not ridiculous) you should retire now.

albireo13

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2017, 07:02:22 AM »
I've run budgets and monthly expenses will be fine if
I quit, even with mortgage. The problem is I
need to clear out the other debt first.  Got to buckle
down and get that done asap.

COEE

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2017, 07:39:16 AM »
I've run budgets and monthly expenses will be fine if
I quit, even with mortgage. The problem is I
need to clear out the other debt first.  Got to buckle
down and get that done asap.

At 1.4M - just pull out the $25k from your 401k for your debt and another $20k for your kids college.  That will leave you with a measly 1.355M and with a 4% withdraw rate will be $4516.67/mo instead of $4666.67/mo.  I bet you can afford $150/mo.  Not only that - but since it is unearned income it will be taxed at a lower rate than if you had worked for the money - if it's taxed at all (it won't be if it's taken from a roth).

So, $4516.67 + $1840 + $2100 per month = $8456.67/mo.  That's just over $100k/year before you factor in your wife's income).  If you can't make that work - then we need more information about your expenses.

If I had that much money coming in at your age, I'd retire on Monday morning and plan a three month European vacation on Tuesday.

Average lifespan of engineering heavy employeers.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/retire-early-live-longer-14402.html

P.S. Good work!

chasesfish

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2017, 01:38:17 PM »
Thats nuts to keep working, especially when you can pull early SS in a year.  I'd ask for a work-remote arrangement for 3 days a week, if they refuse then retire.

shunkman

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2017, 07:37:03 PM »

Average lifespan of engineering heavy employeers.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/retire-early-live-longer-14402.html


Fake news...
« Last Edit: April 16, 2017, 07:39:03 PM by shunkman »

COEE

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2017, 07:55:22 PM »

Average lifespan of engineering heavy employeers.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/retire-early-live-longer-14402.html


Fake news...

Okay -- so back up your claim with better data...

Viking Thor

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2017, 08:35:18 PM »
That's got to be fake, average person retires at 65 and dead at 66? Every year working decreases 2 years of life span? No way. Don't need to look up alternative data, common sense that can't be true.

mwulff

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #14 on: April 17, 2017, 12:20:26 AM »
That's got to be fake, average person retires at 65 and dead at 66? Every year working decreases 2 years of life span? No way. Don't need to look up alternative data, common sense that can't be true.

Even though I agree with you I constantly remind myself that common sense isn't all it's cracked up to be. Unfortunately I was unable to find the real study, but I suspect the sample size is simply to small for this to not show some funny trends.

albireo13

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #15 on: April 17, 2017, 04:26:42 AM »
Another thought I have ... 
look for a more local job, that is more enjoyable.  I could take a big salary hit but, maybe better than outright retiring.  If I pull in more than $2100 a month, it would be better than retiring. 
It would be good to put off starting my SS. 
Plus, there may be benefits of some sort.   The key is finding something enjoyable. 

golden1

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #16 on: April 17, 2017, 08:09:58 AM »
Since you are so close to retirement, I would definitely try to see if working from home a few days a week is an option.  In engineering, it is extremely difficult to find a new job at your age.  I have seen far too many older engineering workers get aged out and unable to find steady work starting in their late 50s. 

I hear you on the crappy commute though - it is soul sucking.  My current commute is much shorter distance wise than yours (18.5 miles) but actually takes longer.  I commute 2.5 hours a day on average and this is a HUGE reason why I accepted another position starting in a few weeks.  I actually had a, no joke, 3 hour commute last Wednesday because of an accident.  My new commute is 30 minutes with no traffic so I will get 1.5hour of my day back - looking forward to that. 

albireo13

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #17 on: April 17, 2017, 08:31:45 AM »
I think I will see later this year about working some days at home.  Right now is tough because I need to work in the lab quite a bit for the short term.
The commute is the problem, more than the job itself.

2 hours a day sitting in a car is 2 hours of my life I'll never get back !

ikonomore

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #18 on: April 17, 2017, 10:34:08 AM »
I don't understand how you can't save $25k in 6 months or less?  You saved for retirement it seems.  $25k should be easy peasy.

TomTX

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #19 on: April 17, 2017, 12:34:07 PM »
We have ~ $1.4M in retirement savings (IRA, 401K, 403B). 

$25K in non-mortgage debt.
Want to scrape up $20K more to help kids' college before we retire.

SS (me and wife) + pension + about $6K/mo.

Looking at future expenses we would be fine, assuming we clear our nonmortgage debt.

It looks like you have no financial reason to keep working.

TomTX

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #20 on: April 17, 2017, 12:45:36 PM »
That's got to be fake, average person retires at 65 and dead at 66? Every year working decreases 2 years of life span? No way. Don't need to look up alternative data, common sense that can't be true.

Saying "I don't believe it" is not a valid refutation.

albireo13

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #21 on: April 17, 2017, 03:33:31 PM »
We have ~ $1.4M in retirement savings (IRA, 401K, 403B). 

$25K in non-mortgage debt.
Want to scrape up $20K more to help kids' college before we retire.

SS (me and wife) + pension + about $6K/mo.

Looking at future expenses we would be fine, assuming we clear our nonmortgage debt.

It looks like you have no financial reason to keep working.


I think I have OMY syndrome!     LOL

TomTX

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #22 on: April 17, 2017, 03:38:53 PM »
We have ~ $1.4M in retirement savings (IRA, 401K, 403B). 

$25K in non-mortgage debt.
Want to scrape up $20K more to help kids' college before we retire.

SS (me and wife) + pension + about $6K/mo.

Looking at future expenses we would be fine, assuming we clear our nonmortgage debt.

It looks like you have no financial reason to keep working.


I think I have OMY syndrome!     LOL

You've won.  Your commute is killing you. It's time to end the grind - unless they do agree to a part-time WFH or consulting arrangement.

You probably haven't been taking all of your vacation time or sick leave either. If you can't just walk away: use your vacation time, use the sick time - for legitimate things that you have let slide. Get a physical therapy referral and use it for going to PT. Yes, you almost certainly need PT if you're still doing that commute at age 61.  You earned the leave time, zero it out.

shunkman

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chasesfish

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #24 on: April 18, 2017, 07:11:35 PM »
We have ~ $1.4M in retirement savings (IRA, 401K, 403B). 

$25K in non-mortgage debt.
Want to scrape up $20K more to help kids' college before we retire.

SS (me and wife) + pension + about $6K/mo.

Looking at future expenses we would be fine, assuming we clear our nonmortgage debt.

It looks like you have no financial reason to keep working.


I think I have OMY syndrome!     LOL

Did you walk in there and retire today?

albireo13

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Re: Commute to job is killing me
« Reply #25 on: April 18, 2017, 07:35:37 PM »
Not yet.  Too much fun.

I spent today planting a wireless fart machine in the back of a meeting room.

I was setting it off while there was a video-conf meeting going on.  The stuffed suits couldn't find the source of the noise..
I almost lost it.   LOL

It's fun going to work when you have FU in the back pocket!!