Comments on: Can You Make Work Optional? http://www.jtrigsby.com/2010/03/can-you-make-work-optional/ Life In the Internet Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:53:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: MrsDragon http://www.jtrigsby.com/2010/03/can-you-make-work-optional/comment-page-1/#comment-399 MrsDragon Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:44:21 +0000 http://www.jtrigsby.com/?p=858#comment-399 Sometimes I feel like the universe is talking to me. It seems like everywhere I go lately people are talking about those BIG dreams and long term goals.<br><br>I'm looking forward to seeing what your plan entails. Sometimes I feel like the universe is talking to me. It seems like everywhere I go lately people are talking about those BIG dreams and long term goals.

I'm looking forward to seeing what your plan entails.

]]> By: jtrigsby http://www.jtrigsby.com/2010/03/can-you-make-work-optional/comment-page-1/#comment-400 jtrigsby Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:35:29 +0000 http://www.jtrigsby.com/?p=858#comment-400 You make some great points Suzanne! To go along with keeping a car after its paid off, you can take the amount that was going to your car payment and put it in savings. When the time comes to get a new car, now you have whatever trade-in value you get from the old one plus the "pre-payments" you've made to yourself! Who knows, save long enough and you may be able to pay cash for that new car!<br><br>The health care issue is an important one. It can easily become you single greatest expense. It will be interesting to see where the debate over health care reform finally leaves us but for the time being, self insuring short term illness and getting catastrophic coverage from a carrier can be an affordable option for some people. I guess we'll just have to wait and see on what the future might hold, huh?<br><br>Thanks for the comments!<br><br>@jtrigsby You make some great points Suzanne! To go along with keeping a car after its paid off, you can take the amount that was going to your car payment and put it in savings. When the time comes to get a new car, now you have whatever trade-in value you get from the old one plus the “pre-payments” you've made to yourself! Who knows, save long enough and you may be able to pay cash for that new car!

The health care issue is an important one. It can easily become you single greatest expense. It will be interesting to see where the debate over health care reform finally leaves us but for the time being, self insuring short term illness and getting catastrophic coverage from a carrier can be an affordable option for some people. I guess we'll just have to wait and see on what the future might hold, huh?

Thanks for the comments!

@jtrigsby

]]> By: shaggerty http://www.jtrigsby.com/2010/03/can-you-make-work-optional/comment-page-1/#comment-401 shaggerty Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:09:11 +0000 http://www.jtrigsby.com/?p=858#comment-401 A house payment that doesn't require two people to be working full time is fundamental to making work optional. Less radical than the one-car idea: Maintain your vehicle and keep it for as long as it makes sense to. Just because you've paid off one 5-year loan doesn't mean it's time to get another one.<br><br>Marry someone whose needs/wants column lines up with your own. If one of you is pursuing early retirement while the other is pursuing more square footage, you have a problem.<br><br>I know three people who could retire tomorrow if they could only get health insurance. I don't want this to get political, and I won't choose sides, but that's the one holdup I see to most folks (even the healthiest ones) making work optional. You can balance your wants and needs and get expenses down to a reasonable amount, but the potential financial devastation of an unexpected medical emergency is a pretty heavy psychological deterrent. It's one thing to self-insure your house (you have to have saved enough money to rebuild it), but it's hard to predict how much you should save to self-insure yourself. A house payment that doesn't require two people to be working full time is fundamental to making work optional. Less radical than the one-car idea: Maintain your vehicle and keep it for as long as it makes sense to. Just because you've paid off one 5-year loan doesn't mean it's time to get another one.

Marry someone whose needs/wants column lines up with your own. If one of you is pursuing early retirement while the other is pursuing more square footage, you have a problem.

I know three people who could retire tomorrow if they could only get health insurance. I don't want this to get political, and I won't choose sides, but that's the one holdup I see to most folks (even the healthiest ones) making work optional. You can balance your wants and needs and get expenses down to a reasonable amount, but the potential financial devastation of an unexpected medical emergency is a pretty heavy psychological deterrent. It's one thing to self-insure your house (you have to have saved enough money to rebuild it), but it's hard to predict how much you should save to self-insure yourself.

]]> By: MrsDragon http://www.jtrigsby.com/2010/03/can-you-make-work-optional/comment-page-1/#comment-307 MrsDragon Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:44:21 +0000 http://www.jtrigsby.com/?p=858#comment-307 Sometimes I feel like the universe is talking to me. It seems like everywhere I go lately people are talking about those BIG dreams and long term goals.<br><br>I'm looking forward to seeing what your plan entails. Sometimes I feel like the universe is talking to me. It seems like everywhere I go lately people are talking about those BIG dreams and long term goals.

I'm looking forward to seeing what your plan entails.

]]> By: jtrigsby http://www.jtrigsby.com/2010/03/can-you-make-work-optional/comment-page-1/#comment-306 jtrigsby Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:35:29 +0000 http://www.jtrigsby.com/?p=858#comment-306 You make some great points Suzanne! To go along with keeping a car after its paid off, you can take the amount that was going to your car payment and put it in savings. When the time comes to get a new car, now you have whatever trade-in value you get from the old one plus the "pre-payments" you've made to yourself! Who knows, save long enough and you may be able to pay cash for that new car!<br><br>The health care issue is an important one. It can easily become you single greatest expense. It will be interesting to see where the debate over health care reform finally leaves us but for the time being, self insuring short term illness and getting catastrophic coverage from a carrier can be an affordable option for some people. I guess we'll just have to wait and see on what the future might hold, huh?<br><br>Thanks for the comments!<br><br>@jtrigsby You make some great points Suzanne! To go along with keeping a car after its paid off, you can take the amount that was going to your car payment and put it in savings. When the time comes to get a new car, now you have whatever trade-in value you get from the old one plus the “pre-payments” you've made to yourself! Who knows, save long enough and you may be able to pay cash for that new car!

The health care issue is an important one. It can easily become you single greatest expense. It will be interesting to see where the debate over health care reform finally leaves us but for the time being, self insuring short term illness and getting catastrophic coverage from a carrier can be an affordable option for some people. I guess we'll just have to wait and see on what the future might hold, huh?

Thanks for the comments!

@jtrigsby

]]> By: shaggerty http://www.jtrigsby.com/2010/03/can-you-make-work-optional/comment-page-1/#comment-305 shaggerty Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:09:11 +0000 http://www.jtrigsby.com/?p=858#comment-305 A house payment that doesn't require two people to be working full time is fundamental to making work optional. Less radical than the one-car idea: Maintain your vehicle and keep it for as long as it makes sense to. Just because you've paid off one 5-year loan doesn't mean it's time to get another one.<br><br>Marry someone whose needs/wants column lines up with your own. If one of you is pursuing early retirement while the other is pursuing more square footage, you have a problem.<br><br>I know three people who could retire tomorrow if they could only get health insurance. I don't want this to get political, and I won't choose sides, but that's the one holdup I see to most folks (even the healthiest ones) making work optional. You can balance your wants and needs and get expenses down to a reasonable amount, but the potential financial devastation of an unexpected medical emergency is a pretty heavy psychological deterrent. It's one thing to self-insure your house (you have to have saved enough money to rebuild it), but it's hard to predict how much you should save to self-insure yourself. A house payment that doesn't require two people to be working full time is fundamental to making work optional. Less radical than the one-car idea: Maintain your vehicle and keep it for as long as it makes sense to. Just because you've paid off one 5-year loan doesn't mean it's time to get another one.

Marry someone whose needs/wants column lines up with your own. If one of you is pursuing early retirement while the other is pursuing more square footage, you have a problem.

I know three people who could retire tomorrow if they could only get health insurance. I don't want this to get political, and I won't choose sides, but that's the one holdup I see to most folks (even the healthiest ones) making work optional. You can balance your wants and needs and get expenses down to a reasonable amount, but the potential financial devastation of an unexpected medical emergency is a pretty heavy psychological deterrent. It's one thing to self-insure your house (you have to have saved enough money to rebuild it), but it's hard to predict how much you should save to self-insure yourself.

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