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Pastimes : The Justa & Lars Honors Bob Brinker Investment Club -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kirk © who wrote (12745)	3/24/2000 11:30:00 AM
From: Dogbert	Respond to of 15132

Have you ever written anything without an embedded commercial for yourself? Do you think you could try? But on the issue of CM which I find very interesting, let me relate an interesting story of someone who emailed me out of the blue with some questions. Engineer with an aerospace/military big name company in San Diego. Laid off 2 years ago, age 48, out of work for 2 years now and living on 'portfolio income'. House lost in divorce years ago, renting an apartment. Total investment capital $300K, about 50% in IRA. Has tried to find a job, off and on, for the 2 years but nothing, due to age, background. Really has given up trying for that now. Investing in assorted things, actively trading, and living on the spoils. Of course I told him he was not at CM, that he had to do something else. He told me there are many people in the same boat he knows there. He said many 50-something ex coworkers have $100K in a 401k and a pension and think they're set for life. Related a couple of stories about others he worked with. One engineer, similar case, tried for over a year to get a job and couldn't so decided to law school. Now 3 years later, saddled with student loan debt and approaching 50 he found the only job he could get was with the Immigration Service as a public defender type for people being deported in a desert town. No big name law firm for this guy, too old and has the wrong background. Another engineer finally got a tech writer job at 50% of his old pay working at a startup. An article in the San Diego paper recently said that someone being retired under 50 spells downsizing. Not a certainty of course, but a good probability. I think there are large numbers of these people who don't make the news. And their CM number is basically set for them by how much they've got when it happens. There is no choice as to how much to accumulate before making the voluntary decision to quit. I think for a huge number of people, retirement is a surprise, and CM is how much you've got when it happens.

To: Kirk © who wrote (12745)	3/24/2000 12:57:00 PM
From: Trebor	Respond to of 15132

> I think doing more volunteer work would be rewarding< I can assure you it is one of life's most rewarding experiences. My story: In 1995 I sold my interest in a successful business I had grown to detest. Fortunately the proceeds provided the nucleus of critical mass, giving me the freedom at a relatively early age (50ish) to do with my time what I wanted to do. I thought I would "dabble" with volunteer work for a local chapter of a favorite national non-profit organization, but as often happens, I soon found myself much more involved than I ever intended to be. I won't plug the organization other than to do say that its unofficial slogan (strictly among its volunteers) is "All we ask for is your time, your money and your blood." My work with this organization has taken me throughout the nation and to remote corners of the world; I've had incredible experiences, met incredible people and received more job satisfaction than I ever received from my business. If I periodically disappear from this thread for several weeks at a time, it's probably because I'm "on assignment" for this organization. The irony is I'm now doing for free what I used to get paid darn good money to do -- I hated it then; I love it now. Go figure.