Retirement Planning - Lessons Learned

[drssg]

I think part of the deal with remote employees is that it puts more pressure on management to understand what their employees are doing, so they are in a position to evaluate whether the remote employee is doing a good job. For a considerable portion of my career, I had a non-technical administrative manager. The sad reality was that he/she didn't even know what I do. If I provided a detailed description of everything I did during a specified period, he still wouldn't be in a position to evaluate whether that was an impressive amount of work, or not. The nearest hope of evaluating my performance was to note whether I show up on time, stay reasonably late, and appear to be diligently working on something whenever he walks past my desk. He combines that with feedback from other people who also don't understand what I do, and that becomes a perception-based annual performance review.

I worked remotely for the last two years of my career, and I had the best manager of my career. This guy could have done my job better than I could, but his time was better spent overseeing and managing what his team was doing. There was clear visibility and expectations of what everyone was supposed to get done and when. With that level of understanding nobody really cares what exact hours of the day I spend sitting at my desk.

I had no commute. I could work in my pajamas. I had a beautiful view of my property outside my office window. Those were the best years of my career.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^^
The communication infrastructure has to be in place for that to work, however. Internet service in this area is a crap shoot; I've rebooted my router at least a dozen times tonight as that's what it takes to stay online; we're operating on '70s vintage lines and the phone company has no reason to upgrade. Satellite doesn't work well when it's cloudy out... I've seen the sun about 5 days this year. I'm thinking about switching to cellular; it will work for me, but they cautioned me that it isn't for somebody who likes to stream movies.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep... I left 1920's infrastructure for 1950"s infrastructure with copper for internet... Such is the state in the big city.

The call went out to work remote but it was a no go when you care for patients and keep the facility open.

If remote is the future what prevents off shore?

 

[JethroB]

^^^^^
The communication infrastructure has to be in place for that to work, however. Internet service in this area is a crap shoot; I've rebooted my router at least a dozen times tonight as that's what it takes to stay online; we're operating on '70s vintage lines and the phone company has no reason to upgrade. Satellite doesn't work well when it's cloudy out... I've seen the sun about 5 days this year. I'm thinking about switching to cellular; it will work for me, but they cautioned me that it isn't for somebody who likes to stream movies.

Streaming over a standard cell can get really expensive in a hurry. I got away with it for a while using a company cellphone as a hotspot but we had about 30 GB of unused data each month. (I managed the 40 phones. ) Verizon charges $15/ GB above my current plan of 2 GB/month. 1 GB is good for a couple of hours of high def streaming. Netflix allows you to dial down to standard definition and about doubles your mileage. The Verizon unlimited plans sound good but restrict the speed to 600kbps after the first 15 GB. Was a little careless last fall when my cable modem died. $60 in a couple of days.

 

[MossRoad]

Yep... I left 1920's infrastructure for 1950"s infrastructure with copper for internet... Such is the state in the big city.

The call went out to work remote but it was a no go when you care for patients and keep the facility open.

If remote is the future what prevents off shore?

Nothing. The lowest bidder will get the job.

So many companies are now facing the reality that they can toss their employees a few dollars more to stay home and it costs the employer less money in the long run, as they don't have a physical plant to maintain. Think about it. No heat, no lights, no I.T. staff to maintain no network. No desktop workstations. No restrooms. No office to clean.

My wife works for a financial institution. She's been working from home since March. The only time she goes in is if they need a physical thing done, like loading money on plastic cards. That only happens 1 day every few weeks. I think she's had to go in less than 10 times in 9 months. She has a card table set up in the corner of the living room. That's her office. They gave her a laptop and a 2nd monitor, a keyboard and a mouse. Her boss said they've been more productive than ever, and doubts they'll go back to working in the office anytime in the foreseeable future. No reason to.

I suspect they are more productive, because they aren't right next to each other gabbing all day. Everything is done via web calls and zoom meetings.

She loved it this summer. At 12:01 each day she was out in our pool for 55 minutes. Back to work at 12:59. All fall she took walks at lunch. Now that it's cold out, she rides her elliptical machine at lunch. She has no reason to go back.

So to answer your question, office work is virtual. Doesn't matter where you live as long as you have good connectivity.

 

[drssg]

There were certainly plenty of companies using off shore resources well before covid. The advantage is a lower hourly rate for resources. The disadvantages are that the resources are working in a very different time zone, there are frequently language barriers, and it's a contractor mentality where the resources tend to not have a long-term history with the company. For some situations, the employer considers it to be worth the reduced wage rate. In other situations, the employer wants to have more long-term stability, so they aren't constantly bringing new workers up to speed.

When I worked remotely, I had a six hour drive to come into the office about twice a year. I used to say that they wanted to make sure I hadn't gone feral, and I could still reasonably present myself. If the employer cared, that would also not be practical for an off shore worker.

 

[travisbb]

If remote is the future what prevents off shore?

Offshoring was tried in a big way in the 90's and early 2000's -- it almost always ended in failure.

It turned out being at work at the same time matters. If you can't pick up the phone and call the customer or manager everything takes three times as long. So anywhere not in the same timezones as the continental US is tough.

It also turned out that good English skills and an understanding of US work culture is important to understanding directions well enough to do the job right the first time. Redoing the job multiple times cost more than any possible savings.

With that in mind, outsourcing destinations these days aren't India and China, but rather smalltown USA and Canada.

 

[JethroB]

How many people can do their jobs from home? 10% maybe? Office workers, IT, sales. White collar mostly.
I managed or supervised an accounting staff of about 10 for 20 years. There always seemed to be one or two problem employees. Those PITA's that would spend the day talking, surfing, or playing minesweeper then hit the door at 5 o'clock. And how do you train new hires remotely? I'm glad I not there for the experiment.

 

[Snobdds]

Retirement is about free cash flows, in a constant stream. Any advisor will try to get you as many streams flowing into one lake for the rest of your days. Make better streams and remove dams.

At my company, a health insurer, we have about 90% at home. In 2019, we went to a cloud based system. Every thing is internet based and we had about a two month adjustment, then it was business as usual. The people in the building are upper management and my area, actuarial. The bandwidth needed to pull and push data is not present on residential internet. We need the fiber optic lines to handle the loads. Internet connections and speed capabilities have become a weak link in the evolution to working from home.

 

[two_bit_score]

If you have the means, having a mortgage in retirement is no different than having a mortgage in your working years.

But that piece of mind and sense of accomplishment is priceless. . The tax deduction advantage is gone for most people.

The tax deduction 殿dvantage never equals the interest you pay on any mortgage!

Free and clear always trumps tax deduction!

And the money that would go to the mortgage payment goes into other investments at higher rates of return. We enjoy being the lender instead of the borrower.

 

[riptides]

Hopefully rural does not end up being a compound but sounds like some members are well fortified already.

I wonder how many planning retirement plan to retire in place without moving?

That was one of my plans. Our plans, should say. Our farm has a "cottage"/"guest house". Sounds classier than a farm hand house. Have to keep up with the times. In any case, we renovated that first and lived in that while the farm house was being demolished. <- renovated. LOL.

A plan was to move in the "cottage", downsized and one floor, again when the time came.

Our issue now, is taxes and just the general upkeep of the farm.

But it is an option.

 

[ultrarunner]

Nothing. The lowest bidder will get the job.

So many companies are now facing the reality that they can toss their employees a few dollars more to stay home and it costs the employer less money in the long run, as they don't have a physical plant to maintain. Think about it. No heat, no lights, no I.T. staff to maintain no network. No desktop workstations. No restrooms. No office to clean.

My wife works for a financial institution. She's been working from home since March. The only time she goes in is if they need a physical thing done, like loading money on plastic cards. That only happens 1 day every few weeks. I think she's had to go in less than 10 times in 9 months. She has a card table set up in the corner of the living room. That's her office. They gave her a laptop and a 2nd monitor, a keyboard and a mouse. Her boss said they've been more productive than ever, and doubts they'll go back to working in the office anytime in the foreseeable future. No reason to.

I suspect they are more productive, because they aren't right next to each other gabbing all day. Everything is done via web calls and zoom meetings.

She loved it this summer. At 12:01 each day she was out in our pool for 55 minutes. Back to work at 12:59. All fall she took walks at lunch. Now that it's cold out, she rides her elliptical machine at lunch. She has no reason to go back.

So to answer your question, office work is virtual. Doesn't matter where you live as long as you have good connectivity.

Would have to have home setup where you could actually work... with the many things going on in a home it could it couldn't work...

Many if my tenants work from home... financial sector and customer service.

Of course the mechanic and healthcare workers are busier than ever...

You have a pool?

 

[riptides]

....

So many companies are now facing the reality that they can toss their employees a few dollars more to stay home and it costs the employer less money in the long run, as they don't have a physical plant to maintain. Think about it. No heat, no lights, no I.T. staff to maintain no network. No desktop workstations. No restrooms. No office to clean.

....

An observation on my part, but I know people are now relocating geographically since their office "closed". Real Estate prices are at a premium in my area, and those relocating are moving forward with their new lifestyle with the "office" location as a secondary thought.

Don't know what will happen when the "office" reopens. There is always that chance. I say good for them.

 

[ultrarunner]

A few companies prohibit employees working from home if home is a different state...

Happened to a friend that moved to his Tahoe cabin on the Nevada side...

Something about differences in state employment laws?

 

[mikester]

Offshoring was tried in a big way in the 90's and early 2000's -- it almost always ended in failure.

It turned out being at work at the same time matters. If you can't pick up the phone and call the customer or manager everything takes three times as long. So anywhere not in the same timezones as the continental US is tough.

It also turned out that good English skills and an understanding of US work culture is important to understanding directions well enough to do the job right the first time. Redoing the job multiple times cost more than any possible savings.

With that in mind, outsourcing destinations these days aren't India and China, but rather smalltown USA and Canada.

Ha ha ha ha plop. I fell off my chair. Outsourcing to Canada? What are you talking about, warehousing isn't outsourcing, it's the end of the overseas distribution line?!

Do you know why we can't get covid vaccines in Canada? Because Brian Mulroney sold us down the river with "free trade", privatized vaccine production, sold the family jewels to foreign companies at $0.02 on the dollar, and all production capability was sold off and "outsourced" overseas.

 

[MossRoad]

How many people can do their jobs from home? 10% maybe? Office workers, IT, sales. White collar mostly.
I managed or supervised an accounting staff of about 10 for 20 years. There always seemed to be one or two problem employees. Those PITA's that would spend the day talking, surfing, or playing minesweeper then hit the door at 5 o'clock. And how do you train new hires remotely? I'm glad I not there for the experiment.

[FONT=&quot]We see an incredible 42 percent of the U.S. labor force now working from home full-time. About another 33 percent are not working a testament to the savage impact of the lockdown recession. And the remaining 26 percent mostly essential service workers are working on their business premises. So, by sheer numbers, the U.S. is a working-from-home economy. Almost twice as many employees are working from home as at work.

From here:
[/FONT]A snapshot of a new working-from-home economy | Stanford News

 

[MossRoad]

Would have to have home setup where you could actually work... with the many things going on in a home it could it couldn't work...

Many if my tenants work from home... financial sector and customer service.

Of course the mechanic and healthcare workers are busier than ever...

You have a pool?

Yep. It's a 24' above ground pool about 4' deep. I put a 2hp pump on it and it makes a nice lazy river effect, and you sit in your inner tube or on your raft and it takes you around the loop about once every 2 minutes. :laughing:

We've had it for about 22-23 years now.

It's a luxury item. Only gets used about 4 months out of the year at most. Sucks electricity with the pump and salt water chlorine generator. Wife loves it. I love her. Happy wife happy life. All that stuff.

 

[MossRoad]

Ha ha ha ha plop. I fell off my chair. Outsourcing to Canada? What are you talking about, warehousing isn't outsourcing, it's the end of the overseas distribution line?!

Do you know why we can't get covid vaccines in Canada? Because Brian Mulroney sold us down the river with "free trade", privatized vaccine production, sold the family jewels to foreign companies at $0.02 on the dollar, and all production capability was sold off and "outsourced" overseas.

9 Reasons Why American Tech Companies Outsource Software Development to Canada - Intersog

Why Near-shoring to Canada is the New Offshore for Outsourcing Your Software Development? - BrickRed System | Information Technology | Consulting %

 

[SouthernSky]

The lesson I wish I’d learned when I was 26 was to always marry someone your own age.

I’m approaching 60. My wife is 55. She wants to work until Medicare age while i want to bail from my challenging job at 60. So that means she will be working 10 years more than me.

I don’t want to wait 10 years for us to go do what we plan in retirement which includes a bit of traveling, but I don’t want to travel alone either.

Still not sure what I’m going to do and haven’t found anything I’d like to do while I wait for her to retire.

 

[MossRoad]

My father in law recently passed away. He was 93. His wife is 13 years younger than him. He retired at 65 when she was still 52. She worked for another 13 years and retired from AM General where she'd worked on the line for about 20 years. Yet they still managed to travel a couple times every year even while she worked. They'd take cruises. Bus trips. Went to Europe. Alaska. Hawaii a couple times. New England. Vega. Florida. You name it, they probably went there. They'd take a 2 week trip and a 1 week trip every year.

When she was working and he was home, he'd vacuum the house every day, cut the lawn every other day, go fishing with his childhood buddies (surprisingly a bunch were still alive), volunteered to take Vets to the VA over in Ft. Wayne, hang out at the Legion(s), VFW(s), and a couple conservation clubs he belonged to.

They never seemed to have a problem with the age difference and retirement.