When goals fade away

[catherine]

You all are giving the OP good advice. I am stuck at a basic level of not understanding her either/or premise:

...At this point in my life, I can either do the best I can for 5 years and hopefully get a decent Social Security payout that will keep me fed and housed; OR I can go the last lap full speed ahead and hope for the best...

It seems to me that the OP has no choice right now. She has to work until the BIL the house is sold. I will admit that I am pigheaded and I honestly can't see any other choice. When the BIL house is sold, debt can be retired, and at that point OP can consider options, one of which may be to stop working.


I will say Catherine at this point that if you looking ahead five years at work seems like a long slog, it is likely that 12 months from now, visualizing an additional 4 years will appear unbearable.


I wish for you to get out from your debt and that will provide options for you.

I hear you, IL. Yes, I know that Door #1 is getting out of debt. No question. Door #2 is somehow getting this mortgage paid or paid off (via downsizing). Door #3 is making it to 70 in good health and with clients who are still with me. I truly don't see any other option other than to "slog through" UNLESS I buy a tiny house and park in one of my kids' yards. That's my last resort choice.

Gella, I can't go through my backstory one more time about how I got suckered into this mess (as a willing volunteer, I admit). If I were talking to Dave Ramsey, he would smack me upside the head for at least 5 major financial transgressions I've made in the past 10 years.

OK, gotta go do an interview.

[Rachel]

Catherine, I don't know if you found the the advice that could be the "magic key" for you, but it seems like there are a lot of useful comments. I really appreciated reading your question and the responses because I'm starting to look at a similar question in my own life.

I like how Chicken lady put it: "Dh did the math on retirement and he came up with an acceptable a range of "if He retires at point A and our expenses remain the same (adjust for inflation) and our investments pay off at the highest predicted level, he can live to be 96 and then I can collect his life insurance and run out of money at 98." To "if he retires at point B and we don't add any new bills other than average out of pocket medical for our ages and the investments pay off at minimum expected level we can both live to be nearly 120 before we run out of money." So we are shooting at point B, but once we get to point A, we are going to make the decision one day at a time."

I'm 64 and am surprised/dismayed at the degree to which I am running out of gas professionally. In a way the last few years have been the highest growth of my career in terms of gaining new skills and experiencing new challenges...but the soul-sucking stress elements have taken over ever larger portions of my days. Part of my dilemma is that I live in and LOVE a high cost metro area---so I feel like a large part of the whole purpose of retirement before "Point B" is reached would not exist if I had to move to a different location.

(Although my "Point B" has lower numbers than Chicken lady's "Point B," it is the same idea.)

So--thanks for posting this and thanks to everyone who responded.