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Escape fantacies (spin off from buying a franchise thread)

FreeFlyNole

FreeFlyNole

Seminole Insider
Jan 2, 2008
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I think most of us have some sort of escape fantasy. If you were to pack up and bail out what would it look like?

I was actually talking to my wife about it this weekend. I am at the midpoint of my career and have at least 15 probably 20 more years I have to work left in me. But I'd really like a break that wouldn't totally destroy my retirement plan / savings / totally derail my career.

I'm at my 3rd med device start up now, and I don't have an expectation of this being a job I'm at more than 3 / 4 more years at the most before they sell to a big multi-billion juggernaut. At that time I'll have to decide weather I want to stay in the big corp or move on to another start up. Security vs high risk/reward. If it happened today I'd go with another start up.

My equity position here is pretty decent, so if we are bought I'll probably get a nice chunk of change (about 1 to 2 years earnings). I was telling my wife that I'd love to just rent out our house furnished, buy a sail boat and cruise around the Carribbean while getting an online Executive MBA. I should get an MBA, it would be helpful in my career, but with two small children and a busy work schedule I just haven't made the time.

The way I look at it, it would be explainable in my resume, I just took time off to get an MBA and thoroughly vet my next opportunity... while in reality, it would just give some structure to dicking around in the Caribbean for 18 - 24 months.

It will probably never happen, but it's nice to think about.

What'chu got?
 
January will be 11 years with the State. So I am roughly 1/3 of the way there. I don't know at this point that I have a way to deal with down time of not working. I haven't played golf in a couple of years, Vegas/Travelling would take a chunk of change, plus with a 4.5 year old and a 1.5 year old getting away from here for any extended time would be more work than coming in to the office everyday.

But in an absolute fantasy situation. I would pack up everybody, move to Phoenix/Santa Fe/San Antonio area. Play golf, a lot. Take monthly trips to Vegas. Drive the Pacific Coast. Make a cross country drive. Oh, and two chicks at the same time.
 
Since I'm the majority partner in my firm, and I own too much property (and am responsible for related expenses), and I have two kids (and am responsible for related expenses), I have no options.

If I could turn back the clock, I'd certainly do things differently - either before attending college, or after graduation but before beginning my work career. I'd spend winters in a ski town, working whatever job I could scrounge there - and ski nonstop on my days off. I'd spend the rest of the year on one of the islands, working in a dive shop or some other service job - and diving when I wasn't working.
 
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Same, but probably longer, sponsored, and orient oriented...Jim Nance has done it twice: sailed around the world; and hiked around Africa.


http://svdelos.com/
 
Being that I'm in a tech startup ultimate goal is to go IPO or bought out by one of the big guys. When this happens I'll have a few years worth of current annual salary in the pocket. Maybe use part of it to pay off the mortgage, then take up a remote working position (software jobs have more of this option). Move around the world - Asia, Europe, South America and live in some destination locales for a few months each.
 
Mine is to accumulate a bunch of money quickly from my various projects and then cash out to purchase a vineyard and olive orchard somewhere and just make my own wine and olives plus maybe stupidvise/create menus for a little onsite gastropub. Do that for another 20 years or so and then completely retire.
 
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NDallasDaughter (no pics!) is in 7th grade. I'm going to continue working as hard as I can, making as much as I can, until after she's out of college and settled in her "adult" life. After that, I'm out. I don't need to keep doing this until I'm 65yo or whatever. First thing I'm doing is hiking the Appalachian Trail - by myself. After that, I hope move to a beach somewhere - I think Key West would be ideal for me - and spend part of my time tending bar or something so I can pay bills, and the rest of my time staring at the water, fishing, drinking, or some combination of these things.
 
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I've got a couple that I'm eyeing, since I have just 6 more years before my youngest is off to college and I'll only be 50. When he's out, I'm out. Almost 20 years of suburban hell is plenty for me.

I may do either of these, none of these, or some combination or variation, but here's what I'm looking at with my wife depending on the landscape when I get to that point. If I've got it figured out right, we're not going to be anywhere near being able to stop working, but our income requirements will be remarkably small compared to what they are now. We'll have to keep working, but hopefully on our own terms.

a) Move to some kind of urban city area and get a small place. Got to find a place that interests me, but not mega-expensive (not NY or SF). Start driving Uber or other type of flexible work. Might learn to repair smartphones or something like that.

b) Buy a place in the ski area of Montana, and on the beach somewhere in the south. Live in each in the off season (winters at the beach, summers in Montana) and rent them in the peak season. Not sure what I'll do for income exactly in this scenario, might have to see if I can keep my current job remote and maybe part time.
 
I bought this about 8 years ago.

My place on Utila

640 feet of remote beach front in the caribbean. I own it free and clear and we have a 2.5 bedroom 2 bath cabana on it that we've built and I have a 26 ft boat already there. 5-8 more years and that's where you'll find me.
 
itsjustme0770 said:
I bought this about 8 years ago.

My place on Utila

640 feet of remote beach front in the caribbean. I own it free and clear and we have a 2.5 bedroom 2 bath cabana on it that we've built and I have a 26 ft boat already there. 5-8 more years and that's where you'll find me.
Click to expand...


How much did that cost you? I have been to Roatan but not Utilla.
 
It wasn't cheap but it was millions cheaper than the same amount of property on Grand Cayman. Its a little more than 4 acres. You can buy 3/4 acre on Utila for 40k (boat access only) to 75k for something closer to town. We are boat access only and finding as much contiguous beach front is hard these days on the south shore of Utila so we paid a bit more because of the size of the lot and the amount of beachfront. But we do have power and satellite/internet. Well more than what I need.
 
itsjustme0770 said:
It wasn't cheap but it was millions cheaper than the same amount of property on Grand Cayman. Its a little more than 4 acres. You can buy 3/4 acre on Utila for 40k (boat access only) to 75k for something closer to town. We are boat access only and finding as much contiguous beach front is hard these days on the south shore of Utila so we paid a bit more because of the size of the lot and the amount of beachfront. But we do have power and satellite/internet. Well more than what I need.
Click to expand...

Huh, that is dirt cheap. I'm still young enough (39) I'm not thinking retirement and I enjoy travel more than sitting around around in one beach house/vacation home, but that might be some decent investment property for the future.
 
My wife and I always talk about renting our home out and just going down to the islands for a couple years and see where that takes us. Financially, we could do it no problem and we don't have kids. The problem is we both have good jobs and don't know what we'd do if we came back
 
FSUTribe76 said:
Huh, that is dirt cheap. I'm still young enough (39) I'm not thinking retirement and I enjoy travel more than sitting around around in one beach house/vacation home, but that might be some decent investment property for the future.
Click to expand...

Not as much sitting around as you might think (although I certainly enjoy swinging in the hammock with a book and a beverage). The reef is 30 yards offshore. Drops to 300 feet and runs parallel to the shore. The north side of the island has places where the vertical drop is more than 4000' as the cayman trench runs up near the shore. The sport fishing is fantastic and I tend to pass some time by spearfishing lions fish. I have my own compressor and tanks and am pretty self sufficient. There are some decent hikes as well as a 9 mile open ocean run to the Cayos Cochinos which has a garifuna population and some pretty beautiful shore dives. I'm 44, and yes, this is very different than many folks would like, but its my perfect spot. Not sure I'd think too much about it being a long term investment. Infrastructure on the island is spotty and honduras is still third world. But we love it and the kiddo is going to love it. We spend a couple of months down there at a time now.
 
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itsjustme0770 said:
Not as much sitting around as you might think (although I certainly enjoy swinging in the hammock with a book and a beverage). The reef is 30 yards offshore. Drops to 300 feet and runs parallel to the shore. The north side of the island has places where the vertical drop is more than 4000' as the cayman trench runs up near the shore. The sport fishing is fantastic and I tend to pass some time by spearfishing lions fish. I have my own compressor and tanks and am pretty self sufficient. There are some decent hikes as well as a 9 mile open ocean run to the Cayos Cochinos which has a garifuna population and some pretty beautiful shore dives. I'm 44, and yes, this is very different than many folks would like, but its my perfect spot. Not sure I'd think too much about it being a long term investment. Infrastructure on the island is spotty and honduras is still third world. But we love it and the kiddo is going to love it. We spend a couple of months down there at a time now.
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That sounds fantastic right about now.
 
I don't know what I want to do with the rest of my life but need to figure it out. I have a great job and get paid well and are making all the right choices for a good retirement. Yet I can't shake the feeling I'm going to drop dead one random afternoon and miss out on all the benefits of my hard work and sacrifices.
 
I think you guys are underestimating how dull an early retirement would be. Sitting on an island sounds amazing but might get old after a couple years, just waiting to die. If you hate your job, I can see how an island would be a million times better, though. And most of you are trapped by family life so options are limited.

I'm a huge fan of world travel. I plan to keep a job I like and work it until I'm 80. I'd love to take lots of time off to travel to many new countries. But I want to always work, at least part time.
 
Nole Lou said:
I've got a couple that I'm eyeing, since I have just 6 more years before my youngest is off to college and I'll only be 50. When he's out, I'm out. Almost 20 years of suburban hell is plenty for me.

I may do either of these, none of these, or some combination or variation, but here's what I'm looking at with my wife depending on the landscape when I get to that point. If I've got it figured out right, we're not going to be anywhere near being able to stop working, but our income requirements will be remarkably small compared to what they are now. We'll have to keep working, but hopefully on our own terms.

a) Move to some kind of urban city area and get a small place. Got to find a place that interests me, but not mega-expensive (not NY or SF). Start driving Uber or other type of flexible work. Might learn to repair smartphones or something like that.

b) Buy a place in the ski area of Montana, and on the beach somewhere in the south. Live in each in the off season (winters at the beach, summers in Montana) and rent them in the peak season. Not sure what I'll do for income exactly in this scenario, might have to see if I can keep my current job remote and maybe part time.
Click to expand...

Lou,

I drove for Uber for two weeks, part time, back in March. In my experience it was basically a scam. I was ruining my car for $9 an hour. It was soul crushing and I like driving.
 
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BrianNole09 said:
Lou,

I drove for Uber for two weeks, part time, back in March. In my experience it was basically a scam. I was ruining my car for $9 an hour. It was soul crushing and I like driving.
Click to expand...

Yep, I have no idea what it will be like in practice. It's nothing more that something I think I might like at this point.
 
I think you guys are underestimating how dull an early retirement would be.
Click to expand...

I was never one of those kids who found myself 'bored' during summer break.
I could never work for someone else again and still find plenty I wanted to do.
 
Nole Lou said:
Yep, I have no idea what it will be like in practice. It's nothing more that something I think I might like at this point.
Click to expand...

My experience was like this:

First, I paid to get my car inspected and for a deposit on the Uber I-Phone for the GPS. One can either rent the Uber I-phone for $50 or so a week or use one's own phone. If you use your own phone, you drain tons of data and your battery.

So, I started $100 or so in the red before I did my first drive. And I had to drive 40 miles round trip to get my car inspected.

The Uber I-phone GPS is not good. On rides, it would take me in a bad direction and would make myself and the rider unhappy.

My main issue with Uber, aside from the fact that I was putting hundreds of extra miles on my car weekly and wearing out my tires, breaks, etc., while paying for gas for $9 an hour net was that every time I picked up a rider, I had no idea of the destination.

So, I'd pick up a rider and I'd drive her 40 miles to the airport. After I dropped her off, what should I have done? Keep picking up riders? I may end up in Canada when my day is done, then I'd drive all the way home for no pay. I usually got pummeled by tolls on the way home, which are not reimbursed if there's no rider in the car.

There's also the problem of liability. If my insurance found out I was driving for Uber, they'd blacklist me and I'd be screwed.

Give it a shot if you want...for me, it sucked.
 
BrianNole09 said:
I think you guys are underestimating how dull an early retirement would be. Sitting on an island sounds amazing but might get old after a couple years, just waiting to die. If you hate your job, I can see how an island would be a million times better, though. And most of you are trapped by family life so options are limited.

I'm a huge fan of world travel. I plan to keep a job I like and work it until I'm 80. I'd love to take lots of time off to travel to many new countries. But I want to always work, at least part time.
Click to expand...
I retired at 60. I highly recommend it. Except for type A's. That's your problem.
 
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Whatever I want. Last week I tore the front end off the CRV and mounted a baseplate so we can tow it behind out motorhome. Most likely we will head east in late Dec to the bowl game.
 
Formerly Rockymtnole said:
I don't know what I want to do with the rest of my life but need to figure it out. I have a great job and get paid well and are making all the right choices for a good retirement. Yet I can't shake the feeling I'm going to drop dead one random afternoon and miss out on all the benefits of my hard work and sacrifices.
Click to expand...
jimmy-johns.jpg
 
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FreeFlyNole said:
I think most of us have some sort of escape fantasy. If you were to pack up and bail out what would it look like?

I was actually talking to my wife about it this weekend. I am at the midpoint of my career and have at least 15 probably 20 more years I have to work left in me. But I'd really like a break that wouldn't totally destroy my retirement plan / savings / totally derail my career.

I'm at my 3rd med device start up now, and I don't have an expectation of this being a job I'm at more than 3 / 4 more years at the most before they sell to a big multi-billion juggernaut. At that time I'll have to decide weather I want to stay in the big corp or move on to another start up. Security vs high risk/reward. If it happened today I'd go with another start up.

My equity position here is pretty decent, so if we are bought I'll probably get a nice chunk of change (about 1 to 2 years earnings). I was telling my wife that I'd love to just rent out our house furnished, buy a sail boat and cruise around the Carribbean while getting an online Executive MBA. I should get an MBA, it would be helpful in my career, but with two small children and a busy work schedule I just haven't made the time.

The way I look at it, it would be explainable in my resume, I just took time off to get an MBA and thoroughly vet my next opportunity... while in reality, it would just give some structure to dicking around in the Caribbean for 18 - 24 months.

It will probably never happen, but it's nice to think about.

What'chu got?
Click to expand...

This sounds about right to me. Kind of strange how close they are. My wife would think I wrote this if it weren't for the Med Device part.

I would actually like to take our son with us if possible and home school him for 2 years. Preferable when he's 15-16. Old enough to help on the boat and not to old that he is overly independent jonesing for the main land. I think it would be a great way to make him more worldly.

I have a buddy who's parents did this him and his bro at that age. They spent 2 years on a sail boat. Started out in California and went Hawaii and around Mexico to Caribbean. I thought it was pretty cool.
 
itsjustme0770 said:
I bought this about 8 years ago.

My place on Utila

640 feet of remote beach front in the caribbean. I own it free and clear and we have a 2.5 bedroom 2 bath cabana on it that we've built and I have a 26 ft boat already there. 5-8 more years and that's where you'll find me.
Click to expand...

Damn this place looks awesome. I bookmarked the site. May have to hit you up at some point. And yes, I read the Must Read page.
 
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