What would you do with 6 months off? Long post sorry

[rsnoble-im-back]

Situation: Combined with unemployment I can be off 6 months per year and make 50k. A buddy and me were bitching the other day about the past few years being substandard years. I guess I've been too drunk in the past to realize that I have the equilvalent of a $24.00/hr job working only half the year. So I asked him if he'd rather work year round at $24.00/hr or make what we do and be off 6 months? He was like oh I never thought about it like that. And not only that, we discovered we couldn't make more than $24/hr in anything outside of our trade as we are not qualified.

Glancing thru the wanted ads this am just out of curiosity I realized what a joke the job market really is. Granted there are good jobs out there but im talking about just something someone like me could do if I were to leave my profession of commercial sheetmetal work. I came to the conlusion that the terms "competitive wages" and "good benefits" = low pay.

I actually have been one of the lucky ones as the past 2.5 years I have not missed a day. The trick has been keeping the bills to a manageable level at the 50k level which ive done a mediocre job.

My contractor is having problems picking up work now and we have about 6 weeks left on the books. It's pretty typical. I guess I should feel lucky and im actually looking forward to a kick ass spring and early summer. I have 3 Harley's and im just going to take off. Where to I don't know.

I will admit being off makes you feel worthless and is not good for your self-esteem at all. I would probably trade this for another career but I am not interested in going back to school at all. Perhaps sales??

So anyhow: I have planned some rides, want to do some work around the house which is always going on, plus I have been teaching myself stock trading and am getting better and I can always make a few grand hustling junk I find at auctions which is normally what I do with time off.

Watch, my employer will probably fuck all this up and land a big one. I have the credentials to travel the world in my field but I don't care for working away from home.

Sorry cliffnote enthusiasts.

 

[sardonicone]

Build a Hyberbolic Time Chamber and train. Oh wait, that's not possible.

Uh, train anyways, but without the Hyberbolic Time Chamber?

 

[rsnoble-im-back]

Build a Hyberbolic Time Chamber and train. Oh wait, that's not possible.

Uh, train anyways, but without the Hyberbolic Time Chamber?

I'm already in the gym 4x week.

 

[rykertest]

Honestly, if I had 6 months off.....the first week or so I wouldn't do anything at all. Sleep, watch TV, sleep some more, eat, etc. Just veg. Then I would go to an island for about 2 weeks and sleep on the beach, then drink some coconut drinks and sleep on the beach some more. Then my quest would be to have as much sex (with women) as humanly possible. I would move to some bigger city and just go get laid (safe sex always of course). Maybe to Vegas? I hear it's easy to get laid in Vegas. lol I would have so much sex that I would actually grow tired of it. I would be sexed out.

Then after I burned up about a month or 2 of that, I would come home and work on my house, start lifting again, just get back into life. I really think that we can greatly benefit from having that time off like that. Recharge the batteries. Just make sure after about 6 months, you go back to work and just don't become a slob sucking away tax dollars.

I say do it.

 

[KillahBee]

I'd have to do something uber useful or I would be depressed. Travel around. Become a professional sky diver. Teach.

 

[heatherrae]

Ah, just hustle the auctions some and have some fun. Life is short, afterall.

 

[rsnoble-im-back]

Ah, just hustle the auctions some and have some fun. Life is short, afterall.

It's acutally a lot of fun hitting the auctions/estate sales. Theres a trick to it. Don't get caught up in bidding wars unless it's something you want for yourself. If your interested in items that you have little knowledge on a portable internet connection is a must so you could look into it first. Fortuntely after years and years of buying experience I have a broad knowledge of products, however only to great depth in certain areas. For instance just one of my many deals were 3 vintage go-karts that I bought for $600 and sold for $5877.00. A few months ago I bought 2 one year old commercial air compressors with 500 gallon tanks for $150.00 each. No one else wanted them because they didn't have the means to transport them at the moment like I did. There outback of the barn tarped and when I get the time I will deal with them. They are worth thousands. Why don't I just do this full-time? These deals don't come along everyday and it takes a lot of time and effort to find them.

 

[Mr. dB]

If you're really concerned about the lack of productivity, you could work your job for 6 months, and then take a $24/hr job during the time off. That would take you from $50K to $75K.

 

[heatherrae]

It's acutally a lot of fun hitting the auctions/estate sales. Theres a trick to it. Don't get caught up in bidding wars unless it's something you want for yourself. If your interested in items that you have little knowledge on a portable internet connection is a must so you could look into it first. Fortuntely after years and years of buying experience I have a broad knowledge of products, however only to great depth in certain areas. For instance just one of my many deals were 3 vintage go-karts that I bought for $600 and sold for $5877.00. A few months ago I bought 2 one year old commercial air compressors with 500 gallon tanks for $150.00 each. No one else wanted them because they didn't have the means to transport them at the moment like I did. There outback of the barn tarped and when I get the time I will deal with them. They are worth thousands. Why don't I just do this full-time? These deals don't come along everyday and it takes a lot of time and effort to find them.

I think you sound like you are enjoying your life the way it is. Don't get caught up in "shoulds." People will drive you nuts telling you that you "should" work 60 hours a week all year, that you "should" make more money....blah, blah, blah. In the end, the only should is that you "should" do what makes YOU HAPPY.

You sound happy to me! =-)

 

[T-Matt]

It's acutally a lot of fun hitting the auctions/estate sales. Theres a trick to it. Don't get caught up in bidding wars unless it's something you want for yourself. If your interested in items that you have little knowledge on a portable internet connection is a must so you could look into it first. Fortuntely after years and years of buying experience I have a broad knowledge of products, however only to great depth in certain areas. For instance just one of my many deals were 3 vintage go-karts that I bought for $600 and sold for $5877.00. A few months ago I bought 2 one year old commercial air compressors with 500 gallon tanks for $150.00 each. No one else wanted them because they didn't have the means to transport them at the moment like I did. There outback of the barn tarped and when I get the time I will deal with them. They are worth thousands. Why don't I just do this full-time? These deals don't come along everyday and it takes a lot of time and effort to find them.

DAMN.. helluva deal on the commerical Air compressors.. wow

 

[heavy_duty]

travel to work man you wont regret it.
exand your horizon meet people from other places.
you sound small town to me.

 

[jackangel]

visit tibet.

 

[rsnoble-im-back]

visit tibet.

Fuck no! I've already been blown up once. I don't know where it's at but it def. sounds synonomous with suicide bomber.

 

[rsnoble-im-back]

If you're really concerned about the lack of productivity, you could work your job for 6 months, and then take a $24/hr job during the time off. That would take you from $50K to $75K.

I can't. I'm under union contract and taking one of these lower paid non-union jobs could result in the termination of my pension, among other fines.

 

[rsnoble-im-back]

travel to work man you wont regret it.
exand your horizon meet people from other places.
you sound small town to me.

Actually I am "no" town. I have other interests than my profession that I am trying to learn so I will instead use the time off to study them. The only other places I plan on going are wherever my '07 Road King takes me.

 

[rsnoble-im-back]

Yeah I think your right. Truthfully I hate work and play time is precious. I discovered since I stopped drinking heavily everyday and been back in the gym that I have been missing out on a lot.

I think you sound like you are enjoying your life the way it is. Don't get caught up in "shoulds." People will drive you nuts telling you that you "should" work 60 hours a week all year, that you "should" make more money....blah, blah, blah. In the end, the only should is that you "should" do what makes YOU HAPPY.

You sound happy to me! =-)

 

[heavy_duty]

well i feel sorry for you.

 

[Brian123]

Dude after that Tibit comment, you SO need to travel! LOL

Explore the world while you can, better doing so now than at the age of 60. I remember going to Tiuman Island, and most of the Americans and Europeans there were all "old". And it had nothing to do with money because you could live at the best hotel there, on the beach, for 180 Ringgets ( around 48 dollars ) a night + free breakfast! How much does motel 6 charge again? LOL

Tibit by the way, you can consider Chinese

As some said earlier, people will lead you to think you should do this or that because thats how everyone else does things. Its like they are habits of the community/society that they want you to adopt because somehow traditional "jobs" became the "norm".

When you have a "job", you're working for someone else, your work, is making him money so that he'd give you the crumbs. If you complain, maybe they'd give you some more crumbs. So if you can do whatever you're doing for yourself, go for it.

A friend of mine quit his job because he was helping this company make millions, doing all the work while he gets paid 50k + a new car that wasnt in his name.

Hes now messing around with real estate, construction, computers, cars.. and now making at least around an average of 200k/year. He says that his masters degree should serve only as backup, just in case. Hes now worth around 2 million and 29-30 years old.

I as well stopped working on my Masters degree, and refused tremendous society/family pressure to get a job and just worked at international stock markets for myself.

Think as an investor, not a consumer, and your whole life will change.

Once, I got lucky and made lots of money in one day. If I were at work that one day, I wouldnt have been able to take advantage of that opportunity that you get only a few times in a lifetime. That day I made money worth years and years of work.

I told my mom about it and she was like "Well if you had a job maybe you'd still be able to work by phone" LOL. So you cant defeat that mindset, just need to do what YOU are convinced in and dont look back.

To do things right though, think about this quote ( forgot whos it is, I think its Warren Buffets ) "The thought pattern that keeps most people poor: they criticize instead of analyze."

I remember reading something about how the poor and middle class teach their kids to study go to school etc to get a good job, and how the rich tell their kids to study and learn to be able to have their money work for them. I totally agree with this.

I admit, sometimes I get that low self esteem feeling due to family/society pressure but I only let it work to my advantage, and motivate me til I achieve my goals because I know what I am doing and do have a plan.

Now, i'm 28, been to quite a few countries around the world, and very well off and get as much sleep as I want. When its time for work though, I might not sleep at all because any decision I make DIRECTLY affects my bank account.

Granted if you dont have money to begin with you'll need a job, but consider it temporary and think as an investor and put consumer mentality aside.

If I were you i'd move overseas for a few years, probably Dubai or Barcelona, have fun as you work til your plans become clear in your mind and then do whatever you KNOW is right. Ibiza would be too much fun so I dont recommend it even if you could get a job there.

Just make sure you dont spend too much having fun because even if you have three cars, a nice house, good pay, but a negative cashflow, you are far from achiving financial stability.

On the other hand what works for another person might not work for you and vice versa. I dont want to sound like a commercial or a school principle but seriously, discover your abilities and take maximum advantage of them, period.

I recommend you read "The Cashflow Quadrant". No secret formula on how to become rich, but it does help you think in the right direction though whether you're a lawyer, doctor, pizza delivery boy, or a mechanic because its all about the phsycological aspect of it.

I remember to talking to an old friend of mine and asked him if he wanted to travel with me to a certain country. He was like "dude, I dont even have a passport." "Dude, I cant just go, its not that simple, whos gonna pay the bills that month?" "Dude, I dont even know where x country is".

I'm like "dude", bills should NOT be a problem. You're being like an ostrich putting your head in the sand and thats keeping you away from so much fun LOL

Anyway his wife didnt let him go alone and she had to go to school, so it ended right there and she started to hate me LOL

The guys a genuis in what he does, but he cant even comprehend a different lifestyle or the idea of different goals etc. And you cant achive anything that you cannot picture in your mind or dont this is achievable.

The guy certainly could have done a lot more, but hey, if hes happy now, if it aint broke, dont fix it.

Even the very idea of getting on a plane to travel overseas for a month or two was a bit too much. It was in in his head and all the so-called barriers were all physcological.

Same thing applies to business and many other things in life once we learn how to make our own decisions without letting society decide for us and set the "default" way.

But hey, hes happy, doing well, maybe happier than he would have been doing something else.

Thats why I also agree with what heatherrae said because in the end its all about being happy, and to be more accurate i'd say sustainable happiness.

Alright lecture over LOL. Sorry for the long post and maybe going a bit off topic but its just a subject that I am so familiar with and thought about over and over and over I had to vent a little!