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Been there, done that ... I was laid off by an AI research company in 2006 at age 55, where I was a programmer - I have been a programmer or project manager si

Been there, done that ... I was laid off by an AI research company in 2006 at age 55, where I was a programmer - I have been a programmer or project manager since 1976. My wife and I have been frugal our entire lives and are very aggressive savers. When I was laid off, I persuaded my wife that if I accepted one of several job offers it would just put more money in our retirement accounts and investment real estate. Furthermore, our financial advisor said that we already had enough saved. I have been researching and developing my own AI software since 2006 at home and without pay - I have published a few workshop/conference papers. I work 8-5, happily self-directed, on stuff that I really enjoy and which - maybe - might eventually make a big difference in our world. I use the latest technology. At age 60 I became an Android programmer and soon I will be setting up cloud infrastructure using Amazon Web Services - and so forth. Programmers and software developers make good salaries. Here is my advice to follow in my footsteps ... 1. Aggressively save from your family income. 2. Get the advice of a financial advisor. I am too much of a risk taker for my own good and would have wasted my savings gambling in the options and futures market. Better to simply buy and hold index ETF or mutual funds. I average an 11% annual return on investment residential real estate that I manage and about 8% annual return over several decades on a mixed stock / bond diversified mutual fund portfolio. 3. Avoid non-investment debt. I.e. mortgage on investment property is OK, credit card debt is not OK. 4. Marry well! E.g. Be sure your mate is an aggressive saver. 5. Live substantially below your means. The greatest benefit of being comparatively wealthy is simply not having to worry about money. E.g. avoid university debt, do not buy too big a house, do not take expensive vacations, do not have an expensive wedding or throw an expensive bar/bat mitzvah, buy used cars, etc.

sopooneo 15y ago
Your advice sounds very good. I'm looking at the situation from the other end of the tunnel. One point I would add is that you have to be very careful in finding a financial adviser. A large portion of people that work under that title are actually just commission based "whole life" insurance salesman. It took me and my wife quite a while to find a person we felt comfortable with and that was 100% fee based.
- Wilduck 14y ago
  I would like to second the need for avoiding insurance salesmen as investment advisers. Beware anyone trying to sell you "Cash Value Life Insurance" (Also known under other names, such as "whole life". These are all broadly in the Permanent Life Insurance camp[1][2]). They are only masquerading as a financial adviser in that role. There's no good reason to combine insurance and investment. Stick with "Term" [2] life insurance (good coverage, cheap, but only for a fixed number of years), invest the difference, and plan to self insure after the term is up. Good financial planning makes this approach much more cost effective. I've recently had the experience of a friend going into the life insurance business, and it's been painful to observe how sleazy the life insurance "products" that they try to sell you are. We sat down to discuss my savings/insurance plans, and when it became clear that I was not interested in starting his "Cash Value Life Insurance" plan, he resorted to pitching the product to me with the desperation of a Quickstar/Amway[4] representative. It was a very off-putting experience, but it makes sense now that I know his only compensation comes from commission. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_life_insurance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_life_insurance [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_insurance#Permanent_life_insurance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_insurance#Permanent_life_i... [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_life_insurance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_life_insurance [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing
eli_gottlieb 14y ago
But do you have children?

sopooneo 15y ago

Your advice sounds very good. I'm looking at the situation from the other end of the tunnel. One point I would add is that you have to be very careful in finding a financial adviser. A large portion of people that work under that title are actually just commission based "whole life" insurance salesman. It took me and my wife quite a while to find a person we felt comfortable with and that was 100% fee based.

Wilduck 14y ago
I would like to second the need for avoiding insurance salesmen as investment advisers. Beware anyone trying to sell you "Cash Value Life Insurance" (Also known under other names, such as "whole life". These are all broadly in the Permanent Life Insurance camp[1][2]). They are only masquerading as a financial adviser in that role. There's no good reason to combine insurance and investment. Stick with "Term" [2] life insurance (good coverage, cheap, but only for a fixed number of years), invest the difference, and plan to self insure after the term is up. Good financial planning makes this approach much more cost effective. I've recently had the experience of a friend going into the life insurance business, and it's been painful to observe how sleazy the life insurance "products" that they try to sell you are. We sat down to discuss my savings/insurance plans, and when it became clear that I was not interested in starting his "Cash Value Life Insurance" plan, he resorted to pitching the product to me with the desperation of a Quickstar/Amway[4] representative. It was a very off-putting experience, but it makes sense now that I know his only compensation comes from commission. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_life_insurance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_life_insurance [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_insurance#Permanent_life_insurance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_insurance#Permanent_life_i... [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_life_insurance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_life_insurance [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing

eli_gottlieb 14y ago

But do you have children?