What to do next...?

[dewisant]

I am seventeen days away from finishing my Capstone class @ Excelsior. The Capstone is somewhere between interesting and an acute waste of time. I am currently struggling trying to create my first PowerPoint for it. The Capstone is not fun for me.

I am just wondering what to do next? I can do early retirement from where I work in three and a half years and would like to be doing (be able to do) something else by then. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[quasarvs]

If you don't mind a suggestion from a lowly young person,

I would never retire but maybe change your occupation...and keep working to save for your "retirement".
I would find a really productive way to invest in younger generations, and on a one-on-one basis if possible for the betterment of America and the preservation of our original culture.

[dewisant]

In 3.5 years I will have 30 years with the company I work for and can be free to do something else. I will have about half my income still coming in and can go get a job paying about half what I made, or better, and I will be doing just fine. Maybe less hours, maybe closer to home, or maybe we will move. Does this make sense?

[sanantone]

If I had the luxury of retiring early, I would probably do freelance stuff at home like blogging or writing software if I didn't find coding to be so boring. I would also think about opening my own business probably as a restaurant, security company, or doing dog training or grooming. One of my other passions is natural healthcare, but it would probably be difficult to get up and going as a consultant. My other hobby is making music. I would seriously pursue that. I've also thought about making jewelry. In other words, you should probably pursue a passion you avoided because there was too much risk or too little money in it. I know a lot of semi-retired go on to become greeters at Walmart, work security, or work as adjunct college instructors.

[sanantone]

I just thought of some other jobs where I've seen a lot of semi-retired: school crossing guards, school bus drivers, and substitute teachers.

[dewisant]

Some good ideas so far. I was a scoutmaster when I was much younger and more recently I figured out how to re-allocate balances and the like on my 401K so that's doing very well and all on automatic pilot too. I'd really like to try my hand at some graduate level credits. My wife says I should just write and do poetry.

[sanantone]

I guess your background is more in aeronautics than military tactical stuff. I always thought it would be fun to teach at a training school that offers law enforcement continuing education courses and security certification courses. If you get that master's degree, you can teach college courses. Some nationally accredited schools will let you teach with a bachelor's degree if you have enough related experience. Community colleges will let people without a graduate degree teach non-credit courses. San Antonio has a nationally accredited, non-profit school that offers degrees in things like airframe technology and aviation maintenance. Maybe there are schools like that where you're at. I'm sure you know Embry-Riddle offers a lot of online graduate degrees in this field.
http://worldwide.erau.edu/degrees-progra...index.html

[dewisant]

I have over thirty years of working on various aircraft. F-16 A/B/C/D; T-33; B-52; KC-135; 747 (all); 767; 777; 787; Air Force One; and Cessna 150 Aerobat and 172. Currently I do electrical research while sitting in front of a computer all day.

[dewisant]

I won't be having anything to do with aircraft after I retire. I refuse to fly as it is. As for teaching, I had a teaching opportunity this past summer where three of us taught ten others how to do our jobs. I was an absolute failure. All four of my parents, mine and my wifes', are retired teachers and teaching has been a topic of conversation all of our collective lives. My wife is a teacher...I am not. I am good at one on one stuff, be it teaching or counseling someone.

[burbuja0512]

I have seen a ton of people in my industry partially retire and then become consultants. If you were the "go-to" person at your company, you may be able to make a few bucks here and there if and when your former employer needs you. Not to mention other industry peers who you might have had contact with. Hey.. people might try to call you with questions and for advice anyhow - why not make a few bucks when they do?