Preparing for retirement (even though it's 19-24 years away)

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sat Jul 02, 2016 9:01 pm

Upon switching jobs to the state, I walked away from the ability to retire with a full pension at age 51. Now I will only be able to draw my partial police pension, but I have to wait until I'm 61 to start collecting it. Now that I've been at the state for 1.5 years, I have roughly 19-24 years before my state retirement (just a 401k) is built up enough to consider retiring. However, I'll be able to draw both my 401k and partial police retirement (provided it doesn't go the way of the Dodo bird by then) right around the same time. These 2 retirements combined will not be as good as what my full pension would have been, but close.

Provided that I'm able to continue to work at least part time, I'm trying to figure out if there's something I can work toward in the meantime. I really like working with my hands (the airplane project should be evidence of that). I've considered learning welding, machining/tool & die and gunsmithing. Lots of overlap there. I bought a hobby TIG welding machine for use on the plane and have been learning to weld. Shortly after I got my welder, I wanted to start experimenting with machining on a decent metal lathe. I'm fairly certain that by the time I retire, I'll have a shop space big enough to work on more airplanes, but I'll also have a decent lathe and mill. Since I don't have quite the right schedule to apprentice anywhere, I'm considering the certification courses at our local community college.

Wondering if there's a decent hobby income that can be made from shade tree machining doing prototyping or one-offs and custom work for average folks. Also wondering if I'd have the skills to sell by then.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sat Jul 09, 2016 6:30 pm

If nothing else, you might at least be able to get enough business to pay for the hobby of owning the machines. I'd mentioned before the custom aluminum engine covers some guy was making for Audis, and virtually every automotive community has needs like this, that basically boil down to bending and welding sheets of metal, or machining accessories. Look at the recent Bleepin Jeep videos about shift knobs and custom center consoles: while a lot of guys do these things themselves, not everyone has a shop like his or yours, and forum threads are always full of 20 dudes asking some guy who's made his own custom whatsit how much they'd have to pay him to make one for them.

If nothing else, you could probably make a decent return on building the harder plane parts, the stuff that someone would have to, say, build an impossible bending brake to construct. They might not want to buy the whole kit, but they also don't want to build or buy a machine to make this one dumb part. Since you're already all-in, you should have (or end up with) all the stuff you'd need to make the really tough bits, and sell them here and there to people who aren't ready to make the full investment, but also don't want to just throw up their hands and buy full kits.

It seems like - although maybe it's just my YouTube viewing habits - there's more and more demand for "speed shops," and fab shops that make custom bits for enthusiasts, whether they're into buggies, carting, off-roading, performance driving, or whatever. I've often considered opening a speed shop, because I do think there's a market for really cleverly-engineered parts that wouldn't quite have the demand for mass production.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 4:36 pm

3278 wrote:It seems like - although maybe it's just my YouTube viewing habits - there's more and more demand for "speed shops," and fab shops that make custom bits for enthusiasts, whether they're into buggies, carting, off-roading, performance driving, or whatever. I've often considered opening a speed shop, because I do think there's a market for really cleverly-engineered parts that wouldn't quite have the demand for mass production.

That's the beauty of social media, though. From a business perspective, it's one of the greatest inventions...essentially free advertising to target audiences (enthusiasts). There are enthusiasts all over the planet, even if you can't find one down the street. With YouTube and Facebook, you'd be able to reach the enthusiasts, and end up with a more sustainable business model because of it!

I wish social media had been understood like that in its infancy...I'd probably have been more successful with my retail business if I'd been able to capitalize on it then.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 4:42 pm

Misfire post.