I turned 30 this year, so it's time for me to start re-evaluating this question myself.
Currently, I plow all my money back in to my company; I mean, at the moment I seem to be in a slow spot at the moment, but we doubled from 2009 through 2010, so while it's high risk, perhaps, it's likely I'm going to get better returns than I'd get from other investments without putting as much effort into being an investor as I put into being a business guy and sysadmin.
When I was young, this was certainly the right thing to do; When I make business decisions, I think as much about the long-term effect on my reputation as I do about the more short-term consequences for the business. (I'm the only shareholder, so there's no conflict of interest here. Either way, I'm "increasing shareholder value" as it were.) And in part because of that, I'm worth more as a worker than I otherwise would be.
The only real question now is "what point should I start becoming conservative?" if ever? I mean, I think I need to focus on getting myself more of a nest egg to cover unforeseen events, but I don't really have a lot of desire to 'retire idle'
Looking at my grandparents, the happiest of them seem to have an attitude of "I'll work till I drop" - I mean, they have assets that help, but they still work. One of my grandfathers, who is pushing 80 at this point, owns some small apartment complexes out in Illinois. He mows the lawns himself; I've even seen him do plumbing and even roofing himself.
To me, that's what I want out of retirement. Still work, but do so on my own terms. I mean, I don't know if I want that work to be maintaining old buildings, but you know, something combining my skills and my capital.
When it comes down to it, I guess that's what I have now. It would be nice to make a little more money than I'm making now, though.
Currently, I plow all my money back in to my company; I mean, at the moment I seem to be in a slow spot at the moment, but we doubled from 2009 through 2010, so while it's high risk, perhaps, it's likely I'm going to get better returns than I'd get from other investments without putting as much effort into being an investor as I put into being a business guy and sysadmin.
When I was young, this was certainly the right thing to do; When I make business decisions, I think as much about the long-term effect on my reputation as I do about the more short-term consequences for the business. (I'm the only shareholder, so there's no conflict of interest here. Either way, I'm "increasing shareholder value" as it were.) And in part because of that, I'm worth more as a worker than I otherwise would be.
The only real question now is "what point should I start becoming conservative?" if ever? I mean, I think I need to focus on getting myself more of a nest egg to cover unforeseen events, but I don't really have a lot of desire to 'retire idle'
Looking at my grandparents, the happiest of them seem to have an attitude of "I'll work till I drop" - I mean, they have assets that help, but they still work. One of my grandfathers, who is pushing 80 at this point, owns some small apartment complexes out in Illinois. He mows the lawns himself; I've even seen him do plumbing and even roofing himself.
To me, that's what I want out of retirement. Still work, but do so on my own terms. I mean, I don't know if I want that work to be maintaining old buildings, but you know, something combining my skills and my capital.
When it comes down to it, I guess that's what I have now. It would be nice to make a little more money than I'm making now, though.