Lifestyle changes
 

Regulars here have probably noticed my whining about the state of the economy for the last two years at least.

I have a fair amount of income real estate which along with a lot of other folks I have been struggling to hold onto for the last two years.

My Architectural practice of over thirty years has failed completely to provide any significant income so far in 2008 as well.

So I have been selling things off to reduce debt as much as possible and exploring employment opportunities.

So in the last two weeks a couple of life changing opportunities have come my way.

First I am going to work for Purdue University in the Office of the University Architect as a project manager on July 28. I will miss the freedom to come and go as I please but will not miss the dependency of private pracitce on a healthy economy, and I will have significant benefits such as more vacation paid than I have ever been comfortable taking while self employed. The toughest thing will probably be being at work at seven am. But I'll be off by four so I can get some things done before supper.

Almost the same time I made contact with a fellow in the UK who has signed an agreement to buy my old Ferrari for enough money to pay down some significant debt. I'll miss her but won't miss the payments.

So I'll have some money to do some fun things with my autrosser but I'll be spending less time here.

Tom W

Tom- Sorry to hear about the changes that have to be made but it looks like you've engineered a good plan for you and your family's future. We will miss you and know that you'll pop in when you can (because this place is too much fun). Take care and let us know how it goes and most importantly what happens with PJ and Miss Humphrey Ann on Walgamuth Pond.

A bittersweet congratulations Tom. Working at Purdue ought to be pretty cool. Good luck and I hope to continue seeing you around here.:)

Yeah, I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties, but I hope that this new job will work out well for you. There's definitely a trade off between self-employment/owning your own business and working for somebody else. I've done both and I'm happy working for somebody else, doing what I enjoy and am good at. I hope you will be, too.

Its a very good job.

If I had known I could get one like it I would have done it a lot sooner!

Tom W

I did some work with Perdue on a new art building two or three years ago. I can't remember who I was dealing with there at the time, though. That was in another life for me, too.

I bet the benefits are beter there. That was one thing I particularly liked about MY new job. The old one had next to none, and what little there were, were all self-funded.

I can relate to the downturn in the economy. The phone has been deathly quiet over the past two months..........and the income stream is definitely down.

The real estate is holding its own, but the prospect of paying for fuel oil this winter is really daunting.

It sounds like you've found yourself a stable environment despite the limited freedom to come and go as you please. In this economy, it's probably preferable.

Good luck with it.

Thats too bad. I'm glad the city I'm in is taking our economy a little better than most. Perhaps its the industry I'm in. Working at 7:00 am is not too bad, but I also have to stay until 5:00. The overtime and commission definitley help. Lately I have been trying to make life changes myself. Good luck to you and I hope it all works out for the best.

Good luck with the new endeavour, Tom. Freedom (and reasons) aside, it doesn't sound too bad.

I can vouche for the 7:00-4:00 hours (We're open 7-5). In my case it gets me an hour in the morning away from the rest of my bickering employees and leaves some extra daylight hours after work to get stuff done.

Guys:
Perdue makes chickens!:rolleyes:
PURDUE makes engineers!;)

Good luck in the career move Tom. Nothing wrong with a steady paycheck. Does it come with football tickets for home games?:D

Make sure the check clears before the Ferrari goes on the truck. But you know that.;)

The seashore resort economy here is a little shakey. Crowds this weekend will speak volumes.

MY S-I-L works at Purdue. Not a bad place to work AT ALL. I'm surprised your architectural business is so slow; there are new projects popping up all over the place over here, and we'er but 3 hours drive from you guys.

I do the 7:30 - 3:30 university employee routine (albeit for far less than you will be making, I am sure -- I need to find an administrative job here on campus!) and it's not bad at all. I like having my afternoons and evenings free to fiddle around in the garage and whatnot. I think you might find it preferable to self-employment in that you never (really) need to worry about your next paycheck. Good luck, but I don't think you'll need it. Sounds like you have things well in order.

Good luck, we are all making changes to our lifestyles and things certainly don't look too rosy for all. You might end up liking the college environment for a change.

I havent really changed since I tend to not spend much money. I do hope this electric car thing pulls through and then I can have some fun

I saw that I get a discount on the football tickets. I don't know how much though.

Tom

Best of luck Tom, Know that you are not alone. I too have been struggling with cash flow for the past 6-8 months, first really rough spell in well over 10 years. Work is still there for me, I have a fairly stable client base along with the income property, but expenses seem to outpace what I can command in fee and rent increases. That together with increasing receivables has taken much of the fun out of rebuilding Main streets. What had become a comfortable, stable, 35 year old business, once again has the feel of a start-up. With a few larger projects in the pipeline things should improve for us by next year, but I certainly can feel your pain; times like this a paycheck can look very attractive.

Again, all the best,
Jim