TBD

Authors

  • Charles Hoes Hoes Engineering

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56094/jss.v51i1.164

Keywords:

system safety, retirement, energy use, electricity

Abstract

This TBD column finds me in a rather different place than I was just a couple of years ago. At that time, I made an agreement with one of my senior engineers that I would keep my safety consulting business going until he reached his retirement age goal and I reached my 65th birthday. At that point, my plans were to “retire” in some way or another. Not completely retire, but reduce my staff and begin working part time instead of full time — and choose more interesting projects.

In preparation for this event, my wife and I made a few changes to our living arrangement. This mainly involved paying off the remainder of the mortgage on our house and installing a 7 kW solar array. Those investments resulted in our having almost no mortgage and close to zero energy costs. So far this year, our total electric bill is about $20 after 10 months — including our air conditioning, swimming pool and hot tub electricity use. Now, we can comfortably live on Social Security. We also managed to put aside a retirement nest egg that allows us some flexibility to do things besides just existing on Social Security. I no longer have to work for a living; I now only work for fun.

Author Biography

Charles Hoes, Hoes Engineering

Charles “Charlie” Hoes began his consulting business in 1984, providing system safety engineering services to defense, aerospace, semiconductor and general industry. During that time he has become a P.E. in Safety in the State of California, a Certified Safety Profession (CSP) with a specialty System Safety Practices and earned a Master of Science degree in Safety from University of Southern California. In 1988 Charlie incorporated his business under the name of “Hoes Engineering, Inc.” He has many years of experience volunteering in support of the International System Safety Society, filling many positions including past President of the Sacramento Chapter, the Virtual Chapter, and the System Safety Society. He is a past technical editor of the System Society’s journal Hazard Prevention (re-named to be the Journal of System Safety), as well as authoring an ongoing feature article of the Journal of System Safety called “TBD” where he discusses current concerns with the system safety profession.

In his new role of being semi-retired, Charlie continues to actively work with the System Safety Society as well as participating in a few “for hire” and volunteer projects that are particularly interesting, or important, for a variety of reasons. He is enjoying the ability of being a bit more selective with regard to projects that he accepts.

TBD

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Published

2015-01-01

How to Cite

Hoes, C. (2015). TBD. Journal of System Safety, 51(1), 6–9. https://doi.org/10.56094/jss.v51i1.164