"Whaddya Do?" (long post) - Pretend You Are Me

What would you do if you were:

- 62 years old, physically active, in good health.  A little bit hyperctive, actually.

- Have been an MT most of your life, since around 1974.

- Not a very motivated student; got C's in HS, barely got an AA degree in community college in general studies & English.

- Worked most years as an on-site MT, have been at home with a large MTSO for the last 5 years.

- You're very good at MT'ing, but current pay, percentage of VR, and multiple other factors mean that you're not making enough to live on.

- You have benefits, but who knows for how long.   Little things like a doctor or dentist office visit are a huge financial problem for you.   You cross your fingers and pray that your car continues to run, that you or your pets don't get sick.

- You realize you must do something, but no option seems realistic:

1 --- Go back to school?  (considering paralegal or legal secretary course).   (Online?  or On-campus?  or Both?)  (You are still working full-time, about 10-14 hrs/day).   Nearest campus is 40 miles away.

You do the math, and realize an A.A. in paralegal will cost somewhere between 30K - 60K, even for online courses.   You have $100 in your savings account,  $23 in checking.   You read that "financial aid is available".   Assuming this is a loan that must be repaid, you wonder if you'll be turned down based on your age, and the bank's/school's belief that your remaining working years might not outlive the loan.  

2 --- Change MT jobs?   (You have already been looking.)  You currently make 8.5 cpl for transcription, but your VR (@ 4 cpl) ratio is creeping up to about 65-80% each day.  You are making even less money than you did last year.    Fellow MTs at different companies tell you that if you join their company, even though it's only 7 cpl to start, you'll make more money on their platform/with those accounts/etc.  But that's how you got into this mess in the first place: You listened to an MT friend, left a good job, and joined an MTSO, only to discover what they say and what they are, are 2 entirely different things.   You look for work, a few good prospects arise, but the minute your age/experience is let out of the bag, you don't get the job.  Or even the interview, in most cases.   Your best current option is a long, expensive commute to an on-site job at a very small mom 'n' pop MTSO in the city.   You don't yet know their pay scale, but it can't be much more than you're currently making.   Since your car is unreliable, you would have to take a ferry to the city, which would cost you roughly $130 per week.   In addition to bus fare from the ferry terminal to midtown.   You keep that option on the very back burner, and keep cold-calling hospitals in your area.   99.9% of them outsourse their MT work, and have no transcription dept.

3 --- Sit tight, work for the same company you're at, and hope that you can hang on for 5 more years until your social security benefits start?  (Since SS is base on something like the last 4 years of your employment, and they were spent at this MTSO, you know those checks are going to be very small.)  Even if you're still working for your same MTSO, it's likely those SS checks won't cover the increased cost of living that will occur over the next 5 years.

4 --- Look for a low-paying entry-level office job, such as file clerk or girl-Friday?  Work in retail?  Be a receptionist?  (Note:  You dislike all these options.  Your office skills, other than transcribing medical reports, are pretty much zero.  You could update these, but it would require more school, more money.  Still an option?  Or forget-about-it?)

5 --- Start an eBay side-business selling some sort of homemade trinkets?  (I'm grasping at straws, with this idea.)  I actually have some artistic talent, including embroidery.   If you were going to do that, what would you consider making/selling that could be done in 1, maybe 2, "free" hours per day that aren't spent typing? 

If you were going the side-job route, what other things have you considered doing?   Have you ever thought about starting a on online blog?   If you get a decent readership, would the time spent doing it be worth it, (assuming you have ad income from said blog)? 

6 --- Look into cashing in old 401K left over from old job?  Is it worth the penalties you would be assessed for doing so?  If your lifelong (and un-contributed-to for 8 years) 401K had about $75K in it, how much of that would you actually get to keep?  How many years would you expect to be able to stretch it out to supplement your current MTSO income?  Or would you consider that a really stupid idea? 

Okay, there is today's current state of affairs in my life.  If you suddenly woke up tomorrow morning and this was your reality, what would you do, (or not do), and in what order?  When would it be time to panic?  

Your "personal qualities":    You have a hard time staying focused - your mind wanders a lot.  You're uncomfortable standing for long periods of time, but can sit forever.  You DETEST a noisy environment.  You can be charming for short periods of time, but not that much of a people-person.   When you're irritated, that latter quality comes to the surface very quickly.   You detest phones.   You prefer email and IM as your communication form of choice.  You're not very organized.   You are creative when it comes to problem solving on a physical, spatial-relations level.  You stink at math.  You tend to "think outside the box", to the point that most mainstream minds consider you a bit odd.  You love to write, but don't like to do a lot of reading.   You frequently "skim" instructions, and invariably leave something out when you perform the instructed task.   You love to create things:  Sewing, drawing, using hammers/nails/saws, etc., making ordinary objects prettier by decorating them.  Your confidence in yourself is beginning to slide, because you've reached that magic age where you realize your life, both personal and working, is not going to go on forever. 

Whaddya Do?