Retirement Planning - Lessons Learned

[Gale Hawkins]

Yep... Dad waited to last possible moment and kept working through Chemo and Dialysis until the last three weeks of his life because it gave home comfort it would be of benefit to mom...

That one touching display of love/commitment that he had heart to help your mom beyond the grave.

 

[goeduck]

People appreciate things they have to work for.

Yep. And there should be a satisfaction in earning money over when given someone else's.

 

[Jstpssng]

Yep. And there should be a satisfaction in earning money over when given someone else's.

If somebody has never experienced that, they won't understand what you are talking about. Look at all of the tales of people who won scary amounts in lotteries, then p***ed it away.

 

[lman]

OR, same price but smaller cups!

To me, coffee should NOT be messed with! Mess with sodas (they really are bad for you), but mess for coffee and that's where I draw the line!

As scary as the words "fixed income" might be, "uncontrolled expenses" is worse. My EX once asked me how much money we needed to make (I was "between jobs" at the time) and I responded with: "How much do we expect to spend?"

Know what your expenses are and know what you can pare down, in advance.

With inflation, you don't really know what your expense will be in a year or 5 years. I thought things were going great a year ago and then inflation hit. Of course everybody knew it was going to happen when they started printing money. It looks like they want to keep the presses going and that is scary.

 

[Frankenkubota]

No. I don't want to go back to the 60s.

i keep hearing how this nation has never been so devided.

that is a direct reflection of how bad our public education system is.

i remember the 60s

it was worse then

 

[riptides]

I find philosophy to be of great value in this time of my life.

For retirement, conceived as a protracted vacation, is a form of prolonged suicide. It marks the first formal stage on the road to oblivion.

Dr. Mortimer Adler

Extracted from the book:
Boundless Potential: Transform Your Brain, Unleash Your Talents, Reinvent Your Work in Midlife and Beyond
By Mark S. Walton

 

[Doughknob]

I find philosophy to be of great value in this time of my life.

For retirement, conceived as a protracted vacation, is a form of prolonged suicide. It marks the first formal stage on the road to oblivion.

Dr. Mortimer Adler

Extracted from the book:
Boundless Potential: Transform Your Brain, Unleash Your Talents, Reinvent Your Work in Midlife and Beyond
By Mark S. Walton

This makes me think of Elon Musk having gotten VERY sick on a vacation. He commented afterwards that 'vacations can kill you.' He subsequently proceeded to work all the time even sleeping in the Tesla factory at times.....LOL

 

[California]

For retirement, conceived as a protracted vacation, is a form of prolonged suicide. It marks the first formal stage on the road to oblivion.

Wow, disagree.
Working and putting away money is essential to creating a good life for you and your family.

But after that is accomplished I think one should then move on to being creative, free, and no longer accountable to someone who is making money on your labor, more money than you are being paid. Of course this assumes you will move on to doing something interesting. Including self employment if that's what you want to do, as soon as you can afford to gamble that this will succeed. (Worst case I can think of is something like 3/4 of new restaurants fail).

All of this as contrasted to that 'protracted vacation', in the worst case watching political TV all day, which is the living death your quote describes.

Look to how Europeans live. A month vacation earned for each year employed isn't unusual. That's more civilized living, compared to the few hours of vacation earned per month that is common here.

 

[Fuddy1952]

After retirement I'm happier now than ever before in my life. I have 10 projects going on all the time as well as trying new/learning new things. Buying land, a farm is exciting. New tractor and equipment. Another new horse. Helping the wife putting up Halloween decorations. Building things. Fabricating things. Miles of trails right here to ride horses on. I've never played golf...why not now? Visiting old friends. Travel. Read.
Life is good, but you have to do things.

 

[Jstpssng]

After retirement I'm happier now than ever before in my life. I have 10 projects going on all the time as well as trying new/learning new things. Buying land, a farm is exciting. New tractor and equipment. Another new horse. Helping the wife putting up Halloween decorations. Building things. Fabricating things. Miles of trails right here to ride horses on. I've never played golf...why not now? Visiting old friends. Travel. Read.
Life is good, but you have to do things.

I have a few more years, but most people I know find themselves wondering how they ever got anything done before they retired.
Those who don't find things to do and complain about being bored...it seems like just a short time before I read their obituaries in the newspaper.