The wonderful meaninglessness of life

[miki]

58, retired 6 years now. Made about $1.5M in the bubble and bought a 600K apartment. About 1 year later got fired from my high flyer, do-nothing, job and decided never to work again come hell or high water. My wife agreed that we cut our expenses to any extant necessary so that I never have to return to work but so far we had to cut just a little. I always felt uncomfortable in the presence of inequality (hierarchy), never liked power either to have or to be confronted with. So I did not look for a job. Instead, I started going to poetry classes and from there to study literature and creative writing in the university. After the first year I realized that exams are not for me. They limit the amount of subjects I can take in a given semester as every subject comes with an exam. So I joined a special program they have (mainly for older people) where you can go to a variety of classes, no exams and only half the price. Suits me fine. I am quite superficial anyway. By now I have finished all the poetry courses and switched to pre-historic archeology plus some other odd class (Buddhism, Globalization, and Postmodernism in the Cinema etc.). I have always maintained that we are (at least I am) a prehistoric mind living in a postmodern society so understanding the dichotomy can tell us a lot about the problems we see today. I spend about 14-20 hours a week at the university. During vacations DW and I do bicycle trips. We have been to Austria, Check Republic, Cuba and France. We normally sleep in camping sites (carrying our camping gear on the bike). My friends, mostly high flyers, found it hard to understand at the beginning but with time and when they see the results they are becoming more and more envious. Most of them define themselves by their work ("who are you?...I work at ….doing….") so will not retire although they can afford to. Regarding finance I have to carefully control it. Son still in college. Have also daughter, SIL , 2 grandsons and 8.5/9 granddaughter.
See you all around

[Milton]

Welcome! Sounds like you are doing well.

Originally Posted by miki

Regarding finance I have to carefully control it.

So does everyone else! Even billionaires [see Larry Ellison: Larry Ellison made his accountant cry; Inside look at a billionaire's budget / Larry Ellison's spending worries his accountant].

[Donzo]

Welcome Miki!

Getting out of the BS of megacorp is a big dream - even if it is a highflying/do nothing job (wish I had one of those!). My job was flat out going to kill me...
I am with you on watching your finances - I have always lived below my means - but I find that I am travelling more - taking the family out for dinner more and spending alot on supplies for home improvement. I track my spending closely and if I am over expenses one month the next I try to tighten up - esp. with the market going sideways thus far this year......
After today - I am only down about .5% YTD - fingers crossed :>)

[Coach]

Wow Miki, and congratulations! It sounds like you're living the life you want to live -- not so many people pull that off.

Coach

[kumquat]

Welcome miki, nice to have you join us.

Just a suggestion involving presbyopia. Use a bigger font next time.

[Rivrider]

Congratulations Miki. Sounds like a wonderful retirement. Traveling to interesting places and learning for the joy of learning.

Enjoy!

[miki]

Originally Posted by Donzo

Welcome Miki!

My job was flat out going to kill me...
... and spending alot on supplies for home improvement. with the market going sideways thus far this year......
After today - I am only down about .5% YTD - fingers crossed :>)

I felt the same on some previous jobs. The stress was getting to my stomach with some actual medical problems...
I moved into a nice appt. w/ SP, consierge etc - saved 400K and enjoing evry minute of it - no more gardening and much less on HI. Also close to the seashore which is a big plus. You don't feel it (yet) but the decline of the dollar created havoc in my numbers. There is a considerable PPP gap between the US and Europe/Japan now. Iheard a suggestion that it may close itself via higher inflation in the US. Central bank throwing a lot of money into the system also raise the danger of inflation. Well, uncertainty is the essence of life...

[Nords]

Originally Posted by kumquat

Just a suggestion involving presbyopia. Use a bigger font next time.

Dude-- multifocal contact lenses, reading glasses, or any of the font adjustments on your web browser!

[miki]

Originally Posted by Milton

Welcome! Sounds like you are doing well.
So does everyone else! Even billionaires [see Larry Ellison: Larry Ellison made his accountant cry; Inside look at a billionaire's budget / Larry Ellison's spending worries his accountant].

This is capitalism gone mad. Even between Billioners inequolity grows. I have a friend who became depressed seeing that he is just number...on the richest persons list in some magzin and I have less than 100th of what he has and not depressed at all, quite the opposit. Its all relative. Larry has to show he has a bigger one - not to us, to HIS friends!