When I was approaching ER a lot of shipmates expressed their surprise that we'd try to retire in Hawaii. Most of them couldn't imagine owning a very expensive yet small lot with a "substandard" home when they could be living in a Mainland McMansion.
Mildly concerned, I consulted George Stott, a retired submariner & successful realtor. He reassured me that submariners do retire in Hawaii (at least until they have Mainland grandkids) and we struck up an e-mail conversation about ER. He mentioned that he'd never retire[url] because he loved his avocation and the lifestyle it funded.
I appreciated George's advice and he writes a great newsletter but I'd never physically met him until yesterday. He still resembles his pictures but time has taken its toll. What really shocked me was the realization that he's the same age as my father & father-in-law but he's 30 pounds overweight, looks exhausted, and has tremors that resemble Parkinson's. If I'd guessed his age I would have been high by at least a decade.
We were in the same meeting room but we could have been from different universes. I was there to stroll Waikiki & enjoy a sales presentation, perhaps with hot coffee and a few yummy cookies. The day was young, life was good, and the possibilities were endless. I was learning about real estate, curious to know more about the group George has mentioned for the last two years, and mentally stimulated by the challenge of picking apart the sales logic. George was working a room of strangers (most of them half his age) and earning $1000 finder's fees while he & spouse draw SS checks that are bigger than my pension-- plus their business and their other eight figures of assets. My family was busy with other things, I was taking a break from my routine to exploit a rare opportunity, the surf and the weather sucked, and I was happy to be there. The time passed quickly. Was George feeling the same way?
One of the reasons George stayed in Hawaii is that his kids could join the family business, and now the grandkids are starting their careers there. We come from the same Navy background and I face the same "Mainland grandkids" challenge with our kid, but of course I've chosen a different path. IMO we both have everything a man could want on this island. I just find it hard to believe that attending a sales presentation was the thing that he most wanted to do with his time. Maybe the cookies were disagreeing with his digestion, but he didn't seem to be as happy as he claims his avocation makes him.
Perhpas I'm just rationalizing my own ER because I don't comprehend what keeps him working. Ironically I find it easier to ask these questions of an Internet board of complete strangers than I do of George himself. Maybe I'm going to have to figure out a way to ask, because that conversation would presumably cover a whole bookful of issues. With what I know now I sure wouldn't want him to be a canary in my mineshaft.
I just hope when my age catches up with me that I'm spending my time on a longboard, not in a conference room...
Mildly concerned, I consulted George Stott, a retired submariner & successful realtor. He reassured me that submariners do retire in Hawaii (at least until they have Mainland grandkids) and we struck up an e-mail conversation about ER. He mentioned that he'd never retire[url] because he loved his avocation and the lifestyle it funded.
I appreciated George's advice and he writes a great newsletter but I'd never physically met him until yesterday. He still resembles his pictures but time has taken its toll. What really shocked me was the realization that he's the same age as my father & father-in-law but he's 30 pounds overweight, looks exhausted, and has tremors that resemble Parkinson's. If I'd guessed his age I would have been high by at least a decade.
We were in the same meeting room but we could have been from different universes. I was there to stroll Waikiki & enjoy a sales presentation, perhaps with hot coffee and a few yummy cookies. The day was young, life was good, and the possibilities were endless. I was learning about real estate, curious to know more about the group George has mentioned for the last two years, and mentally stimulated by the challenge of picking apart the sales logic. George was working a room of strangers (most of them half his age) and earning $1000 finder's fees while he & spouse draw SS checks that are bigger than my pension-- plus their business and their other eight figures of assets. My family was busy with other things, I was taking a break from my routine to exploit a rare opportunity, the surf and the weather sucked, and I was happy to be there. The time passed quickly. Was George feeling the same way?
One of the reasons George stayed in Hawaii is that his kids could join the family business, and now the grandkids are starting their careers there. We come from the same Navy background and I face the same "Mainland grandkids" challenge with our kid, but of course I've chosen a different path. IMO we both have everything a man could want on this island. I just find it hard to believe that attending a sales presentation was the thing that he most wanted to do with his time. Maybe the cookies were disagreeing with his digestion, but he didn't seem to be as happy as he claims his avocation makes him.
Perhpas I'm just rationalizing my own ER because I don't comprehend what keeps him working. Ironically I find it easier to ask these questions of an Internet board of complete strangers than I do of George himself. Maybe I'm going to have to figure out a way to ask, because that conversation would presumably cover a whole bookful of issues. With what I know now I sure wouldn't want him to be a canary in my mineshaft.
I just hope when my age catches up with me that I'm spending my time on a longboard, not in a conference room...
