Having a hard time visualizing life in retirement

[BUM]

Dex,

You are very conflicted nut... and its after Monday. So what did you tell the boss?


BUM

Chairman
Conflicted Nuts Anonymos

[dex]

Dex,

You are very conflicted nut... and its after Monday. So what did you tell the boss?


BUM

Chairman
Conflicted Nuts Anonymos

Bum,
We Conflicted Nuts need a leader. I waited until 5pm yesterday to tell them I'm interested in the position. I will now go through another round of interviews in 2 weeks. I pretty confident I will get the position. And I'm still conflicted. I'm committed to at least 1 yr in the position (that is my integrity talking).
What others have said may be true - that I am not ready for retirement because of my lack of outside interests.
However, I'm 50 and been this way for quite some time so why do I think I can change.
I think I will need to do what Retire @40 is infurring. I must should quit and learn to live.
On the positive side I am consience of this issue.
I remember a quote a high school teacher said:
"Not to decide, is to decide."
Thanks for all the replies.

PS - Maybe I will not get the position (that has only happened once in my career). Then this issue will be decided for me and leaving would be a bit easier.

[Sheryl]

This is an interesting viewpoint. Just how would one retire without reaching FI?

It seems there are only 4 ways to live (ie avoid starvation, have a roof over your head, etc) These can be pure, or the four ways can be mixed.

You earn a living; you live off hoarded savings and earnings from that savings (which would include SS, pensions, etc.; you sponge off others earnings and savings; or you steal.

If you are retired, then #1, earning a living is out. If you are not FI, then #2, living off savings is out.


Mikey

Mikey, I think you missed something - you are using common sense and logic. It's very likely that lots of people would choose #2, and live off savings until they ran out, without even doing the math to know if they were FI or not until the money ran out.

So are they really retired if WE know they can't make it but THEY don't have a clue? I've heard people around me say things like, "If I had $100,000 in the bank I'd quit this job so fast...." Yeah, then what?

[Jarhead*]

This is an interesting viewpoint. Just how would one retire without reaching FI?

It seems there are only 4 ways to live (ie avoid starvation, have a roof over your head, etc) These can be pure, or the four ways can be mixed.

You earn a living; you live off hoarded savings and earnings from that savings (which would include SS, pensions, etc.; you sponge off others earnings and savings; or you steal.

If you are retired, then #1, earning a living is out. If you are not FI, then #2, living off savings is out.

That leaves sponging and/or stealing.

Maybe OK for some, but it beats me why anyone would want to advertise it on a message board

Mikey

Mikey: I am surprised that you would ask that question, given you have had access to this board as long as you have.
You do it with "Ego, and Superior Intellect
The rest of the stuff(Net Worth, types of investments, etc. etc.) are for the "girlie-men" to have to ponder.
Pay attention, you may learn something

[Nords]

This is an interesting viewpoint. Just how would one retire without reaching FI?

I'll take this one-- marry a working spouse!

Kidding aside, John has the right perspective-- it's easy to keep working for "just one more million" without acknowledging one's own mortality.

quote author=dex link=board=misc;num=1111674058;start=30#41 date=03/29/05 at 06:46:05]I remember a quote a high school teacher said: "Not to decide, is to decide."[/quote]
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice". -- Neil Peart

Probably just a recent version of many of this quote.

My favorite is "The more difficult a choice between two alternatives, the less difference it makes which one is chosen." So doing what you want (instead of what you feel you should or what the numbers seem to indicate) is certainly a valid approach.

Let's just hope that two months from now you're not wishing you'd chosen ER!

[cute fuzzy bunny]

A nurse with a purse definitely helps

Dex - I discovered a superior outside interest only after retiring...sleeping until at least 10:00 every morning...

I have also turned the highly toned skills I developed in the working world towards maximizing my laziness and now my primary goal is to see how long it can take to do something and how serialized I can make tasks rather than multitasking and shortening projects.

Its very, very difficult to do, but I believe I am near to mastering it.

With regards to 'willpower and brainpower', I guess that works when you marry a working spouse a couple of years after you 'retire' and then live deeply below the average persons means...

That might work for some, but I'd make sure I know the details before I quit working with 'low six figures' set aside.

[dex]

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice". -- Neil Peart

Probably just a recent version of many of this quote.

My favorite is "The more difficult a choice between two alternatives, the less difference it makes which one is chosen." So doing what you want (instead of what you feel you should or what the numbers seem to indicate) is certainly a valid approach.

Let's just hope that two months from now you're not wishing you'd chosen ER!

Nords - Now you tell me! Well I guess there is still time to turn in my notice and not go for the job. They are going to talk with others inside the company.

Re: Neil Pert - He was my roomate for about 2 wks while on a bicycle ride in China in 1985. I didn't know who he was so while introducing ourselves he told me he was in a band call Rush. I said the name sound familar; my brother owns a bar in the Bronx; have you ever played there? He said no they played in Madison Square Garden. I told him I never heard of the band. I think he liked that I didn't treat him like a star or special. He is genually a nice guy. The song Tai Shan is about our trip - it is on the "Great Balls of Fire" album.

[haha]

Mikey: *I am surprised that you would ask that question, given you have had access to this board as long as you have.
You do it with "Ego, and Superior Intellect
The rest of the stuff(Net Worth, types of investments, etc. etc.) are for the "girlie-men" to have to ponder.
Pay attention, you may learn something

Jarhead, you know what they say- "With all this sh+t, there must be a pony in here somewhere." I just keep looking.

Mikey

[Nords]

Nords - Now you tell me! Well I guess there is still time to turn in my notice and not go for the job. *They are going to talk with others inside the company.

No, no, if you're interested in pursuing the job then you're doing the right thing. It's an opportunity that may not repeat itself, and passing it up may keep you wondering for a very long time. Play out the hand. You've certainly thought through the issues and made a choice, two steps that elude many in your position.

There's a lot to be said for playing the game by their rules and then using those same rules to declare your retirement. If you get the job, then you can still ER when you want. If you don't get the job, then you can still ER when you want. Either way I think you "win". Either way you've played with honor.

I'll say it again-- it's hard to think clearly about ER when you're working. When you're on a long vacation/sabbatical and you have several weeks (months?) to recover from chronic fatigue, lose some of the stress, and do the serious thinking, then the answers will make themselves clear. Nearly every ER can't imagine how they ever found time to go to work. You'll have plenty of things to do in ER, and merely the fact that you can't identify them now is no excuse to keep working! If you're still looking for things to do and you own a toolbox, you're welcome to come over here and help whittle down my honey-do list...

I wonder if Rush could book MSG these days-- maybe your brother should invite them to his bar again.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I wonder if Rush could book MSG these days-- maybe your brother should invite them to his bar again.

They could open for Pat Benetar. :-X

[MRGALT2U]

I think I may start a thread for "ER girlie men"

I keep saying all you need are brains and willpower,
and it seems not many believe it. "You gotta save this much." "You can only withdraw X." "What if this happens?
"What if that happens?" "Woe is us!"

Pogo had it right folks.
You are your own worst enemy, ER-wise and otherwise.
Whatever man can conceive and believe, he can achieve.

More good stuff tomorrow.

Elvis has left the building.

[Nords]

Perhaps you need a picture of the tuminator for inspiration... *Time can be sooo cruel... ER before it's too late...

%^&* a little warning next time, GDER! I'm back now, and I hope I got all the coffee off the monitor.

I think it's politics. *You've seen the before/after photos of Ronald Reagan & Clint Eastwood, right?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yeah, I needed "Nice Bass" a couple of times to unburn my retinas...

[MRGALT2U]

Hello Jarhead! Oddly enough you are (were?)
exactly the same size as the hero in the old
Jimmy Dean song 'Big John'. If I was a smartass
at this point I would make some crack about the size
of your sausage

JG

[Jarhead*]

Hello Jarhead! *Oddly enough you are (were?)
exactly the same size as the hero in the old
Jimmy Dean song 'Big John'. *If I was a smartass
at this point I would make some crack about the size
of your sausage *

JG

JG: Perish the thought that you would make a "smartass remark"

John Holmes was a little skinny doper. Dammit, anyhow

[LovesLife]

I think Arnold's body looks gross in both the before and after shots.

Yuck.

LovesLife