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Old 12-26-2008, 11:59 AM   #21
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Worst of times? An old college roommate called, said heard thru the grapevine that I had a very bad year.

Best of times? I disagree with the gossip.

Side note, sometimes people assume that retirement is a bad thing to happen to a person?
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Old 12-26-2008, 12:35 PM   #22
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The worst of this year is not even close to the worst things that have happened in my life so I don't even go there. Of course, the same is true for the best but overall it was an okay year.

Sayonara, 2008!
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Old 12-26-2008, 12:39 PM   #23
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a bittersweet year

best: finding my dad after a long search and visiting with him for the first time in 15 years and getting my brother & father together for the first time in 36 years and by all that facilitating my father's recent visit with his grandchildren for the very first time in their lives.

worst: seeing the picture of my father at age 80, my nephews aged 13 & 18 and my niece age 16 together for the very first time, looking at them all smiling but having such a hard time smiling myself because it's so sad. i met my own paternal grandfather just three times in my life and now my niece and nephews have had a two hour lunch with theirs.
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Old 12-26-2008, 02:31 PM   #24
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Best thing for me: as part of really settling into ER after almost two years, discovering that I am a more social person than I thought and establishing friendships at the never-too-late age of 54. Turns out I like people----I just didn't like the people I spent most of my pre-FIRE days with: co-workers and, especially, managers.

Runner up: being excited by this year's election and sharing the country's excitement and engagement in something so crucial.

Worst thing: losing 25% of what I retired with two years ago, as well as my innocence about and faith in investing.

Runner up: getting a frozen shoulder and experiencing pain and restricted movement daily.
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Old 12-26-2008, 06:06 PM   #25
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Best: becoming a grandmother! A new cute little baby boy in the family.

Worst: seeing my retirement portfolio shrink by almost 30% and realizing what a wimpy, scared little **** I can be about money.
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Old 12-26-2008, 06:08 PM   #26
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Best - retiring this past January.
Worst - going through the retirement trauma of what does my life mean now?

All in all, a good year for DH and I. He plans to retire in '09 and I'm gettin' over the loss of identity and purpose that unexpectedly descended upon me after retirement like a ton of bricks. It was much worse than I ever thought it would be. Many days of depression and desperation.

My volunteer work at the animal shelter really helped. All I have to do is look into the faces of those animals I helped this past year and I realize my life is worth something even without a career. Tell me, why did I doubt that? I know, it's something we all have to work out in our own way.

Spending lots of extra time with my wonderful mom helped me get over the hump too. We did lots of movie and lunch dates this year
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Old 12-26-2008, 07:37 PM   #27
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Worst joining the I lost a million dollar club. Closest 2nd two of my friends had even worse years, one had another bout with cancer,the second lost his wife and brother within 6 months.

Best: Stuck with my exercise class for an entire year, with minimal back sliding.
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Old 12-26-2008, 08:17 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walt34 View Post
Best thing - 20th wedding anniversary. She put on her wedding dress and I got all mushy about it.

Worst - going over to FIL's house and finding him incoherent on the kitchen floor. Thought we were going to lose him, and realizing that we will.
You're a lucky man. Her dress still fits!

Best thing: Passed the CFA level 2. It's like eating the stuff I puked up over level 1, knowing that it would taste like puke and eating it anyways. No, make that eating it twice cause I spent way more time studying for level 2.

Worst thing: The year isn't over yet, so I'm crossing my fingers that nothing seriously bad will happen. Did have a scare over my pet's health, but with the meds, she seems to be doing fine now.
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Old 12-26-2008, 08:25 PM   #29
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It's been a pretty good year.

Best - changed jobs - same megacorp - but now virtually no travel and much less stress.

Worst - changing jobs took us 8 hrs drive away from DD so we see her much less now.
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Old 12-27-2008, 01:21 PM   #30
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We moved back to a small town near where I as born and raised. We love it here. We're very fortunate--no "worst" this year.
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Old 12-27-2008, 05:27 PM   #31
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Best: friends, family, and myself in good health, and I had a blast traveling, hobbies, etc

Worst: anxiety from paper losses in portfolio
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Old 12-27-2008, 08:11 PM   #32
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Best: My daughter is now engaged to be married, and I got to visit them and they are so happy!!!
Runner up for best: windfall finally materialized

Worst: got another year older and really feel like it.
Runner up for worst: I still have to work for almost a year longer (for lifetime medical) so the windfall didn't hasten my retirement even a day.

Nothing really bad seemed to happen to me this year (thank goodness).
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Old 12-27-2008, 09:22 PM   #33
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Best: attending DD's college graduation...for awhile there we didn't think it would ever happen! (and a nice bonus of having her 90 year old grandfather there too!)
Second best: settling into a nice routine of retirement..enjoying getting reacquainted with old friends, traveling, doing volunteer work, goofing off....

Worse: watching my portfolio drop about 22% during the year...and the housing values in my neighborhood drop like stones.
Second worse (or maybe not, the jury's out): getting a call from a former colleague asking if I'd be interested in a six month consulting contract that will pay $40k. I said yes...so starting in January I'll be working from home on a part time basis -- about 15 hours a week -- doing work that I really do enjoy...without all the other office drama. We'll see if this makes the best or the worst list for '09.
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