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Old 10-24-2014, 10:00 AM   #61
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I don't consider myself lucky...I was shrewd enough to spend most of my life LBYM, invested well and saved.
When the end came, all my associates who spent it as fast as they made it (and who'd mock me for LBYM) were crying...I was on a beach in Hawaii.
Like my old grand pappy used to say, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."
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Old 10-24-2014, 10:07 AM   #62
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Maybe he was lucky that he didn't spend all his money as fast as he made it. Or was he smart?
He may have been smart and lucky. But, if he were to be fired when he was a manager of the restaurant or a manager of the chain of restaurants, he'd still be pretty young and out of work. Doubt he would have much money saved.
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Old 10-24-2014, 10:07 AM   #63
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You need a small game license in just about every state. In my state, the daily bag limit is 5 fox squirrels, 5 pine squirrels, and 2 Abert's squirrels.
You have many squirrel options. I'm only familiar with the standard gray squirrel and now I've seen some black ones.
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Old 10-24-2014, 10:10 AM   #64
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I have been extraordinarily lucky about some things. I have also been extraordinarily unlucky about some things.

I suspect that the same is true for many people. Life has a tendency to buffet us about, one way or another. I don't expect that to stop, just because I am retired. I am fully psychologically prepared for anything. Well, cancel that.... I can only say that I THINK I am. I guess it is pretty hard to know for sure, in advance. Life has a way of coming up with an immensely devastating sucker punch, just when we think we have it made.
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Old 10-24-2014, 10:13 AM   #65
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Not to take anything away from your friend, but luck played a huge part in his being able to retire at 50. I've known district managers who have worked for their companies 25-30 years and were let go when a larger company bought their company. Work ethic had nothing to do with their being fired. So, without some good luck your friend could have worked his way up to manager and then all of a sudden found himself applying for a job as an assistant manager at a Denny's.
He was prepared for what he faced. He made his own restaurant a success. Maybe he started it after he got laid off after a buy out. He had the work ethic and skill set to be successful. He was obviously in an environment that allowed him to be but thousands of "unlucky" restaurant workers were too. He made it happen and had what it takes to manage his life.

I've lost jobs. Sometimes I was laid off and I've been effectively run off from others. I've taken jobs below the level I was at before being laid off that paid less -- a lot less in one case. I was "lucky" to get these jobs. I worked myself up and now make more than ever. People can succeed but having a "wage slave, oh poor me" mentality pretty much guarantees you'll never be "lucky."
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Old 10-24-2014, 10:15 AM   #66
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You have many squirrel options. I'm only familiar with the standard gray squirrel and now I've seen some black ones.
I have actually never hunted grays, since by the time I took up hunting I had moved to a place where they do not dwell. That black squirrels are probably just a color variant of the grays.

Abert's are the most interesting. They are only in 3 states in the US and they spend pretty much their entire lives living in and eating Ponderosa pines in foothills forests. Very different/weird looking as well, with their freakishly long ear hair tufts and almost prehensile looking paws.
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Old 10-24-2014, 10:15 AM   #67
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I've had people tell me I'm "lucky" to be retired at such an early age. Usually from someone in a low-stress, 9-5 job. I just smile politely, but deep down it hurts. They really have no idea...

The stress. 65-hour weeks, including a two-hour daily commute. Constant travel and jet lag. Pressure to hit P&L targets. Impossible project deadlines. Conference calls with Asian customers at 5am and then again at 11pm the same day, with hopefully better answers. Missing the kid's Christmas choir concert while sitting in O'Hare waiting for the weather to clear. The look you get from good, hard-working people after being told their plant is being closed. Waking up in a panic at 3am to send an email to Japan that I forgot to send after the 11pm conference call. Endless political corporate nonsense.

Sure, there were plenty of good days when I felt like I was on top of the world, especially in the first 15 years. But later it was like a never-ending emotional roller-coaster ride through Hell, and I've got the hairline and blood pressure to prove it. Through all this, I always had a positive can-do attitude, worked my @ss off, was a top performer, and was compensated accordingly. But I literally squeezed a 40-year career into 25, both time and money.

"Yeah, I'm just lucky," I respond, as all of the above flashes through my head.
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Old 10-24-2014, 10:27 AM   #68
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Originally Posted by Cobra9777 View Post
I've had people tell me I'm "lucky" to be retired at such an early age. Usually from someone in a low-stress, 9-5 job. I just smile politely, but deep down it hurts. They really have no idea...

The stress. 65-hour weeks, including a two-hour daily commute. Constant travel and jet lag. Pressure to hit P&L targets. Impossible project deadlines. Conference calls with Asian customers at 5am and then again at 11pm the same day, with hopefully better answers. Missing the kid's Christmas choir concert while sitting in O'Hare waiting for the weather to clear. The look you get from good, hard-working people after being told their plant is being closed. Waking up in a panic at 3am to send an email to Japan that I forgot to send after the 11pm conference call. Endless political corporate nonsense.

Sure, there were plenty of good days when I felt like I was on top of the world, especially in the first 15 years. But later it was like a never-ending emotional roller-coaster ride through Hell, and I've got the hairline and blood pressure to prove it. Through all this, I always had a positive can-do attitude, worked my @ss off, was a top performer, and was compensated accordingly. But I literally squeezed a 40-year career into 25, both time and money.

"Yeah, I'm just lucky," I respond, as all of the above flashes through my head.
+1

Well said.
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Old 10-24-2014, 10:44 AM   #69
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Originally Posted by Cobra9777 View Post
I've had people tell me I'm "lucky" to be retired at such an early age. Usually from someone in a low-stress, 9-5 job. I just smile politely, but deep down it hurts. They really have no idea...



The stress. 65-hour weeks, including a two-hour daily commute. Constant travel and jet lag. Pressure to hit P&L targets. Impossible project deadlines. Conference calls with Asian customers at 5am and then again at 11pm the same day, with hopefully better answers. Missing the kid's Christmas choir concert while sitting in O'Hare waiting for the weather to clear. The look you get from good, hard-working people after being told their plant is being closed. Waking up in a panic at 3am to send an email to Japan that I forgot to send after the 11pm conference call. Endless political corporate nonsense.



Sure, there were plenty of good days when I felt like I was on top of the world, especially in the first 15 years. But later it was like a never-ending emotional roller-coaster ride through Hell, and I've got the hairline and blood pressure to prove it. Through all this, I always had a positive can-do attitude, worked my @ss off, was a top performer, and was compensated accordingly. But I literally squeezed a 40-year career into 25, both time and money.



"Yeah, I'm just lucky," I respond, as all of the above flashes through my head.

You are too kind. I don't take "body blows for the team". Even with my friends and it never affects our friend ship. And if it's a stranger or acquaintance, well I guess it teaches them a lesson to not open their mouth on something they know nothing about. But then again, it all depends on intent and not the words. In this sense "lucky" may have been used as a synonym for doing well and wishing they had done the same. Sometimes what people say and what they mean are not quite received in the context it was meant.


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Old 10-24-2014, 10:47 AM   #70
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Like my old grand pappy used to say, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."
IMO you nailed it.I could not agree more.
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Old 10-24-2014, 11:00 AM   #71
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Like my old grand pappy used to say, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."

Recognizing the opportunity is the big challenge for many.


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Old 10-24-2014, 11:03 AM   #72
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I have actually never hunted grays, since by the time I took up hunting I had moved to a place where they do not dwell. That black squirrels are probably just a color variant of the grays.

Abert's are the most interesting. They are only in 3 states in the US and they spend pretty much their entire lives living in and eating Ponderosa pines in foothills forests. Very different/weird looking as well, with their freakishly long ear hair tufts and almost prehensile looking paws.
Brewer, you seem to really be enjoying your retirement (or semi-retirement).
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Old 10-24-2014, 11:19 AM   #73
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Brewer, you seem to really be enjoying your retirement (or semi-retirement).
Heh, I work hard at doing so.
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Old 10-24-2014, 12:19 PM   #74
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Actually, one thing I think most of us overlook or forget about is just the luck of where we are born. To be born in the US/Canada/UK or other first world country is really luck and probably the greatest blessing in our lives that most of us tend to forget.
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Old 10-24-2014, 12:22 PM   #75
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I have actually never hunted grays, since by the time I took up hunting I had moved to a place where they do not dwell. That black squirrels are probably just a color variant of the grays.

Abert's are the most interesting. They are only in 3 states in the US and they spend pretty much their entire lives living in and eating Ponderosa pines in foothills forests. Very different/weird looking as well, with their freakishly long ear hair tufts and almost prehensile looking paws.

Blacks are just a variant of the grays. Had one or two on the farm but there are areas here where they are common.
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Old 10-24-2014, 12:31 PM   #76
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Not to take anything away from your friend, but luck played a huge part in his being able to retire at 50. I've known district managers who have worked for their companies 25-30 years and were let go when a larger company bought their company. Work ethic had nothing to do with their being fired. So, without some good luck your friend could have worked his way up to manager and then all of a sudden found himself applying for a job as an assistant manager at a Denny's.
I can't believe anyone who had the ambition and determination to successfully open, and operate several resteraunts, would just settle for any position in any capacity and never advance their position.

Luck often times appears to steer the course rather than determine the final destination.
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Old 10-24-2014, 01:03 PM   #77
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I think there is definitely some luck involved. I don't dispute that many on this board have worked very hard and sacrificed a lot to get to where you are. That is obviously a factor. But really, I know many people who are/were limited in their ability to do the same, and not self-limited. As an example, I think of my SIL who has a severely disabled child who requires 24/7 total care. She has been providing this care to her child for almost 40 years. I can tell you that her retirement account isn't anything close to mine and she works her a@# off and has more stress than I can comprehend. The costs over the years associated with her child's care is very high (e.g. structural changes needed to home, endless surgeries and hospital admisstions). Sometimes life is hard. Are there lazy people or spendaholics or people who just can't manage their money well? Yes. If you and your family have good health, a good education, smarts, a good work ethic, some opportunity (most of us were given a chance by someone at least at the start of our careers), and good money management skills -- well, I call you (among other attributes) lucky!
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Old 10-24-2014, 01:05 PM   #78
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However, LBYM has nothing to do with "luck" and everything to do with discipline and willpower. And that is how the great majority of those on this board got to where they are.


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Maybe those who aren't prepared and have not saved just feel better chalking up our ER to 'luck'. Hard to sleep at night realizing that you've been a fool when the clock has caught up with you.
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Old 10-24-2014, 01:08 PM   #79
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Like my old grand pappy used to say, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."
I read somewhere that if you took all billionaires and took all their money away, within 10 years, they'd have made it all back. Also, if you took all that money and gave it to the poor, in 10 years, they'd all be poor again.
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Old 10-24-2014, 01:26 PM   #80
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I read somewhere that if you took all billionaires and took all their money away, within 10 years, they'd have made it all back. Also, if you took all that money and gave it to the poor, in 10 years, they'd all be poor again.
I can't say that I would believe that.
I'm sure that the originally rich people would do better in general than the poor people. But to suggest that the rich people would make entirely all their money back, that sounds far-fetched. And certainly there must be a few poor people that, given the opportunity, would do something magnificent and build on their wealth.
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