HA-HA said:
My hat is off to you for this.
Thanks, Ha. Didn't mean to manipulate you into giving me a compliment....
Everyone is different. For me, I simply
had to be there. It was satisfying in a profound way, and I was fortunate that, being retired, I had the freedom and time to do this.
HA said:
Akaisha, you have quoted from a number of people. I want to make it clear that I never said nor felt that the Terhorsts made poor investment choices. ..Later, they modified their approach.
I didn't mean to pour cold water on the discussion here... my apologies if I did.
There were a couple of points that I was attempting to make -
1) Life is change. To maintain a successful lifestyle, we have to be willing to adjust. What worked years ago for us as people, doesn't work now...
2) The Terhorsts are the "Grandparents" of the Early Retirement Movement. 20-some years ago when they retired, there were no Safe Withdrawal Rates, or online calculators and forums like these were a totally new idea, if they existed at all.
For that matter, when we retired 15 years ago, we didn't have any of this either.... We were "out there" virtually alone in these ideas. No one we knew thought we were sane. :
It took Kahunas to do it then...
It is not a life that would appeal to me, but then, I am not doing it.
Right. Perfectly normal. The point is about having choice. Not everyone wants to "chuck it all" leaving it behind them.
ESR Bob's idea of semi-retirement fits very well for many many people. One has the benefits of working (healthcare perhaps, social connections with those in one's profession, cash flow coming in) plus the ability to not work killer hours each week. Semi-retirement also offers you free time to spend on other activities, offering you a better quality of life. But not total freedom to perhaps leave for months or years at a time. It's a perfect "Middle Way" approach, and I can see how it would be
amazingly attractive to the largest amount of people.
LEX said:
For me its about taking my income in time well lived by my values and agenda, not some merchant/mercenary who got to run the Corporation and now influences others in their serfdom.
Yup. Very well said. To us, we were moved by freedom. To someone else it is another motivation.
Again, apologies if I came on too strongly...
Akaisha
Author,
The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement