How to Retire Happy, Wild And Free

[Hyperborea]

Nords, you may have heard of this before, but here it is for everyone else. *It was on a joke sheet I got from someone, so I'm guessing it's not a true story.

www.snopes.com is a good source for checking out the validity (or non-validity) of these tall tales and urban legends.

http://www.snopes.com/military/lighthse.htm

I miss TH - He was the original Milk out of Nose poster!

Come back TH * *- We miss you!

Haven't kept up with things so was wondering what happened to TH?

[indymom]

I just finished "Eats, Shoot, and Leaves" also. I never thought a book on punctuation could be so funny.

[Zipper]

The original joke was "eats roots and leaves" about the wombat.

Roots is Aussie slang for f*ck!

[REWahoo]

The original joke was "eats roots and leaves" about the wombat.

I heard it told as a journalism class assignment to determine who could write the shortest sentence describing the escape of an inmate from a mental hospital who raped a woman and fled the state. The winner: "Nut screws and bolts".

REW

[REWahoo]

I have always said that there are 2 parts to retirement. The Financial (which we dwell on here) - And the emotional (which we rarely discuss) - This was a large adjustment for myself - It really took me about a year to come to grips with it. *-- It looks like this book deals with it.

Cut-Throat, it doesn't apear that you have had much response to your comments about the "other part" of retirement. Guess it must be too touchy-feely for many on the board.

Here is a link to a USA Today article on the psychological side of retirement. Now that I'm under 6 months to FIRE and just about got the financial side covered, I've been giving a lot of thought to the other half. Would be interested in hearing your thoughts and if you think this article has any merit in what it says.

Thanks.

REW

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...tirement_x.htm

[Bob_Smith]

REWanabe, that was an interesting article. Here's a quote from it:

"Retirement doesn't belong in our culture. It's a negative. The American dream, I think, is work that you love, a community that you love, and having time around that to be entertained, to have some leisure, to have some equilibrium among all those things - not to just go off and disappear."

The article leaves the impression that many who retire feel the need to replace their old job with a different "job", and that their identities are all tied up in work. They seem to need the structure work provides and are completely lost without it - kind of like Jack Nicholson in "About Schmidt". And many seem to think they must always be "doing" something productive.

When I was working I had two lives - my work life and my free time life. My free time life was always good. My work life was a mixed bag and it interfered with my other life. I only needed one life, so leaving work behind required no preparation or planning. I just "went off and disappeared". That may not be typical, but I can't even imagine what one would do to prepare psychologically for the life I have now, or why that would be necessary. Maybe it's just me, but life couldn't be any better, and the loafing I do requires no training, planning, or preparation of any kind.

I have written before about my almost complete lack
of a "period of adjustment" from workaholic to contented
ER.
Honestly, I recall no angst whatsoever connected to this.. Nor, do I recall having any trouble filling my days.
To the contrary, I can not begin to squeeze everything
into my schedule. Of course, being a Type A, I see
projects everywhere. Been retired for years now and the to-do list is longer than ever

JG

... Here is a link to a USA Today article on the psychological side of retirement. ... Would be interested in hearing your thoughts and if you think this article has any merit in what it says.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...tirement_x.htm

It's a darn good topic and article. I lurked on this board for many months before registering. Most of the members seem to have adapted to early retirement without a hitch. In contrast, it took me 3 years to become accustomed to retirement and I'm not done yet.

I'm your age -- 53, but I retired from an R&D career at 49 without much mental preparation. My company announced a voluntary early retirement package and gave us only one month to decide. I was financially prepared and so eager to leave a work environment gone sour that I may have been first in the line of 8,500 volunteers!

Someone in the article recommended planning your retirement activities before you retire. I doubt I could have stuck to such a plan due to unforseen changes in my interests after retirement.

I pursued several hobbies passionately during my working career, most of them technical. The harder I worked in industry, harder I "played" in my hobbies. But, I lost interest in most of those hobbies when I retired. I'm beginning to realize why that's so.

As I've quipped before, I now live in my own RST time zone -- that's Retirement Standard Time. It's a much slower pace than the hectic days when work assignments piled up higher and higher, with tighter and tighter deadlines.

Living slower and freer means I don't need as many hobbies to "decompress." My new hobbies don't have to be quite as technical or require purchasing alot of new toys.

Like other retirees mentioned in the article, I started taking long walks and bicycle rides. I am reading and enjoying more books now that I have so much free time. After living in the same community for 19 years, I now have the time and interest to take advantage of the facilities my tax dollars have been supporting -- enjoying the library, the bicycle paths, etc.

For the first 2 years, I felt more like an unemployed engineer than a retiree. I had no desire to rejoin the rat race, but I wasn't acclimated to retirement yet. At the 3 year mark, I feel more comfortable as a retiree, but I still need to find new interests and become more active.

[Nords]

Nords, you may have heard of this before, but here it is for everyone else. *It was on a joke sheet I got from someone, so I'm guessing it's not a true story.

All the really good stories are still classified. Some of them are in "Blind Man's Bluff." Others may never get past the statute of limitations.

Haven't kept up with things so was wondering what happened to TH?

He's still lurking & posting occasionally, but he's prepping/selling his new spouse's house (the spouse is new, not the house) and hopefully sleeping as much as he can in anticipation of their baby boy's February arrival. Kinda ironic that ER has rendered him more creative & busy than ever (so to speak).

Would be interested in hearing your thoughts and if you think this article has any merit in what it says. Thanks.
REW
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...tirement_x.htm

Let me jump on this one, too. I think these articles are written by "journalists" under deadline (who have no practical ER experience) to alarm those who show far more ER potential than those profiled.

If you're shoved into retirement without any preparation or even forethought, then that article can help you find your way.

But if you've spent any time at all on the subject, especially if you've found your way to this board, then you're probably ready to make the leap.

I think that most ERs have never found a true avocation-- one that's so all-consuming fascinating that being paid for having fun seems scandalous. (I had one of those for about 10 years... and then we started a family.) If you never found your true avocation and had to take a real bill-paying job instead, then you're probably ready to ER. If you're ready to ER, you don't need articles like this one.

Financial considerations aside, IMO work is for people who aren't quite ready yet to be completely responsible for their own entertainment. Zelinski goes even farther to accuse them of low self-esteem.

[peggy]

Financial considerations aside, IMO work is for people who aren't quite ready yet to be completely responsible for their own entertainment. Zelinski goes even farther to accuse them of low self-esteem.

Well, considering that the ancient Greeks considered that if you had to work for your living you were little better than a slave, I suspect Zelinski hasn't gone as far as he could.

[LEX]

Just a thought. *One of the best ways for me to get a real handle on retirement is similar to the way I used to travel into Latin America during my off the wall days as a mining engineer. *Its amazing just how little one needs to get by. *I lived out of a camper on a 4*4 Dodge Power wagon for months. *Traded cigarettes with "indengenous locals" in exchange for live lobster and fresh fish and bathed in the Pacific. *I treat ER as if I was never going back to the home office ever again, and it works. *If you keep close to your feral nature, ER is the only life to live. *All one really needs is a dry place to crash and three squares a day, and some adventure for grins!

I know that Nords and John Blake can relate. *If you have ever taken it to the edge, for example with extreme "sports", (I skied Colorado and Chile, tried to surf, but excelled at frontier geologic exploration in the bush for a global mining company) being totally away from all that seems sensible, but drills the senses, then look at ER as simply the economic equivalent of an X-Game!

[Brat]

I can relate, but the one complicator here is family, most of us are now the filler in the sandwich of generations. Hubby and I bummed around NZ and AU in a camper-van a couple years ago. Loved it!

Invest my IRAs in quality balanced funds and let the managers earn their fees. The maritime among us would buy a used boat in Bristol condition and set anchor as the spirit moved.

I would love to be a 'legend' for our grand-children. Give them stories to pass down...

[LEX]

Brat:

I like the balanced fund route, especially when one is traveling or otherwise occupied with living in real time. My favorite single fund is the vanguard Star. Its the equivalent of handing the money over to a cheap money manager and getting decent(@10% average) returns. I prefer to keep my money in self managed accounts, but in "auto-pilot" balanced funds. I own no individual stock, with the exception of my severence options from a former employer that vest for the next several years. I always sell these shares upon vesting and add to my vanguard balanced index, wellsley (income stream) and Star. I keep it as simple as I can.

As to the sandwich situation, I admire the sense of family many on the board have. I have my mother in law to support, but she is back in eastern europe, and a few hundred bucks @ month makes a big positive impact. It also gives me and my spouse yet another reason to catch a cheap flight and live very frugally. I often return from my travels and find I made more money as a result of being out of the states (and the malls) than any investment expertise. Its the spending side of the equation that really counts, not the living part.

Make it all an adventure on your own terms. The real wealth is that you now own your time and, perhaps, have the better of your fate as a result.

[Brat]

Lex,

I have a hunk of our IRA money in Oakmark and Dodge & Cox balanced funds.. not all by any means, but a significant %. Add a little international for spice, IBonds and MM for the nearer term, and, God willing, we will survive. The BEST mutual fund resource IMHO is www.fundalarm.com. You will find a couple handles you recognize on their bb.

Family is what makes living significant. No one else will tolerate our BS or make sure that in our frail years that we are looked after. Having sufficient financial resources is important, but equally important are the human resources that assure that they are put to good use. As much as I would love to move to a low-cost locale the risk of disconnect with family doesn't make it worthwhile.