When did you see the light?

[Eagle43]

Ah, the Joy of Not Working.  Surely you've read it by now.  If not, pick it up and concentrate on Ernie's leisure tree ideas.

 

[TromboneAl]

When DW notices me noticing extremely large breasted women she says they are probably not real. I say if they are round and have nipples that is all that matters.

I looked it up, J, and that is not the correct answer. Correct answer is: "You're probably right. I like your much better."

 

[audreyh1]

It's just that I have these feelings that I should be gathering acorns rather than indulging my other interests...even though I really don't need any more acorns. 

Yeah - it's that out-of-control work ethic that we are indoctrinated with since a young age. There's also this nagging suspicion that if what you do doesn't bring in "acorns" it's essentially worthless.

Nothing could be further from the truth. We are each far more valuable than what someone else will pay us for our time or skill.

As an ER, I equate my personal free time as my most precious commodity - not $$$. Seeing things that way can really help put things in perspective. Quality of life is about spending time on things that are most important to me personally (or my close family/friends as an extension of me).

Audrey

 

[claire]

nicely put Audrey.

 

[Scrooge]

Yeah - it's that out-of-control work ethic that we are indoctrinated with since a young age.  There's also this nagging suspicion that if what you do doesn't bring in "acorns" it's essentially worthless.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  We are each far more valuable than what someone else will pay us for our time or skill.

Heh, I suspect that we are getting dangerously close to that pesky "what's the meaning of life?" question 

Without geting too deep into it, I think there is a certain amount of truth to the saying "If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing for money" (David Gerrold, wasn't it?) After all, if somebody is willing to pay for it, it's an independent confirmation that what you are doing is needed by other people since they are willing to spend money on it.

Unfortunately, many of us eventually run into at least two problems with this adage. First, there are people (and especially organizations) that are willing to pay rather handsomely for work that is intrinsically worthless or worse, as any number of white elephant projects will demonstrate.

Second, there may be other parameters that define the worth of a particular project to you. Sometimes it's durability -- as a computer consultant I have lovingly designed and implemented a number of systems only to see them consigned to the dustbin of history within a few short years. In extreme cases, they never saw the light of day due to circumstances way outside of my control.

And sometimes it's just that the work, although valuable to others, is not something that you enjoy doing. For the last year I have been contracted to do things that are quite valuable to my client. They stand to recover millions of dollars once the software is fully operational and I am the best resource that they have to get the new system up and running. Unfortunately, the work is rather boring and unpleasant Thankfully, I still have choices in spite of my aging skill set, so I am in the process of moving to a new, more interesting contract.

 

[cons]

i haven't been on the forum for a while, but i have to say that this is definitely a very interesting thread. thanks for starting it rich.


i learned that saving was important when i started my first job at 15 yrs old. i worked as a deli-counter-helper. from then on, financial independence was my goal. i did not received anymore gifts/allowances/handouts from my parents after my first job either. my parents did not pay for my college education, i think it helped build character in me. i appreciated my education more and valued the freedom that i had from having/being responsible for my own finances. i moved out and was on my own at 20, right after i graduated from college. i was lucky enough to find a fed govt job right out of college. that's when i started 'investing'. it was 2002 and i knew NOTHING about the stock market/mutual funds/ETFs/IRAs....zilch. but i did understand that i had to put in at least 5% in my TSP to get the match as it was pretty obvious that it was like throwing away free money if i had not done so. that first year in 02, i had everything going into the TSP G fund  .

at 22, i started reading A LOT of literature on investing, mainly on asset allocation and mutual funds. i would spend 2 or 3 hours everyday at the library reading books/magazines/online forums about investing.

fast forward 3 years later and my retirement investment portfolio has reached 6 figures    

i think that as an individual, you do need to have a certain mindset/mentality and a certain sense of personal control to be able to 'see the light'.

it was very fun and enjoyable to read your stories.



eddie