I'm back!!!

[Aus_E_Expat]

I'm back!

After a long absence, I am back posting.

My previous post is in this link
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f26/insecure-long-term-expat-71488.html

It's probably not necessary to rehash the financial side, suffice to say I am financially independent and all of the calculators and advisors tell me I will expire before the money runs out (unless I radically change my spending habits or investment strategy).

So I did organise to retire at age 60. I had a list of things I was planning to do / my wife was planning to do...that went for about 6 weeks. Retirement was a black hole from that point. After living for years with hundreds of emails etc to deal with, things then started to get quiet...very quiet.

As I mentioned in my earlier thread (link above), I never really developed a lot of hobbies. I now realise the importance of interests outside work.

Then completely out of the blue, I did receive an email asking me if I was interested to work on a new project for 12 months. It was from a company that I knew but had never worked with as a client. The project was something different from what I had done in my previous working life and the terms and conditions are good.

After discussing at length with my wife, I took the new contract and that "retirement" was very shortlived.

The current contract is only for 12 months and and I think I need to use that time to develop some new interests and plan better.

I have learnt that financial independence is a very import part of retirement at any age but there are many other aspects to retirement planning - and it is very difficult to find resources (books, advisors etc) to assist with those aspects. That is why this forum is very helpful.

I still want to retire but I want to ensure that I know what I am doing next time.

 

[H2ODude]

Welcome back! Similar experience in that while able to before, retired at 60 because long term j#b became unpleasant, then consulting firm went to work for failed to live up to promises. So I was not prepared. Unlike you, I toughed it out and with time and am quite comfortable with more down time now. Have hobbies, but they can't consume all my time. At this point, I resent things like dentist appointments that require me to be ANYWHERE at a certain time! Life is quite good!

 

[Rianne]

Congratulations! That's exciting and good news.

 

[HI Bill]

...it is very difficult to find resources (books, advisors etc) to assist with those aspects. That is why this forum is very helpful.

Check out Ernie Zelenski's books, "The Joy of Not Working" and "How to Retire Wild, Happy and Free"!


They have some exercises, including the "Get a Life Tree" that can help identify activities that you enjoy now, those that you enjoyed in the past, those that will get/keep you fit, new activities you'd like to try, and activities that you'd like to return to doing.

 

[tjelvar]

Thanks for sharing, this is really good input for us young guys planning for and dreaming of retirement.

Right now I am that guy getting hundreds of emails a day and longing for more time outside work and family duties.

May I ask: How did you picture your retirement? Even if you did not have many hobbies, you must have had an idea about how to spend you time?

 

[brewer12345]

Spend some time navel gazing: what did you always want to do but never had the time? I came up with a few without a lot of effort, but others emerged over time. Never thought about shooting black powder rifles, for example, or trying my hand at leatherworking. Come up with one or two and others will likely present themselves over time.

 

[pacergal]

+1 on "How to retire wild, happy , and free".
Work on the "Get a Life Tree", it can be fun and eye opening. I found myself going in directions I never thought of while working, because there was never enough time to do the things I wanted to do.

 

[tjelvar]

Yes sure, if I have like 2 hours of free time a week, it is easy to come up with plenty of ways to spend my time. But if all of a sudden you have 16 hours a day to fill, maybe you run out of ideas earlier than expected. That is one of the things I wonder when planning my early retirement. So Aus_E_Expat's story should be interesting.

 

[Aus_E_Expat]

Check out Ernie Zelenski's books, "The Joy of Not Working" and "How to Retire Wild, Happy and Free"!

I have read both books and in my view, "How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free" is the best retirement book I have read - simply because it is not all about money and got me thinking.

 

[Aus_E_Expat]

May I ask: How did you picture your retirement? Even if you did not have many hobbies, you must have had an idea about how to spend you time?

I thought I would spend my time doing some travelling, playing tennis a few times a week, doing some photography and blogging.

I thought I would ease into it and then maybe start doing a part time course or work for a charity/community group.

As I got to the retirement date, I realised my wife only wanted to do some limited travelling, I had some friends who were interested in travelling but they are business owners and only have limited time available. My wife has had some health issues but she is fine now but it does mean she is not wanting to travel far and wide. (We did got to Japan recently for the Rugby World Cup and she was fine with that travel).

For tennis, I realised that where I was retiring to I did not know anyone who played tennis (I am sure that after a while I would find some others).

Probably I needed to give it a longer go and it was just that I got basically hijacked by this current contract. I am thinking that the extra money I am making on this contract will make me travel more when I am retired.

 

[ckelly78z]

You will need to have some purpose to get out of bed...even in retirement, take up painting/sculpting, or get a dog, and exercise, head to a senior center for activities, travel, get a bicycle, and start riding again, volunteer at a charity.

 

[Luck_Club]

Spend some time navel gazing: what did you always want to do but never had the time? I came up with a few without a lot of effort, but others emerged over time. Never thought about shooting black powder rifles, for example, or trying my hand at leatherworking. Come up with one or two and others will likely present themselves over time.

I did leather working back in the 70's. Can't remember how it came about, but it was enjoyable. You get to pound things with hammers.

Good idea, on something to look into.

 

[Aus_E_Expat]

Spend some time navel gazing: what did you always want to do but never had the time? I came up with a few without a lot of effort, but others emerged over time. Never thought about shooting black powder rifles, for example, or trying my hand at leatherworking. Come up with one or two and others will likely present themselves over time.

I am sure I will find some hobbies / activities to keep me busy when the time comes.

Shooting anything in Australia is not a viable option so I will scratch that off the list. Leatherworking is something I had never thought of.

My wife is trying to develop some teacher training in a third world country - maybe I will help out with that. Not that I know anything about teacher training.

 

[Bigdawg]

Shooting anything in Australia is not a viable option so I will scratch that off the list.

https://tra.org.au/

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