Advice from John Cleese

[Tekward]

What advice would you give the younger you?
I was always too dutiful, always did what was expected of me. But you have to take control of your life more than that. You have to say, "What do I want to achieve?" I didn't have that sort of courage, and as a result, I spent an awful lot of time doing things that didn't interest me, just because it was expected.

 

[Taxman59]

Start saving earlier and spend smarter! Don't worry about spending less, just smarter.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[braumeister]

After three divorces, Mr. Cleese will never be an early, or even late retiree. At the age of 75, he still has to hustle to make ends meet, so I'm not sure he's such a great source of advice.

 

[Major Tom]

After three divorces, Mr. Cleese will never be an early, or even late retiree. At the age of 75, he still has to hustle to make ends meet, so I'm not sure he's such a great source of advice.

He's John Cleese. He gets a pass.

 

[Onward]

1. Save 10% of every paycheck.

2. Don't mention the war.

 

[Calico]

He's John Cleese. He gets a pass.

Funniest show ever made. Hands down. I just wish they'd made more.

 

[Calico]

.....2. Don't mention the war.

Would you care for a rat with your biscuit?

He's from Barcelona!

 

[Huston55]

After three divorces, Mr. Cleese will never be an early, or even late retiree. At the age of 75, he still has to hustle to make ends meet, so I'm not sure he's such a great source of advice.

"Find the right woman, and treat her well."

Seems the appropriate advice for Mr. Cleese...and the rest of us.

 

[Milton]

At the age of 75, he still has to hustle to make ends meet, so I'm not sure he's such a great source of advice.

True enough. However, sometimes we can learn more from bad examples than good ones: I certainly would never wish to be compelled to work at his age.

I do agreed with him that it is generally a waste of time complying with others' (real or supposed) expectations. Of course, that does't mean one should act completely irresponsibly, and sometimes it is necessary to knuckle down and do things we'd rather not in order to real make progress towards our longterm goals. But there is a big difference in consciously deciding to do that, and blindly 'going along' because it is the path of less resistance.

LBYM and ER are both exceptional in contemporary Western society and there are many subtle incentives to fall into line, consume everything, not retire when you are "too young", etc. So I suspect that most people on this forum are already quite independent in their way of thinking.