I've been planning for ER, or at least FI, since I first started working and it has guided many of the decisions I've made during my adult life.
I have a small, but close group of confidants who share my goals and strategies and we trade tips and philosophies often...but these aren't the folks who intrigue me.
The folks who intrigue me are the wider circle of acquaintences/friends or even family members at middle age.
Sometimes when we're sharing beer around the bonfire, or a glass of wine around the table...I will pick up comments they make - like one who has no savings but still paying off $60K of student debt for her kids educations...or another one, who is just now starting to save for his older years - these are people in their late 40s & 50s.
Do you ever hear comments like these? Whenever I do, I mostly keep my thoughts to myself, thinking "that ship has sailed" - without time on their side, how will these folks ever hope to retire? I don't see any of them working nowin jobs with fat pensions. I suppose they plan to live entirely on SS when they are older - maybe they think there will always be jobs available to people in their 60s,70s and beyond, or their mental and physical capacities will last forever.
Lately, I've started thinking maybe the real issue is me. Maybe I've been too anal/analytical all these years, squirrelling away nuts for the winter of my life...
In your wider circle, is ER planning common or do you stand alone?
I have a small, but close group of confidants who share my goals and strategies and we trade tips and philosophies often...but these aren't the folks who intrigue me.
The folks who intrigue me are the wider circle of acquaintences/friends or even family members at middle age.
Sometimes when we're sharing beer around the bonfire, or a glass of wine around the table...I will pick up comments they make - like one who has no savings but still paying off $60K of student debt for her kids educations...or another one, who is just now starting to save for his older years - these are people in their late 40s & 50s.
Do you ever hear comments like these? Whenever I do, I mostly keep my thoughts to myself, thinking "that ship has sailed" - without time on their side, how will these folks ever hope to retire? I don't see any of them working nowin jobs with fat pensions. I suppose they plan to live entirely on SS when they are older - maybe they think there will always be jobs available to people in their 60s,70s and beyond, or their mental and physical capacities will last forever.
Lately, I've started thinking maybe the real issue is me. Maybe I've been too anal/analytical all these years, squirrelling away nuts for the winter of my life...
In your wider circle, is ER planning common or do you stand alone?