Hello from noworkethic

[noworkethic]

I ran across this forum a couple months ago. I don't remember exactly how, but I believe it was in relation to researching Ernie Zelinski (sp?). Since then I have been spending more and more time lurking. Now, after my morning ablutions and making a pot of coffee, the first thing I do is check out the new posts. If they are especially interesting, the pot of coffee may be gone before I am done. I have never joined a forum or chat room before and am, in fact, only starting to become internet literate, but the people who post on this forum seem to be very intelligent and thoughtful. I almost feel like I know a few of you personally. As far as ER or just R in general, my name pretty much says it all. I have never had a job that I particularly enjoyed and have always envied those who have found their "calling" or at least do work that they enjoy and, although I am not sure that I can articulate it well, I really do believe that the American or Puritan w*rk ethic is over-rated.
I used to work approximately 40 hours per week. About 12 years ago at age 48 I knew I could not continue that and retain any semblance of happiness, so I voluntarily cut my work time down to 4 days (about 32 hours per week). Since then I have been on a gradual downhill slide as far as work hours go. I am now on a 60 day vacation from my 15 hour per week job. I have just turned 60 and there is no way in h*ll that I will work at anything that I don't enjoy past the age of 62 and probably not that long. I am not as well off as many of you and, if I related all of my financial information, some of you might well think me foolish and lazy to quit w*rk totally in the near future. But I am committed to this and I am not completely without a safety net.
Anyway I just wanted to introduce myself. I realize that the information I have provided is pretty sketchy but it can all be filled in as we get to know each other. In any case, I am not asking for advice (for now) but only introducing myself. So hi!

 

[packrat44]

Welcome aboard the retirement train. The ride is great. I went through 3 stages of work - really liking my job, to tolerating it, to disliking it. When the satisfaction level dropped to "tolerating" I seriously began putting together my exit strategy. The year of "disliking" the job actually went fairly well since the plan to disembark the job train was on schedule and in my control.

Regarding your comment about maybe "not as well off as many". There will always be those with much more, but there are probably a lot more people with a lot less. It is not so much about how much you have, but how you use it.

 

[Coach]

noworkethic, welcome to the forum!

It sounds to me like you've been living life the way you want to for quite a while now. That is an admirable thing. I hope we hear more from you as time goes on.

Coach

 

[GoodSense]

So you're addicted to the forum, too? Welcome to the club!

You sound like you have your act together. If you can work 15-hour weeks and still make ends meet, I'd say you're a whole lot better than most folks out there. A 60-day vacation sounds excellent.

Welcome!

 

[oma]

I'm on my third cup of coffee right now. I have the same coffee routine that you write about. As for your screen name, I really like it. Welcome to the board.

 

[Texas Proud]

Welcome.... you will like the forum... there are some people here that are retired with what I would think is 'little' and seem to be doing well...