A longtime family friend, retired Navy with a follow-on career, lost his Japan job a few months before the end of the contract. Long story fraught with personality conflicts but the military bosses decided that they'd rather reorganize to get rid of his contract billet instead of having to deal directly with him or his company. So the job was gone and no employment alternatives presented themselves.
He wasn't feeling quite ready to leave the workforce so he asked us about Hawaii employment opportunities. I gave him the local economy/jobs rundown, apologized for sending him over to "The Dark Side", and then made amends by describing his ER options.
He decided to look into a few job recommendations but I don't think he ever contacted any of our friends. Then he admitted that he was kinda enjoying getting up in the morning without having any deadlines. His (employed) girlfriend was very happy to come home to cooked meals and a clean house, let alone someone who was no longer exhausted & stressed.
A few weeks later he said that he'd checked out the ER websites and introduced his Smith-Barney financial advisor to FIRECalc. They came up with a 93% success rating. BTW Dory, Smith-Barney is probably abusing the heck outta your FIRECalc server and owes you a big frosty-beverage payment.
On Monday I got the following one-line e-mail from him:
>>Please tell me again why I "need" to go back to work?<<
My answer was:
>>You need to go back to work because:
- if you can't go to an office then you'll have to be responsible for your own entertainment.
- "you're just too young to be put out to pasture like that"!
- you'll be bored & unfulfilled.
and, my personal favorite,
- you have to have an answer for the question "But waddya DO all day?!?"<<
His response:
>>So, let me see if I have this right:
At my age, without any bills, already drawing a pretty good retirement check from Uncle Sam's Canoe Club and with some good investment returns due to kick in a little under one year from now...................... I should just blow this pop stand and become a real human being Is that about right<<
I think he gets it!
He wasn't feeling quite ready to leave the workforce so he asked us about Hawaii employment opportunities. I gave him the local economy/jobs rundown, apologized for sending him over to "The Dark Side", and then made amends by describing his ER options.
He decided to look into a few job recommendations but I don't think he ever contacted any of our friends. Then he admitted that he was kinda enjoying getting up in the morning without having any deadlines. His (employed) girlfriend was very happy to come home to cooked meals and a clean house, let alone someone who was no longer exhausted & stressed.
A few weeks later he said that he'd checked out the ER websites and introduced his Smith-Barney financial advisor to FIRECalc. They came up with a 93% success rating. BTW Dory, Smith-Barney is probably abusing the heck outta your FIRECalc server and owes you a big frosty-beverage payment.
On Monday I got the following one-line e-mail from him:
>>Please tell me again why I "need" to go back to work?<<
My answer was:
>>You need to go back to work because:
- if you can't go to an office then you'll have to be responsible for your own entertainment.
- "you're just too young to be put out to pasture like that"!
- you'll be bored & unfulfilled.
and, my personal favorite,
- you have to have an answer for the question "But waddya DO all day?!?"<<
His response:
>>So, let me see if I have this right:
At my age, without any bills, already drawing a pretty good retirement check from Uncle Sam's Canoe Club and with some good investment returns due to kick in a little under one year from now...................... I should just blow this pop stand and become a real human being Is that about right<<
I think he gets it!