Back to the USA...

[Lancelot]

My father had a collapsed lung, (complications from smoking) so I had to make an emergency trip back to the US. He's out of the hospital now, but still weak.

Hanging around the hospital gave me a lot of time to reflect... My folks are in their 70s and have had a pretty good life. Dad ERd at 60 and has greatly enjoyed his leisure time. I treated him to a cruise trip a few years back and we had a ball. Mom is a home body - travel to her is walking out to the front porch.

I know SWR is debated at length here and I am not about to resurrect that debate. What I am starting to realize is that one can be too "safe" and under spend in the early -read healthy- years of ER. I'm conservative with money, but this has been an eye opener for me. I'm going to do the things I want today, because I have no idea about tomorrow. Yeah, I'll still budget, but I'm not going to wring my hands about being a thou or two over budget, if the expenditure is for something I REALLY want to do.

When I lie on my death bed, I'm not going to think "If only I had kept my SWR to 3.2%, my net worth would now be..."

 

[Cut-Throat]

You got it! -

There are a lot of folks that think that spending money when they're 90 is as much fun as 55. I have a lot of old friends that have enough money but not enough time.

 

[John Galt]

Cut-Throat, you are right on. In fact, some of the things
I enjoyed the most at age 50 have been abandoned
now, only 10 years later. Never expected it. Not sure why I was surprised, except I never really thought about it I guess
Expected after ER that I would spend a lot of time
on the same leisure activities I had enjoyed for years.
These activities have been dropped pretty quickly.
On the other hand, I do not lack for things to do.
On the contrary...........I'm just not spending my time
like I expected.

JG

 

[Zipper]

I'm assuming you are a non-smoker Lancelot.

I'm sorry your dad's retirement has been compromised.

 

[Lancelot]

Thanks Zip, I am a non-smoker. I did smoke a few years before, during and after the army.

Dad quit 20 years ago, but the doc said that people who were at or above 30 "pack years" were more at risk. As I understand it, a pack year is one pack of smokes per day for one year. Unfortunately Dad's (former) smoking habit was around 70 pack years...

 

[Billy]

Because tomorrow is not guaranteed..is why we are doing what we are today. I can not imagine in ten years hiking places we have recently been.

Billy
Website www.geocities.com/ba264

 

[unclemick]

Thirty years of living in New Orleans - my list of sins is a long one. My hope is to croak quickly and well when the time comes. In the meantime - heh,heh,heh.