Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.

[blizzard]

Years ago I remember reading about Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., the father of President Kennedy and of Senators Robert and Teddy, and former United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James (Britain) and a very successful financier. The description went on about his many accomplishments and investments in great length and then it stated that he retired to Palm Beach, Florida.

If I remember correctly, the article went on to describe the peace and quiet of retirement and his removal from the hectic life he had led up to that point.

The next paragraph was concise and thought provoking - it said that then he really began to make money.

The issue I raise is not the making of money. But did the release from the burden of full-time work allow the same type of blossoming in your life. Did it allow you the time to think and become creative and to achieve something at a higher level than you were able to do while working? If so please share your thoughts.

 

[dex]

I love the smell of SPAM in the morning.

 

[73ss454]

Well, in my case I didn't retire to move onto something else. I retired because I didn't want to do a thing. After almost 2 years I still feel like doing the same thing.

 

[Martha]

Dex, I don't think it is spam.

Blizzard, you show as having one post but I swear I remember you and it looks like you have been around a while. Am I wrong?

Retirement can give us the opportunity to learn what we never had time to learn before. I am reading the Independent Scholar's Handbook to see if I can pursue some things I was interested in years ago but fell away with work. It is an older, but excellent book.

 

[dex]

The first post was one indication. The second was that the OP did not offer any insights of his/her own. Third was that JP kennedy wasn't a role model for many people.
Bootlegger, antisemite etc.

So if this isn't SPAM let the OP contribute something before anyone else posts.



Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

 

[blizzard]

Unfortunately a posted message is interpreted by the reader as he or she sees it. It is sort of a res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself). Martha is correct that my message was not intended as spam.

Dex, you cite Wikipedia to give background on J. P. Kennedy, so I provide Wikipedia’s definition of spam “ E-mail spam, also known as "bulk e-mail" or "junk e-mail," is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by e-mail. A common synonym for spam is unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE). Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk.”

Perhaps you have a definition for spam that varies from that of Wikipedia. While the forum has not solicited my posting, I believe that the purpose is to have people post knowing that there will be numerous recipients or readers. In fact I made this one posting to the forum so I question whether it can be characterized as identical messages sent to numerous recipients “in bulk”. You could legitimately characterize it as “junk” but still it does not seem to constitute spam as defined above.

Is every first-time poster suspected as being a spammer? Do you call each first-time poster to task? Or is being a first-time poster really an indication of nothing.

Kennedy surely wasn’t a role model for many people, bootlegger, anti-Semite, womanizer, and used his money arguably to throw an election, but I have reread my words and I do not believe that I made any effort to extol him as virtuous. The point I hoped to make was the change from what can be called the active life to the passive life. I referenced the article I read to make that point.

You then state that the OP did not offer any insights of his/her own. I must confess that I do not know what OP stands for: Old Person, Out-of-work Person, On-line Poster, One-time Poster, Old P(f)art. I agree that perhaps it would have been more forthcoming if I had given more information, but though I have not posted before, I have been around since 2003, and I have seen many posting beginning topics that offer no more than the posing of a question.

So I am in the spotlight of the SPAM police. I now plead that I am innocent under the Wikipedia definition and I clearly state that I did not spam.

Dex, I have read your postings in the past and find them interesting. That is why I am now surprised that you form such a subjective claim of spam without firm grounds. If you define spam differently than I do, please advise me.

Over 2,000 postings clearly indicates your interest in and desire to maintain the high standards of this forum, but here you made a wrong call. I am troubled by your demand that if this isn’t spam let the OP contribute something before anyone else posts. Let others read the posting and determine for themselves whether it is spam.

Martha

I have not posted before, but I have been an interested visitor and observer of the forum for a long time. I am familiar with your postings and your work as moderator. I appreciate and look forward to your comments and those of the other contributors.

I am well aware that this forum requires an extensive amount of work and I wish to thank you for your efforts and those of your fellow moderators.

 

[W2R]

OP means "Original Post" or "Original Poster".

I am not retired, yet, but I do think that work gets in the way of doing more personally satisfying and meaningful things with my life. I have no idea whether or not I will do much after I retire, though. At this point, it is hard to think beyond sleeping in as far as retirement ambitions go.

 

[Martha]

Thanks for delurking Blizzard. For some reason your screen name seemed familiar. Maybe it is just because winter is now in the air!

Although I have started reading about being an independent scholar, my time is still spent mostly with the mundane. Putz around at home and the internet. Work on saving the old family farmhouse. Doing some volunteer work.

I do feel that I am searching for something, but I am not sure what. Maybe just a project.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Blizzard, welcome to posting! Hope this doesn't put you off. I noticed your name some time ago and thought it was a great screen name.

Anyway, I've brought up this story once before, I think the OP was asking about inspiring stories.

I first heard it in Paul Terhorst's Cashing in on the American Dream, How to Retire at 35. He also talks about the passive and active sectors, IIRC in reference to how South Americans think about work/retirement.

The thing that struck me about the Kennedy story was that he went to relax by the pool and had time to think of ways to get his portfolio to work harder for him. I, too, have found that when I was working at, say a really interesting intense job, I had no time to think about things like asset allocation.

IIRC, Kennedy's early retirement at that time didn't last and he went on to other, shall we say, "endeavors." I'll go look it up in Terhorst's book but apparently Kennedy never did permanently retire.

I had many stints of purposely taking blocks of time off (semi-retirement) and yes, I did become more creative, more well rounded. I think this is a very important, little discussed, topic here. A college student recently asked here how to prepare to retire early. I meant to post something about: take soft courses outside of your major, things you can really develop an interest in. For me it was and still is music, art history, film studies, etc. Gotta go, meeting my online class at the art museum.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Theres an old story one of my mentors told me. Probably half made up and the other half urban legend, but...

Seems Henry Ford hired an efficiency expert to go over his operations to find any slack that could be taken out. The expert did his study and reported his findings, then added "I also found one fellow that seems to spend all day sitting in his office with his feet up on the desk...sometimes he's even asleep!".

Henry told the expert that this particular gentleman had come up with an idea once that saved his company millions..."and if I remember right, when he came up with it he'd just woken up and had his feet on the desk!".

Allegedly this was the guy who had come up with the idea of going from 6 lug nuts per wheel to 5. Folks who lived in that time period will remember that this was a highly suspicious thing, only having FIVE nuts holding a car wheel on...

Henry finished up by saying he thought it was worth continuing paying the guy as maybe he'd have another idea eventually...

 

[blizzard]

Want2retire - Thank you for the meaning of OP.

CuppaJoe - You are absolutely correct that I first heard the story in Paul Terhorst's Cashing in on the American Dream, How to Retire at 35. I read the book many years ago.

I tried to remember where I had read it but I could not recall. Interesting that in the same post I mention active and passive life - clearly the thoughts were interlocked in the inner recesses of my memory.

 

[tangomonster]

Hi, Blizzard, and welcome (I'm going to private message you as well).

I've only been two years retired and am still recovering from working all those years under conditions that were very stressful and unsatisfying. Am somewhat still licking my wounds while trying to move on.

I guess it would be unrealistic to think that everyone will blossom in major ways upon retirement. Since I've never been a money-making type of person, I probably won't suddenly become one. And I doubt that I will suddenly do something extremely creative, like become a master potter (ceramics, that is---no comments from the peanut gallery! ).

But I do myself growing in my views and interest in people and the world (I've already posted about becoming much more social). So my social relations are at a much higher level, and I do believe I am helping others as I help myself build human connections.

 

[retire@40]

...Blizzard, you show as having one post but I swear I remember you and it looks like you have been around a while. Am I wrong?

Hey group, let's keep an eye on Martha. Now she's imagining things. Maybe this ER thing is having an effect on her.

 

[crazy connie]

Hmmmmmm since I retired... My investing skills have improved and the portfolio is up nicely even after the distributions. I have always been a very good cook but now put some real effort into making wonderful meals and not always by picking the most expensive starting items. It's amazing how good a meal can be made with basic ingredients. My children both are truly beginning to understand finance and I am confident they will be able to manage the inheritance when I am done with my life.

I plan to get signed up for Red Cross training after the 1st of the year and look forward to volunteer work on a 1st responder basis for the next several years.

Another goal is to take some art classes for pleasure and the personal artistic expression.

So, overall I can say yes, the opportunity of contemplative time is vastly improving my life and those I care for.

 

[dex]

A common synonym for spam is unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE). Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk.”

The primary object of SPAM is usually to sell something. What indicated to me that your post might be SPAM is:
- First post
- You didn't provide your answer/opinion to your question - only a question - (SPAM teaser - I'll give you my input later if you inquire)
- Basic Question - Money & freedom.
------
A typical SPAM message usually has the following outline:
First or second post
I was poor and hard working (possibly with children)
In a dead end job
I "Discovered" a money making system or a philosophy that changed my life.
Now my life is great
Then a teaser question to start the discussion and find out who is interested
-------
You post, while not exactly following the outline appeared to me to be very similar.

There also have been SPAMers who start a topic and then you never hear from them again. Something I never understood.
_______

What gets me about SPAM on this board is that there are good people on this board who actually try to give their hart felt advise to those who ask and it is wasted on SPAM.
-------

So, I apologize for jumping to the conclusion on your first post.
It is good to see this isn't a SPAM post.
Welcome.
_______
I'm guessing that the question you raised is an important one to you - considering you de-cloaked to ask it. What in your life motivated you to ask it?

 

[Nords]

Years ago I remember reading about Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., the father of President Kennedy and of Senators Robert and Teddy, and former United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James (Britain) and a very successful financier. The description went on about his many accomplishments and investments in great length and then it stated that he retired to Palm Beach, Florida.
The next paragraph was concise and thought provoking - it said that then he really began to make money.

That Wikipedia soft-pedals Kennedy's shenanigans during the Roaring '20s. Many forms of insider trading weren't illegal then, but even he managed to attract the attention of the authorities. It's said that he became the first head of the SEC because he knew all the dirty tricks.

So I think he made most of his money in the '20s, then used his inside info & experience to jump to scooping up real estate foreclosures in the '30s.

But did the release from the burden of full-time work allow the same type of blossoming in your life. Did it allow you the time to think and become creative and to achieve something at a higher level than you were able to do while working? If so please share your thoughts.

Sure. While you're working you're... working. Too much time on the minimum cyclic routine and not enough time or energy for creativity. Few of us are building Fortune 500 companies or single-handedly saving the world through our skills.

But in ER we have the financial flexibility to find the things we enjoy as an avocation, not just an occupation.