Retirement, bars and gambling not far behind.

[albireo13]

Occasional drinker, retired. One beer with dinner type.
As for gambling, never interested me at all. Would rather watch paint dry.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Some folks were too busy studying in college, to socialize much... let alone to drink. I see this from the other side presently, as a college professor. My students spend every waking moment on HW/studying, projects, or part-time jobs. Most commute. There are no frats, and very little campus social life.

So then these fine folks graduate, going to work for Boeing or Lockheed or whatnot (aerospace engineering context here). Then what? What sort of social life awaits them? They're saving every penny (remember, these are engineers), learning about investment, advancing their careers, maybe doing grad school part-time. Or helping their younger siblings, elderly parents and so on.

The point: ours is a socially broken society. We don't have the Old World convivial social gatherings, whether that Old World is in Europe or Asia or wherever else. We're atomized. We study, we work, we retire - and then what? In a better world, we'd have viable social interactions outside of immediate family and outside of work. Because... if you neither work anymore, nor have family,... what's left? Meetup.com?

Wow, that is a great post. I grew up in the 1960's on a farm and loved our neighbors. Today I live on the same farm and neighbors are strangers.

The trouble is we all have big houses and everything we need in our own home. We have entertainment centers, swimming pools, workout centers, hot tubs, batting cages and full court basketball courts in our own back yard.......why would we leave our house?....who the world needs friends or neighbors?

 

[dobig]

Loved gambling and drinking. But I'm not 20 anymore. Gambling was more fun when you didn't have anything and were hoping to win big. Less fun when you've built up a hefty personal wealth and are reluctant to lose any of it. 2 years ago I went to a casino for the first time in 26 years with relatives. Just not the same appeal. I didn't want to give up any money. Will periodically go to a local fire station club to pull tabs with my brother but it's pretty hard to lose much. Basically a distraction while we're talking with old friends.

As for drinking, yeah I was out all the time in my early years. Today if I drink it takes 3 days to get over the hangover pain. Just awful. No desire to relive my younger days. Many of which are still foggy. In fact still embarrassed at a lost decade of wild living. Today I like calm and quiet. A good woman will do that to you. This life is much better.

 

[CP Soon]

I too find the drinking and gambling as odd. I don't like being hung over and my money looks best in my pocket than the till of a casino. My boredom usually results in weight gain not hangovers or lost money!

 

[Box of Rain]

I like drinking, but reality of working hard is that I hardly had time for that kind of thing and I am more concerned about my fitness level and health now. Could see going drinking, but would stop after one or maybe two because I don't want those carbs and calories inside me. Could go low carb, like Scotch, but after one, the next one starts to get me dizzy sick, and that just does not feel good. So, I don't do much drinking out anymore. BUT, I know some folks who are younger than me, 20s through 40s who drink a LOT. Went to dinner with a group from work and they were all joined by spouses. Wow, those folks DRINK a lot. Also, I know a lot of older retired folks who drink tons of liquor and beer. TONS. They go to a bar, and drink beer after beer and drink after drink, and then they get in the car and go to another bar! I don't know how they do it. Almost envy their talent! Almost. I have never driven drunk, nor do I ever want to. And it is bad to drive drunk. My grandmother was killed by a guy driving drunk. But I have to say, these older drinker folks seem to somehow do it and survive. I don't know how, but they do. I've also heard that for every drunk driver who gets popped driving drunk, that same driver had probably driven drunk 100 other times and did not get caught and for every drunk driver who gets caught there are 100 other drunk drivers who have never been caught, so maybe it is just one of those things and when their time to get caught arrives, they get caught. Until then, they have a heck of a party.

 

[Winemaker]

Every night DW and I have some wine with a salad/ plate of veggies, and our entree afterward. If we visit friends, we take some our wines to share. We have a lot of friends/neighbors that enjoy our wine.

We don't gamble, but do go to the local racetrack/casino when they have a concert or help a local winery with working the tastings when they have a beer/wine event. I had tenants that owned/trained/raced horses at the track. Our two kids worked at the restaurant before the casino came in. Neither one had any loans to pay when they graduated from college.

We have traveled across the country to visit Las Vegas to see concerts/shows, but never dropped a dime in a slot machine or table games since 1996. We do buy a lottery ticket when there are big jackpots. If we would ever win a jackpot, I would use the funds to pay the taxes on complete Roth conversions and give the rest away. We don't need the money.

 

[Kings over Queens]

We have traveled across the country to visit Las Vegas to see concerts/shows, but never dropped a dime in a slot machine or table games since 1996. We do buy a lottery ticket when there are big jackpots. If we would ever win a jackpot, I would use the funds to pay the taxes on complete Roth conversions and give the rest away. We don't need the money.

Me too.

After I bought a jet.

 

[AudiDudi]

Enjoy meeting friends at the local sports bar and playing nationwide online trivia over a couple beers. I find the trivia (answer quicly to get more points) is improving my memory as I am remembering things I haven't thought of in decades. Of course, everyone knows you are smarter after a couple beers

 

[jazz4cash]

Enjoy meeting friends at the local sports bar and playing nationwide online trivia over a couple beers. I find the trivia (answer quicly to get more points) is improving my memory as I am remembering things I haven't thought of in decades. Of course, everyone knows you are smarter after a couple beers

Ah! Inspiration!

 

[CaptTom]

The point: ours is a socially broken society. We don't have the Old World convivial social gatherings, whether that Old World is in Europe or Asia or wherever else. We're atomized. We study, we work, we retire - and then what? In a better world, we'd have viable social interactions outside of immediate family and outside of work. Because... if you neither work anymore, nor have family,... what's left? Meetup.com?

Wow. I didn't realize how bad it's gotten. Imagine college-age kids not socializing? What's going on here?

It shouldn't surprise me. I've seen the same thing everywhere else in society. I just didn't realize college campuses are also seeing this trend.

What happened? I suppose we can point at COVID, Zoom and work-from-home as a turning point, but I think social interaction was on a downward glide path even before then.

 

[Semi-Retyrd]

I guess I am the oddball of this group. I lived in Las Vegas after retirement for several years and during that time I spent a LOT of time in casinos - 5-6 times a week for typical 4 hour sessions.

I don't consider my self a gambler. Instead I call myself an advantage player. Most of the time I spent playing 2/4 or 3/6 limit poker. Playing for small stakes guarantees you will only play with amateurs because pros don't play for low stakes. Since I am a fairly decent player, I could be sure I was better than most of the folks I played with who were there to mostly socialize and have fun. This was the first advantage. Then by playing enough hours each week I got weekly invitations to free roll tournaments with larger potential winnings where I would typically win $200-500 each week. Tourists typically don't play often enough to qualify for these free roll tournaments, so it was a way to take their money via the rake and pay it back to the locals like me for another advantage. Finally for each hour of play I would accumulate points on my players card that would get me free parking, free meals, free tickets to shows each month and other free gifts. I had so many of these points that I could have eaten free for all my meals.
I also played video poker, but only at full pay Jacks-or-Better machines of which there are very few now in LV - mostly in the locals casinos. Taking advantage of free slot tournaments for seniors each week, free play, and other free gifts, I could turn the slight casino advantage of the machines to an overall positive advantage for me.

All of this requires an understanding of probability and statistics so that you can calculate to see if your play has a positive expected value. I enjoy this math and used it to my advantage during my time in LV.

A few times when I won larger tournaments I had to pay tax on my winnings, Most of the time my winnings were small enough to not require any 1099 Misc forms.

Bottom line - I had a lot of fun playing the games and averaged around $2K/month winnings while also getting a lot of free stuff on the side.

 

[deserat]

Some folks were too busy studying in college, to socialize much... let alone to drink. I see this from the other side presently, as a college professor. My students spend every waking moment on HW/studying, projects, or part-time jobs. Most commute. There are no frats, and very little campus social life.

So then these fine folks graduate, going to work for Boeing or Lockheed or whatnot (aerospace engineering context here). Then what? What sort of social life awaits them? They're saving every penny (remember, these are engineers), learning about investment, advancing their careers, maybe doing grad school part-time. Or helping their younger siblings, elderly parents and so on.

The point: ours is a socially broken society. We don't have the Old World convivial social gatherings, whether that Old World is in Europe or Asia or wherever else. We're atomized. We study, we work, we retire - and then what? In a better world, we'd have viable social interactions outside of immediate family and outside of work. Because... if you neither work anymore, nor have family,... what's left? Meetup.com?

Getting an engineering requires discipline. In the early 80s when I was young and pursuing my BSME, I tried combining that with the frat scene and working part-time (and maintaining my ROTC scholarship). One party where I imbibed way too much, got not only very ill stomach wise but a cold that turned to bronchitis and missed a week of school stopped the party side very quickly. The homework hole I had to dig out from under was brutal. Since then, socialization around drinking has not been a desire of mine. Lately I've foresworn drinking altogether. It was interesting to be on the 80s cruise with the drink package included. I had two drinks the whole week and only because that was all they had easily available-otherwise it was water for me. I am such a lightweight now and notice the sugar effect in my body keenly as I have aged.

One exception-shot of scotch or whiskey on one cup of coffee on Christmas and New Year's morning. Sort of a family tradition I have while in PJs and watching classic movies (Jimmy Stewart 'It's a Wonderful Life' and ''The Shop Around the Corner", Peanuts movies, Die Hard, Polar Express...and anything else I feel nostalgic about).

Meetup is working for me to meet people. Bogleheads as well...99s for flying...and just in general being friendly and talking with people.

I do like the pub scene in the UK and Ireland...it is very communal. Also, the concert scene-very different in EU and UK-much more accessible and affordable than in USA.

You are correct, though. It can be difficult for many engineers and student engineers to socialize for many reasons....the virtualization of our world isn't necessarily the best thing with regard to learning how to socialize or interact in person.

 

[GrayHare]

What happened? I suppose we can point at COVID, Zoom and work-from-home as a turning point, but I think social interaction was on a downward glide path even before then.

It's likely many factors are involved. The normalization of rudeness might be one. IMO polite people are more fun to spend time with.

 

[Lorenzo]

I guess I am the oddball of this group. I lived in Las Vegas after retirement for several years and during that time I spent a LOT of time in casinos - 5-6 times a week for typical 4 hour sessions.
. . .
All of this requires an understanding of probability and statistics so that you can calculate to see if your play has a positive expected value. I enjoy this math and used it to my advantage during my time in LV.
. . .

Interesting revelation from a frequent poster in the Active Investing forum. To some of us who are less mathematically inclined, investing can feel like gambling, and actual casino gambling can feel like a sure way for us to lose money. But I recognize there are people who are successful long-term casino gamblers and of course people who are successful active investors. There was an article in The Economist recently about how casinos and now online prediction markets attempt to identify them and limit their activity.

 

[Semi-Retyrd]

Interesting revelation from a frequent poster in the Active Investing forum. To some of us who are less mathematically inclined, investing can feel like gambling, and actual casino gambling can feel like a sure way for us to lose money. But I recognize there are people who are successful long-term casino gamblers and of course people who are successful active investors. There was an article in The Economist recently about how casinos and now online prediction markets attempt to identify them and limit their activity.

You are quite right. In my earlier days when I was working and just visiting Vegas I studied Blackjack and learned how to count cards after reading several books on the game. I advanced to the point where I was backed off at several casinos and then studied more advanced gambits like playing cover and betting cover which sacrifice some EV but make it more difficult for the casinos to know you are a counter. Eventually I decided it wasn't worth the effort for the limited time I could play before having to move before discovery.
Fortunately with poker you are playing against the other players rather than the house, so there is no pressure from pit bosses etc. So I switched games and continued winning in a much lower stress environment.

Investing for me is just another game and one where an understanding of the math is helpful. While any investment can go up or down, I am always looking for asymmetric opportunities where the upside is greater than the downside or where the PM or team leading a fund seems to understand the math of investing and play in sandboxes where they have an unfair advantage.

At the same time being human I know I can occasionally be misled by emotion making mistakes from time to time. We all do our best with what we have.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Wow. I didn't realize how bad it's gotten. Imagine college-age kids not socializing? What's going on here?

It shouldn't surprise me. I've seen the same thing everywhere else in society. I just didn't realize college campuses are also seeing this trend.

What happened? I suppose we can point at COVID, Zoom and work-from-home as a turning point, but I think social interaction was on a downward glide path even before then.

Are they not socializing or are they socializing differently than previous generations?

For example my grandkids play video games with their friends online. They go to a school that also serves the air force base so a lot of their friends over the years have relocated to other states but they still connect with them online and keep up electronically. It's different for us but not for them.

Is this forum a type of socializing?

 

[DrRoy]

We like Vegas for the entertainment. Last went to see the Eagles at The Sphere. Hardly ever go into the casinos to gamble.
DW likes a small glass of white wine at dinner. I like a large one of red 2-3 times a week and listen to music.

 

[Music Lover]

I've never had an interest in gambling. We play closest to the pin for $1 on par 3's in my regular golf group but that's it.

 

[audreyh1]

The smoking is a major thing with casinos. Crazy how they got an exception for indoor smoking.

Not surprised.

 

[flyingaway]

Casino gambling and drinking, not excessive, under control, are fun activities. They are like traveling, many people here are proud of boasting. If you have money, find ways to spend the money and have fun. I see nothing wrong with it. I do all these things, playing slots in casinos everywhere I go (two days ago was at a casino in Malta), drinking some cocktails or beers, currently traveling to the 98th countries (Bulgaria). I only feel sorry about several of my friends, who are 1 to 7 years order than I am (61), and are still working. It is not that they need to make more money, they just don't know how to have fun or want to have fun.

 

[ali]

Dang we're odd balls. The very little we are around family, very few friends, majority of them are into bars and constant drinking.
We drink but not every day, all day long. Seems to be the norm with gambling usually tied to the drinking.
I'd prefer just meeting up at one of our homes and visiting with a few drinks is fine. And I can actually hear to conversate compared to bars.
Is everyone just bored to death?
Constant drinking fills the boredom void?
I don't gamble. We made little $ from the markets. Most is from our backs and I can feel every ache, pain with each $ gambled and lost!

You are not odd balls the bar scene was for me and my husband when we were single Before we married. In our early retirement (60-65) we had Parties at our houses (never gambling even when younger). Now in our early 70's we rather go out for dinner on special occasions , or happy hours (but not so much) as we rather enjoy appetizers and drinks at home. But we do like to go to a casino (once in a blue moon) for an adventure while away on vacation . It can be a fun thing to do! But to your point here in SW Fl (Marco) we find a lot of our friends do enjoy happy hours instead of socials at their homes, since it is easier and trouble free of entertaining . Either way can be a fun thing to do

 

[citrine]

I did so much drinking and partying in my 20's that I earned my seat in AA Retirement will just include more meetings with my fellow heathens, lots of hobbies, strength training, and travel. I do buy lottery tickets when the jackpots are high.

 

[Kermit.ottosen]

My wife and I do not gamble but we do enjoy some amazing wine every night. It is our thing…nothing excessive but this is part of our retirement life.

 

[Pellice]

The lead story in The Atlantic magazine this month is of a man staked by the magazine with $10,000 to wager on sports for six months and then write about the experience. He was a non-gambler, and tries very hard to explain what was going on in his head as he gambled. [Spoiler: he lost his stake]. I still didn't comprehend the appeal - some of it is hormonal - but I did gather that he gained a great feeling of competence in mastering the process, if not the key to winning. He also believed he would win. That might explain the lack of appeal of gambling to me - I believe I will lose if I gamble. It's too easy for me too visualize the money spent as material goods flying out the door. And I cannot grasp the abstraction of gambling as "action."

 

[GrayHare]

Successful sports gambling requires skill. When I first played fantasy sports, it took me awhile to get up to speed.