All the stubfart philosopher kings on Oytoob are chock FULL a good advice on having a successful retireMINT. “Do your own thing! Your time is YOURS now! Start that business you always wanted! Build a cottage out in the country! Dive into that hobby you always wanted! Get a job doing what you want, instead of what you have to do! Divoced…? Now’s the time to seek out relationships that work on YOUR terms! Expand your circle of friends! Or repair or renew relationships that may have slipped over the years!” Ol’ Joe is already lining up his next job! Not to beat up on those guys or anything. If that’s what they want to do, fill your boots! Fly at it! Ya only go round once in this world. Do what matters to you!
😂👍
I get it. This is stage two of life, supposedly the best part of life. YOU are in charge and you can do whatever you decide to do. Expand yourself, learn new skills, reinvent yourself to be the person you always wanted to be. Like I said… I get it. I did that all my adult life. When I was a kid in high school with a pregnant girlfriend I had to get married and in a deep economic recession I was expected to be an adult that just LOVED to work 60 or 70 hours a week for peanuts. A decade of that…and I went back to school and when I got out with a new suite of skillsets and knowledge I was expected to work happily and thankfully for 70 hours a week for peanuts doing even more demanding work. After five years of that I finally started making and saving money. 30 years of that, being on the road, always trying to be in two places at the same time, trying and begging full grown adults to grow up and do their damned jobs, being given impossible tasks with overwhelming obstacles, family elders that told me I was stupid and lazy, an idiot daughter hellbent on train wrecking her life… look, I’m not bitching, that was just life for most of us tail end Boomers and Gen Xers. Many of us had messy divorces to boot! I got off light! I still remember my parents… “You’re stupid and lazy! You need to get on a job with the big corporations! That’s where the BIG opportunity and money is!!!” My daughter and her creepy wife are gay artistes. They expected their parents to bankroll their arts “studies” and help them out after they finished up their secondary education and couldn’t pay their bills. They think I’m stupid and lazy too! And a homophobe. And a racist, antisemite, dog robber, Klansman, rainbow denying heretic, etc etc etc ad nauseum.
They’re probably right, I guess. I’m going to wake up, and make a coffee. I’m gonna clean house, and walk the Niglet. It’ll be short… it’s -27C with the windchill. There’s probably a skiff of snow out there that’ll need to be shovelled.
I don’t particularly feel the need to drive myself. Or be “that guy” that saves the day when everyone else can’t or won’t do their own jobs or look out for themselves. Or be the punching bag for people that are pissed at the world and need someone to blame for it. Or reinvent myself to correct previous flaws and shortcomings. I look after my dawg. She thinks I’m Superman. I try to look after my wife and be a good husband. She never complains. I don’t need a large circle of shallow friends. I am happy throwing everything into the small circle I have around me. I don’t need to sail off into the sunset in a $750,000 dollar catamaran that impresses the joneses and intimidates the peasants. I don’t want to meddle in the lives of my kids and stir up shit for them the way my elders did with me. They’ll sort themselves out. But if anyone truly needs me… I’m right here where they parked me. I ain’t going anywhere. I’m happy here!
Ughhh. The coffee and Niglet beckon. I hope your retirement is working for you guys. And if you spend it being a better person, doing whatever that means - God bless. I am not envious or impressed - but you have my full moral support because at this stage of life, the only guy you gotta worry about is the bum in the mirror. As long as he’s happy… you’re doing well.
Cheers!
Filthie
You said it Brother!
ReplyDeleteI'm 63. You are correct about this.
There is an old saying "In times of troubles all you can do it tend your own garden".
ReplyDeleteWe can't personally do anything about the big issues so like you said, take care of your wife and dog.
As an aside I laugh when you talk about your job because I swear I tell my bosses that my main job REALLY is "cat wrangling". Trying to get adults to act like adults and do their jobs competently.
I worry about the kids, Jimmy. They don’t know how to work. They don’t know the value of a buck. At the end there, I coukdn’t spare the time to teach them. I remember my utter relief and gratitude when it finally came to me that I coukdn’t do this anymore…
DeleteYeah Glen, retirement beckons me and is about a month and a half out. My endeavor is to maximize my isolation and minimize my tax footprint. I'll wait a couple of months and give Gavin Newsom a call to tell him he's lost another taxpayer without me even having to leave the state! I'm going to give the mexicans a run for their money for the crown of "under-the-table" king!
ReplyDeleteNow... If I can just get my fully grown, almost midlife "kids" out of my house!!!
Yup. I am not contributing much to the Canadian liberal run economy either… 😂
DeleteI don't know Pete. The multigenerational home was normal until the "do what you wanna do" era of the 60's occurred (roughly).
DeleteIf the kids are productive and honorable you have trusted family at your side when NOT IF trouble occurs (like a slip and fall, damn where's my cellphone type).
As their income if assisting the family home is occurring isn't part of your tax footprint.
And assisted living is the joy of poorly paid low trust "aids" AND paying around here almost 6K a month until your deemed BROKE. Yes, they do forensic bookkeeping on you with 5 year look backs to ensure you're not hiding assets.
Myself I have a mother in law apartment to be part of the pay for my inhouse care. Might be a younger family member.
I spent 18 years on active duty in the Army until my body wore out and I retired from that. I got an education and spent the next 20+ years as a software developer until my mind wore out. Now I'm retired and wearing out my wife. ;-)
ReplyDeleteGood! You EARNED it…👍
Delete100%. I was born in 65 so yeah, lots of long hours working for peanuts. See the older generation fall backwards into money while I was eating hamburger helper. Not jealous, just cognizant that things had changed. Living paycheck to paycheck and having the wife and kids complain constantly that I'm always at work and never at home - how the hell do you think I'm going to pay for all this shit? It wasn't until well in my 40's that I actually started earning enough to break that paycheck to paycheck cycle, but still working 50+ hours a week. And I still get crap about missing all the family events.
ReplyDeleteLooking to retire next year and year, got several solitary hobbies lined up. If nothing else, I'll die with tens of thousands of rounds of ammo on my loading bench. So we'll see. Like you, don't need a big circle of shallow friends, just a couple of people I trust is good enough.
Oh gawd. After 50 or 60 hours I was just fuggin BAGGED. All I wanted was some supper, a spot on the couch in front of the TV… and it didn’t matter what was on… any more than that… and family gatherings and events be damned.
DeleteMy family… they’re all fucken govt slobs. No chit - 7.35 hour working days, coffee and lunch breaks, 4 weeks vacation after 5 years, 6 after 10. Golden Fridays, bennies and gibs out the wazoo… and those assholes would give me sanctimonious lectures about work ethics… 🤪