These are growing along the west side of the
house. Did I stop to smell them today?
I get a little angry when I hear the media proclaim that because people, on average, live longer and due to the faltering economy, retirement is suddenly a quaint vestige of days gone by. I have no desire to continue working into old age. For one thing, I have genes working against me, not that I'm not doing everything I can to battle them. It is just I am not sure who wealth managers are trying to kid when they try to convince us that we need 3 million in investments before we can even start to think about quitting work comfortably. Well that might indeed be true for those people who owe money up the yingyang, it doesn't seem to apply to us.
If retirement itself is now a considered a profanity, I hate to broach the topic of early retirement. To be honest that is what I'm practicing right now. Practice makes perfect, mind you. Right now I'm 53 and playing hooky for the winter. We probably already have the means to live a similarly basic lifestyle for the next 20 years. That's not counting pensions or future income from interest. You'd be surprised how little we really need to live. Many people waste a great deal of money. In addition, it could just be my end of-the-boomer mentality, but when I close in on 80, I expect there will still some basic governmental support so old folks don't starve to death. Go ahead, call me a dreamer.
Maybe it is resting here among the coconut trees, but I think quality of life is more important than the quantity of one's belongings. It seems as though those needing to still pursue bucks as senior citizens, will probably never have the mindset to enjoy spending them. During one's final breath, one's assets should similarly hit zero. If I only knew when that'd be it'd make planning easier.