OT another one gone OT

A guy I knew for 25 years, a retriever trainer with whom I've had lots of
business deals and who lived a few miles from here, so I've spent hours
training on his land and in his home BS-ing about our biz and people we
knew, is gone. He retired a couple years ago, crippled from years of hard
work and hard living. I guess the joys of the Golden Years got to be too
much, he stuck a gun to his own head and used it.

Word to the wise. If you're waiting until you can retire to start "really
enjoying life" you have been suckered in by a big Puritan "work ethic" lie
..... get out there NOW .... spend less of your life making money, then buy
fewer toys and use them more, that is the best suggestion for a "life plan"
I can offer.

On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 00:07:54 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:

A guy I knew for 25 years, a retriever trainer with whom I've had lots of
business deals and who lived a few miles from here, so I've spent hours
training on his land and in his home BS-ing about our biz and people we
knew, is gone. He retired a couple years ago, crippled from years of hard
work and hard living. I guess the joys of the Golden Years got to be too
much, he stuck a gun to his own head and used it.

Word to the wise. If you're waiting until you can retire to start "really
enjoying life" you have been suckered in by a big Puritan "work ethic" lie
.... get out there NOW .... spend less of your life making money, then buy
fewer toys and use them more, that is the best suggestion for a "life plan"
I can offer.

Word.

But Fate is a Magic Trickster. The desire not to leave a brand new and growing
family for weeks on end kept me from being one of the first EMC² employees,
the choice which if taken would have resulted in my well-larded retirement ten
or even more years ago - had that been my own goal. Hell, a good friend who
was a facilities manager at EMC² retired 10 years ago at the tender age of 50
with a 7 figure stash. It would have been wired, but I doubt my family would
have survived intact while I was globe trotting (otoh, my friend was gay and
single. Some guys get all the breaks ;-)

/daytripper (But I'm not sure I'm ready to "Be Like Steve" yet, anyway ;-)

"daytripper" wrote


or even more years ago - had that been my own goal. snip

but I doubt my family would
have survived intact while I was globe trotting

Um, I guess that a "get out there Now and use them toys" post on a FF board
implies "go fishing, retire NOW"

but, my real point is to NOT let money control more of your life than is
absolutely required. NOT choosing to abandon the important things in
search of bucks, is exactly what I'm suggesting.

A reasonable balance between making money and making time for what is really
important takes a lot of forms besides fishing trips.

Being a slave to what they "own" is something I see in a higher and higher
percentage of people in our country ..... we work more hours, own more
stuff, have more debt, and, likely, actually enjoy all that stuff less than
most
of the developed world. Best I can find out we owe that largely to the
Puritans who believed all work was "god's work" and thus preached "work
ethic"

I simply think that "work ethic" is life numbing ... not the work, the
"ethic" ....work
isn't bad and money isn't bad ... but, work and money are management tools,
like C&R, and like C&R don't make one superior. Wish I could remember which
of Plato's dialogues it is that discusses the idea that the most "moral"
action is the action that brings the most overall pleasure to the person
taking it .... that's what I mean G

Very few people would really find the most pleasure in a "trout bum" life, I
bet. But, if a guy thinks he might, waiting until he's too old to see the
flies and wade the water to find out ..... is unethical

On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 02:37:14 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:


"daytripper" wrote


or even more years ago - had that been my own goal. snip

but I doubt my family would
have survived intact while I was globe trotting

Um, I guess that a "get out there Now and use them toys" post on a FF board
implies "go fishing, retire NOW"

but, my real point is to NOT let money control more of your life than is
absolutely required. NOT choosing to abandon the important things in
search of bucks, is exactly what I'm suggesting.

I understood that. I was offering something of a corollary ("get out of the
rat race as early as you can and enjoy life") that didn't happen to work
out...

/daytripper (So, what happens if you actually enjoy the work you do?)

daytripper wrote:


I understood that. I was offering something of a corollary ("get out of the
rat race as early as you can and enjoy life") that didn't happen to work
out...

/daytripper (So, what happens if you actually enjoy the work you do?)


There's like and there's like....

I figure you like something if you do it without being paid. If that
would apply to your job, you're a very fortunate man.

Willi

I retired at age 52, five years ago, and haven't looked back. My goal is
to do all the strenuous things I like to do before my body entirely lets
me down. It's a race against time, but unfortunately time always ends up
winning, so you need a good head start to even stay in the race for
awhile. You don't need all that much money to retire and have your fun.
Once my children's educations were assured and my debts were paid, it
was goodbye to the work-a-day world, and hello to the outdoor life.

Your last check should be to the undertaker, and it should bounce.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

"rw" wrote


Your last check should be to the undertaker, and it should bounce.



Damn I like that

"Willi" wrote

. If that
would apply to your job, you're a very fortunate man.



I was lucky enough that it did apply to my job for many years. But, as I
think you know, turning a "hobby" into a job eventually ruins the hobby. I
STILL love working with A dog, but all the crap it takes to make that pay
got very very old, and listening to and bickering with LOTS of dogs about
drove me crazy ( that's my story, I'm stickin' to it ) ....as I bet you
understand G

"Larry L" wrote in message ...

I was lucky enough that it did apply to my job for many years. But, as I
think you know, turning a "hobby" into a job eventually ruins the hobby.

I think there's LOTS more criteria that could apply to "liking your
job" than "I'd do it without pay". If I wasn't getting paid to do
what I do, I'd have to do something else for pay. Then I wouldn't
be able to do what I'm doing. So no, I wouldn't be doing it without
being paid. There are _parts_ of it that I might be doing as a hobby
if my real job was something completely different, but there's
certainly other parts I could live without :-)

In DT's scenario, part of the enjoyment probably comes from seeing
the fruits of the labor actually used. Sitting at home in the evening
evaluating the performance of chips just for fun doesn't produce
_usable_ results. To do something only to throw it all away wouldn't
be as enjoyable. Many of us enjoy tying flies but I doubt any of us
would do it if the flies weren't useful, or if we were just tossing
them in the trash can after we were done.

I think I'm in the same category as DT. I enjoy my work, and I don't
really think about retirement, or wish for it. If I can retire from
this job someday, that's fine and I think I'd go on to find something
else I could do that might (hopefully) benefit society, but I'm in no
hurry (It's a good thing since I've only been making "real" money for
8.5yrs of my 19-year career (depending on how you count)).

I think it's much more important to know who you are at all points
in your life rather than wait for retirement to find out. These sad
stories, to me, are indicative of the cost of waiting...

Jon.