For years now Harley and I have been saying, “When we win the lottery we are going to buy a house on the water” or “When we win the lottery we are going to buy a really big boat and sail away” Notice I said “When we win” and not “If we win”. I learned years ago that there is power in positive thinking but now I’m not so sure. I’ve been thinking and believing that we are going to win the lottery for so long that I have actually been banking on it. I’m thinking now that maybe that wasn’t such a great idea. All we’ve managed to do with that kind of thinking is set ourselves up for failure. If we want to retire in the next four to five years we had better come up with a realistic plan. (Having said that, I’m not about to stop buying lottery tickets.)
Things are more likely to happen if we make a list of goals and work towards them. This sitting around and plodding along with the attitude that everything will work out in the end just doesn’t cut it anymore. We need to make some very important decisions and we need to make them now. Actually, we should have done this years ago but, hey, better late than never.
The first thing we need to decide on is how we plan to spend our retirement years. Harley and I have always talked about doing some serious sailing when we retire. Do we want to sell everything,invest our money, and sail off into the sunset, or should we keep everything and rent our house out so we have something to come back to when we are done sailing? This is a big decision for us. We also have to think about what we want to do after we’ve had our fill of cruising. I can see us cruising for two years tops. I plan to live at least for twenty years after that. Where will we live then?…..How will we live?
Before we do anything else I think we need to do some soul searching.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thoughts on Retirement
“Fifty-five years old!”
When I say it I feel old. Years ago, 55 was my retirement goal. Now here it is…..in fact, it’s been here for 9 months and every day I wake up and say to myself, “I shouldn’t be working. I should be retired. This working for a living is for the birds.” Whoever came up with the slogan “Freedom 55” was a mean-spirited jerk. How many of us middle-class individuals can actually retire at age 55 and live the lifestyle we’re used to? The way I see it, this slogan has left many of us 55 year olds feeling hopeless and inadequate.
For me, working wouldn’t be so bad if I had a job I liked, but instead I have a well paying hateful job. That’s a bad combination. If I were to be absolutely honest I’d have to say that the only reason I work is for the love of money. Isn’t that sad? Not only that, the longer I work the more money I will receive in retirement income. Sadly, this is the only thing keeping me on their payroll.
I know I’m not alone. There must be many people who have fallen into this same trap. Ya, talk about feeling trapped; it’s like putting in jail time. Surely to goodness there is a better way to live. This getting up at 4 o’clock to work like a dog, with no respect or thanks is really starting to take its toll. Perhaps it’s a sign of getting old. I don’t know but whatever the case, I refuse to believe that I was meant to live this way. This whole way of life is insane in my opinion and I believe that it’s the pressure of society that makes us feel that we need all this money to be happy and”successful” (whatever that is). I need to come up with a plan.
I hope to make this an account of my retirement process.
When I say it I feel old. Years ago, 55 was my retirement goal. Now here it is…..in fact, it’s been here for 9 months and every day I wake up and say to myself, “I shouldn’t be working. I should be retired. This working for a living is for the birds.” Whoever came up with the slogan “Freedom 55” was a mean-spirited jerk. How many of us middle-class individuals can actually retire at age 55 and live the lifestyle we’re used to? The way I see it, this slogan has left many of us 55 year olds feeling hopeless and inadequate.
For me, working wouldn’t be so bad if I had a job I liked, but instead I have a well paying hateful job. That’s a bad combination. If I were to be absolutely honest I’d have to say that the only reason I work is for the love of money. Isn’t that sad? Not only that, the longer I work the more money I will receive in retirement income. Sadly, this is the only thing keeping me on their payroll.
I know I’m not alone. There must be many people who have fallen into this same trap. Ya, talk about feeling trapped; it’s like putting in jail time. Surely to goodness there is a better way to live. This getting up at 4 o’clock to work like a dog, with no respect or thanks is really starting to take its toll. Perhaps it’s a sign of getting old. I don’t know but whatever the case, I refuse to believe that I was meant to live this way. This whole way of life is insane in my opinion and I believe that it’s the pressure of society that makes us feel that we need all this money to be happy and”successful” (whatever that is). I need to come up with a plan.
I hope to make this an account of my retirement process.
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