Posted by Canadian Dream on March 18, 2009
Ugh, I’m tired. I’m having one of those weeks where your to do list seems to extend further than the next year. It seems like work and home are just packed with things to do. At times I even feel a bit overwhelmed at it all. Yet I’m comforted by one simple fact: yes I’m busy, but this feeling is mostly in my head.
The fact of the matter is we tell ourselves we are busy and tend to remember what we want to support that. We tend to forget we watched TV for an hour before bed or we visited family for two hours or that half an hour at lunch reading a book. We like to recall that we painted walls, did taxes and filed some papers. Yet the truth is being busy is mainly in your own head.
Yes I’ve been doing lots of things in the last few weeks, but some of them are completely my choice and I rather enjoy them. I don’t have to write these blog posts, but here I sit each morning. I don’t have to get my report at work in by Wed, but I want to. I’m painting a wall in my basement because I like the colour. No one put a gun to my head to do any of these things. Life is about choice. We choose to be busy or not.
If you really stripped down your days to what you must do, or people will go hungry or not have a place to live, the list is rather short. The list would likely have earn money, buy food, cook food, pay bills and basic hygiene for you and your kids. After that it’s a matter of personal preference of things you do and in what order. Saying “Oh, but I have to…” is bullshit. You want to do and it’s your choice. Take some responsibility for your life.
So next time your feeling overwhelmed by being busy pull out your day planner and put in a hour to sit on your butt and do something relaxing by yourself. Book it for today or even tomorrow and don’t roll your eyes at the screen it’s just an hour you can likely squeeze that in somewhere. Tell your loved ones “Yes I love you but I REALLY need some time to myself so could all of you just piss off for an hour.” If they really do love you they will get the point and realize you will like emerge from that hour a lot happier.
I suggest at least an hour to yourself once a week, two is better. A little be of being selfish can often really boost your feelings of well being and put your life in some perspective. Remember some time to relect on life and relax isn’t a want in life. It’s a need. Not doing it is a recipe for discontentment.
So do you take some time to yourself each week? If so, what do you do? I’ll go first. Yes I like to make some time for me each week. This week I’m attend a seminar on publishing a graphic novel (aka: comic book). Why? Just because it sounding interesting and fun to me.
Posted by Canadian Dream on March 17, 2009
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Here’s your weekly list of links that I’ve enjoyed.
Trent has an interest question from a reader about why should anyone believe a word a personal finance blogger writes.
Syd talks about reflections on boredom in retirement.
FT looks at the historic returns for the market to remind us why we invest for the long haul.
Canadian Capitalist has a great set of links from Derek Foster on how he SOLD IT ALL! So much for buy and hold forever guru! What’s even more interesting is he is still selling his first book: Stop Working. Obviously this guy has never studies rhetoric to understand he authority on the subject is shot to hell. Mmm, maybe it’s time to see if Mr. Foster will do a follow up interview with me. What do you think?
The Financial Blogger asks do you have what it takes to make money online?
Brip Brap has an excellent post on the loss of identity when you leave a job. It also applies well to retiring.
Zen Habits talks about a sustainable life of less. This post is just right up my alley.
Posted by Canadian Dream on March 16, 2009
Well at the end of my last set of retirement calculations I mentioned I had several other scenarios that I wanted to run. So far I only finished the analysis of one of them: semi-retirement at 40.
Semi-retirement is a somewhat attractive option since it allows me to:
- Leave my current work five years earlier.
- Boost my CPP payout in retirement, since I would work part time till 60.
The plan would look something like this. I would work until 40 and during that time I would build up about $136,000 (assuming 4% average return) in my pension. Then if I don’t touch that money till I’m sixty I would have about $300,000. That money with CPP and OAS would be more than enough to provide me with about $30,000/year during my retirement.
I would also continue saving in my TFSA and RRSP prior to 40. That pool of cash would provide about $11,000/year in semi-retirement. So with the mortgage gone that would mean I would be able to cover my property tax, food, the water, power, natural gas and phone bills. Everything else would have to be covered by a job. So depending on how much travel I want to do during semi-retirement I would need an income of $16,000 to $19,000 a year.
Now of course an option during this time would be to pick a job that provides a bit more income and then I could shift into full retirement a bit earlier if I like.
There are downsides to this plan, such as:
- I have to work. Some income is required right up until 60. If health issue come up and prevent me from working it might cause a reduction in standard of living.
- Full retirement then is pushed off until 60, unless I earn more money during the semi-retirement.
In the end as attractive as getting out of work earlier is I think I would wait a few more years to finish covering off at least all my basic expenses. I might be willing to quit a bit early if my travel money wasn’t saved yet, but I have issues with being forced to work all the way until 60. Espcially when I would be saving so much money at 40 that waiting a few more years would let me significantly reduce my income required during the semi-retired phase.
