Posted by Canadian Dream on December 21, 2011
I feel a little like Santa this week. I finally had a draw for all of those winners from the 5 year blog bash contest (yes I feel bad it got pushed off so long). So if you have won you likely already have an email from me, if you don’t and you have won, please check your spam filter.
The grand prize winner of a Kobo Vox tablet was: Jeff Windatt, who is very excited and if the mail system is helpful may have his prize before Christmas.
The secondary prizes were won as follows and for everyone who has contacted me it will be in the mail by today:
- Sophie W – Wise Investing Made Simple by Larry Swedroe
- Shawn – Juggling Dynamite by Danielle Park
- Outlier Model (via Twitter) – The New Investment Frontier III by Howard J. Atkinson
- Being_light (via Twitter) – What Investors Really Want by Meir Statman
- Ping – Understanding Wall Street (5th Edition) by Jeffrey B. Little
- Be’en – Uncontrolled Risk by Mark T Williams
- Nora – The Wealth Cure by Hill Harper
- Amanda – The Wealthy Barber Returns by David Chilton
- Dee – Findependence Day by Jonathan Chevreau (signed)
- Sean – Free at 45 by Timothy Stobbs (signed)
Thanks again for everyone who tweeted, commented or link to that post and sent me an email. I appreciate your support and I thank you all for reading and commenting. Happy holidays everyone!
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Posted by Dave on December 20, 2011
This is a guest post by Dave, who is also looking to retire no later than 45, but unlike Tim has no kids and doesn’t want any. Dave is from Ontario and is working towards his CGA certification.
“Don’t give up what you want most, for what you want now”
I couldn’t source this quotation, but found it really applies to my early retirement plan. What I want most is to be financially independent, to be able to leave the workforce in my early 40′s (if I choose) and do whatever I want to do after that point rather than going to work for much of the year. Things that I want “now”(or are always in the back of my head) that would get in the way of my plan might be an expensive kitchen renovation, or the latest “cool” gadgets.
The trick for me is to keep the end goal in mind all of the time while telling myself that I don’t really need any of that “stuff” that will do nothing but put me further from my ultimate goal.
I think the problem with me, and perhaps most people is that my end goal is 13 years away – that seems like forever, and constantly saying no to myself (not out loud, although that would be somewhat amusing to see in the store) gets old pretty fast.
What solidifies my plan in my mind is a reminder from time to time of what the freedom of financial independence would mean to me. My wife and I went to a (relatively) cheap resort ($500 each for 8 days in the sun) in the Dominican Republic last week and really enjoyed ourselves. Partly it was because of the sun, but also it was because we didn’t have to do anything that day – we got to choose how our day went, rather than having it chosen for us.
We both enjoy our jobs, but what we like more and look forward to is the freedom that not needing a job would present – waking up with no alarm clock, having no expectations put on us for the day. In our week of vacation, we chose to do almost nothing – we read books, got tanned, learned a new card game, and relaxed. If there was more time off, say 40 years, I’m sure we may have accomplished something constructive, but if we told the vast majority of people we knew that this is what we wanted to do all of the time, I’m not sure if many would really understand – it just seems so boring, but it’s what we like to do.
The “stuff” that is and will get in my way seems to all be a product of perceived convenience. I’m wondering what my wants would be if I limited my time on the internet and stopped exposing myself to advertising.*
Are things that you want now getting in the way of things you want most? How do you balance the two?
* Writing this paragraph about advertising reminded me of a line in the movie Fight Club “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need” – seems to reflect the message I am trying to get across to myself perfectly.
Posted by Robert on December 19, 2011
This is a guest post by Robert, who lives in Calgary and works as a financial advisor retired at 34. He is married, has three kids. Robert and his wife then plan to return to school and become teachers, eventually living and working overseas.
What makes a smooth transition to retirement? I personally didn’t have anything in mind. In the first week or two that I stopped going in to work every day, I had more naps than I’d care to admit. I’ve also read a lot, but too much of it has been internet news (or entertainment). Something that’s important to me is to spend my time doing things that are worthwhile. That’s why I’ve decided to spend more time volunteering at my children’s school and at the YMCA.
It seems that volunteering is a common theme among retired people. At the YMCA, I met a woman who explained that she’s currently transitioning into retirement. Without being rude, she is quite a bit older than me, probably nearing the normal retirement age. She worked for years as a psychologist, helping children (eg. with ADHD) adjust to their usual environments, such as school. She has decided that she wants a smooth transition to retirement. Her first step was to stop taking on new clients. Each client is a relatively short term project, measured in months, not years. This reduces her commitment (and income, I assume), without ending it all at once. It also gives her a modest amount of extra free time.
Most people, after working full time for the majority of their lives, crave a routine and a feeling that they are contributing to a cause larger than themselves. The woman I met has chosen to volunteer at the YMCA in order to be part of a group effort and to have a time commitment that builds into her routine. I’ve talked with other people who either worry what they would do with the spare time afforded by retirement. They seem to take literally the proverb “idle hands are the devil’s playthings”.
That may hold true for some people, but having the luxury of being able to choose where and how to spend my time gives me options that wouldn’t be available otherwise. My favourite things to spend my time on relate to my interest in public education. I regularly spend time in our school, volunteering in one or the other of my sons’ classes, or joining them on field trips. I also talk with other parents about their experiences with and expectations for our school. I have the luxury of being able to read news, scholarly articles and books related to the education issues that our school and our system are facing.
None of these activities were planned as a transition to help smooth me into retirement. But I think that a smooth transition is certainly worth the effort. I continue to try and sort my activities into a regular schedule that produces a routine. Fortunately, whenever I feel that I’m wasting my time, I can take my daughter (who’s not in school yet) and play with her. Nurturing my kids is time well spent.
Do you have plans to ease the transition from one stage of life to the next?
