[Pops]

THE Curmudgeon's Corner
Kinda seems that is what PO.com has come to for the most part... a bunch of old guys bitchin the typical complaints. But Dohboi asked about things to do after a certain age so here 'tis.

My thought for many years was the little farm is the perfect old timer project - if not young-timer. You all heard all about that to no end. Familial situation put a halt to the last farm but I'm still not convinced it is my last farm...
Cool things about hobby farming are lots of new experiences (even if like me you grew up around them) lots of new stuff to learn—and old stuff too, I took courses from the USDA and extension on management intensive grazing, various organic practices. There are new people to meet (if that's your thing), as much exercise as you want, and of course improved self sufficiency.

Another longtime idea was basically travel around and buy fixer houses and fixer 'em. A year or 2 in a new area of the country seems like a cool thing, if fixing & exploring seem cool to you of course. That is sorta what we are doing at the moment except the same reason we aren't still on the farm is the reason we are back in CA rather than Ohio or somewhere. Obvious downside is you have some or all of your nest egg at risk. I auctioned all my stationery shop tools and bought portable job-site oriented tools. Certainly a net loss but not terrible.

I'm really not a joiner and that kinda keeps me from it but I keep promising myself I'll do more with Red Cross...

what else?

ETA, I'm not officially an old retired person, a mere pup at 58. I'd figured to work until I dropped but I looked up my Soc Sec estimate recently. Heck, I can draw more at 62 than I am making now due to once upon a time earning pretty good.
So keep it together out there, I may get a check yet!

[Lore]

pstarr, naw, you're a kinder, older curmudgeon. I found your new avatar!

[hvacman]

No, with only one tooth, it would be one kernel at a time, unless he is shoving the ear straight into his mouth.

Pete, I just gave you something EV-related to gripe about in the "Stairway to..."thread. To save that thread the needless pain, you can post your gripe here:)

[Newfie]

Pops,

I did some financial planning on FireCalc and was surprised at how much of my retirement income will be from SS. A general rule of thumb is you can withdraw 4% of your savings per year in retirement. So $100,000 get you $4k per year, a million gets you $40,000.

Between us we will have over $40k in SS. So that like an extra million in the bank.

As to what to do I think retirement is a good time to do what you want. Of course you need to want to do something. this is harder than it sounds for most of us. Our lives have been pretty well prescheduled from kindergarten. Actually taking charge and responsibility is not something we are used to doing.

It's all to easy to sit around and watch the soaps or push carts brought ?Walmart endlessly.

I have an old mentor, 85ish who is still building houses. Not swinging a hammer, but hiring contractors. He does still run a small backhoe. He's making money to put his grandkids through medical school.

I've no such ambitions. I want to calm down and enjoy life. With two boats, to cabins, and 4 apartments I have more than enough to do. But what I want to do is go sailing, do some travel, enjoy my Wife, the bird, the whales, sunrises and sunsets. Read.

When I'm done with that I'll find something else.

[Pops]

Of course you need to want to do something. this is harder than it sounds for most of us.

That is very true.

For me, selling the farm was kind of like a fat-fingered period dropped into the middle of a sentence. It had been a product of long term planning and I'd given no real thought to what might come afterward... But to be honest, attaining the goal was the fun part, learning the ropes the nexest, then after that is is all grub work, LoL

But such is life.

Speaking of: way back I read a book called "3 Boxes of Life." Said boxes being learn/work/play, and obviously correspond to school/job/retirement. The book's premise was to break out of the pattern and do all 3 continuously rather than sequentially. I have tried to do that, to an extent. (at least that was my excuse to drop out of college, LoL) The worst thing is to achieve your goal too early then sit there wondering what to do next: Reach/Grasp and all that.