Perspective is an interesting thing.  It is generally envisioning from my frame of reference. 

I know it’s important to view things from others’ perspectives as well to give another data point for the upcoming processing that I tend to undertake.  But this post is about looking at something from another perspective that I chose to use.  Can I see the issue from other angles and create more data points for myself?

I moved my TV from a stand and mounted it on the wall.   I wasn’t paying attention to height other than the viewing angle.

Problem:

It turns out that my center channel speaker when placed on the old TV stand cut into the bottom of the TV picture.  The TV was too low to have the center channel speaker below it on top of the stand.

Solution:

No problem, I thought, I’d just put the speaker into the center section of the TV/equipment stand.  Uh oh, the speaker is too wide (by 1”) for the center section.

So, I ordered a new stand even though I loved my current custom-built stand.  The new stand arrived, I put it together, and the speaker fit, but the new stand was a piece of junk.  Looked stupid, looked cheap, was cheap…big mistake.

Solution 2- Better

I then thought, why don’t I just buy a new slightly smaller center channel speaker that fits in my old stand?  Details: my main speakers are Boston Acoustics.  My old center channel was a 1990 Yamaha speaker.  It turns out a new Boston Acoustic speaker (used) would fit right into the TV stand center location, AND have the same tonal properties as my mains.  That’s an important thing for most other audio people.

My new speaker arrived, I popped two wire prongs and it was working in my favorite stand and looked totally normal.  I now have a stupid $79 stand/shelf thing and 2 weeks of wasted time, all because I was taking what I focused on—the current speaker (which is nothing special) into the center section “box.” 

A whole other way to look at the problem was, what speaker can fit into the box (on the stand I love) to generate the sound I want.

Existing rectangle A will not fit into square box B.  Change Box B?   Or, get rectangle C to fit into square box b.

Not the most interesting story, but so many things in life we focus on one perspective to solve the problem instead of thinking the opposite.

Problem 2:

New example from this summer.

We were getting a new shed, 20’ long.  The shed builder started in the back corner and found the different concrete sections weren’t flat to the front corner.  The front of the shed would be 5-6 INCHES off the ground.  The high point in the concrete was about 5 feet from the back, exposing 15 feet towards the front.  (20-foot lever, fulcrum with 15’ and 5’ on each side)

The front was 5-6” in the air when the back corner was flush

I said “Make the front corner flat for 15 feet, then the 5’ in the back will be off, leaving a gap of 1 inch or less.

Once the front corner was flush (for 15 feet) then the back corner was very close to the concrete.

By thinking the opposite of filling the front 15’ long gap, I changed the front to flush knowing geometrically(?) then the back 5’ would have a lower gap.  I was right, the back gap was much lower and that small 1” gap was able to be cranked down on the anchors just enough to seal.

My takeaway is sometimes it helps to step back from the problem and look at multiple solutions before either panicking (shed) or putting a plan into place that may suck (TV stand).

Tag: Happy Wife, Happy Life

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

Why do you have money in your investment and bank accounts?  Why do you own assets?  What is all of that for?  Why, why why?

I should allow for a 5-minute pause here.

Right after I typed that first sentence, I realized I needed to think about this concept more. 

In the past month, I have made some significant changes to our Fun Bucket concept to the point of funding the Fun Bucket with a massive amount of funds.  I wanted the Roaring 20s/MoJo decade of money set aside in its own account (literally) ready for spending without the need to sell assets. 

I don’t want to have to decide over the next 5 ½ years when, how, and how much to sell to have MoJo money ready for use.  Worse, I don’t want to think, “There’s a $6000, $10,000, or $34,000 fun mojo expense coming, I need liquid funds to pay the credit cards.”  That level of planning, organizing, calculating, processing, and worrying sucks.  Fun cash ready to spend—Done!

Back to the point of this post.

Plan Success Probability

Let’s say you have your retirement planning calculator/website/software all loaded up with your assets (liabilities?), spending needs, future planning expenses, contingencies, other contingencies, what-ifs, etc, and you run all that through their analysis and/or Monte Carlo engines.  You will get a score of some sort.  Usually, a percentage of success is based on past performance (projecting future success) of having enough money.  More specifically, that your assets don’t drop below zero.

Note: if you have a projected failure after 30-40 years, you have to look at when they drop below zero and then how much over the projected time until End of Plan.  This could mean your current asset vs spending plan will need adjustments now or along the way due to life/market conditions.

Now, if you were a great saver, a good investor, and project a logical spending pattern (inflation-adjusted) you may have a fantastically high probability score that your plan is solid and your money/assets will survive through End of Plan.  (it’s strange how much I enjoy typing “End of Plan,”—that’s not right)

Here’s my newest realization.

If you have a 99% Monte Carlo Probability of plan success score, AMAZING.  You have saved great, invested great, and have a spending plan that probability-calculated has an almost perfect chance of never running out of money.  GREAT JOB (saving).

The Oops:

So, if that means there’s a 99% probability that you won’t run out of money, isn’t the flip side of that saying there will be money after your End of Plan?  Yes, of course.

So that means there is a 99% probability that others will be spending your money—all that money you saved—saved for YOUR future (i.e. did not spend upon earning)—will be blown out by others.  THAT SUCKS.

The HOGs

I love discovering different angles and terms, but not in this case.

Heirs, Organizations, Government.

The HOGs will take your life savings, your lack of spending, and your remaining assets and just let it flow like all your efforts were meaningless to them.

Heirs – It’s totally reasonable you want to leave money to the people you choose.  80% of people have children.  Most have siblings and niblings.  If you have enough money that you couldn’t spend it all, you probably have friends 😎.  You can help others with your extra.  Nice, Great.

Organizations – Many people give through life, and leave money to charity, to spiritual organizations, to education scholarships, to building, etc, etc.  Nice, Great.

Government – SO MANY people leave assets with Uncle Sam as implied bills.  After End of Plan the estate must settle up with our lucky-to-have uncle.  It’s good to give our uncle what’s required to keep our amazing country running, but most don’t want to tip our uncle.  We have very little say in how Uncle Sam spends our deferred spending.

I don’t have to belabor the details of each HOG, but I did want to share that you definitely should allow your life savings to benefit you as much as possible/probable/logical so the HOGs don’t take it all and blow it.

How’s that for my 199th post?   SLAM!

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

Do people leaving a career and venturing into the amazing world of FIRE, retirement, freedom, fun, and the unknown accurately believe they will become a great new person?  Does one’s purpose lie just beyond that final pay period?

The Monday after a long multi-decade career doesn’t energize someone into a magical new being.  There is no victory lap and no celebration parade on Monday.  There is no amassing of grandeur.  It’s just a Monday without work.  It’s not much different—yet better— than a Monday holiday.

On this very first Monday life will and should feel great.  The first week will be great.  For many people, paying attention to their feelings on Sunday afternoon will show a relaxed—no work tomorrow—perspective. 

Over the weeks—or months—this feeling may lessen for many.

I have a theory from the many people I’ve talked with who’ve retired/left their careers.

Theory:

Who you are before retirement is probably who you will be when you start retirement.

The good: 

If you are a happy, curious, active, or energized person during your career life, then as you enter retirement you will maintain many of the same traits.

The bad: 

if you were anxious, bored, looking for something more, pushing yourself to meet the next goal, then after your career life you may possess (be possessed) in much of the same trails.

Retirement is not a magic day of personal change.  It is a HUGE day of working/employment change, but you are not a new person because you turned in your badge.

Consider the person who was laid off.  It’s pretty clear that most of those people may not be happy.  They will be inserted into a possible retirement mode against their will, and possibly far from their target timeline.  This consternation is understandable. 

I want to talk about retirement by choice.

Planning for life without work is more than just daydreaming.  While daydreaming before retirement is good—and daydreaming in retirement is great—it’s a good idea to have a plan of action.  Actions that you want to take during your hundreds/thousands of weeks.

You can make your life what you want:

The idea of retiring to something, not from something is mostly valid.  In the same sense, you make a plan/route to drive somewhere for a reason.  Retirement should not be similar to the act of stepping out of a car at a location/destination and wondering why you are there.  It’s very, very helpful to know why you want to be somewhere/somewhen.  Your timing is an important aspect of “when.”

You are who you are…you’ve been this way for a LONG time.  That’s OK.

You do have the opportunity at any point in your life to attempt to change, improve, and even experiment with almost anything.  These changes can be internal or external. 

Imagine the opportunity to change your stressed-out-get-off-my-lawn-because-I-had a bad work-day personality for a relaxed, no worries type perspective.  Imagine how your ticker and blood vessels may thank you for this pressure shift.

I don’t believe these shifts have on day one of retirement.  I believe you are, who you are/were, but you can shift, with intentionality in an attempt to be/feel better.  THIS IS NOT AN AUTOMATIC, MAGICAL CHANGE.

One other random thought I have; you don’t have to grow everything.  You can shrink some things.  You can look at what aspects of your weeks/life you don’t love and probably let some of those go.  You can lessen your commitments.  You may be able to assign away tasks you dislike.  You may shift physical, mental, or emotional tasks to others who have time, are specialists, or, at least are not you.

You are in (mostly) full control of your ship.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

Do you wonder about things?  Do you find yourself googling and gathering data and turning that data into information?

Do you enjoy building up knowledge, skills, and abilities over time?  Do you find satisfaction in understanding more things?

I have really noticed my interest in Curiosity.

I love getting information about everything.  There is so much information available to us today—in just a matter of seconds, or even a fraction of a second. 

Availability

It seems like almost everything known to humans (I don’t think we know the true details of possible extra-terrestrial visitors from the past—if they were/are here) is available on the internet.  I have seemed to maintain the ability to avoid so much of the useless/fake/time-wasting bits of data transmitting around.

Stone Age Progression

I remember being able to gather data from USENET newsgroups in the early 90s and from Mosaic browser usage in the mid-90s.  When Yahoo, AltaVista, and Google appeared in the mid 90s it was like a whole new world of data gathering.  I was sad this became more prevalent after I graduated and couldn’t use them for school.

Today the search and delivery of information is truly unimaginable.  We can get basics to advanced to the highest levels of comprehension for nearly every subject.  I often think, “Why do some many people waste their time with useless 10-second videos from irresponsible sources?”  I’m sure that’s just old-man thinking.

What & Why

I love learning new things.  I love the ability to learn new things.

I have found one of the most valuable things to me is curiosity.  Wondering and finding the answer, or at least some information about the topic.

I have a HUGE list of items to dig into.  I don’t call it my To Do List, but instead, my Don’t Forget List.  It lets me take a quick note of something I’m curious about that I can dig into at a future time.

Even though I don’t work at a job and have LOTS of unscheduled time, I find it hard to really allocate time to dive into so many of the topics I’m interested in.  I believe that true structure for learning would be quite beneficial.  I’m working on that.  It’s another way I wish to be a work in progress, rather than a steady-state life.

Sources

I used to read a lot of web articles and blog posts.  For the past couple of years, I have tried to read less because so much of the content is very, very similar..

I do listen to a lot of podcasts.  It’s interesting how much I love music and keep thinking that music is less enriching to my day/life.  That’s sad to me.  I am trying to learn more about playing and recording music.  That is one way I can gain new skills while doing something I love.

I have been checking out more ebooks from my libraries.  I think I have 6 library cards.  It’s so nice how most of my libraries link to my Amazon Kindle account.  I ALWAYS read each morning on my “commute.”  It’s doubly the best way to start my day.

Tech Tool of Importance

I am so thankful for my Apple watch (when it works well) and I can tell Siri to “create reminder” for whatever I need on my don’t forget list.  In a few short seconds I can have a reminder for later while I continue doing whatever it is I didn’t want to interrupt.  Multitasking/task switching is much harder when you’re older and have so much you’re thinking about but not necessarily concentrating on.

Future Power

I’ve often been thinking about the SloGo and NoGo phase of life.  I believe this curiosity trait I’ve nurtured will help me find enjoyment in those phases—much more than if I didn’t want to expand my mind…well my knowledge at the moment…I still struggle with the conceptual details of neuroplasticity.

I believe curiosity is invaluable.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

It’s time to say yes to most things.

Why wobble on decisions?  Why wait to do something later, in the future?  Why over-calculate the cost, time, value, and importance-wasting time??  Why not say Yes, NOW?

Yeses

I’ve had the opportunity to go on multiple trips with my FIRE $lackers friends/family.  Kathy and I joined almost 50 Rock Retirement Club members (and most of my $lackers gang) on a wonderful Alaskan cruise. I also had the opportunity to go to Bali and hang out with 50 FI friends.

I’ve purchased a few things from cars to guitars to a storage shed to make our lives better and more enjoyable.  I’ve watched Kathy sit in first class enjoying the comfort (while I enjoyed sitting in the back and keeping some funds to pay for better expenses on the trip). 

We’ve enabled the freedom to do almost anything we want for this MoJo decade.  It turns out that we aren’t quite able to complete spending the target/allowable amount most months.  Yet, the knowing that we can is amazing.  Deferring spending was pretty great.

I’ve given more and more of my Playcheck to people/causes that I believe are worthy.  These are things that are worthy enough for the allocation of my money to something other than me and my personal playcheck spending requirements (Health, Fitness, FIRE lifestyle, Tech).  As you can see from my deliberate planning goals, I plan, organize, and think through almost EVERYTHING.  Hence, the need to just go for it once in a while—say Yes.

Intent

I’ve frequently heard the wise ones around me say “It’s either hell yes or no.”  I get it.  That forces you to prioritize the amazing stuff that you really want to do.  But it’s also possible that being greedy or overly cautious with allocating our time causes us to miss something that may be delightful (that’s definitely not a Kevin word). 

So, do we attempt to live by the powerful Hell Yes or No, or do we embrace the ability (in FIRE) to just say “Yes” more often and jump into the adventures/activities that life will allow us?

Outcomes

True, some of the activities may turn out to be duds or worse, but many may turn out to be wonderful and possibly set up future activities or even better; friendships.  I see over and over how relationships are one of the five core values for a better life.  Maybe saying “yes” will enhance the relationship variable.  It may even enhance the active lifestyle variable.

Bali was a “yes” that I said without any consideration for expense, time, or life phase.  I had friends heading over in Sept so the January before I jumped right in, 9 months early, no regrets.  It’s true there was some concern over the 24 hours of travel each way, but it is what it is.  I was way too cheap to spend the extra $6000 for business class lie-flat seats (even though I should have) and instead purchased what seemed to be a good alternative in Premium Economy, the same as we used for France in 2014.  This year’s FI Freedom Retreat in Bali event sold out in 2 ½ hours! 

Reflection

Is this trip a good way to use my QTR?  I can’t think of negatives, nor can I count all the positives.

Are there other intentional decisions I should be making to better my life, absolutely.  It’s an ongoing process of improvement, or attempted bettering.

So, is “hell yes” the goal, or is being intentional with your time and energy?  Hell Yes.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.