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FIRE.166 Xmas morning…evening

Well, the only thing I opened on Xmas morning was a positive covid test. Now, less than a week later I am fine, back to 100%. I only have 18 hours of feeling crappy.

This event interrupted my normal drafted programming.

Xmas eve (Sat) after a 6-hour long large family gathering I had the chills. Earlier in the afternoon I had a headache and was tired. I figured it was just children/family overload (it may have been).

Sunday I tested positive even though I just had chills, a headache, and felt kind of tired with sniffles all day.

Monday day2 headache and chills were gone, and my energy was close to normal. Just had sniffles, a little head pressure, and a light cough. For 3 nights I was sweating, probably the massive comforter I never use but was under for some reason.

Tue day 3 felt fine just a little cough and sniffles for the next couple of days. This felt like a normal cold, but not quite as bad, but lasted a day or two longer.

I did, out of precaution, take the entire week as a limited exercise week, only doing two pelotons (I still pushed on the leaderboard some).

So Xmas Sunday am, I open covid. Then that Xmas evening my mom’s housemate called to tell me my mom’s leg is swelling and purple, REALLY BAD. They plan to call 911 in the morning for the ambulance and ER admittance (I can’t take her, I have covid).

Turns out that my covid recovery is shorter than a hospital stay for a Coumadin blood thinner bleeding hematoma incident. My mom came home from the hospital on Thursday to start a whole new world of home healthcare, PT, OT, etc.

Luckily my wife helped my mom in the ER and into her room for EIGHT + HOURS. Turns out that when you have Alzheimer’s you are useless to your caregivers. Actually, my mom was detrimental to her care repeatedly tearing off the sensors and trying to get out of bed when she was a major fall risk. Alarms kept going off.

It’s now two weeks past Xmas and I can tell this year will be the start of a much more time-consuming life with my mom.

My word of the year was going to be “better.” Better “everything.” My word has now changed to “survive.”

I’m sure this year will require a whole new perspective and set of actions in the caring for my mom, as well as her housemate who is not well.

You never know when life may fall apart and be required to be put back together, or worse, may not go back together.

Find the positive. Enjoy some of your favorite things in your day.

*** 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.

FIRE.165 When? If Not Now?

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I don’t seem to do all that much in retirement. I often feel like I am not accomplishing a lot. I do get all kinds of things done, and even more things started. I also LOVE my life and the activities I am doing every single day. But, I wonder, is there more, can I do more, should I do more, do I care to keep score for more?

JD Roth once made a passing comment “if it takes two hours to do, it takes 2 weeks in retirement to complete.” That sure strikes a chord with my structure.

I track items on my “Remember List.” I put tasks on my calendar (often with a ? at the end). I have a lot of notes and plenty of Apple reminders to add to my remember list. But, what do I do? Or more clearly, when?

The other day, I asked a friend if we could talk (about taxes, year-end planning, life, spending, etc). I used almost two hours of his precious time, but I came away with dozens of thoughts and insights that I’ve been thinking about for days. That was a great call for me. He ended the call by saying “every time I talk with you, I end up with action items/tasks.” Oops. That’s not my intent, but I do have ideas—ideas all the time.

When will you…?

If not now, when…? If not (starting right) now, when will you…?

If you are waiting, why? Why exactly do you think a possible future time is the correct time? How will you (feel, think, or be worth) at that time?

I ask this for myself and for others who have been smart spenders, smart savers, smart planners, risk-averse, deferred gratification-ers, and future thinkers.

I always want the bad news first. I want to know and deal with the problem. I always save the good news for later. Sometimes I never even get to the good news. Often I get consumed by the bad until I sort it out in my brain.

I think for decades my spending has been mostly the same over time. I deferred that spending to the future. I made sure I really wanted to spend on that. Sometimes, it turns out that I didn’t end up needing or wanting the item and I’ve saved myself some money.

Now?!

But what about the case of dying sooner and having instituted more old age deference? Shouldn’t I realize each and every day, that I’m not getting younger or healthier? How do I know my future days, weeks, and opportunities are ahead of me? What if they’re not? (or what if they are?)

I may be at or near my last peak of wealth and physically (mental? My ability to enjoy some extra experiences or items? I know multiple older people who tell me “they missed their window” to do some things. Health, life changes, family issues, regional politics, living situations, etc. can get in the way of “opportunities.”

I know I’ve shared many of these concepts and thoughts before in different ways. It’s not that I’m forgetting I’m coming back to these, but more importantly, it’s that they are not resolved. This FIRE thing is a process. I will process many thoughts and tackle many phases throughout the remainder of my time.

Passion:

I just realized that I may be lucky that I’m not struggling with “life purpose” confusion or “working desires.” I’m just thinking about “living life” in a great way. A base great life plus (or times) an amazing life far beyond the “base.”

For all the “I’d rather have experiences than ‘things’ people,” I understand. I however have been lucky enough to have been all around the world a couple of times, and while there is still more to do/see, I also want more fun at home. Much of that fun was sacrificed and delayed for decades.

I do have LOTS of little gadgets, toys, and hobby items to message around with. It’s funny that ALL of those items add up to almost no money, just the tiniest fraction of our net worth. (True, my wife’s items add up to noticeable amounts, but she deserves to enjoy all she deferred, and for putting up with me).

I’ve written about going crazy and spending $500 on a guitar because it seemed cool and it turned out to be amazing. It sounds like a buzz saw and honestly makes me not sound -horrible. That’s not a large price in the guitar world, but to me, it was a pretty big purchase.

I’ve written about my mistake of not buying a Peloton bike for my wife,( I do love how they got in trouble for the commercial of the husband buying his wife a bike for xmas…then in mid-2020 the twits were saying “how do you like that peloton now?!”)

I wrote about fixing our items only to sell them and let others enjoy the improvements when those improvements should have been completed for our enjoyment during our ownership.

What is your money (your life) for?

Shouldn’t you get a reward for the position you’ve placed yourself into?

Is now is not the deferred spending time, when should that deferred spending be used? Why?

FIRE.164 ToDo -> Remember List

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Have you heard this before; “I’m so busy not working that I don’t know how I ever had time to work.”

Productivity

I’ve been thinking about how I keep running out of day before I’m able to complete enough of my ToDo List. I now wonder if I’m too busy, or if I’m just less efficient, i.e. less productive.

I have realized that I just do not get all that much done on any given day. Rarely do I complete any kind of “project.” I do complete tasks and I move forward on things, but I just don’t often have to complete anything because there is no boss or customer expecting results. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing because I get to do all kinds of things every day.

On any given day I might exercise, play guitar, crank music, learn, help others, do some chores, maybe even do errands (I pretty much despise going to stores now) or chores around the house.

When I stop and think about it, I usually do a couple of my “favorite things” every day, even if only for a little while each—10-60 minutes each.

Google Tasks

As for my ToDo List, It keeps track of everything I need to do, want to do, should check on, learn, accomplish, etc. I store all of this in Google Tasks so it’s available on any of my devices for review, updates, or creations.

I realized that my google tasks list is so super long only because it is not actually a ToDo list, not really.

My Google Tasks list is a do not forget, or more positively, a reminder list. There are 270 items across 10 different list categories. I also noticed, there are ZERO with due dates (that’s awesome).

Here’s a random example of a “task,” learn how to pick a lock. No due date. Another is, to make sure both names are authorized on ALL accounts. See some real, practical tasks and some random Kevin thoughts.

I don’t have a Bucket List. Well, not that I know of. I just have a list of things to remember I may want to do, at some point. Oh, my Task List has some links to other Google Docs, and websites for more details. It all seems to work together and work for me (us).

Productivity (see how nothing is ever completed?)

Now the task at hand is to actually figure out how to be better at checking off items on the list. Oh, and that reminds me of another point, I’m not the kind of person who does something and has to add it to my list after completion to check it off. I have absolutely no desire to quantify those types of accomplishments.

Where do you keep track of your great future ahead, or your chores, and the detail for all of these items?

FIRE.163 Why do I wait?

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For as long as I can remember I’ve been trained to defer gratification. I will think of something(s) I want and then I put these items on my don’t forget list while I fine-tune my requirements, monitor pricing options, and then purchase at what seems like a great time to buy.

Vehicles

We did this for our 2006 BMW X5. We bought it in 2008 when gas was “outrageous at $4/gal and demand disappeared for SUVs and we got a great price. We did this in reverse for our Toyota Venza in Jan 2021 when there was no demand for cars because everyone was working from home. We ended up with a hybrid model because gas was so cheap and there was low demand for hybrids. We ended up with a $1500 dealer discount, plus $1500 cash back from Toyota, and were able to pick our exact vehicle and ship it from Texas at a low transport rate (nobody was shipping anything-pre supply chain news story).

Those two vehicle purchases are great examples of buying off-peak and saving thousands of dollars on each purchase because we planned and lined up our purchasing strategy. My wife was thrilled with her vehicles.

Toaster

On the other hand, I’ve decided I want something smaller, let’s say hypothetically, a $20 toaster and I research the models (smart) then I spend 90 minutes looking for the best price to save $4 (dumb).

I’ve written about being smart and using your money for things you enjoy. I’ve also written about being dumb and purchasing/fixing something just before selling it—spending the money, but not getting the enjoyment of the item.

Spinning Bike

This week my wife and I were talking about upgrading her peloton app membership from $14 by buying a peloton bike and subscribing to the All Access membership for $45. The back story is when covid stopped in-person spinning classes my wife switched to her old spin bike at home and used the peloton app (on a 32” TV). Six months into the lockdown mess, in the fall of 2020 while still only in the midst of vaccine development, we bought a nice $700 commercial spin bike. It was MUCH nicer than the old “Rusty” spin bike she had been riding 3-5 times per week.

Through the pandemic, her favorite spin studio closed permanently and she just kept app/TV spinning at home for 2 ½ years. On a trip in October, she was able to use a peloton bike at a hotel using her app account and realized it was a very nice bike. Late last week I said, “let’s just get a used one on Craigslist or FB Marketplace from someone who purchased one during covid and doesn’t ride it.” So, 36 hours later and with a few messages to people, we had a barely used (44 rides) bike in the back of my truck heading home. An hour later it was set up, plugged in, and connected to wifi with a test ride underway.

The next day we upgraded her membership from the $14 app to the $45 all access membership (amazing how easy they make that) and the dizzying amount of ride statistics began generating data. I added a member account for myself and we are now both addicted to the statistics. This may not be a good thing according to our legs.

WHY?!

I was thinking, why did I wait to give my wife the best spinning experience? It wasn’t really about the money the peloton bike would cost or even the membership. I think it was that I assumed she would go back to in-person classes ($96-140/mo +gas +driving time) and not need the home bike much.

Health

There is nothing more important than our health. Moving our bodies and getting our blood pumping are so important to the ability to live a strong, active life. There is no question that we should be investing heavily in this activity.

Used Purchase Timing

Did I mention my theory that buying used items on Craigslist or FB Marketplace is often a great strategy before thanksgiving and toward xmas? I think people are raising money for their holiday purchases so they are motivated to sell.

On the other hand, we did NOT want to buy the bike the last week of, or the beginning of the year when so many have resolutions for fitness. I feel the demand would increase then, as well as the prices.

Identify the things that enable your Great Life and go fit it if you have created a plan for it to make sense.

FIRE.162 I Hate this Post

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There are times when things happen that cause total chaos in our lives.

Some unexpected action or issue that throws everything that was flowing along out of control. It’s not the same as a freeway backup caused by an accident…unless you’re in the accident. It’s not like a dam bursting and the rushing water flows down river wiping out structures and nature along the river banks because you kind of—in the back of your mind—know there’s a HUGE amount of water pent up behind that concrete structure.

What happens when something horrible happens to a spouse, thereby leaving the remaining spouse and family with dozens of issues, problems, and disasters? What happens when the remaining family (and friends) are distraught with grief and want to work on issue resolution but run into brick walls, bureaucracy, lack of information and quite possibly have health issues that impair their ability to take on the tasks?

I want to state first and foremost, I cannot understand, or explain all of—or most of—the possibilities that can unfold. I just want to spark in you (hello anyone out there?) the idea that you may be able to pre-prepare (I thought I would double emphasize that) some structure to help in case you get hit with the bad card.

Make sure those you love and care for know you love and care for them. (I’m making note of this now for myself)
Create an organized structure of “what.” What things need to be taken care of? What accounts do you have? What the logins are? What your wishes are? What the process is. What’s most important? What are the procedural steps? Some call it the “love letter” for their spouse. “Hey honey, I love you, but don’t forget to pay the electric bill.” Maybe that’s not the best example.
Do not leave your distraught follow-up person (spouse, child, executor, trustee, lawyer, friend, bad person) to have to do forensic accounting to put your financial and personal records organization into an organized manner.
Death vs Disability. If you become incapacitated, that is different than being deceased and having a death certificate to assist in taking action. Power of attorneys are important as are Medical Rights documents…and having those medical documents ready at a moment’s notice and when arriving at a hospital.
Monthly operations, bill paying, cash flow, stabilization. Share the bills/accounts and the process that you use. Hopefully, you have an automated process. Also, make sure both you and your spouse are listed as approved/trusted parties on each account.

It’s so much better to have planned for those taking over your operational duties before there is a need for such a transfer of power. Don’t leave a pile of paperwork, or worse, PDFs for someone to deal with. Leave instructions and the ability for them to make changes.

FIRE.161 Lazy or Lazer…Laser

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We intentional thinkers and planners spend years and decades thinking and concentrating on our life goals. We steer our energy toward targeting our life’s happiness. We create plans and track our progress, we work up alternate scenarios, and we basically use project methodology for our life

Yes, we are Laser focused to get to—or toward—our goals. But then what? Do you set new goals, or do we shift into a different Lazer mode—a Laz(y)er mode?

A few years ago, I was talking to Justin Root Of Good at CampFI Virginia. We had both been early retired for a few years and I asked how he spent his days. His days are substantially different than mine in relation to his multiple children requiring dedicated effort, but during the school day we are both essential “on our own.”

If I recall he mentioned doing some activity or exercise, maybe getting some errands or tasks completed, and the opportunity for doing whatever he wanted with no particular goal in mind. Hmmm. Now if the conversation did go as I recall, then my recent posts about the “$lackers” (over-achieving $lackers) seems like it was forecasted years ago in our little conversation.

Do we all need to strive for a purpose?

Do we all need to have goals?

Can’t we just live each day/week for enjoyment and keep things moving along accordingly?

In the past few days, I’ve done some chores. I fixed our gate with an adjustment. I replaced the tub spout that seemed to be a complicated last fall but turned out to be no problem. I screwed up the toilet paper holder in the bathroom and now have multiple drywall holes that need to be patched (hello YouTube).

But overall, my past week has been all about me doing what I want. I’ve exercised. I’ve read articles and some more in my books. I’ve crafted a little gift for a slacker. I’ve worked on financial stuff. I’ve scootered to a surfing festival and lived some of the California lifestyle. I’ve done whatever I wanted to do.

So, I go back to my original thought. Have I been Lazy or Lazer Focused on enjoying myself? Are those the same or different? If I’m not actively doing something physical (exercise or chores), am I Lazy?

I’m saying Laz(y)er focused is my new Laser target.

I just saw a recent presentation by Justin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ale11_HU3RI

FIRE.160 Throttle Down

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Following up on my Throttle Up post which included some throttle down thoughts, I then had some whack-a-mole stress (external stress) popping up.

After I wrote about those life moles, it made me think about the times we have to slow down for the upcoming—or immediate—curves of life. If I were a graphics person I would put the yellow curvy road caution sign graphic here. Maybe even the one with a lower speed limit. (I tend to take those yellow signs as cautionary suggestions since our cars have lowish centers of gravity).

In real life, I see those curves coming—sometimes I plan for them WAY too far in advance—and I prepare, and I slow down, and I process the management of the “road” ahead as best I can for what I see and estimate.

It’s not a bad thing to prepare for future issues. It’s not a bad thing to have a plan for these issues or a plan B. I feel the problem lies if we dwell on the “what if” and that worry impacts our present.

Progressing or Slowing

So, in the previous post, I wrote how the boat would slow and sink into the water as I throttled down. It’s quite similar to when I retire for the evening and get into bed where I tend to sink into my memory foam mattress the longer I stay immobile. (did you like my “retire” usage there?)

The correlation between life’s movement and activities seems so much the same. As we stay active and do things, we are cruising around, the wind in our hair (for some of us). If we slow down into the couch, we tend to sink more. Even more interesting is that the more we use the couch, the softer the cushions get, and the farther down we sink. At some point, it will become very difficult to get up from our lazy position.

SloGo Test Run

I think about the covid lockdowns for many and how life slowed or even stopped for people. How energy and social connections crashed. Crashed may be a harsh term. Maybe they just came to an abrupt stop.

I think about the SloGo and NoGo years. There will be a significant transition from the GoGo years into less active stages of life. If all goes well, this will happen over time, little by little. Unfortunately, for some people, a life crisis can force an immediate change in life activity—in life speed.

Enjoying and Awareness

I guess my whole point is that life speed changes over time. The speed change can occur in many ways. It seems to me that we should be very cognizant of this/these upcoming changes so we can make sure to get the most out of our life. This is still true, even if someone is very cautious and risk-averse, and always preparing for something bad.

Your life will throttle down in the future naturally. I’m suggesting that maybe we just try and lower our speed a little over time and still push to keep the wind flowing through our hair.

FIRE.159 Whacked

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Life around me keeps changing. Life around all of us keeps changing. I’m sure that our normal pattern of whack-a-mole issue resolution is very common. It’s our nature to fix each problem that pops up and then move on, often to the next problem.

I’m suggesting that we take a moment—many moments—to stop and recognize, then think about the goodness of our life and our days.

I’m sure if you are reading this that you have your $h!t together. You are a thinker, an organizer, and someone who gets things done. At least that’s how I feel overall about myself.

It just seems like things are in constant flux and we spin from challenge to challenge, task to task. This happens so naturally that we don’t even notice it’s happening.

STOP! Just for a minute, please.

TAKE TIME TO DO SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE THINGS. Do the special things that give you personal, soul-enriching joy. Try like crazy to do some of these things each and every day. To assist in the action of this suggestion, you need to have your 10 favorite things to do any day list handy, maybe on your phone notes/keep

It doesn’t matter if you’re dealing with your health, others’ health, family, parents, children, siblings, niblings, home, work, finances, weather, cars, etc. You need to stop and bring the goodness of your life—whatever that may be—to your forefront and reset. I know it sounds easy, but…

I write this as an introvert who feels very comfortable being by myself and doing my own thing. It’s the outside activities that add stress. Others may be extroverted and get their energy from others and it’s when they’re alone that they feel stressed. We’re all different. Of course, we are, but we all still have our favorite things that bring us joy.

Paragraph two about introversion; I must say that after spending time with very good friends for almost a week that I felt better and happier being with friends. It seems we can be both introverted and be energized (rather than exhausted) by others.

No matter how much crazy stuff is going on and how many moles you keep whacking down, I believe it’s important to have people around you, in your life, that make you better. Having these people around you that you enjoy. And just as important is having people around that you can help, that you will help.

I guess we all just need to have our tribe and work together when possible. Who knew?

FIRE.158 Throttle Up

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I’ve often thought of activity and effort in relation to gear shifting in a car. More specifically, to me downshifting at times.

Some of us understand the concept of shifting from 4^th gear to 5^th gear and driving harder or downshifting from 5^th gear to 4^th gear for an upcoming corner.

Recently I was driving (?) a boat. I should add a little more, we—a group of 8 of us FIRE folks (see slacker post)—were boating on a beautiful summer Thursday from 10:30a to 2:30pm and had 90% of the river/lake to ourselves.

Oh, back to the point, for part of the rental period I was able to captain our vessel. During my time on the bridge (I’m sure it wasn’t as grand as it felt to me) I had to slow the boat down by pulling back on the throttle in differing amounts. Each time I lowered the throttle the boat had a strange “settling” feeling of slowing and almost as if we were sinking a little bit.

When slowing the boat, there is a very distinct gravitational change. Maybe the change is due to the level of boat riding on the water related to the boats’ speed. Maybe the feeling is related to the friction/drag of the water. But it was very different from slowing—downshifting or braking—a car.

Reflecting on the different gravitational (pull) feeling due to the change in speed, I realized that the change in forward progress that any of us feel may result in very different gravitational and physical body sensations we may have.

Retirement/FIRE—really LIFE—is exactly the same, in that, not everyone, and nothing quite feels the same from event to event or change to change.

Other analogies that come to mind are floating-the sense of freedom, the differences between upstream and downstream, pulling a crazy tube behind the boat, anchoring, fueling, sunning, shade, docking at new locations, spinning in circles for tubers or just for fun, other boats passing (sizes, propulsion systems, play/housing), and age of the boat.

To look at this from another angle, when I Throttle Up, the craft raises up a little and cruises along the surface with less drag, less wake rocking and bounce, and more wind in my hair—covering more distance per life moment. Isn’t that a great way to take on life, with an increased throttle zipping and having fun?

I know I’m different. I know my mind is strange. I know I see analogies (and equations/word problems) in real life differently than normal people. In most cases, I know that works for me. For “me.”

I had so much fun with my slacker friends. I also learned so much in less than a week with super-intelligent friends.

Do you see special things in life that make you better, your life better?

FIRE.157 BOOM ?

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Let’s start this thought with the fact that I have a lot of friends and peers who share knowledge and wisdom making my life better.

I have a close group of these friends and while keeping their secret identities well, secret, I can say we do meet monthly and talk about very important topics related to what we’re thinking about. If we were hip enough, it would be a mastermind, but it’s not…

Purpose

We recently spent some time talking about the different articles, blogs, and podcasts we absorb and how they’re so often pushing the motivation topic. The topic of purpose—or passion. Those sources aren’t promoting the “what’s your passion,” as much as they seem to now be driving this “what’s your PURPOSE?”

The FIRE blog posts push this constantly. There is a continual trend in finding one’s purpose. The inherent need of bloggers to push the narrative so that everyone must be forging ahead with the effort to make some part of the world a better place seems so common.

It seemed to some of us that 1) these people are pushing a product/idea/something for business purposes, 2) these people have bigger plans for their future and we all should have the same, 3) they might believe we as a human being must task our energies towards making something better, or bigger, or badass.

One of us said, “I don’t get it, I just want to do my stuff and enjoy my time/days.” Others agreed as either a general life trajectory or even an “at this time phase.”

$lackers

I should say will say that some of us feel we could self-identify as what others would call $lackers. Or at least on some days, we slack.

Is that a bad thing to determine the most enjoyable use of your time—at that time—is free time? How many decades were we told exactly what to do with most of our daily (waking) time? In some latitudes, our entire daylight window was taken by our bosses/companies. If you think about it, we didn’t get out “day,” they did. Well, now we can “take our day back.” FU$ !

Can a self-made millionaire be considered a slacker? If someone were to earn/spend/save/invest enough energy and money to become “rich” on their own merits, can they be a slacker? Probably not a “life slacker” but maybe a “phase(d) slacker.” Hmmm?

Retirement/Another Perspective

There are plenty of “life coaches” and “retirement coaches” (that are hirable) to help people work through their retirement transition and find their new purpose. That’s an interesting concept. [side note: guidance counselor just popped into my head]

Come to think about it, maybe the coaches are really there to help the person figure out “who” they are without work, which is a much different task than “being “or “doing” something. A person doesn’t have to find an entirely new path, full of challenges and deliverables, in retirement.

There is absolutely no question in my mind as to whether or not a person should have some plan, or structure, or general (chapter) guidelines for the future. This is not a time to waste (away). Your post-career time was well earned and must be enjoyed. If not, why bother?

LEFT TURN: this post was supposed to be about learning, gathering data, formulating the data into information, and expanding one’s brain/mind/experience.

The title of the post means: if our main interest/passion is learning (from others), how much stuff can we take in before our brain fills up, before our brain explodes from being so full of knowledge? Isn’t the goal of learning new things each day a wonderful pursuit of a life?

I’ll come back to the learning topic. I’ll no doubt base my thoughts on the data I receive from my wise friends. I may even stay on topic in the future.

Everything is a learning process.