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.

*** 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.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?

*** 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.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 4th gear to 5th gear and driving harder or downshifting from 5th gear to 4th 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?

*** 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.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.

*** 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.156 40years of finance

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I’m 52 and I realized that I’ve now reached 40 years of finance/saving/planning experience.  I’ve mentioned before that my dad started teaching me about our family finances: spending tracking, saving, bond investing, home mortgage, etc when I was 12 years old.

Saving

I had to open a savings account when I was 12 after I  received some money.  It was hard at the time watching  ALL of my friends spent the money they received.  Instead of buying new acquisitions, I  learned what a passbook savings account was—not the most exciting acquisition for a 12-year-old.  Now, decades later, I think I’m still less of a spender than many of my friends, or maybe just a different spender.

Shortly after my passbook savings account experience, I shifted into a brokerage account for my savings.

Over the following years of Jr high, high school, and college, I always saved a chunk of my income.  I also spent a chunk—usually on smallerish items—but I always saved.  Sometimes I used part of my savings to fly places, but often I would fund those trips with new income.  I think I was pretty good at saving.

Employment

Looking back, I can say that after moving to Phoenix in the mid-1990s, I did tend to save less money until 1999.  That was the fall when my job was outsourced to IBM and I realized that I wasn’t much more than an “employee badge number.”  The following year (2000) we made sure that we lived off only one of our incomes and saved the equivalent of the second income.  That living-off-one-income continued until 2005 when we decided to push harder with a 7-year Early Retirement plan—target 2012.  We hit our goals in 2011 when my wife left her career, and I followed after another nice three years of working.

In the great recession, or housing crash, or whatever it was called in 2008/09, I learned from Clark Howard about Total Market Index investing and (trying to) ignore short-term variability and invest for the long term. 

Stocks

My first equity investing started in 2009 with 5k or 10k chunks.  I did experiment with buying a handful of stocks in the 2001 dip but NONE of those investments recovered to previous levels.  Interestingly, I did sell my MSFT around 12 years later in 2013 because it was still flat.  Oops, 2001-2013-2022.

Spending

I’ve tracked my/our spending since high school-college, then again from 2001+.  Just like my father told me once, our spending stayed almost exactly the same over the months/years for over a decade.  As he said, “some things go up, and some go down over time.”  His observations were exactly the same for us. 

I guess that means we never really inflated our lifestyle too much as our incomes increased.  I’m sure much of the consistency is due to staying in the same started home (still) and driving our used cars for 10+ years.  Looking back, yes, we did miss out on moving to a nicer (larger) home— no big deal.  Yes, we did go without many of the new car features (I just, in the past month started driving a car with built-in Bluetooth…a 2000ish technology).  SAD!  But we’re in a much better place now…I can drive my 2012 car all day, any time, any day rather than leave it in my workplace parking spot!  Just the same, I get to enjoy my little house all day, every day.

Allocation

I’ve felt comfortable with our asset allocation (67/33ish  or 65/30/5 cash).  Yes, we have seen our balances drop A LOT in the past 6+ months, but I realize that is a “drop” from an all-time high and now down to around where we were in fall 2020…when at that time the balances were” so high.”  Turns out our allocation has been doing well for the past 12+ years.  (IF ONLY I’D STARTED IN EQUITIES IN THE EARLY 90s)   I am still VERY disgruntled when my alumni association asks for money when their academic program never taught us about Index Investing while we were getting our Bachelor’s or MBA.  So much useless alpha, beta, regression analysis academic textbook garbage.  Reading one Bogleheads blog would have resulted in maybe 200% more net worth…ONE Boglehead post.  Or even a Jack Bogle Tiny Book of Investing book.

As Brian Preston from The Money Guy podcast says “let your army of dollar bills march off to work each day so you don’t have to.”  There have been years (in retirement) where our account balances went up more than we earned while working.  Many times the growth was more than double our earned income.

I should end right there.  Multiple years of doing whatever we want without work and yet our account balances increase(d) more than any amount we ever earned while working.  That’s the power of investing early, often and lessons learned…on the good side of the ledger.

*** 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.155 Claiming your Place by the FIRE

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I’m thinking way out of my knowledge zone here, but here goes…

I understand that tribes tend to gather around a fire for community and cultural activities.  I heard on a podcast that the tribes often put their most experienced or most influential storytellers close to the campfire.  It’s like center stage in the tribal world.

When the influential members are centered it’s important for other members to be close enough to the fire to hear the stories and gain the wisdom of what’s being shared.

Let’s ignore the US movies where people tell scary stories around the campfires and these are good, important stories being shared.

I can only imagine that the fires allow the transfer of legends and legacy to flow from generation to generation over the years, decades, and probably centuries of a tribe’s existence.

I’m pretty interested in the FIRE topic from a life perspective more than a night-warming perspective.  However, there is still a great correlation to the storytelling idea.  Many high-profile FIRE members are sharing their experiences to influence others in the FIRE community, as many call us thinkers, their “tribe.”  (tribe  “a social group …”)   

It seems as though the fireside concept of sharing is alive and well in the FIRE community.  I find it intriguing that I have made this strange connection.

While many people may not align perfectly with all of the FIRE leader community (I think the title “influencer” is asinine, or is that the follower?) there are many of whom you may relate to.  It’s possible that many of these leaders may be your “elders.”  It may be possible that many are younger than you, but happen to be in a different life stage or have a different perspective that can help you and your thinking.

Should you step back from the blogs/podcasts and pull up a seat around and close to the fire, and listen to the FIRE sharing just in case you can learn something new, different, or add to your perspective?  And, if at all possible, please share your experiences for/with others.  You may just share the perspective that resonates with them.

*** 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.154 GR8 YEARS

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In the midst of my afternoon brain-chilling, cooling, relaxing—not quite meditating time, I realized I’ve hit 8 years in FIRE.  I’m now well beyond any 7-year itch or stretch.  I was thinking, that if I were an “ordinary” retiree at age 65, then I would be into my RMD phase and having to do extra math every January first.  Not there yet!

What was my first thought when I realized I passed the great 8?  It was: life is—and has been—amazing.  So much great stuff, time, experiences, adventures, decisions, and people…with only a handful of bummers.

FREEDOM

I feel like the gr8ness is based on the foundation of FREEDOM of time.  I rarely have a fixed time commitment that I have to deal with.  To be more specific, I seem to despise having appointment times on my calendar.  (Just ask my wife why my schetchle has a “?” at the end of most items).

Age

I’ve gained 8 years of life activities that I would have lost being committed to a full-time (or even part-time) work schedule.  That’s truly priceless.  We had 8 years of activities that were available to us while we were young and in our prime “retirement” health.

The other “good” news is that now at age 51—nearing 52—our end- of- plan is closer—8 years closer.  I originally typed “much closer” but the emphasis of “much” would only apply if the years ahead were few.  I like the simple “closer” because our retirement could still be another 50 years, or 40+ years, or less, you never know.  And on that point, if we don’t know when the end is, then it’s very important to enjoy every day immediately and don’t put off experiences into the “future.”

Money (stress)

We’ve had the pleasure of an amazing investment tailwind most of the first 7.5 years after leaving work.  Lately, we’re having half a year of an interesting market correction of 20+%.  Looking back, our balances are about the same as they were 18 months ago in DEC 2020 ish.  At that time the balances seemed so amazingly high.  So any net-worth stress has not appeared so far—quite the opposite.

Forced SloGo

Along with the world, we’ve had the strangest preview of how our SloGo years could be day to day.  I am defining SloGo as the wanting to go and do things, but not having the ability to do so.  In our case, it was not health or mobility, but of course, lockdowns and risk of serious illness.

Medical Reminder

Right about my 7-year milestone of FIRE I had a stomach/intestine attack (blockage)which was frustrating (painful and frightening) and it clearly (immediately) reminds you of how important health, good days, and wellness are for life enjoyment.

Travel Strangeness

I’ve talked about this ironic realization in FIRE a little in the past, that I barely traveled in the first 5 years of retirement.  I did jump on a trip with my friends to hike the Inca trail and Machu Picchu.  But, there were very few other flying trips.  I think I went to the airport two times by choice in the first five years of FIRE.

I haven’t even been to Europe since FIREing and it’s been 8 years.  My only international trips were to Peru and a Cuba cruise.  It feels like time to see some more of Europe.  I’m only at 28 countries of my 50 states/50 countries goal.

I should share that I am realizing that we should visit some of the harder to travel to/through countries sooner rather than later since were more able to handle the harder travel while we’re still youngish.  I’m thinking of countries like Poland, South America, etc.  We can do some of the easier-to-visit countries when we’re a little older.

OVERALL

Close your eyes (and read this?!) and imagine the best summer vacations during your school years, place those back to back, consider having a nice big allowance to spend and you get the feeling I’ve felt for the Great 8 Years,

*** 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.