T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 54

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #54!

Here are some things I really like and that you might too.

Financial Independence/Retirement Articles

Time millionaires: meet the people pursuing the pleasure of leisure (The Guardian) – “It is often a struggle just to stay afloat. But if you had enough money, would you pursue more of it – or should time now be our greatest aspiration?”

Investing My Way to $500k: A Fifteen Year Journey (Good Life Better) – “Putting money aside today and investing for the long term can actually lead to something.”

Video

For you music fans and especially fans of the rock band Rush, witness the Ohio State Marching band who sell themselves as the best anywhere pay tribute to Rush’s songs. They cover many including Red Barchetta, Spirit of the Radio, Tom Sawyer, and even more obscure ones like 2112. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing start at 9:40 and check out the robotic precision of the players marching in between each other while playing.  It’s incredible.  And many of these songs are 40 years old – these kids weren’t even close to being born when these songs came out which just goes to show the power of great music.  I guarantee no marching bands will be playing tributes to Justin Biebers music 40 years from now (shots fired!!!)

Who’s Inspired Me

Virginia Oliver. 

Virginia Oliver of Maine is 101 years young.  Her occupation?  She works on a lobster boat.  Yeah.  I don’t have much else to say except that you should read the story.  Better yet here’s a great 6 minute video featuring her and her 78 year old son who works the boat with her.  The way she laughs at her own stories cracks me up. 

You might be thinking it’s weird for me to highlight the story of a 101 year old woman still doing hard work on a lobster boat on a blog that has “retire early” in the title.  The point of “retire early” isn’t to stop working, it’s to retire from work you dislike to do work that you like.  After needing 5 stitches from a crab bite recently her doctor asked her why she still does it.  She responded “because I want to”. 

She’s got it figured out.

What I’m Grateful For

That a cycling friend of mine who was recently hit by a car while riding was not killed.

Lyrically Speaking

Put your hands on me my love,
While the world wakes up early and wastes the day
Working for money they don’t need,
to buy things they don’t need.
We’ll sleep in, We’ll do it again.

From “Put Your Hands On Me My Love” by Owen

Owen is the solo project of Mike Kinsella, a legend on the Chicago indie rock scene.  Warning before you start listening – this is 100% straight up “sad white boy” music.  I’ll admit I have a soft spot for that genre, but only when I’m in the right mood.  This is a great song for a rainy Sunday morning when you don’t want to do anything.  Most of the Owen discography fits that mold. 

If you’d like to explore more of Kinsella’s work in other genre’s, I’d start with his band American Football.  American Football released it’s first album in 1999 and it quickly became an underground classic in what what then called the “emo” genre.  They went defunct, but their record stayed so popular that their fans seemingly willed them back to a reunion.  So in 2016 American Football (LP2) was released, and then a third in 2019.  

I hate genre labels, and I absolutely love that first record.  The amazing syncopated drumming, the wispy guitar lines, the well placed horns, and the spooky mood of the record remind me of 1999. 

As for the lyrics above, that sounds like a great morning to me.

Miscellaneous

More Important Than LDL? The Triglyceride/HDL Ratio – “One study shows the Triglycerides over HDL ratio is 5 times more predictive of heart attack risk than LDL”

The ancient Peruvian mystery solved from space – “Puzzling holes in the arid valleys of southern Peru tell us there was once a flourishing, sophisticated society here.”

Paul McCartney Doesn’t Really Want To Stop The Show – “Half a century after the Beatles broke up, he’s still correcting the record—and making new ones.”