T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 108
Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #108!
Here are some things I really like and that you might too.
Financial Independence/Work Life/Retirement Articles
The End Of Retirement (The Walrus) – “Want to keep your house? Support your kids? Stay alive? Never stop working.” Dave’s comment – This article is very Canada-centric since the Walrus is a Canadian site but I found it intriguing and has many points that apply to everyone. I also think many of the assumptions made by the author are flawed, but I think it’s a very worthwhile read for a FIRE audience, and there’s an audio option.
Chapters (Happily Disengaged) – “I see jail as sort of a ‘recession’ in my life. It led to a rebuilding with meaning behind it. A bull market of my life followed.”
Video
Please enjoy 10 minutes of a grizzly bear trying to break into a “bear proof” trash can. My favorite parts are when he goes into CPR mode and starts pumping away at it – check out timestamp 2:30 for this!
What I’m Grateful For
That I still have some readers after passing my 6 year blogging anniversary in early November.
Lyrically Speaking
Looking back on yesterday
Never was my favorite thing to do
But that’s okay it’s just as well
It’s seems as though there’s less to hold on to
From “Good Old Days” by Owsley
The story of William Owsley III is one of extreme talent and ultimate tragedy. An insanely talented guitarist and producer, Owsley cut his teeth in the early 1990’s with the band The Semantics, which also featured drummer Zak Starkey. After getting noticed in music circles he was tapped by Amy Grant to be her touring guitarist starting in 1994 and did that job for 16 years. In the meantime he was in high demand for studio guitar work due to his insane skills and also produced records for such notable acts as Vince Gill, The Neville Brothers, Vanessa Williams, and Wynonna.
He also released two solo records, 1999’s self-titled Owsley and 2004’s The Hard Way. The former was nominated for a Grammy Award and is one of my favorite albums of the 1990’s. I cannot recommend Owsley enough, every song is so well crafted and the production is top-notch. The tragic part of his story is that he committed suicide in 2010. Owsley’s death was a huge loss to the music world and to those who loved him.
As for the lyrics above, they resonate with me big time. The more I reflect on my destructive past, the more I get excited about my future as a financially independent person with a blank canvas in front of me.
Miscellaneous
Higher risk of 17 cancers after high BMI in late teens – “Men who are overweight or obese at age 18 have a higher risk of 17 different cancers later in life.”
Why Is It So Difficult to Map the Ocean? – “The most complete maps we have of the ocean floor lag far behind the maps we have of the moon.”
Is Your Curiosity Helping or Hurting Your Work? – “Undirected curiosity has the potential to derail you from your work and keeps you from ending up where you want to go.“
i’m glad you highlighted happily disengaged, one of my favorite writers in the space. i remember visiting a friend in jail a few times and bringing him some magazines. he was certainly grateful. it was “just” a dwi conviction and easily could have been me sitting there in orange.
cheers and happy thanksgiving!
His blog is great. I was surprised to read the he went to jail for one DWI, and you just also mentioned someone who did – in New York state I assume. Maybe it’s a state law thing or how strictly they enforce DWI laws, but in Maryland it was unheard of for anyone to go to jail for DWI (besides maybe the overnight after being caught). Heck, we couldn’t even get MD to suspend their drivers license after two or sometimes even 3 DWI’s, and these cases were often covered in the Baltimore Sun and on local news. I had numerous friends who got DWI’s and none went to jail, most didn’t even lose their license. They just had fines and lots of lawyer and court fees.
Congrats on 6+ years! I enjoy your writing and your accumulation of articles and music recommendations.
Thanks for the Walrus article… We all need purpose to thrive.
I am going with the idea of ramping down the career & work load but still being employed or otherwise ‘working’ (paid or not). A couple years ago I left a higher stress/responsibility corporate job, took a sabbatical, and found a new lower title/stress/responsibility/pay job.
I like to say I’ve had a career – now I have a job.
That’s awesome Wendy, sounds like you made a great move in that ‘career to job’ switch. The Walrus article discussed that very thing – folks who want to go back to just doing what they originally started to do in their field. I call that ‘mission’ versus ‘enabler’ positions and wrote a post about it. When I got into management I started not being the mission anymore, but an enabler. Enablers are necessary of course, but I realized I just don’t want to be one. I always appreciate your readership Wendy!
Congrats on the 6 year blogging mark. That’s a haul– especially producing consistent quality content, I know its not easy. I just passed my 3rd year blogging but my posts are nowhere near consistent anymore, one post a month is a victory for me these days. Appreciate the shout out.
I can’t believe it’s been 6 years and that I made it this far. I’m also posting less, the TGIF Fridays are every other week but my other posts have been less frequent. Chapters of life right? … haha
6 years! Congrats! While the email is different that you see on the post, it’s the same Pete. Wait… was there more than one? I was the “independent” one. 😉
Thanks!
Congratulations on 6 years of blogging. I appreciate your refreshing insights that challenge the default societal expectations around “success” that we’ve been conditioned to accept. (I also thought that ocean mapping article was very cool and shocking). Thank you!
I appreciate that Karen and thanks for your readership!
Congrats on 6 years! I’ll be amazed if my little blog makes it that long.
Really liked Noel’s post; I’m sure a lot of us could relate. That dude can write. Makes me feel like I’m scribbling with crayons (in a good way-it’s cool to see what’s possible writing-wise).
The Walrus article was interesting. I agree with a lot of what the author was saying, but am also thankful for finding this whole FIRE thing when I did. Seems like the issues the author and the people profiled in the article faced could have been greatly minimized by confronting the financial and psychological complexities of retirement much sooner. To be clear, I think it’s totally normal (and understandable) to not think about this stuff until a few years out from standard retirement. Glad I stumbled into this FIRE world years ago-I don’t have everything figured out, but at least I’ve got plenty of time to keep getting better.
As you know I’m more fascinated with the psychological complexities of money and FIRE, and yes, those who don’t at least try to prepare will likely be shocked. Keep getting better is my mantra, we’ll never have it all figured out but I do know I’ll be further down the road to that every year, that’s all I can do. Thanks for the great comment!
Thanks for sharing the “End of Retirement” article. The mention of the guy getting pushed out of Dow Chemical hit a personal chord as the same happened to me, but at a younger age in the U.S. Luckily, we were debt-free and had stashed a lot of money in our 401k during the 26.8 years of working, so though it was a heavy emotional burden, it was not a financial burden. The article is spot-on that we can’t understand future risk, but we were insanely lucky we live below our means and saved well. Financial independence really does equal freedom.
It does indeed Vince, and kudos to you for planning and saving. Now enjoy the benefits!