Good morning! I hope your day is off to a nice start.
Ask anybody what’s the first thing they’d do if they hit the lottery, and there are a few standard responses you can count on. Okay, after they pick themselves up off the floor. Let’s be real, some of these jackpots are pretty huge, and to suddenly realize you’ve just become rich beyond your wildest dreams would bring most of us to our knees.
The next thing they say is something to the effect of, “I’d walk into work tomorrow in my pajamas with an open bottle of bourbon and tell ‘em to put this job where the sun doesn’t shine!” Okay, a little colorful, but you get it. I’ve often said I’ll have to work until noon the day of my funeral, but it would be nice to think I have options, you know?
No, I didn’t hit the lottery. I’m told you have to actually buy a ticket and, while that would make for an awesome retirement, it’s just not my style. Maybe because I’m not getting any younger and, with lottery games twice a week, I’m running out of time.
I believe most of us dream of a day when we can walk into work, look around, and say, “I just don’t feel like doing this anymore.” Hopefully that coincides with the day we no longer need the income, but when you’ve worked your whole life, that’s a hard concept to fathom. It’s even harder to think of the changes I’ll have to make when that day comes.
I’ve never been able to imagine not needing any additional money. But that’s mostly because we had to scrape by for so many years and, now that we’re finally living the life we’ve worked so hard to achieve, I’m not ready to give that up.
And, make no mistake, we don’t live a life of unbridled luxury. We have a small one-bedroom home in a tropical RV resort. We cook most of our own meals, watch reruns of Big Bang Theory, and pay bills every payday. But we live among people our own age who, like us, refuse to sit in the house and grow old. Besides, there are no kids to yell at for stepping on our lawn.
In fact, we don’t even have a lawn. We have a three-foot gravel border around our house and yard work consists of spraying for weeds. The hardest thing I do outside is walking to the pool, and that’s only if the golf cart needs charging. We spend time with friends, have drinks on the deck and bribe our neighbors’ dogs with treats, and dance every chance we get. Life is good.
Sound like a tough life? I know. We worked hard to get here and made some sacrifices along the way. And you know what? I love it! I can’t imagine spending my days any other way, other than not having to get up at 5 AM every morning to sit at my desk for eight hours at a time, working to make somebody else rich. That part still sucks.
At some point this year, I plan to join the ranks of the happily retired. When you get this old, you begin to realize there’s more to life than work. Not to mention the fact that if I keep working much longer, I’ll be too old, too crippled, and too tired to enjoy what I’ve worked for.
And I have no visions of lounging around the pool or spending every morning on the golf course. My retirement will, by necessity, involve extra income, and Social Security declined my request for an increase. They’re funny like that. So, if it’s to be, it’s up to me. Seems I read that somewhere.
That means now is the time. I’ve often said you need to dig the well before you get thirsty. Yes, I read that, too. What it means is, get moving. Build a plan, and put that plan into motion before the bills come due. Thankfully, I’ve had side jobs most of my adult life, including writing, pizza delivery, and stand-up comedy. Work is part of who I am. I just want to do it on my own terms.
Are you in the same boat? Maybe you’re nowhere near retirement, but you have this incredible sense of doom knowing a freight train is headed your way, and you can’t just sidestep it. We’ve all been there. Rita Davenport once said if money can fix a problem, it’s not a problem. Fix it! And there are more ways to do that than you’d ever imagine.
We’ll talk more about this in the coming weeks, but I wanted to plant the seed. We live in very uncertain times, and everything we’ve known about life to this point could change in an instant. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. No matter what, we will always be the primary factor in our own success.
That’s all for now. I’m planning to write these posts more regularly and shorten them up while I’m at it. Stop laughing! But thanks for the time you spend with me, because it really does mean a lot. Drop me a line when you have time. Meanwhile, have an awesome day!
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Dave Glardon 