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Continue reading →: Too Young for Bingo, Too old for Playdates – Finding my TribeRetirement requires more than just money; it requires a diversified social portfolio. I’m tackling the ‘Goldilocks’ problem of finding deep friendships, moving from accumulation mode to utilization mode, and ensuring my wife isn’t my only emotional asset
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Continue reading →: The “Plan B” Fantasy: A Relative of F.I.R.E.A long time ago, in a cubicle not that far, far away… we all harbored secret work fantasies. F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence, Retire Early) is one of these fantasies: the daydream of having enough money to retire early. But another work fantasy for me took the top escapism spot throughout my…
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Continue reading →: The Stress Vacuum: Why Retirement Won’t End AnxietyDo humans need a certain level of stress? Do we look for it? Do we create it? Perhaps it’s an evolutionary trait that keeps us from becoming complacent, ensuring we don’t get surprised by something bigger and hungrier. Stress keeps us aware. Without it, would we survive? I woke up…
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Continue reading →: If Work Was a Color, It Would Be BeigeSome days are just blah. If they were a color, they would be beige. My current routine is simple: get up, walk the dog, go to work—where I mostly just watch the news and finance pages—go home, eat a half-hearted meal, walk the dog, and veg on the couch. Then…
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Continue reading →: The Increased Risk of Divorce due to F.I.R.E.This is a scary topic for anyone close to retirement. The best-laid plans for retirement can go up in smoke if divorce becomes a reality. Why am I talking about divorce? It’s happened to a couple of friends close to retirement in the last few weeks, and it’s tough to…
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Continue reading →: 🎠The Mental Health Merry-Go-Round: The Inertia of the Dark SideThere is one cycle in my life that I haven’t been good at breaking. When I get down, or as I call it, the “dark side,” I stay down for a while. Eventually, I get back to my baseline or even higher, usually after a week or so. Then the…
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Continue reading →: T-8 Countdown to Retirement: Are All Systems Go?In the dramatic countdowns of ’60s and ’70s space missions, mission control meticulously checked every system before launch. It was to make sure they every critical system was working properly. As I approach my own countdown ‘T-8’ mark to retirement, it’s time for a similar, honest systems check: Am I…
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Continue reading →: Keeping Up with the Palpatines: Money really is PersonalKeeping up with the Joneses—or in my case, the Palpatines—is a well known path that leads away from FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). It definitely leads away from early retirement. We all choose how we spend our money. Some people splurge in life; as money comes in, it goes right…
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Continue reading →: Trading the Office Hum for the Joy of ‘Done’The moment the power tools started, the Empire’s ( my company’s) hold on my mind was broken, if only for a few days. A recent productive Thanksgiving long weekend at the cottage was a perfect point of comparison to a good week of work (Thanksgiving in Canada is early Oct).…
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Continue reading →: Do or Do Not: The Power of BeliefImposter syndrome. Self Confidence issues. Fear of Change. Self Destructive Behaviors. We all suffer with our self beliefs. We have doubts about who we are and what we can do. It is second nature for everyone. These doubting beliefs and how strong they are shape your life. A favorite quote…
Welcome to my corner of the Empire. Here you find my struggle to give up the Dark Side and finally Retire from force choking coworkers. Got to say I will miss that some day
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