Look around at the people you see in train stations or airports. Most are either of 2 kinds: the ones with tickets and the ones without. Some are going somewhere and others are going nowhere. People without tickets just seem sad and lost.
I think the key to anything is having plans. Plans are like tickets to exciting attractions: the big game, or a great new show on Broadway. Don’t let retirement just sneak up on you. Assuming you’ll just retire someday and somehow be happy, could be asking for trouble.
Have something you want to do and work your way towards it. Anything you think is cool. Write a book. Grow a garden. Travel around the world. Life is an attraction. Plans are the tickets.
Seriously, dude?
On a recent Skype call a friend caught me by surprise: “Only rich people like you and Cookie can afford to retire in Europe.” Rich people? It never occurred to me that anyone assumed us to be well-heeled hoonyaks blissfully squandering our billions abroad.
O, would that it were true!!!! Life could be a dream, sh-boom. Allow me to painfully point out Cookie and I retired on a very fixed income of social security and a teacher’s pension. Did I say “very fixed?”
Actually many desirable places around the world feature much lower costs of living. In Portugal our income goes 35-40% further than in southern California. They’re so happy we spend it here, we get 10 years tax free.
You really don’t need a car here. Our spending on trains, planes and uber is a small fraction of the auto-related costs we were stuck with in California. Medical and prescription costs are substantially lower too! It all means much more freely diposable income and a noticeably higher standard of living. If you’re rich, so much the better. I wouldn’t know personally, but life can still be a dream, sh-boom.
All the very best!
– – Mike + Cookie