21–30 of 308 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those numbers are pretty optimistic for expenses if you live somewhere expensive, ever plan to get into a long term relationship and/or have kids, or ever plan to make a down payment on a house. I think your tax calculation is way low too, but haven't done the math.
Who needs to spend more than $5000 per month, not including mortgage?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those numbers are pretty optimistic for expenses if you live somewhere expensive, ever plan to get into a long term relationship and/or have kids, or ever plan to make a down payment on a house. I think your tax calculation is way low too, but haven't done the math.
Who needs to spend more than $5000 per month, not including mortgage?
He's always been an interesting chap. I wish him well. > Most important, do not retire in the expectation that it will be easy to find rewarding non-profit volunteer work. Thankfully, this has not been an issue with me. I definitely don't have the massive nest egg that another commenter mentioned, but I've got enough to avoid starving, and I am happier than I ever thought I'd be.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those numbers are pretty optimistic for expenses if you live somewhere expensive, ever plan to get into a long term relationship and/or have kids, or ever plan to make a down payment on a house. I think your tax calculation is way low too, but haven't done the math.
Who needs to spend more than $5000 per month, not including mortgage?
He's always been an interesting chap. I wish him well. > Most important, do not retire in the expectation that it will be easy to find rewarding non-profit volunteer work. Thankfully, this has not been an issue with me. I definitely don't have the massive nest egg that another commenter mentioned, but I've got enough to avoid starving, and I am happier than I ever thought I'd be.
That's how I'd recommend viewing non-profit work in advance of retirement. Is there a non-profit you're spending effort on now? Spend more effort there. If not, it's probably a good idea to examine your values and find some organizations that advance them and start helping out.
Before you can even begin to approach questions like this, you have to get a lay of the land at least... read an article on philosophy and religion in the encyclopedia.
These aren't new questions. They've been dissected and applied to the furthest reaches of our understanding. It's all written down and at our fingertips 24/7.
They underlie the primary question in the article. Retirement is irrelevant. In a very roundabout way it seems like that is what Mr Greenspun is trying to say, but it kind of comes across as (the illustrious Gordon Lightfoot put it) a "rich man's spiritual".
> In olden times, the average person didn't expect to be happy.
How can this even be proposed? Maybe I just read way too into this. Is it a joke?
edit: I don't like leaving such negative comments. I envy Mr Greenspun. I'm not 37 yet but I'm not too far off, either. If I could retire at that age and spend the rest of my life exploring philosophy and leisure... well I could hardly think of a finer place to end up in one's life. Starting to ask the questions at all is how to start. Kudos.
I couldn't understand how he continues to work for harvard and still call himself retired.
But there's still some meaning in "not being stuck at work" and being financially capable of choosing what you do with your time. We don't have a single word for this, but we have some phrases, like "financially independent." Once you've reached this point, you might choose to do something that people will pay you for, or you might not. Either way, you're not obligated or chained to employment any more.
Using the term "retired" for that status is not a huge stretch.
It helps that I love to write software; I'd just continue writing software in retirement. I tried to retire once and I ended up writing software anyway, so might as well as get health insurance coverage.