Piper

Comments:

• Our retirement plan allows us to self insure LTC and we’ve financially planned for both of us to live until the end of our our 95th year. We tried every possible way to procreate and adopt and it never worked out. Without children, we deeply fear our future in terms of healthcare so we saved like crazy to pay for it. There is a chance my next comment will be thought of as inappropriate, but I will take a chance and hope for the best. I genuinely hope our society and faith communities will move toward a more compassionate acceptance of the right to end one’s own life in a safe, loving, and caring way. This, coming from a lifelong practicing Christian. I’d rather not fight an unbeatable cancer than suffer through it until death. I’d rather not give hundreds of thousands of dollars to careless nursing homes as I fall into the coma of Alzheimer’s. If I’m diagnosed with ALS, then I’m going to want “out” immediately. It would all save so much pain and suffering. But even better yet, it would allow me to donate so much more to our principle charities since the self-funded LTC money would go unused. My wife accepts my feelings on this and respects my wishes. She does not feel precisely the same way, and I respect her wishes equally. We are madly in love and profoundly care for each other’s desire to exit when the time is right for each of us. I truly hope no one is offended by my post here.

  Post: Long Odds

  Link to comment from May 4, 2024

• Thank you for the reply. Yes, it is time for a change. But that is the problem. The answer to the last two of your questions is (and I’m not trying to be snarkastic) is… nothing. I think my wife and I have been so focused on work that we forgot how to enjoy life. Making those decades of hard work kind of worthless.

  Post: If I Were a Rich Man

  Link to comment from February 20, 2024

• I found FI Calc better and more user friendly than FireCalc. Also use Fido’s planner along with Flexible Retirement Planner.

  Post: Faulty Assumptions

  Link to comment from February 19, 2024

• I believe I fit the category of “wealthy by my own efforts and hard work”. I built a small business catering to an overlooked customer that is too small for my competitors to care about. I care about them though and they reward me for it. My spouse and I have been savers our whole lives life and we reached the magic number in 2019 at age 49 but didn’t retire. Our entertainment, vacation, and dining expenses last year were one half of one percent. It’s worthless to be wealthy if you can’t spend it. And that makes “wealthy” rather pointless except that we make substantial donations to several organizations each year. So what, we’re wealthy. Yet, because of the wealth, we spend every day feeling like we’re not living our best life. “If I were a rich man, all day long I’d wish there was a more meaningful way to live.” It’s all so pointless.

  Post: If I Were a Rich Man

  Link to comment from February 19, 2024

• Too many negative people in your life can be a drag, but I wouldn't subscribe to any thought of completely avoiding those personality types (not that you have suggested it). The "all you can do is wish them well" approach doesn't work for me. These negative-Nelly folks often have a lifetime of experiences which have contributed to their "take" on life, and I've found that helpful in navigating a world of sometimes-dishonest people. With an understanding of the clouds that follow them, I'm able to have more gratitude for my own life. More so, some of my most negative friends are ones that enjoy my slightly more positive attitude. Some of them have gone through miserable depressions and I was happy/honored to help lift them up... not running away from them. One of my friends seems to need my positivity... often calling me explicitly to get my view on something with which he is struggling in a dark place. Maybe negativity is a disease, much like depression or addiction. We all need each other's help and it seems that dodging negative people entirely (again, not that you have suggested that) doesn't exactly warm my heart. I want to say that old "if you're not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem", but that could be a bit abrasive. So I'll just say... Be the support for a negative person. Find a happy and healthy middle ground!

  Post: Stay Positive

  Link to comment from January 23, 2024

• “overburdened with wealth” Now that is a cross I’d want to carry.

  Post: Sea Change?

  Link to comment from October 29, 2023

• I believe he is working on it.

  Post: Check Before Leaving

  Link to comment from October 15, 2023

• Here is something that was emailed to me by a friend this morning. Just had to post it here in light of the coincidence. A sparrow complained to Mother Nature, “You gave beautiful colors to the peacock and a lovely song to the wren, but I am plain and unnoticed. Why was I made to suffer?” “You were not made to suffer,” stated Mother Nature. “You suffer because you make the same foolish mistake as human beings. You compare yourself with others. Be yourself, for in that there is no comparison and no pain.

  Post: Absolutely Fine

  Link to comment from September 23, 2023

• About the ghosting thing, I see it even with companies I’ve been doing business with for 20 years. I’m trying to sell their products (for which I’ve had two decades of success) yet they practically refuse to reply to any message other than one where I am begging them for a response. My wife often has to remind me that I can’t expect others to treat me as well as I would treat them. And that has been the secret to our little business having success.

  Post: What We Lose

  Link to comment from August 26, 2023

• They are indeed only nickels and dimes, but it’s death by a thousand cuts. And paying it only sends a message that what they are doing is ok.

  Post: The Frugal Flaneur

  Link to comment from July 28, 2023