NYT: Boomers are reaching the end of their "to-do" list. (state, gift)
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Many years ago I saw an article about the Cascades... one of the people the author spoke to was a man who'd lived in a cabin in those mountains for 20+ years... as they were looking out the window admiring the scenery, the author said, "I suppose you're used to this beauty by now." But the man replied, "no, I'm not used to it yet."
That was someone who'd found his perfect location!
Wow,you have to really love a place for twenty years of living there. Some of us would love to have gone to beautiful places instead of what we did pick. I still appreciate what I came here for, but maybe its not quiet enough now. Its great for keeping the bills paid and big enough, not too big, almost 'tiny'. But to get out somewhere else would be a dream. I need to add some real fun into my life. I need to go spend time with place and people and way of seeing the world is mine.
There's a convention in August I think in OKC, a star trek and general fandom one which I've been to once and it was a blast, and would be perfect. Just a few problems along the way like how to get there.... and so on. It gets frustrating when there's always little roadblocks.
Contrary to some here, I thought the article was a good read. I liked the bit about how the notion of “pursuit of happiness” is embedded in western culture but we are overly good at pursuing / achieving and less so at quiet happiness.
My parents were at opposite extremes in retirement. Dad WW2 vet, 35 yrs military, been there done that; spent his last 15 years watching clouds and ocean view out their lounge room window. Mum was on multiple charity boards into her 90s and had no idea how to relax or slow down. Still never looks out the window at 98. Not sure whether there was a right or wrong, but I would say Mum did not retire.
If I have quiet week of just pottering around the house, I still get a sense that it was wasted and I should do something next week. Then I counsel myself saying I can do nought for a month if I want with only constraint being to pull my weight on the housework to keep my wife onside.
Aren’t you embarrassed to write such a ridiculous statement? Sounds like someone made bad life choices that caused bitterness.
We all hear that kind of drivel though.
I have an SS account. I had many co-workers who do not have SS accounts, but I have one, and I pay into my SS account. I started paying into my SS account when I was 15. One day I hope to live long enough to begin drawing from my SS account.
The math formula for how SS works has been adjusted a few times, to keep it flowing. But I did not do the adjustments. I paid into the system, just as most of the other posters in this thread have done.
To argue that as I pay into SS, I am somehow stealing from someone else's SS does not hold water.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Having an unfilled to-do list is what keeps people going. I'm still working at 66, probably for another 3-4 years because I enjoy my job and the income helps whittle down the list. For example, we bought a new truck and travel trailer, so can check that one off, and use it some until we retire and use it more. Right now my list is almost unmanageable, but it's partly due to everything taking a little longer now, and being sore the next day after a strenuous project. After retiring I'll have a lot more time, obviously, but for now it's evenings, weekends, and the 6 weeks or so of vacation time that I get. I look at a to-do list as including various projects around the home, as opposed to a bucket list, though there is some overlap. For example, having grandkids is crossed off the bucket list, spending time with them is on the to-do list.
That article is ridiculous.
There's always something more to do. At 65, I haven't retired yet and even when I do, I won't be physically able to do a lot of the things on my bucket list. I should have done more when I was young, broke, but able bodied.
BUT I still want to knock a few off the list.
Some of our young folks just can't wait to get their hands on their inheritance.
Meanwhile, they make themselves feel better by ragging on boomers.
I'm glad those kids are in the minority. Most of the ones I know are pretty wonderful.
I'm late sixties and husband is early seventies. We're looking at land to build our dream house. The bucket is deep, the list is long.
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