Motivation to retire early

Favorite quotations, etc.
SustainableHappiness
Posts: 266
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2016 6:39 pm

Re: Motivation to retire early

Post by SustainableHappiness »

BRUTE wrote: just because a focus on material/physical things doesn't guarantee sustainable happiness doesn't mean that mental things will. some basic mental development is probably necessary to be happy, just as some physical things are (water, shelter, food). brute believes that it's pretty much the exact same phenomenon, or distribution, as with material things.
*guarantee* is the tough word there. Maybe I am not looking for a guarantee, but a high probability of success? To re-use your FI is a platform from which you can either continue moving towards more fulfillment and happiness, or you can not, physical things you mentioned are a platform (or maybe it's just the base of Maslows pyramid?), and mental things are necessary to move into higher levels of fulfillment and happiness. Also, if we assume that everyone reading this forum has access to the physical things you mentioned, shouldn't we focus on what takes us beyond that platform, i.e. the mental things?
BRUTE wrote: what brute was getting at before, clearly, humans cannot take their mental/spiritual development with them, either. so brute would say that the statement "the only things helpful at time of death are mental/spiritual" is incorrect. for example, money and stuff can prevent death.
I agree with this wholeheartedly.
BRUTE wrote: brute would accept that if a human is afraid of death, or unhappy about impending death, certain aspects of mental/spiritual development could help, for example acceptance. but so could certain material things, like morphine.
Morphine has a time and place at the end of life (or at certain points throughout life), but living high on morphine does not sound like a quick trip to sustainable happiness, maybe numbed ignorance?
BRUTE wrote: stoicism is just pop-cynicism for the mainstream. brute is not impressed.
Just because people talk about it more openly and more often does not mean it isn't useful. Sex in advertising has gone mainstream, but has it dropped in importance to the average human?

BRUTE
Posts: 3797
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2015 5:20 pm

Re: Motivation to retire early

Post by BRUTE »

brute isn't concerned with Stoicism being popular in principle, but that it waters down the ideas of Cynicism, combining them with feel-good messages.

Did
Posts: 693
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:50 am

Re: Motivation to retire early

Post by Did »

I'm not sure if this has been discussed.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/millionair ... ash/nkLxS/

Did
Posts: 693
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:50 am

Re: Motivation to retire early

Post by Did »

"I asked Mr. Danko about Mr. Stanley’s spending habits, given that he makes passing reference in the book to owning an Acura loaded with options. Mr. Danko couldn’t answer; he and Mr. Stanley had not spoken for about 15 years at the time of his death on Saturday. Was there a rift over money, I wondered? Credit? Mr. Danko said he honestly did not know. “I have no animosity towards Tom Stanley,” he said. “I wish the very best for his family, and they continue to be in my prayers.”

I tried to reach them, but they did not return my calls, and I found out later that they were busy with the funeral. But I was curious that Mr. Stanley died behind the wheel of a 2013 Corvette, rammed by another driver who might soon face charges in the accident. Mr. Stanley too, it turns out, couldn’t help but have a taste for the finer things in life.

So does that make him a hypocrite? Or just a human being? All the best research tells us that we get much more joy out of doing things than having things, and a weekend drive in a car that goes really fast probably falls into both categories. But he earned that drive — and that car — by putting untold numbers of readers in a position where they’d be lucky enough to have that same choice themselves."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/07/your- ... .html?_r=0

cmonkey
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:56 am

Re: Motivation to retire early

Post by cmonkey »

We had our own little 'motivation to retire' moment last night. As we ended our celebration of finally turning the corner on our renovation project, leaving the restaurant we were greeted by a firetruck and some police whizzing by. We looked over by our car and there was an ambulance parked 15 feet behind it. A man had collapsed and died just a few feet behind our vehicle. Just 5 minutes prior to our getting done with our celebration.

As we are entering a new exciting phase of our life, another was exiting his. DW started crying as the man's friend was crying and yelling at his friend to wake up. It was really really sad. I have a feeling it was one of those moments that really changes you, but I haven't quite realized it yet.

Almost as if Death himself was standing over the man, looked me straight in the eye, tapped on his watch and vanished.

denise
Posts: 48
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 11:53 pm
Location: Georgia
Contact:

Re: Motivation to retire early

Post by denise »

My motivation to retire early is that I hate being in the workforce. I'm trying to alleviate that by negotiating with my employer to work less days, and use flex time, but they don't want to. I want to enjoy more days to myself, while I'm still young. I'll retire in either 6 or 11 years; when I'm around 38-43 years old. Everyone in my family lives to be pretty old, but I'm not taking any chances. I want to make the most of what I can, as soon as I can.

Post Reply