I’d want to go back 50 years. I’d tell myself: “Think very very carefully about the choices you make. Write down what you want when you’re my current age. (Hint: You didn’t get it because of those choices.) And, remember that in the future, the “Shouldas, wouldas, and couldas” will really annoy the ever loving out of you. Looking back you’ll say SWC!”
Success for the current generation IMHO is: (1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt; (2) a life long interest in learning — education — a degree — they can’t take it away from you; (3) a white collar job in order to save big bucks; (4) a blue collar skill for hard times — never saw a poor plumber; (5) one or more internet based businesses — your store is always open; (6) a free time hobby that generates income; and (7) a large will-maintained network of people who can “help” you.
Lately I been worried (or should say, concerned) about my old age. Not necessary old, but the concern rages from mid-end 40’s to very old years (more fear on the very old age, after 60, and so the title). You can call it mid life crisis or whatever, but there are some concerns
1. Would I be able to keep my self fit and up date in my career around 45+
2. What would be like to keep working like this around that 45+ age, would I be having the needed energy.
3. Would I be able to provide the needed education to my kids, with the raising cost of education (not to mention the health care)
Along with this I happen to watch a debate session in TV, whose topic crossed lines with my old age fears
One that hit me was
When you get old, you won’t have people around to sit and talk/listen to you. Its the loneliness that kills a person more than anything else. It was pathetic to hear a person say he lost most in his life when his wife passed away. He quoted – When your mom pass away (in your young age), you loose the good food. When you loose your dad(in your young age), you loose your education. When you loose your wife, you loose everything.
I think that’s very true. The show also had a psychiatrist, who went over the current trend and advised that, people are so busy doing things that they need to accomplish for their family for their work etc and get so busy that they don’t take the time to think about them self. He advises we all need to take a back seat once in a while and think what we like most, what we are going to do around that age. How we plan to entertain our self and keep our self engaged during that old age. He was very specific (though not explicitly mentioned) in making sure it was through our self effort, not involving others (you cannot expect that there will be others to help you entertain or spend time, at that stage). So something like reading books, watching a game and knowing more details about the game. Be whatever it is, create a passion around that and try to get happiness out of it. All these will only happen, if we start thinking what we like most and have a plan for it (slow and steady), even while we are young. The logic of, I will have all these books read when I retire won’t work. You may not need to read the entire collections of books while young, but habit of reading books comes only if you were having that early in the lifestyle. So have a plan, take some personal time in your early stage of life, as a regular routine, to adopt to that plan and then you take it full time when you retire. In each of your moves adopt where you can be independent.
I am very grateful for the values I have learnt/obtained from my father. Happy Father’s day.
See Obama’s quote below
Father’s Day 2007: "Let’s admit to ourselves that there are a lot of men out there that need to stop acting like boys; who need to realize that responsibility does not end at conception; who need to know that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise a child."
Father’s Day 2008: "Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make you a father. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father."
Father’s Day 2009: "We need to step out of our own heads and tune in. We need to turn off the television and start talking with our kids, and listening to them, and understanding what’s going on in their lives."
