Are you over 50? Need advice.

[Tellie]

Hmmm "As I pull on my long white beard" Every man is different. He has to find out what suits him best. One piece of advice I was given long time ago and I still fall back on every now and then, write your own obituary.

[sarafina]

Everybody's Free To Wear SUNSCREEN! (ORIGINAL) + English Subtitles - YouTube

[Greenhand]

Originally Posted by Tellie

Hmmm "As I pull on my long white beard" Every man is different. He has to find out what suits him best. One piece of advice I was given long time ago and I still fall back on every now and then, write your own obituary.

This. I do not consider my life to have been on hiatus while getting my PhD- I learned many things, met wonderful people, pretty much what I want out of my life in general.

[David M]

Probably most 32 year olds take their health for granted. I am 52 and no longer take my health for granted now that I have a somewhat lower natural energy level and see others near my age getting sick, mostly related to obesity and lack of exercise. There are not many obese people in their 60's, they die sooner than thin people. So over the last two years I have lost 50 pounds, eat very healthy and do a cardio workout almost every day. It is probably a lot easier to get into these habits at 32 than it was for me to start these habits at age 50.

The other big thing is that I wished I had done was spent less and invested more of my money. It's much better to feel poorer when you are young and to be wealthier at retirement, than the opposite. Plan for your retirement when you are young. You will be much better off when you do retire and you might even be able to retire at an earlier than typical age. At the very least start a Roth IRA or take advantage of a 401K and have a portion of you paycheck automatically deducted. This way your retirement savings is put on autopilot and you don't have to remember or force yourself to save.

The third thing I wish I had in my thirties was the wisdom to never marry my first wife, who I am now divorced from. I wish that in my thirties I had the knowledge to know an excellent relationship from a so-so or a poor relationship. Find a mate who is truly your match. The most important thing becomes the pleasure you find in communicating with each other. The sex becomes secondary to non-existent as you get older, definitely less important to the relationship. Your mate for life has to be your best friend, the person who you prefer to spend all your time with. Fortunately, I found mine and am married to her.

The last thing is that I wish I had made more effort to stay in contact with old friends. It is a lot easier to stay in contact with old friends than it is to make new friends.

[roverhi]

I was 31 when we bought Westsail 32 kit. Lived in a VW bus while building the boat. I worked full time on boat, wife taught, every nickel went into boat. Launched a year after start, left for SoPac a year later. Cruised for18 months then returned to reality. Kids, work, etc have taken up most of the rest of our lives but the best times were those spent on the boat. Now, wife has no interest in cruising so it's my boat. Have done some long solo passages but cruising would be way more enjoyable with my wife along.

Go now on whatever you can afford to go on. Plenty of time later to be responsible.

[Mexdon]

Happy Birthday!

Listen to yourself not others.....they are not you.

[captain58sailin]

Happy Birthday! I would tell my 32 Y.O. self, learn how to make your money work for you, take good care of your health, learn the difference between needs and wants. Don't spend so much money on booze! Follow you heart, do what you love, live every day like it is the last.

[Greenhand]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

Happy Birthday! I would tell my 32 Y.O. self, learn how to make your money work for you, take good care of your health, learn the difference between needs and wants. Don't spend so much money on booze! Follow you heart, do what you love, live every day like it is the last.

If I were living everyday as if it were my last, I would probably eat more ice cream than is considered healthy.

[Travelnik]

Happy Birthday!

If I could go back and tell myself what to do, firstly, I would tell me, "Stay out of debt! Don't try to start that manufacturing company! You'll end up bankrupt in 3 years!"

Then I would tell myself, "Sell everything you own, buy a cheap RV and see the country. Live in it, and invest the rest in a company called Microsoft. Yeah, I know it's a sucky company, but they're about to come out with a new OS in 95 that will blow the computer world away! Then take all your dividends and buy Apple stock as they get close to bankruptcy, and prepare to get rich!"

"Once you're rich, you can buy the boat of your dreams instead of trying to build one like you're trying to do right now!"

The real question is, would I have listened to myself?


The only advice I can give is to just live your life and don't worry about the future! No one can tell you what is going to happen

[skipmac]

Mainly pay more attention to health. Wear sunscreen (thank you Safafina), wear ear plugs at rock concerts (between the Stones and the Who alone I bet I lost 4-5 kHz of high frequencies), brush and floss more often.

Gee, I'm starting to sound like my mother.

[atoll]

leave the trailer park girls in the trailer park..........marry money,preferably a billionaires daughter............

[chris_gee]

I am not sure that anyone can tell you much that one could absorb at 32, although David has a good shot.
Sorry 32 is young even if the proportion of life is getting up there.
The rest at least in my experience may well turn out to be unimaginable, perhaps fortunately. You don't know how things will quite pan out, but I guess with hindsight, one can see the process. I think at that stage being able to say one retained integrity or was true to oneself is important.
I think at any age it is important to savour and live that age as special and unlikely to be repeated. The dreams and goals which seem important may turn out differently. What now seems important for me at that time, were special times with friends, and children, particularly family holidays on a small trailer sailor, and racing, all non-recoverable.

[virginia boy]

I'd say, dude, in your lifetime you may very well see humans achieve previously undreamt of lifespans! Technological advances are increasing at an exponential rate and you are young enough that by the time you're 70, mankind will have eliminated the major diseases. We will have the ability to swap our diseased organs for fresh ones grown from our own skin cells. Kurzweil believes that a child born in 2035 (?) might live hundreds of years! Ray Kurzweil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The advice your going to get from this forum is based on lifespans that are much shorter than yours has the potential to be. Some of us can expect to collect retirement income for more years than we worked. It's crazy!

I don't think I'll live to see much more than the very beginnings of it, but we surely are on the cusp of a mind blowing era! Medical and technological advances will accrue at an ever increasing rate until in thirty or forty years from now people will plan retirements at age 100years or more!

So my advice is to take care of your health NOW because you will need to live long enough to take advantage of the technologies that will keep you alive until the next technological advance that will keep you alive until the next one.

I agree with the person who placed family first, although I'd place it second behind health. Nothing in life is of much value without people with which to share it.

[foggysail]

Assuming you have your educational goals completed, if not complete them.........college or trade school, don't smoke, consider giving up all red meat, limit drinking to almost zero, stay busy and if you're chasing the neighbor's wife, don't leave your pants there by mistake, if caught....deny, deny deny........

[Tingum]

When we first started sailing we were younger than most other cruisers we met. Almost 100% of them said that they wished they had started sooner!!! Life is too short to worry about accumulating a bunch of meaningless material things that you have to worry about. Find a good boat and take off. The world is changing too quickly. Many of the places we have enjoyed are no longer safe to visit! Do it now, you can worry later!