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Old 13-11-2012, 12:50   #46
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

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I turn 32 today. Mixed feelings about it.

If you could, what would you tell your 32 year old self today that you might not have known then.

that regardless of what you think there isn't as much time remaining to save up a nest egg as you think and you should have started at least 10 years ago!
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Old 13-11-2012, 12:52   #47
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

"Stop snow skiing. Broken legs interrupt sailing."
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Old 13-11-2012, 14:06   #48
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

I'm in the process of scanning all of my old photos. Haven't got to when I was 32 (1980) yet but it seems I had a real ball right up till then and a bit beyond (maybe 37), but for the next 10 years (from memory) the wheels fell off.

First caution would be that women don't change. If your significant other has shown "aberrations" put your money in a trust (parents as trustees?) or otherwise out of their reach if you can.

Second this is a very good time to start looking after your health. Don't smoke anything. If you haven't already done so learn to clean your teeth really well. Be aware that socially acceptable levels of alcohol consumption can cause social, career and financial problems. Reduce your sugar intake as far as possible (and be aware that low fat may mean high sugar - maybe more lethal!). Get into a regular exercise regime that you will be able to do for the rest of your life. If you can then get a sleep study done. Make careful observations of your parents and grandparents health problems.

Third be aware that the financial world exists to part you from your money, particularly the share market. Key investments that you should have are education, your own business (if applicable) and carefully chosen and well researched real estate. Keep an eye on your parents and other relatives wills, see if you can become an executor and make sure there is a clause that allows you to buy any asset at valuation.

Fourth be aware that "all the good women have been taken" by the time you get to 32. There may be a few stragglers but they will be few and far between. If you like brunettes then Asia is your best choice, followed by South America. Blondes may be found in central Europe and the former Socialist Republics but many report poor experiences. See point one.

Fifth, pets are great but they are very expensive, greatly restrict your life style and are no substitute for real human companionship. Plan not to replace companion animals as they "retire".

And finally don't buy (or build) any boat that won't go on a trailer until you're actually ready to go cruising. All adventures (and holidays) should be cheap, healthy and social.
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Old 13-11-2012, 14:48   #49
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

H.D. Thoreau on advice:

"When we consider what, to use the words of the catechism, is the chief end of man, and what are the true necessaries and means of life, it appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other. Yet they honestly think there is no choice left. But alert and healthy natures remember that the sun rose clear. It is never too late to give up our prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof. What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true today may turn out to be falsehood tomorrow, mere smoke of opinion, which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields. What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new. Old people did not know enough once, perchance, to fetch fresh fuel to keep the fire a-going; new people put a little dry wood under a pot, and are whirled round the globe with the speed of birds, in a way to kill old people, as the phrase is. Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost. One may almost doubt if the wisest man has learned anything of absolute value by living. Practically, the old have no very important advice to give the young, their own experience has been so partial, and their lives have been such miserable failures, for private reasons, as they must believe; and it may be that they have some faith left which belies that experience, and they are only less young than they were. I have lived some thirty years on this planet, and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors. They have told me nothing, and probably cannot tell me anything to the purpose. Here is life, an experiment to a great extent untried by me; but it does not avail me that they have tried it. If I have any experience which I think valuable, I am sure to reflect that this my Mentors said nothing about."
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Old 13-11-2012, 15:53   #50
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

Get laid more often.
Don't spend your entire life working.
Spend more time with your spouse (see rule 1 above).
For God's sakes, don't miss your children growing up.
Spend more time with your parents while they're still healthy.
Be really serious about friendship.
Don't waste a single day -- not one of them will ever come back to you. Don't put off doing whatever you think your life is really about.
Don't worry so much.
Did I mention -- get laid more often?

It's not actually rocket science, but the 32 year old brain is still pretty feeble (the 50 year old brain, too).
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Old 13-11-2012, 16:03   #51
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

I will give a solid AMEN to Dockhead's comments and add that you should grow old gracefully, but you need not grow up!

Work when you work, and play just as hard when you aren't... The one thing that is biting me on the tail is that orthopedic surgery to correct joint damage as well as significant joint injury seem to invariably result in arthritis.

But don't let that stop you from having fun, by the time you are 57, they will have that cured, or better replacement joints.

Bill
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Old 13-11-2012, 17:10   #52
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

If you can afford it and do not have other priorities, get a small boat and go now. If not, think about how to save so that you can live your sailing dreams in the manner you desire.

Unless you are independently wealthy, you will need to work. Find a job that makes you happy to go there, that you enjoy while doing it, and that you are satisfied with when you look back at the end of the day. This is a vital part of enjoying every day, which should be your ultimate goal.

Try to get sailing experience and knowledge by joining a local club that has boats and reasonable dues rather than buying a boat that will be the proverbial hole in the water in which money is tossed.

By the time I was 32, I had spent 9 months sailing the Caribbean and had to sell a boat I could no longer afford. I went to grad school and bought a couple of other boats over the years, but always had the goal of going back to full time cruising. So now I can buy a great boat and get back to full time cruisling, but my wonderful life partner (see rule 1) is not a sailor. And I am a bit creaky myself, but all the truly important bits work just fine thank you.

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Old 13-11-2012, 17:35   #53
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

When I was 32 I was a Senior Chief in the Philippines and getting ready to go back to San Diego. I owned a house, a '69 Ford Falcon, a '76 Ford Fiesta and had a wife and 13 yo daughter living in that house in Chula Vista, Ca. The year was '80. I was in great health and had a work out, biking and running regime that kept me thin. I sailed nearly every weekend with the Navy's club in Coronado or in Subic Bay. Didn't have my first boat yet and was enrolled in evening university classes.

I would tell myself to pay a lot more attention to my wife and daughter because little did I know I'd lose them to divorce along with the house in just a few years.

Happy birthday!!!

kind regards,
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Old 13-11-2012, 17:40   #54
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

Live life while you're young.
Own property.
Get out of unproductive debt (mortgages are OK if someone else pays them).
Marry the right person - divorce is really expensive.
Take care of your health, its all you really have.
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Old 13-11-2012, 18:01   #55
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

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Originally Posted by sentientcj View Post
I turn 32 today. Mixed feelings about it.

If you could, what would you tell your 32 year old self today that you might not have known then.
My expertise is in financial and lifestyle planning. I would start by asking the question "How would you envision your desired future life". Some helper questions include:

Envision some "typical days" in this future life, and answer the questions
Where are you?
What are you doing?
Who is with you?
What is your financial condition?
What things are part of your life?
When is it? (1 yr, 5 yrs, 10yrs into the future?)

From here, there are different systems that help you translate this vision into a plan of action.

Even if you just "wing it", this kind of envisioning will help train your mind to achieve these goals.

Writing these answers down - even if you don't keep the document - also helps to reinforce the vision in your subconscious mind, which in turn will guide many of your future actions, long after your conscious mind has forgotten what you've written
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Old 13-11-2012, 18:05   #56
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

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Fourth be aware that "all the good women have been taken" by the time you get to 32. There may be a few stragglers but they will be few and far between. If you like brunettes then Asia is your best choice, followed by South America. Blondes may be found in central Europe and the former Socialist Republics but many report poor experiences. See point one.
Wow, a great set of advices for a 32 year old man. Some might think it cynical, but I don't. Everyone should plan for disasters, and divorce is a very common disaster.

Regarding the fourth point, though, I would add that those women come available again when they are 40!
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Old 13-11-2012, 18:09   #57
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

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H.D. Thoreau on advice:

I have lived some thirty years on this planet, and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors. They have told me nothing, and probably cannot tell me anything to the purpose.
Presented without comment.
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Old 13-11-2012, 18:26   #58
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

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Originally Posted by SkiprJohn View Post
When I was 32 I was a Senior Chief in the Philippines and getting ready to go back to San Diego. I owned a house, a '69 Ford Falcon, a '76 Ford Fiesta and had a wife and 13 yo daughter living in that house in Chula Vista, Ca. The year was '80. I was in great health and had a work out, biking and running regime that kept me thin. I sailed nearly every weekend with the Navy's club in Coronado or in Subic Bay. Didn't have my first boat yet and was enrolled in evening university classes.

I would tell myself to pay a lot more attention to my wife and daughter because little did I know I'd lose them to divorce along with the house in just a few years.

Happy birthday!!!

kind regards,
YEAH, poop happens doesn't it! Too many times married people just grow older with different life goals. My divorce occurred when I started college in my 30s. Old wifey screwed me and the divorce screwed the kids but I got the house.
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Old 13-11-2012, 20:04   #59
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

“Spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it, reminds me of the Englishman who went to India to make a fortune first, in order that he might return to England and live the life of a poet. He should have gone up garret at once.”

― Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Other Writings
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Old 13-11-2012, 20:27   #60
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Re: Are you over 50? Need advice.

Take better care of your teeth!

That's the only thing I wish I'd done....
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