Growing Older

June 14, 2018 7:47 am Update

Today is President Trump’s 72nd birthday. ๐ŸŽ‚ I tell you when I’m that old on a beautiful June morning like today, ๐Ÿ˜Ž I’ll be out on a lake with a fishing pole ๐ŸŽฃ – not working some shitty government job๐Ÿ‘”in an gaudy old federal office building ๐Ÿซin Washington DC.

Set a ‘Rejection Goal’ and It Might Just Lead to Success

Set a ‘Rejection Goal’ and It Might Just Lead to Success

"Actors have a saying: You donโ€™t get 100% of the parts you donโ€™t audition for. If youโ€™re an artistic type, or a writerly type, or even just someone whoโ€™s looking for a job, you may have found rejections to be so painful that youโ€™ve just stopped applying for things. Social media and streaming TV is so soothingโ€”why would you put yourself out there for stuff youโ€™re not going to get anyway?"

"But what if you set rejection as a goal? Thatโ€™s what writer Kiki Schirr did at the beginning of this year: She resolved to get 100 rejections by the end of 2018โ€”to apply for anything and everything that interested her, even things that she thought were beyond her grasp, and to treat each rejection as evidence that she was pursuing her goal. "

Why I’ve Become Obessed with Saving for Retirement

I am 35 years old. Why am I so obsessed with retirement and saving for retirement ?

1) I need a major life goal to save for and look forward too. Having goals and a plan to get to those goals means that I am working towards a worthwhile retirement, one where I can have land and my off-grid cabin ๐Ÿกin a low-tax, high-freedom state in my later years.

2) Money saved in my thirties will have a lot more of a chance to grow over the next 30 years๐Ÿ’ธ then money saved during my 40s and 50s.

3) I don’t want to be a renter, living in the city my whole life.๐Ÿข While I enjoy the ease of public transportation and the conviences of urban living, ๐ŸฃI’d much rather have the right to build fires, shoot guns, ride four wheelers, and even hobby farm in my later years.๐Ÿฎ

4) Rather then waste money on shit I’m going to have to pay to get rid of eventually at the landfill๐Ÿ—ป, I would rather be putting my money where it’s helping to grow the economy by investing, and have more money in later years.

5) I don’t trust that I will make it to my final years in good health, so I want to be able to retire at a fairly early age so I can enjoy my land, ๐Ÿšœdo things before the end comes. I have no interest in living long enough to ever need nursing care.

6) I don’t trust that social security or my pension will be there in full when it finally comes time to retire.โš  Simply said, social security and pensions are both under-invested in๐Ÿ’ฐ and with shrinking GDP projections๐Ÿ“‰, it’s going to hit taxpayers hard to make whole on their promises in further generation. ๐Ÿ™ŠI am fine with living frugally in retirement, having wood heat and small-scale solar, no Internet or television, and a small cabin in wilderness, but I want to be able to afford those goals in my later years.

7) People who make saving for retirement a priority are more likely to live to their retirement,๐Ÿ‘ด as they have a life goal they’ve been working for their whole life to obtain.

8) Retirement savings in IRAs and deferred compensation are generally locked up until retirement. ๐Ÿ”’While other investments like stocks and bonds can be sold, retirement savings can’t be touched with a significant penalty. This means they’ll have decades to mature without being touched. ๐Ÿ“ˆObviously having money in savings, CDs, and mid term market investments of stock and bonds are important too.