Live For Present Not Future

[Deleted]

Listen what Bob have to say and then tell me if he is far wrong from the mark.

I think that it is a good topic to talk among us.

  Live For Present Not Future

[greedy53]

i agree

[Mustang]

Sounds not unlike a great book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad".
As the narrator says we work for 60 years to trade for 20 in retirement this is what we are conditioned to do, the education system needs a complete overhaul.

[Deleted]

Mustang, the thing that we have to add is that we do not know if we are going to make to those 20 years that people take it for granted.
I am not sure if the problem it is with the education system or just greed for consumption which make the people slave of their life style.
There are a lot of people that do not start travelling because they cannot afford the $100000 RV with all the gadgets that they have at home, there are few that with an old VW Kombi are travelling around the world.

[Deleted]

After 30years of work we for a raft of reasons decided enough is enough and packed up to hit the road and LIVE for us nearly 20 years later we have never regretted it for a second and I have never met anyone who said hand on heart he wished he had worked another 10yyears lol

[atefooterz]

The wild card is health, be it youselves or family. I lost a decade & a half with Mum cancer then Dad issues, Grandchild. each time was away with the promise of something then returned to spend money. In hindsight if i had taken up some of those offers overseas i could have flown in & out for family and prolly have a $100K plus RV here and toys back in the work land. A bad stroke regaining most skills apart from ballance & stamina, means that at just under 60 the potential to enjoy those twighlight years is not there. So i strongly advise to follow that dream and make it happen... before the "what ifs?" kick in! :)n

[Deleted]

During my 2 1/2 years touring and living in a motorhome we knew 6 couples that start touring after one of the partners was terminal ill with cancer.

[Deleted]

Nov 10, 2016 6:15:37 GMT 10 @gitano said:

During my 2 1/2 years touring and living in a motorhome we knew 6 couples that start touring after one of the partners was terminal ill with cancer.

When I retired it was because I had been given 2 years so collected my life insurance etc and removed all stress and pressure , sold the house no debt no decisions to be made except whether to turn left or right when leaving the caravan park , we ate too much drank maybe a little too much did heaps of crazy stuff and relaxed and fished lots after 5 years the Dr's were stumped I was still alive 10 years in and they were gobsmacked now 17 years on I have almost normal life expectancy and all I/we removed from our lives was stress and pressure . For the first 10 years I tried like mad to spend everything and lived lush then realised I was going to outlive my assets so we backed off and settled down now we just live for today as the past is gone the future is unknown but today is the present and we treat it as such a present/ gift . Or as a sticker on my car states Money cannot buy happiness but it can buy a Zephyr which is pretty close   

[Deleted]

In the last 3 weeks I stopped watching the news and my blood pressure dropped 20 points!!
Stress kills.

[atouchofglass]

What a great thread!
So many stories and none saying stay in your job.

I have a saying regarding employers "The day you leave is the day they forget your name."
My wife was in Coles awhile back and the manager approached her regarding rosters and if she could change shifts....

She had quit over 12months earlier.

I'm currently in semi-retirement. Not by choice, no one, it seems, is interested in hiring a 56yr old.

Moved to Victoria to secure work and that failed after 7 weeks.
So here I sit in Cairns, too young for the pension and not on the dole.
Surviving on very little......
BUT
No stress no pressure
Somehow I find enough work to cover basics and am still fat... so not starving either.

I am quite happy with the situation most times.
Almost like being a teenager with no responsibilities... almost.
We own our car, caravan and home....all of which are 20 yrs old or older....      so outgoings are small.

I've seen friends much younger die and am determined to live a life more simply.... stress is a killer
And this working life runs on pressure and stress, we shouldn't. 

No one will give a rats when you leave your job and you will be free of the usual greeds and desires within a few short months.

If I hadn't been forced into this situation I would never have known the (relative) freedom it gives.

Give it a try, you don't need all the fancy crap, you just need to go.
 

[Deleted]

atouchofglass, have a look this video, you would like it 


40 Years a Nomad: Meet Randy Vining from

[atefooterz]

For any youngsters lurking on this thread ATOG & Retired John to an extent both point the important way forwards, i discovered by necessity in the early 1990s after going from being an employer and having crazy cash to splash around in the 80s to being a pay per hour contractor on good money but irregular work. Limit your financial borrowings/ credit card largesse.

The stress free life of having good food on the table but not the dramas of big outlays is key. My marriage turned into a zany nightmare when i had handed over cash, well every cent was available for the "sensible one", i had a medical drama and months off work with no wage insurance ( as a newly married twenty something we are bullet proof.. right? = wrong i had a big tumour growing from exposure to now banned chemicals so cut in half and three months in hospital) then creditors for everything from kitchen appliances to the 2nd car i thought were all cash however in our name to finance companies ffs!

After changing jobs & riding the 80s property & company roller coaster, then computerised then professional indemnity insurance premiums thanks to cowboys out of a profession, with the Asia crisis stall it all ended.

I had a few decades later in yet another field that was totally random for work plus the then not worried about issue of no super or holiday pay etc.
A new stripped back lifestyle resulted in deciding a no work day was a holiday so a mix of just doing nothing to re charge the batteries ( 7 day 12-16 hour days when it was on) or go play with the money folks at the yacht clubs and win races. That 20ish year period i was averaging 280+ nights away living out of a suitcase for work, so share accom for effectivly cheap storage was the go.)
The up side was working and visiting many places around Aussie and overseas. When i first got the Arrow most said where will you go?, so my reply was "depends!" as spending my limited cash to re trace places i was earlier paid to play at, does not appeal. Luckily for my piggy bank i am a water baby & have eaten enough dust inland to not crave doing a lap or embark on vast cross country adventures.
My advice just try and fit in your dreams, with what you can do and afford, pay off that Mc Mansion fast or choose one that can be not only repaid via renting it out but also a bit left over as you and yours explore this huge place we call home.

[atouchofglass]

Nov 10, 2016 6:15:37 GMT 10 @gitano said:

During my 2 1/2 years touring and living in a motorhome we knew 6 couples that start touring after one of the partners was terminal ill with cancer.

It seems a common thread with people... we think everything is ok and then there is an urgency brought on by terminal illness or something similar.
Only then do we realise that we can do with less and be quite happy with it.

I'm sitting in a house and longing for a caravan. 😂 Crazy man


On our 25th wedding anniversary my wife asked a very sobering question.
"What would you do if I died?"
Not what you would expect when looking back at 1/4 century of marriage.

After a few minutes serious thinking I said "I'd travel"

I asked her the same question.... her reply? "I'd travel"

So I said well...... why are we waiting until one of us dies?

Since then we have had an overseas trip and seen several of Australia's citys.
As well as rural Victoria and rural Queensland.
We didn't enjoy coming back home... but it was necessary.. family commitments and lack of the folding stuff. $$$

Our little caravan was and is big enough to live in.
Just need room for tools to follow my trade while travelling.

We are planing and prepping for more time in the van even now...
Until then we will have to do with short stays here and there.

Did I tell you we left our van on a farm in Bowen?
Will be back there later this month for the mango season and some experimenting.... 😀😀😉

Wealth is not just money... it is experiences and joy... squeeze it's neck and get as much out of it as you can. 👍👍

[Deleted]

This pretty well sums up life 

[atouchofglass]

And just a few hours after writing that we received word that a relative by marriage has topped himself after his 6th heart operation.

He had a heart condition from his teen years and couldn't handle yet another operation.
He was in his mid 60's..

A nicer guy you couldn't find.
It just says to me that we all need to live for today and be mindful of tomorrow.

Preparing for retirement is all very fine, but we need to enjoy the journey, not just the destination.

Peace to you all.

[Deleted]

I like this simplification of life 

[Deleted]

Not that simple for many IMHO 
There are a lots of comments in the following article, good blog 

What If My Spouse WILL NOT Travel

[Deleted]

Nov 16, 2016 12:16:57 GMT 10 @gitano said:

Not that simple for many IMHO 
There are a lots of comments in the following article, good blog 

What If My Spouse WILL NOT Travel

I hear what he is saying we are right there now , we have been cutting back on time on the road over the years from fulltime to 6 months back to 3 months I was always keen for more but ? Then this year we went 'round the block 4 months catching up with friends and after SWMBO said thats it no more than 2-3 weeks or none at all sell the motorhome . So in preparation for it's sale I bought the Viscount just for club trips and mmmmmaybe the odd small trip away , all was good then we went for a weekend away with the Z and the Viscount on the way home SWMBO asked if we "needed" to really sell the motorhome ? no I said but if it is not being used it is not much sense having it . Now it seems we are keeping the motorhome for trips to family as 13 years of freedom camping and having a ensuite with all mod cons is her preferred way to travel and the Viscount is ok for a few days on a club trip . My plan is to attempt to get away for 1 month trips 2-3 times a year we will see plus maybe 4-6 VV or Vcar weekends   Storage is our problem as we live in an over 50's village but we have room for everything "just" the boat the VV ,VC her Honda and the 8m motorhome , I can see the day when I will end up going away for short trips alone but am delaying that as long as possible because it might be the last straw and 42 years is a lot to give away   I might add SWMBO is quite happy to go on a cruise or a trip overseas just not road travel anymore so my suggestion was she goes on a 4-6 week cruise and Mollydog and I head to wherever in the motorhome while she is gone   Nooooooo she is not going to travel ALONE ! we have to do it as a couple FFS   meantime I just enjoy my toys tick the boxes and have a relatively stress free life and watch travel documentaries with glazed eyes   Off my soapbox now sorry for the essay people 

[Deleted]

Thank you for sharing John, I planning to sell the Franklin and get a van to convert it with the basics. My wife do not like to live on it full time but she like the idea to go camping more than go to caravan parks.
I guess that at 70 + I am not in a position to delay my plans for to long.

[Deleted]

Nov 16, 2016 15:21:57 GMT 10 @gitano said:

Thank you for sharing John, I planning to sell the Franklin and get a van to convert it with the basics. My wife do not like to live on it full time but she like the idea to go camping more than go to caravan parks.
I guess that at 70 + I am not in a position to delay my plans for to long.

You are only 5 years ahead   my wife got a shock not having her own amenities and staying in a caravan park after so many years not using them she loves the motorhome just tires of travel which makes me smile as she does not drive and when we are away I cook and walk the dog etc some days she never gets out to touch the ground , good TV and sudoku and take 5 mags in the dinette with views out the windows is more her style I would find it hard to part with our Sunliner though This was at the Breakers on the Great Central Road out from Laverton heading for the rock a couple of years ago peaceful serene alone and isolated with another 1400km of dirt to go   no wicked campers out there 

[Deleted]

Nice photo and rig.
We have very nice memories of our years on the Mazda T3500. I took us couple of months just to go along the coast from Melbourne to Brisbane.
I still remember our stop at Maloneys Beach just north of Batemans Bay, We was on the waterfront watching a hump whale and her calf very close to shore.
I we was in a caravan will be not able to stop there.
I think that the only thing that I will do different on the van will be to install a compost toilet instead of the chemical one and a diesel heater for Tasmanian weather.