Retirement | Free Range Earthling

My One and Only Post About Retirement Finances

Richard / October 5, 2018

When I started this blog, I promised myself not to write endless articles about how to finance your retirement. They are dull, redundant, and there are many people more qualified than I to advise you on this topic. Many people… maybe all of the people. But several of you have asked, so – Here is …

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So… I Bought a Big-Ass Van – Wuh?

Richard / October 1, 2018

Uh, yep, I went out and bought a big-ass van – now to be referred to as the BAV. Everyone asks me if I’m going to travel now that I’m retired. Yes! And sure, I’ve taken a couple of small trips, but I really want to do more. Plus… I love a road trip. I …

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Retirement Free Time, Rabbit Holes, and Romance Novels – It’s About to Get Weird

Richard / September 11, 2018

With all my retirement free time these days, I’m certainly susceptible to a good rabbit hole. Here’s one definition of a rabbit hole from the Urban Dictionary – To go down a never ending tunnel with many twists and turns on the internet, never truly arriving at a final destinationyet just finding more tunnels. Clicking …

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Why I’m Not Staying Busy

Richard / September 7, 2018

For three decades I was rewarded for being busy. Ask anyone you pass in the hall at work how they are doing and most will give some sort of answer about being busy. “Super busy man.” “Crazy busy, you know how it is.” “Busy AF!” Live that way long enough and it becomes your default …

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I Need Better Retirement Role Models

Richard / August 22, 2018

It occurred to me the other day that don’t know anyone who has successfully retired. Nobody. I’m not in touch with anyone from work who has retired – they just seem to vanish from the face of the earth never to be heard from again. So, how about my parents, grandparents, or other relatives? Certainly, …

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Retirement Bucket List Item – Checked

Richard / August 14, 2018

For years, I worked directly across the street from my gym. This gym has a beautiful outdoor pool (actually 3 pools). I couln’t quite see the pool from my office window, but the window in our project team room on the top floor looked directly down into the pool area. Quite often a group of …

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De-stress – Getting Back to Baseline

Richard / August 10, 2018

If you’ve had a long and successful career, you probably can’t remember a time when you were completely stress free. You think you remember, but trust me, you don’t. Vacations don’t count. With a week off you get four, maybe five days max of relaxation before you start to drift back into work mode. So …

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On Leaving Money to Your Kids – The Only Thing My Bio-Dad Got Right

Richard / July 27, 2018

I don’t have any kids – so you will have to decide if I have anything to say worth hearing – maybe I’m disqualified as a non-parent. But I have been on the receiving end (with an interesting twist) of this whole inheritance question – so I think I should be able to have an …

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The First Question You Need to Answer When Defining Your Retirement Life

Richard / July 12, 2018

I’ve had a hard time figuring out what I want my life in retirement to look like. With the guardrails of job and career removed, who do I even want to be? What do I want to do? I was trying to run in several directions at the same time and getting nowhere. It seemed …

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Retirement and My Corporate America Anti-Bucket List

Richard / July 11, 2018

So, like normal, I did the thing that everyone says not to do. The conventional wisdom says, “don’t retire away from something – you must retire to something.” I had no idea what I was retiring to. None. I don’t play golf, I don’t have any grandchildren, I don’t garden. I had no idea how …

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