5/31/2022

On "How Much You Need to Retire"

This afternoon while looking for something completely different on the Charles Schwab financial site, with which I have some small and insignificant dealings, I saw this on the menu tree: 



Of course for me, it is already a  fait accompli, but still. 

"How much you need to retire" -- wow!

I think (?) they want to help you calculate how much money you may need to live up to your real or daydream standards. Hmm. I don't need help figuring that out, thank you. Sky's the limit. Pedal to the metal. Work till you drop. 

And that portfolio, my friend, won't be much comfort to you when you do in fact, you know: DROP.

I knew how much I needed to retire. 

I fought the thought. I tried to strive and drive and persevere and endure and all that. I failed at that model of working. 

But I needed to retire. Work was killing me. Looking for work was killing me. What good is that portfolio if hitting your goals leads to marching a Right Face off a tall bridge or something equally worthy of a small entry in whatever serves as newspapers these days? 

People who love me were hinting at how much I needed to retire. My guardian angel was telling me how much I needed to retire. Good old Saint Jude even answered my candles and novenas by telling me how much I needed to retire. 

Finally I came out of my denial and admitted I was powerless over Employment. The big step at the time seemed to be the quitting of the last situation. But "I quit" is not the same as "I retired."  Yet finally I shut my eyes and took the step.

Let me tell you straight up.  When the Holy Spirit tells you How Much You Need to Retire, you don't really need the Charles Schwab calculator. 

5/27/2022

A. K. Chesterton

 Gilbert Keith Chesterson's alter ego? 

Saw this: 



Thought this: 




5/26/2022

 


From  A SONG OF PARSLEY, by Irving Vanderblock-Wheedle.

Ah, the inimitable and irreplaceable Dr. Boli!