The New Class of Boomers...

I was reading the Wall Street Journal the other day and they were talking about recent phenomenon after 9/11 and the spiraling economy and how it was affecting the boomer generation. It was quite an interesting perspective until I realized that they were talking about us.

The economy went down and a whole workforce of 50 something's were the first to go
from the workforce in order to cut workforce expenses. These were the Boomers, of course, being let go since their salaries were larger and generally in all those middle management positions. ergo...the ecomony downsized and corporations leveled.

The interesting perspective of this article was what happens to the 50 somethings?

Looking at it from the other side:
10- 15 years off the end of their retirement plan...
Now taking jobs, if they can get them that are half their living expenses.
Still feeding 30 year mortgages that were 9 years from being paid off.

They can't retire, too far away from their 401K, pensions, and retirement goals.
Late blooming Boomer families that now have college students going out of state.
Waiting to sell the house at age 55 and get the mortgage write off for the last move.

All those American Boomer dreams...being rescaled...hmmmm....ours too.

How to retire at any age without Money

Remember those one line ads in the back of Popular Science magazine?
They were there long before the internet. In fact, that was all that was available
and to this day I still read them...

I will never forget the one that read..."How to retire at any age without Money!"
$10 they'd send you the mimeographed copy of the book that they never published.
That's why they justified the the price as so cheap...er...cheaper back in the early '60's. They were probably using the copier at work.

Anyway, I sent in my $10 and sure enough, it came in the mail...a little hard to read. The mimeograph machine was surely out of toner...I still remember the ammonia smell of it.

It was actually facinating reading for me as a boy. I could now retire at any age!
Interesting even then I was trying to figure out why this work ethic was built up to be so great.

"How to retire at any age without Money!"

So the gist of the er...book was this:

If you want to retire in Key West, then buy a one way ticket and go there to live. Work at the diner on the end of the pier for lunch and the rest of the time...voila...you're retired...!

They had example after example....ski slopes, somebody built a building at the slope that had 4 ft by 10 ft rooms. Bunk beds rented for $10/night at the bottom of the slope for overnight skiers. You lived there, took care of the place and made enough to travel in the summer.

Want to retire at any age without money?
Now they call them street people...but I've been thinking about it my whole life.

Oh yea...the guys that wrote the book ..."How to retire at any age without money"
You guessed it...they're retired.

Me too? Guess it's how you define it...

There ya go...I saved you $10 on the back of the ad in Popular Science Magazine.
In todays money...that's probably about $1000. What a deal!

Leaving the nest...

The next couple of days will be nostalgic for me and Kathy. Our daughter, now a senior in high school is off to London and Paris for spring break. So we'll start the "I remember when... thoughts regarding seeing our daughter out on her own which of course is inevitable.

Somehow, not sure how, she seems to be very prepared for going out on her own. Must be her mother's doing. They've been close from the beginning and even during her
teenage years the've remained friends. I'm glad for that and am amazed at the same time that she seems so grown up.

College is not far away now and she'll be off for good...but this week is a little
test to see if mom and dad can stand it.

Mr. Bill...

I agree with Scott McNealy from Sun Microsystems that the world will show a significant dip in productivity from 1995 to about 2015 due to Microsoft products.

I am SO GLAD that I've become a system administrator for myself and my family. Can't think of anything better to waste my time than to constantly have to maintain watch over my family and friends computers instead of doing something worthwhile. I really like the idea of getting a new version and debugging it for that goddam millionaire.

Having been part of the PC industry, I saw Mr. Bill up close and personal during several Government bids...yes....government bids where Mr. Bill said "bid Microsoft products or be shut out of the bidding". I personally saw the ways and means he used to shut out Netscape, Wordperfect, Corel Sun and others. Bid it his way...price $100.
bid any other bids with anybody else, price $200. Pretty nasty monopolist...

Nobody at Justice to take Mr. Bill on anymore if they want to keep their jobs.
He even bought McNealy out after they put him on the ropes...made him shut up too.

Mr. Michael Dell isn't far behind...no less ruthless except he plays in the shadows.

My father...

Today was the day my father died... 1995

I'll remember that one for the rest of my life because I had the honor of being with him, as I am the only child, during his last days. I'll remember the admiration of a man that had been my anchor in life and remains my anchor in death.

He was a simple man to understand that lived a simple life in spite of all the world compelexities. The good guys always wore the white hats and the bad guys were clearly distinguishable. There was no such thing as grey area.

His hero was Will Rogers. "I never met a man I didn't like."

Of his own father, he said he would be happy to be half the man his father was.
I never met grandfather...died in 1949 a year before I was born...but I have no doubt that my father was at least as great a man.

I'm glad I knew him and I miss him.