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I guess im lucky that i have enjoyed all my jobs (except for maccas)

 
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Life is what you make of it. Do what you want to do now, if it comes back to not be a great choice later in life, you deal with it then.

 
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My old man worked hard his whole life, including not retiring for an extra year or two so that he could put me through uni without being in any debt.
Him and mum put off everything he wanted to do for himself (including traveling etc) in order to work hard to provide for us kids.
I definitely appreciate that he did that, but at 58 (when I was 21) he passed away before he got the chance to do any of the things he wanted to do for himself and now mum is left with no one to do these things with either.

It made me realise how short life is and that you can’t put off doing the things you really love for the sake of money and owning things that are all transient in the end anyway.

I’m not averse to hard work when its needed, I just choose to be extremely careful with the money I do earn, so that I don’t have to work as hard as others and get to have more time off. From November to May I worked 3 days a week and went snowboarding, from May-August I worked 4 days a week, with the month of June in the middle where I worked every single day….and went downhill mtn biking on my days off.
Doing that and living simply meant I was able to afford 3.5 months off this year, and travel across the USA and be home for 5 weeks with my family and friends, and still not be left with nothing at the end!

So I’ve spent a year doing enjoyable stuff the whole time when I’ve been working, as well as taking an extended period of time off to travel.

I wouldn’t swap the fun and experiences I’ve had for a mortgage and a 5 day per week high paying job for all the tea in china, as I would feel that I wasn’t actually living and enjoying and appreciating my time on earth, rather that I was just existing!...hence my idea that it sounds like a nightmare.

I might get on to that stuff when I’m a bit older!
Just my take on things though.

 
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I’ve had my kids, got a grand daughter that I can now look forward to doin heaps of cool things with, paid my mortgage off, and starting to travel more!!!!!

If I had passed away attempting to do it, I don’t see that as a bad thing, as not only would I not know what I was missin out on, at least my wife and kids would have somethin to help them through whatever they face in the future, and just make it easier for them no matter how they want to live from that point on!!!!!

I just don’t want my family, or me for that matter, endin up one of those old people that eek out their last years as a social pariah in a Housing Commission flat in Shit Town!!!!!

I’m kinda savin for that rainy day I guess?????

 
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blizzard_22 - 30 October 2013 08:07 PM

I swear the higher in the public service you get the less work you do and the more money you earn.

Just another way the unions and their leftarded supporters are butt raping our once great country.

Every single bit of union involvement in the public service should be eradicated, as it’s a conflict of interest.

 
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Its really interesting seeing these different points of view on life and how to live it.
I guess I am more on Miz’s philosophy than Cords, but I so get where you are coming from cords.

I am really lucky, I love what I do. I think I have only really realised this in the last two years. I am also beyond lucky to be able to work with my best friend, so thats the icing on the cake. We have the freedom to take a day or two off when we want too, get to work in a beautiful location, that also happens to be home. BUT I see what cords and Freddy just did and get the itchy feet. I have travelled lots, still lots to see as well. I am finding as I get older and I am more content with chilling at home, building stuff, working in the garden etc etc.

Its the toss up between family, owning a home or travelling, seeing what the world has to offer and taking it all in. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I would swap every last second of travelling I have done to have my time again with my kids.

When I think about it, when I kick the bucket I would like to look back at the great times I had with my family and what skills I have mastered and helped create beautiful, practical awesome stuff for people.

I live by the philosophy of,

“Whats meant for you, won’t go past you”

smile

 
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Since I first heard the lyrics written by Don Walker for Cold Chisel;

“The money I’ve saved won’t buy my youth again”

and seeing the enjoyment my grandparents had in their retirement but limited because of their age (but not finances)...
I decided in my early teens not to wait till I was old and financial.

Dad is now retired, living off the interest from his super in a crummy rental flat in a crummy city. He can barely walk and has limited his mental function because he drank and smoked so much dealing with the stresses while providing for our family. Stuck in his ways, he won’t spend his savings to enjoy old age doing the things he dreamed of. Instead he sits back and enjoys watching his kids lives unfold.
I didn’t see much of my dad growing up because he was always at work - my main memories spending time with him were the days I spent at his workplace watching him choof down cigarettes behind a counter as a public servant.

Now I’m a middle aged I often consider that I should have done more sooner.
The decade I spent sitting on the beach, unemployed and smoking pot was somewhat wasted, it was ten years at the prime of my life I should have been working harder or travelling more and socialising: to set up more comfortable years later.
But it was ten years that I surfed every day and lived stress free - they were my retirement years,

“sitting on the dock of the bay, watching the time rollaway”

The main thing is you never know what life may bring. In my 30’s I worked hard, earned enough money to consider buying a house in the suburbs and when it came time to decide (with my partner), we chose not to give up our current lifestyle but instead continue building on our savings and do lots a travelling together.

It can all disappear so quickly: within 6 months all the effort made in my 30’s was taken away, my savings, my lifestyle and my partner left.

The same thing happend to my mother but I watched her regain everything and more in a 20 year period. The only financial support she started with was $5K from a trust fund I had (when 14).
Now I live at my mum’s; it’s a pretty cushy lifestyle but I have no financial independence or nest egg, no opportunity to travel in the next decade and no great work opportunities.

Family is my security: it’s a much better supply of happiness and wealth than any amount of money, friends or travel.
I have strong bonds to my family built through many generations. Because of that I have no regret and a something to pass down to my daughter.

If I ignored my family I would certainly have stacks of cash.

“Money can’t buy me love”

I have love, love that will never leave me, and I don’t care for anything else.

 
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Hi friends! Sorry I’ve been MIA a bit lately - just home from school camp today and in the middle of report writing!!!

Bring on the looooong weekend - stuffed!!

 
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cords - 31 October 2013 11:41 AM

quit, sell your house and go and do seasons instead. Your situation is my idea of a nightmare of a life!

i am def with cords on this one.  best thing i ever did was quit the fancy pants jobs and head to whis. 4 years later and i realised that i never really wanna go back to the whole work to buy the house, car and random other others things. figured if i was going to be married and be having kids i would have done it with my ex (we we’re together for 10 years). not to mention the idea of owning something so expensive that i will be paying off for years scares the bejesus outta me. plus i saw wayyy to many cases back in the day of people who seemed to put of traveling or actually living until they had all the sh!t they thought they needed and boom. hit by a car the day before they were sposed to leave on the dream holiday. i wanna see the world, not a bunch of sh!t in my living room and while i am still young enough and able enough to adventure the sh!t outta it haha. so work a little now and then off to south america to live a little smile

 
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Like A Boss!! Sounds like an Awesome plan shaka

 
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I don’t enjoy the 9-5 daily grind but I love the fact that I have bought a house, to me that is an awesome achievement. We pay a little extra every fortnight and have saved around $10k in a yr.

Being able to have a house, a more flexible job and savings heaps at the same time makes me happy. I like the idea of being able to go on a holiday and not go into debt for it. We just need to choose our next destination.

My job may be a bit boring at the moment, but I am happy it is not consuming my life. I work my 7 1/2 hrs each day and make up my own start and finish times. I get flex time for any extra I do, and have laid back managers. I also have the flexibility to work from home which helps a lot.

My lifestyle is not for everyone, but it’s working for me right now.

 
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Nobody loves their 9-5 job but at least you’re planning stuff and not stuck there like some people I know. It could be worse

 
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TJswish - 03 November 2013 07:06 AM

Nobody loves their 9-5 job but at least you’re planning stuff and not stuck there like some people I know. It could be worse

I think it depends on what you do/whether you’re doing what you’ve always wanted to do.  Personally I love my job as I’m doing what I want and thankfully work with a great group of people.

 
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By all means you can like your job and I guess I was a bit exaggerated to say nobody… But most people would change at least a few things if they could…