Reply to: Work to live, not live to work

[sal]

Villagers informed of devastating Tsunami to hit their Brazilian fishing village in 1 week - all villagers evacuated to Rio de Janeiro by Government, leaving possessions.
Tsunami occurs, village and all possessions destroyed. Boat and guitar reduced to matchwood.

Scenario 1, fisherman CBA: Fisherman builds a new hut and boat with the help of the other villagers, costs him nothing but manual labour which he returns in kind - Boat = fishing = fish = family well fed.
Scenario 2, fisherman retired loaded: Insurance company refuses to payout due to obscure clause in the policy not covering for Tsunami, fisherman goes to court, has to pay huge amounts to lawyers, ends up in debt, his wife leaves him as he has no more money - No boat, no fish, no family to feed

"the main thing about having money is it means you don't have to worry about it", Daniel Radcliffe, between takes on Harry Potter

FTFY

[Hobosapien]

"the main thing about having money is it means you don't have to worry about it", Daniel Radcliffe, between takes on Harry Potter

That's possibly the biggest benefit I've felt since becoming a long term contractor (i.e. last permie job was in the previous millenium), no stress about paying the bills or having to save up or go into debt to do or buy stuff.

I joke to my younger married mates that them having more grey hairs than me is due to their women, yet I also think it's due to the stress of them scraping by until the next pay day.

The challenge then becomes how to not have to work at all, and in the meantime make sure the warchest, savings, and investments are kept out of the hands of the thieving government and dodgy bankers as much as possible.

[SueEllen]

No, it's like India, Persia and Eastern Europe all in one big fun package.

Slough's great - it's got fast trains going out and a large motorway to get away also.

[DimPrawn]

FFS have you ever left Slough, you sad git?

No, it's like India, Persia and Eastern Europe all in one big fun package.

[sasguru]

You could have got the bus to Southall, pretty much the same, only less tiring.

HTH BIDI

FFS have you ever left Slough, you sad git?

[DimPrawn]

You could have got the bus to Southall, pretty much the same, only less tiring.

HTH BIDI

[expat]

@expat make sure you don't miss Jaisalmer, Udaipur and Varanasi....the Andaman Islands are really nice too.

Spent a hell of a lot of time in India, amazing place :

Just done Calcutta, Varanasi, Lucknow, Agra, Delhi, Jaipur, Pushkar, Udaipur. North of Udaipur I went to Kumbhalgarh fort, with its 36km of fortified wall, second only to the Great Wall of China for continuous length. India is full of stuff that you haven't heard of and can't work out why it isn't world-famous.

At Kumbalgarh I found they were about to start a 3-day festival of music and dance, so I changed my plans and just stayed there for the whole festival. That's work/life balance as I see it.

Haven't been to the Andaman Islands, I considered it but spent Christmas in the Maldives instead. Then I went to Sri Lanka for 4 weeks.

Jaisalmer next. It occurred to me outside Pushkar that I have ridden more camels than horses in my life. The ex-wives can have their houses, having a life like this is cheap at any price.


Enjoy the Philippines, that's on my list too, but I think after the next trip to South America. Last time I was there I couldn't get into Argentina. This time I plan to hike and camp my way in from southern Chile.

[SunnyInHades]

There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village.
As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish.
The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?”
The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.”
“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.
“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.
The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”
The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”

The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman.
“I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”

The fisherman continues, “And after that?”
The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.”
The fisherman asks, “And after that?”
The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”

Villagers informed of devastating Tsunami to hit their Brazilian fishing village in 1 week - all villagers evacuated to Rio de Janeiro by Government, leaving possessions.
Tsunami occurs, village and all possessions destroyed. Boat and guitar reduced to matchwood.

Scenario 1, fisherman CBA: Screwed, livelihood washed away. No boat = no fishing = no fish = family go hungry.
Scenario 2, fisherman retired loaded: Buys new sea front mansion 100 miles down the coast, boat and guitar with cash. Starts fishing. Boat = fishing = fish = family well fed.

"the main thing about having money is it means you don't have to worry about it", Daniel Radcliffe, between takes on Harry Potter

[original PM]

there are some good perm companies out there with good work life balance

where I am I generally work 2 days from home and the other 3 are spent mainly in the office in meetings

I do not need to be at a certain desk for a certain time each day, nor do we have pointless middle management tits taking a register like it was primary school

in fact last 2 nights I have still be in the office at about 6.30 (mainly to let the traffic die down) and the HR director keeps trying to chase me out of the office.....

having said all that I am judged on delivery and not my ability to attend a certain location for a certain length of time each day

[MrMarkyMark]

@expat make sure you don't miss Jaisalmer, Udaipur and Varanasi....the Andaman Islands are really nice too.

Spent a hell of a lot of time in India, amazing place

The reason I started out in this game was so I didn't have to work all the time...

Off to Busuanga Island (Philippines) tomorrow, where you can dive/snorkel over the whole sunken fleet of Japanese warships

I don't own property, if I do become an owner of one I don't think it will be in the UK.

I wonder how long it will take for revolt i.e. the East End riots on a larger scale.

I lived next to Victoria Park, at the time, on the ground floor, mobs came past that night.....
I think the only reason they didn't do my block was because it was mixed and not just private housing.
Others, down the road, were far less lucky.

[MarillionFan]

I bet the ex-wives live in nice big comfortable homes with no money worries whatsoever....

Lesson to the young.

Yep. OJ Simpson had the right idea.

[DimPrawn]

Your ambitions are too small. Work for a life, not for a house.

I speak as a Boomer who has bought several houses. I just happen not to own any of them any more, after a couple of divorces. I doubt that I will own one ever again, because I started again from zero and I can't afford it in this market. .

I bet the ex-wives live in nice big comfortable homes with no money worries whatsoever....

Lesson to the young.

[PurpleGorilla]

Your ambitions are too small. Work for a life, not for a house.

I speak as a Boomer who has bought several houses. I just happen not to own any of them any more, after a couple of divorces. I doubt that I will own one ever again, because I started again from zero and I can't afford it in this market. I could work up to buying a bedsit with no garden if I put my mind to it, but that would ruin what is left of my life. So instead I have taken a leaf out of Henry David Thoreau's book, and made my wants small enough to fit my income.

I don't have a house but right now I'm sitting with a beer just below the amazing fort in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. I'm having the time of my life and I would seriously recommend doing whatever will maximise your life experience, over throwing it away on hugely overpriced possessions.

My brother, who has a large and lovely house, remarked that for someone with so little stuff, I seem to own a lot of backpacks. Yes indeed: because they cost relatively little and bring me a relatively large amount of pleasure. Can you say that about your house?

My oldest school friend worked a lot, and very successfully, and had a lot of money and a nice house. He also had a severe stroke and now has the dubious pleasure of having one of the best wheelchairs that money can buy.

Life is very short. FFS don't waste it.

Huge money for modest properties is probably why I haven't climbed the ladder. I have a big aversion to spending silly money on mediocrity.

Enjoy the journey.

[expat]

The grass is always greener, unless you live in a bedsit and have no garden.

Your ambitions are too small. Work for a life, not for a house.

I speak as a Boomer who has bought several houses. I just happen not to own any of them any more, after a couple of divorces. I doubt that I will own one ever again, because I started again from zero and I can't afford it in this market. I could work up to buying a bedsit with no garden if I put my mind to it, but that would ruin what is left of my life. So instead I have taken a leaf out of Henry David Thoreau's book, and made my wants small enough to fit my income.

I don't have a house but right now I'm sitting with a beer just below the amazing fort in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. I'm having the time of my life and I would seriously recommend doing whatever will maximise your life experience, over throwing it away on hugely overpriced possessions.

My brother, who has a large and lovely house, remarked that for someone with so little stuff, I seem to own a lot of backpacks. Yes indeed: because they cost relatively little and bring me a relatively large amount of pleasure. Can you say that about your house?

My oldest school friend worked a lot, and very successfully, and had a lot of money and a nice house. He also had a severe stroke and now has the dubious pleasure of having one of the best wheelchairs that money can buy.

Life is very short. FFS don't waste it.

[PurpleGorilla]

And no sofa.

There's always someone more in the tulip than you!