Confession and what AK thinks of retirement.

AK said...
"I have left behind the prescriptive world of responsibility and routine which demanded that I made regular and meaningful contributions to the establishment and clients (in ever more difficult conditions)."
(See related post at the end of this blog.)

Reader says...
I see things quite differently. I never felt the world demanded anything from me.





It’s more like what I wanted from the world. And now that I have most of what I want , I do feel a moral need to give back to this world. 

Ranging from being a good son (which you agree) to a good father/husband/friend but also to help other less lucky humans whom I do not know.

As for structure, disciplined people usually remain rather disciplined even in retirement. 

I find myself disciplined in exercise and the way i run portfolio. I am sure you are extremely disciplined on your portfolio thinking and actions too.





Structure and routine is not a bad thing even in retirement. I spoke to quite a few retirees and all speak of having some loose routine and structure. Of course no need to be siao on like during wealth forming days.

Anyway thanks for sharing. I believe each of us have different philosophies and happy that you have found your own balance! 

Was it always so stable or did you take a few years? I took about 3-4 years since retirement to reach this stage of thinking

AK says...
Ultimately, for me, financial freedom is but a stepping stone to a life of freedom.

I guess this is why I can identify with Charlie Munger when he said he wanted to be rich because he desperately craved freedom.

As I have always known what I want, it was easy to slip into retirement when it finally happened.

Mentally, I have always been prepared for it.






There are things which I have always wanted to do or to spend more time doing.

So, I am also prepared for a busy retirement.

I keep saying that I am busier in retirement than I was before.

However, I am happier because I am doing things I want to do which includes being charitable to the needy and this is something I have blogged about many times before.





Unlike you, I don't feel a strong moral obligation to give back to society but I am quite happy to contribute because I can and because I want to.

The only strong moral obligation I feel I have is to my parents.

OK, yes, you are right about having some degree of discipline and loose structure in retirement.

In my case, probably very little to the extent that I don't feel it is there. 　

Definitely not "siao on" which I probably was a little when I was a young working adult.





To be honest, I do not feel that I am a very good investor.

A fellow blogger told me before that he thinks I am financially very comfortable because I am better at personal finance matters than most people, all else being equal.

I agree with him.

Financial prudence is the foundation of wealth building and preservation.

For people who make a lot of money, if they have a modest lifestyle and save most of their money, in a relatively benign inflationary environment, they don't really need to do much else to have a comfortable retirement.






As an investor, I have an approach that is pretty forgiving if I were to make mistakes.

I also don't aim to beat any benchmark.

Again, it is all "agar agar".

Enough of KPIs at work.

I tell myself that as long as I don't do anything ridiculously stupid, given time, I should do well enough.

If I am right more often than I am wrong, given time, I should do well enough.

So, I have to be very clear what is an investment and what is a speculation.

Having said this, I do allow myself to speculate but I keep speculations relatively small.





Apologies but AK is very long winded.

Finally, to me, structure and routine are not bad nor good things in retirement.

Some people have a greater need for them and some don't.

In retirement, we shouldn't have to worry and  we should be free to choose whatever makes us happy. :)

Related post:
Financial freedom or freedom in retirement?