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The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. Things that make you think about life...

Things that make you think about life...

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion
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  • D Offline
    D Offline
    Doctor Phibes
    wrote on 20 Jan 2025, 20:33 last edited by Doctor Phibes
    #1

    So, I've worked with this guy in Germany for about 15 years. He's a sales engineer, and a very entertaining guy to hang out with. I know I make tired old jokes about Germans and their lack of humour, but this guy really disproved that, he was hilarious.

    I met up with him last year, and he was talking about all his plans for retirement, how he was going to run a small travel business, and he'd already started doing it a bit, hosting trips.

    I chatted briefly with him by email last Friday.

    This morning we get the announcement that he died in his sleep over the weekend. Completely out of the blue.

    Shit.

    I was only joking

    R 1 Reply Last reply 20 Jan 2025, 20:49
    • H Offline
      H Offline
      Horace
      wrote on 20 Jan 2025, 20:37 last edited by
      #2

      That's sad. RIP.

      Education is extremely important.

      1 Reply Last reply
      • J Offline
        J Offline
        jon-nyc
        wrote on 20 Jan 2025, 20:39 last edited by
        #3

        When I frequented the Early Retirement forums, this was a common theme. You’d hear about people that stayed too long and ‘died in the saddle’ as they would say, or were to infirm to enjoy their retirement when it finally came.

        Only non-witches get due process.

        • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
        1 Reply Last reply
        • D Doctor Phibes
          20 Jan 2025, 20:33

          So, I've worked with this guy in Germany for about 15 years. He's a sales engineer, and a very entertaining guy to hang out with. I know I make tired old jokes about Germans and their lack of humour, but this guy really disproved that, he was hilarious.

          I met up with him last year, and he was talking about all his plans for retirement, how he was going to run a small travel business, and he'd already started doing it a bit, hosting trips.

          I chatted briefly with him by email last Friday.

          This morning we get the announcement that he died in his sleep over the weekend. Completely out of the blue.

          Shit.

          R Offline
          R Offline
          Renauda
          wrote on 20 Jan 2025, 20:49 last edited by
          #4

          @Doctor-Phibes

          Happens all too often I’m afraid. Sorry to hear this, am certain he was one of those good men and women who deserve a long and healthy retirement.

          Elbows up!

          1 Reply Last reply
          • G Offline
            G Offline
            George K
            wrote on 20 Jan 2025, 20:57 last edited by
            #5

            Sorry to hear, Phibes.

            There are people who define themselves as what their profession was. I knew an OB who was diagnosed with kidney cancer - kept on working though he could have retired. I don't get it.

            Sounds like your associate had a good plan, it's a pity that it was cut short.

            "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

            The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

            1 Reply Last reply
            • M Offline
              M Offline
              Mik
              wrote on 20 Jan 2025, 21:00 last edited by
              #6

              Then there are those who cannot adjust to retirement and die soon after. All sad.

              But tomorrow is not guaranteed.

              “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

              1 Reply Last reply
              • D Offline
                D Offline
                Doctor Phibes
                wrote on 20 Jan 2025, 21:31 last edited by
                #7

                It's fair to say that he wasn't exactly workaholic, but he was great entertainment value.

                He taught me all about the use of the insult 'weichei'.

                During the lockdown, I logged onto a meeting with him and a rather serious German customer. He had this very industrial looking wallpaper as his back-screen, and with a cheeky smile asked if I knew what it was. The look of horror on the other German's faces when he told me it was the Peenemünde research facility had me literally crying with laughter during the meeting.

                I was only joking

                1 Reply Last reply
                • 8 Offline
                  8 Offline
                  89th
                  wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 04:16 last edited by
                  #8

                  Darn it, sorry to hear Doc. That's a shame.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • J Offline
                    J Offline
                    Jolly
                    wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 06:54 last edited by Jolly
                    #9

                    And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

                    There is no guarantee of tomorrow or even ten minutes from now. Live appropriately.

                    “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

                    Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • T Offline
                      T Offline
                      taiwan_girl
                      wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 15:26 last edited by
                      #10

                      A couple cliche, but still true:

                      You can't add time to the end of your retirement, only to the beginning.

                      No one on their deathbed ever said that they wished they would have spent more time at the office.

                      G M 2 Replies Last reply 21 Jan 2025, 16:37
                      • T taiwan_girl
                        21 Jan 2025, 15:26

                        A couple cliche, but still true:

                        You can't add time to the end of your retirement, only to the beginning.

                        No one on their deathbed ever said that they wished they would have spent more time at the office.

                        G Offline
                        G Offline
                        George K
                        wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 16:37 last edited by
                        #11

                        @taiwan_girl said in Things that make you think about life...:

                        You can't add time to the end of your retirement, only to the beginning.

                        I'd never heard that! So true.

                        I was able to stop taking call and work part time at age 64. Made all the difference. Then, a year later, I said, "Why bother at all?"

                        "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                        The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        • 8 Offline
                          8 Offline
                          89th
                          wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 17:43 last edited by
                          #12

                          My goal is to retire in 15 years, if the market does better, perhaps earlier. I'd be 57. My wife said I'll get bored, but I've never been that personality, I have so many other things I'd rather do during the day... golf, workout, watch movies or tv, read classics, write, photography, hike, swim, get a massage, sleep in, travel... man oh man I would never ever get bored.

                          G 1 Reply Last reply 21 Jan 2025, 17:53
                          • 8 89th
                            21 Jan 2025, 17:43

                            My goal is to retire in 15 years, if the market does better, perhaps earlier. I'd be 57. My wife said I'll get bored, but I've never been that personality, I have so many other things I'd rather do during the day... golf, workout, watch movies or tv, read classics, write, photography, hike, swim, get a massage, sleep in, travel... man oh man I would never ever get bored.

                            G Offline
                            G Offline
                            George K
                            wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 17:53 last edited by
                            #13

                            @89th said in Things that make you think about life...:

                            My goal is to retire in 15 years, if the market does better, perhaps earlier. I'd be 57.

                            I could have retired at 60 - except health insurance was unaffordable. My group covered me until I turned 65. That's the only reason I kept gong for another 4 years.

                            Boredom is not an issue for me either.

                            "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                            The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                            AxtremusA 1 Reply Last reply 21 Jan 2025, 23:12
                            • H Offline
                              H Offline
                              Horace
                              wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 17:54 last edited by
                              #14

                              My primary hobby of sitting on a chair in the middle of the room and staring at the wall, seems inexhaustible. It pains me to be torn away from it by work and other things.

                              Education is extremely important.

                              M 1 Reply Last reply 22 Jan 2025, 01:53
                              • D Offline
                                D Offline
                                Doctor Phibes
                                wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 18:38 last edited by
                                #15

                                I'd retire this year if it wasn't for the cost of health insurance.

                                I was only joking

                                CopperC 1 Reply Last reply 21 Jan 2025, 19:31
                                • J Offline
                                  J Offline
                                  Jolly
                                  wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 19:16 last edited by
                                  #16

                                  Signed my first papers at 52.

                                  I still work PRN.

                                  “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

                                  Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

                                  D 1 Reply Last reply 21 Jan 2025, 19:37
                                  • D Doctor Phibes
                                    21 Jan 2025, 18:38

                                    I'd retire this year if it wasn't for the cost of health insurance.

                                    CopperC Offline
                                    CopperC Offline
                                    Copper
                                    wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 19:31 last edited by
                                    #17

                                    @Doctor-Phibes said in Things that make you think about life...:

                                    health insurance.

                                    check obamacare

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    • J Jolly
                                      21 Jan 2025, 19:16

                                      Signed my first papers at 52.

                                      I still work PRN.

                                      D Offline
                                      D Offline
                                      Doctor Phibes
                                      wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 19:37 last edited by
                                      #18

                                      @Jolly said in Things that make you think about life...:

                                      Signed my first papers at 52.

                                      I still work PRN.

                                      I'd still happily work p/t if I retired, just not at what I do now.

                                      I was only joking

                                      CopperC R J 3 Replies Last reply 21 Jan 2025, 20:51
                                      • J Offline
                                        J Offline
                                        jon-nyc
                                        wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 20:23 last edited by jon-nyc
                                        #19

                                        I threw in the towel at 44. Special circumstances of course. My plan always (since I was probably 20) had been 50.

                                        Only non-witches get due process.

                                        • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        • H Offline
                                          H Offline
                                          Horace
                                          wrote on 21 Jan 2025, 20:34 last edited by
                                          #20

                                          I'll keep doing this as long as they let me.

                                          Education is extremely important.

                                          AxtremusA 1 Reply Last reply 21 Jan 2025, 23:14
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