Survival strategies

More Random Thoughts on Retirement – September 2023

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Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Steve Jobs

The older I get the more I think about retirement. But some things in this life should take a while to make decisions about and retirement is definitely one of those things. I made my decision on retirement 4 years ago when I decided not to retire. Recently, I made my second decision about retirement when I again decided not to retire. But it’s never too early to start thinking about various aspects of retirement as in what you want to retire to. I want to retire to a quiet life of blogging and writing my Future Best Seller tentatively titled The Man Who Had No Hobbies.

The time had come to upgrade my workstation.

Here’s the workstation for my Day Job.

And here’s my new personal workstation setup (yeah, looks the same).

My old Windows 7 machine was nearing the end. At the bottom left of the picture you can see it still sitting on the floor. I’ve upgraded to a Windows 11 laptop, docking station, and two extra monitors. I should be good until Windows 20 now.

For other random retirement thoughts go to https://garyskitchen.net/. At one point I may combine the two into a single blog.

Maybe when I’m retired.

Nature Wants Us to be Fat

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Evidence that Obesity and Diabetes are Driven by a Diet-Induced Biological Switch: How it Works and How it Might be Prevented — https://www.vumedi.com/video/evidence-that-obesity-and-diabetes-are-driven-by-a-diet-induced-biological-switch-how-it-works-and-h/

Blog post title is the same as the title of Dr. Richard J. Johnson’s book. The link takes you to a video that is approximately 37 minutes long. Enjoy!

Social isolation and Lower Brain Volume

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The people with the lowest amount of social contact had overall brain volume that was significantly lower than those with the most social contact. The total brain volume, or the sum of white and grey matter, as a percentage of the total intracranial volume, or the volume within the cranium, including the brain, meninges, and cerebrospinal fluid, was 67.3% in the lowest contact group compared to 67.8% in the highest contact group. They also had lower volumes in areas of the brain such as the hippocampus and amygdala that play a role in memory and are affected by dementia.

The study does not prove that social isolation causes brain shrinkage; it only shows an association.

Social isolation linked to lower brain volume — American Academy of Neurology. “Social isolation linked to lower brain volume.” ScienceDaily https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230712165229.htm (accessed July 13, 2023).

Yikes!

Save as Much as You Can Because Whatever You Manage to Save Will Never Be Enough – Random Thoughts on Retirement

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As a gentle reminder to readers who may be visiting this blog for the first time my Random Thoughts About Retirement are written by an Old Guy who is old enough to be retired but isn’t retired and is still working. To be clear, saving as much as you can is different than saving more. I come across way too much “financial advice” that emphasizes saving more for retirement as the hands down absolute solution for a secure retirement. Saving more is typically followed by advice to spend less. Well life keeps getting more expensive so it’s getting harder to save more AND spend less.

So save as much as you can. That’s it. That’s the post.

Where Gen Z is Buying Homes

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At 22.59%, Salt Lake City has the largest share of mortgage requests from Gen Zers. Though the average mortgage amount in Salt Lake City is higher than in many of the nation’s other large metros, it’s a hot spot for younger homebuyers, likely owing to — among other factors — its strong jobs market and a good blend of urban and rural amenities.

After Salt Lake City, relatively inexpensive Oklahoma City and Birmingham, Ala., are the next most popular metros among Gen Z buyers. Respectively, 22.36% and 20.79% of mortgage requests in these two metros come from Gen Zers.

Most Popular Metros for Gen Z Homebuyers — https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/the-most-popular-us-cities-for-gen-z-homebuyers-ranked/

Where Are These People Coming From?

Is it the food? We have Chef Andrew Black of Grey Sweater, James Beard Best Chef Southwest – Andrew Black brings Best Chef: Southwest James Beard Award home to Oklahoma City – https://www.oklahoman.com/story/lifestyle/food/2023/06/05/james-beard-award-2023-winners-andrew-black-best-chef-southwest/70289770007/

Could it be the lower cost of living or because Oklahoma is producing 64 times more marijuana than licensed users consume – The Oklahoman

Nah, probably the catfish.

Random Thoughts on Retirement – aka The Dot Project

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Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Steve Jobs

While writing random retirement thoughts the other day I noticed the similarities between A Plan is Not a Strategy – Update 08.03.22 and my Dot Project. Harvard Prof Robert Martin discusses how planning and strategy are different and that “integrative choices” collectively become strategy. These integrative choices are significant decisions you have made or choose to make that have life altering consequences. I come from a humble background and tend to shy away from BIG FANCY WORDS used by intellectuals and others who want to appear smarter than they truly are. So for me these choices or life decisions are Dots.

Dots. Big Dots. Little Dots. Even Do Nothing Dots where you decide not to do something are Dots. The decision not to do something can be as important to life outcomes as a decision to do something. The problem as Jobs tells it is true. You can only connect your Dots when looking backwards.

I started my Dot Project writing six years ago and got as far as jotting down Dots in my journal as writing prompts. So far I’ve documented about a dozen Dots but never got around to actually writing anything about them. Until today. I’ve reached the point in life where I am able to look backwards and Connect My Dots. My hope is the reader will find these insights to be useful in your own journey. My second hope is that my children and their children find my Dot Project and learn a tad bit more about where they came from.

The Dot Project and Random Thoughts on Retirement are one and the same. Next up – Save as Much as You Can Because Whatever You Manage to Save Will Never Be Enough – Random Thoughts on Retirement.