Skip to main content

I have nothing to do

 Now, that's a statement that can be made by anyone.

I say that when I was still working

I say that now that I am retired

But it has a very different meaning

Before retirement, saying you have nothing to do is probably born out of boredom that comes from too many things to want to try with too little time, where time is so short that its not enough to even do one thing.

With retirement and all the flexible time on hand, say you have nothing to do can still come from boredom, but it's a a different kind. 

With all the time on hand, you are limited by mostly the resources (mostly money lah) you have, as well as, if you are old fart like me, also limited by what your stiff joints and dwindling muscle mass allows.

So that naturally cuts down, from a theoretical unlimited list of things to a more reasonable list of things you can do.

And with all the time on hand, you can do all of it!

But you can still say you have nothing to do when someone asks what you are doing now.

It's a happy nothing to do state, not one that is unhappy, unfulfilled. It's a peaceful state. It's a state of freedom.

I have nothing to do now with my time, so I just laze around and rest and enjoy my coffee and my free air. And I look around my house and admire its beauty and grow some gratitude that I can live in a nice apartment while retired.

Isn't that beautiful, nothing to do?

Alas, this isn't how my days are all the time, if so, that's a big problem lol.

Enjoy your day 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Expenses of a middle-classy Singapore uncle with family

I don't know what exactly is considered middle-class in SG, but I figured its the fat range in the middle section if we were to line people up based on income. There will be a steep drop off from the bottom 5% and a steep surge from the top 5, and another galactic surge from the top 1%. Uncle is pretty sure I am in that middle chunk of 90%, and based on my estimation, should be in the front 30 percentile in this chunk. Now, this is how my expenses look like for myself (excluding what my wife contributes). The numbers are on per month and in SGD Car expenses (loan, insurance, maintenance, tax, fuel) = $2,500 Insurance premiums = $800 Utilities bill = $350 Mobile lines for 5 = $90 Home internet line = $30 Services (Netflix, Spotify, iCloud) = $60 Condo maintenance fees = $350 Property tax = $250 Groceries and take out meals = $1200 Allowance for my parent = $1000 Allowance for kiddos = $200 School fees for kiddos = $150 Tuition fees = $270 Piano, and music classes = $900 Sub-Total fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The joy of freedom

As a parent with young school going children, you want to be there for them all the time, being available when they need help, guidance, company etc. You also want to not miss major milestones, achievements, celebrations as they grow up.  This by itself is a luxury that not many parent can afford in Singapore. With most families having both parents working full time, what happens to their kids? When they are very very young (below school age), there's full day childcare, either with professionals or with extended family help. When they start going to school (primary, secondary), there's after school student care options, or someone could be at home (a grandparent), or a live-in domestic helper, or maybe even just the kids will be home alone after school and before parents leave office.  Then when you finally got vacation leave approved, maybe for 7-10 days a stretch, you plan efficiently for your family overseas trip, squeezing as much itinerary as you can possibly afford to, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Getting comfortable without a salary from working

 Not sure if I am there yet. Basically I am effectively drawing down my cash each month, primarily due to 2 things : mortgage and income tax mortgage (after CPF) is about $9k per month income tax is about $5k per month My investment cashflow covers all my other expenses, including utilities, groceries, handphone/internet bills, insurance, property taxes, condo maintenance fees, personal spending. With some input from wife who is still working, I am still out of pocket by almost $11k per month.  She will continue to be able to save a decent sum per month and I'll let her grow that and managed it for her via safe investments. Am I comfortable? Not really. I will if I am not out of pocket per month. If I really stop working for good, the income tax amount will go to $0 after 2025. So only mortgage left We can pay off the mortgage but I think I said before, it doesn't make sense since it's our home and we will be locking the money up with little leeway to do other things. So I ...
Post a Comment
Read more