Sep 20, 2011

The Joy of Not Working Celebrates Retirement


On Friday evening 17 of my great friends and I celebrated the 20th anniversary of my self-publishing The Joy of Not Working, a book that celebrates retirement.

No, I did not have any 1982 Latour wine flown in from the U.S as I had joked about in a previous post. We, nevertheless, had a great time dining on great Italian food and going through about 7 liters of house wine at Rigolettos restaurant here in Edmonton.

I paid for everything. The whole affair, including a 20 percent tip, cost me a bit less than $1,000 whereas just one bottle of 1982 Latour would have cost $1,700 or more. One of the reasons that I pay for celebrations such as this is that studies show that people get a lot more satisfaction from spending money on experiences than on material things.

I brought along the various editions of The Joy of Not Working to the celebration, including the original edition in which was a dedication to around 20 people who were my volunteer editors back in 1991. Two of the volunteer editors, Jim Egler and Ross Bradford, were able to attend. Jim was not only one of my volunteer editors, he also took the photo of me that appeared on the back cover of the original edition and appears with this FB post. Jim only shot 4 frames that afternoon 20 years ago. All 4 photos were great, amazing given that Jim is not a professional photographer. I wanted to go with another of the 4 photos, but others preferred the one that appears here on this post and on the original edtion of the book.

Incidentally, the photo was taken on the patio of the original Rigoletto's restaurant in Rice Howard Way. That was a real glass of white wine and I was reading a great book about innovation called If it Ain't Broke ... Break It! by Robert J. Kriegel.

Today, I told my uncle about the celebration and how much it cost me. He immediately asked me, "So, how are you going to make the celebration pay for itself?" I told him that I was prosperous enough to pay for these things just for the experience but it, in fact, may pay for itself many times over.

As it turns out I was looking for someone to put together a spiritual book with me. I have this great book idea that should fly big time. Because I have two other important projects on the go, I would like someone to do most of the work and I will share the publishing profits with whoever does the work. The book is not all that hard to do but does require well-intentioned, sustained effort for about three months. I have several friends and acquaintance who I considered as a co-author but eventually concluded that they were not suited because they are not industrious and adventurous enough.

Three days before the celebration, however, I got a LinkedIn connection request from Sandy, a spiritual friend of mine who I had not heard from in two years or so and now lives in Calgary. So on a whim, I decided to invite Sandy to the celebration. Much to my surprise, Sandy decided to make a trip to Edmonton and join in the fun. I ran the spiritual book idea by Sandy and she loved it. Because Sandy has written 3 books and had them published, I know that she is dedicated and can complete projects. When I asked Sandy how long it would take her to complete my book idea, she replied, "Give me a deadline and I will have it done by then." This response alone convinced me that Sandy will do a great job and complete the project in excellence.

Anyway, when I told my uncle this, he responded with: "Even though you can easily pay for the celebration with the income you make, I knew you were going to have an answer about how the cost of the celebration will take care of itself many times over in the future."

Weird that my uncle would ask me the question in the first place and then give me the answer that he did. He claims he is not spiritual. Moreover, he doesn't believe in prosperity karma achieved by spending money in positive ways to create more prosperity in one's life — at least I don't think he does.

Here are some quotations about retirement and money to help you to semi-retire in style as I have done so that you don't need a full-time retirement job:
    It's never crowded along the path that will take you to destinations worth arriving at.
    Life's Secret Handbook by E.Z.

    You are only as rich as the enrichment you bring to the world around you.
    — Rajesh Setty

    Money will be your friend — like all friends — only if you treat it with great respect. Treat it with disrespect and you will always have financial difficulties. Haven't you noticed? People who don't respect money don't have any.
    — from The Lazy Person's Guide to Success

    "No organization — government or otherwise — can take great care of you. Organizations aren't capable of this — only you are!"
    — from Life's Secret Handbook

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