Category: afPrime

##[18]aft70: spend%%spare time meaningfully

Posted on by tiger40490

k_rikigai_via_nonprofits

Holy grail — Long-term sustainable (hopefully intrinsic) motivation + modest level of expertise, with reliable (albeit low) income and (a bit of) social value.

I need a purpose, a goal to work towards… Without it, the absence of a … job would create a void. Depression, lack of purpose, loss of energy. None of the below is easily achievable or easily available. Whichever I choose, need to work towards it.

  • Research would be ideal. I have proven aptitude in theoretical domains ..
  • xp: I think the RTS/NYSE work has more meaning as it impacts more users.
  • xp: devops effort has proven value to the local team
  • I might consider joining a start-up, which provides employment and learning opportunity for younger workers (perhaps in their 50’s?)
  • Teach (online) — Chinese/English, with emphasis on writing and vocab
  • Teach (online) — programming? threading, data struct, algo
  • Teach — statistical data analysis, If not outdated..
  • Teach — enterprise app design, If not outdated? Too competitive. They may not take in an old programmer.
  • Teach — financial math? After 70?
    • ▼this domain is too competitive and entry barrier too high. A lot of effort to cross it but demand is low.
    • ▼Limited practical value. more specialized, but growing demand.
    • ▼I feel I need interaction with people.
  • Two-way translation service, but I prefer interactions.
  • Chinese medicine?

Tim (RTS), a friend in his 50’s gave 3 points

  1. earn a salary to help kids pay student loan
  2. sight seeing world wide — costs a lot
  3. volunteering

[23]def[r-ikigai] #worldNeed

Posted on by tiger40490

Selling insurance provides human interaction [Look at Colin Lim] and also has a social value i.e. needed by the community

k_teaching_as_career .. k_rikigai_via_nonprofits .. k_my_adapted_jargon

See also

Below are my free-flow answers to the 4+5 questions. I want the 9 answers to be independent and free of interference, so I will use colors and placements to separate the sections.

perhaps it would be more effective to develop some Deep hobbies early in life, such as writing, playing pop songs, yoga, painting,,,
It requires strategic planning and heavy t-investment

— ikigai .. The Japanese word has no Chinese origin, and completely opaque, but I still like it because there are many searchable online resources.

I don’t like to be /shackled/ by a complex phrase, and the complex phrase has different meanings in Japanese vs English online literature [1]. Therefore I would try to invent my own version of phrase … r-ikigai meaning ikigai from pre-retirement to the golden years.

[1] In the same vein, “EQ” has different meanings in Chinese vs English online literature.

— Feature 3 (socialVal) .. the least analyzed /dimension/.  I suspect that many things that “the world needs” lack a business model i.e. Feature 4. Therefore, combing Feature3+4 is a strategic challenge, but I suspect that after I retire (in my 70s), socialVal will be the most “bendable”, softest criteria for my r-ikigai. Probably every paid job available to me would have non-zero socialValue.

If your r-ikigai has a bit higher socialVal then you could expect more “in-demand” more engagement, more meaningful interactions with a wider range of people, more visible (unlikely) impact on the “world” i.e. your community, (slightly) more media coverage and more goodwill assistance,,,, but these “surprises” are 锦上添花. I bet that is a nonprofit r-ikigai.

  • fund raising for a non-profit
  • help out in the library
  • teach in the community club

— Feature 4 (paid) .. In the retirement context (in my 70’s), Q4 is the make-or-break question or the sustainability question. Even with minimal F1/F2, if I can find a reasonable “job” to keep me engaged, it would provide the human interaction, the discipline/regulation/routine I need … for years.

  • private tutor for math, physics
  • teach Chinese/English to adults or kids
  • teach yoga, esp. to older, less flexible people
  • freelancing
  • AMB
  • office building security guard
  • writing for a newspaper/magazine/website, for a small fee
  • busking

— Feature 1 (passion)

  • find raw veg and make them more appealing
  • discuss pff… as a salesman for some organization like Endowus/CPF
  • fund raiser
  • DIY home improvement, esp. where replacing can be costly. Enjoyable even though no strong F2/F4. Can help me save cost, but hard to earn a fee

— Feature 5 (human interacction) .. Genn observed that in retirmeent, men tend to be less sociable. They might be uninterested in group activities.

— Mostly based on https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/15/67-year-old-who-unretired-at-62-shares-the-biggest-retirement-challenge-that-no-one-talks-about.html

The author “helped countless retirees find their purpose. They didn’t go back to work in the traditional 9-to-5 sense, but they set up new businesses, consulted, volunteered(popular among SG retirees) and took on hobbies.” in that order, which is a ranking by rarity.

The Westernized version of ikigai is based on the idea that there are four components a person must have complete to achieve ikigai. Each concept is represented by a question. As you actively pursue what you enjoy doing in service of yourself, your family, and your community, think about whether that activity allows you to answer “yes” to any combination of those four questions:

  1. Are you doing an activity that you love can tolerate indefinitely?
  2. Do you or will you have the minimum competency in it? In some cases, you can be mediocre and still check  the other 3 boxes.. you better check this box too 🙂  Some “minimums” are very low like manual labor
  3. Does the world need what you offer? A yes-item may be “money-free”
  4. Can you get paid for doing it? A yes-item may have minimal social value i.e. world doesn’t really need it, but someone surely need it badly enough to pay a fee.
  5. (A G3 pillar for me) Does it provide human interaction to fend off isolation and maintain my mental health

Japanese neuroscientist and happiness expert Ken Mogi also suggests considering if the activity has the five pillars that further allow your ikigai to thrive:

  1. Does the activity allow you to start small and improve over time?
  2. [vague] Does the activity allow you to enjoy the little things?
  3. Does the activity allow you to focus on the here and now?
  4. [vague] Does the activity pursue harmony and sustainability?
  5. [vague] Does the activity allow you to release yourself ? (from your obsessions/tension/conflicts?) Another site phrased it as”Accepting yourself”

The same article also pointed out that retirement cashflow is not the main challenge. Human interactions, recreation, engagement … are harder. See nonprofit for human interaction

[24]nonprofit r-ikigai #human interaction

Posted on by tiger40490

k_rikigai_via_nonprofits ,,, k_arthur_brooks

Background: r-ikigai is hard to achieve with those 4 pillars. For me (and other retirees), nonprofits can 1) provide income, however tiny or adhoc, 2) satisfy world-need 3) meet personal interests 4) utilize my strengths [experience, talent].

More important than income is human-interaction, the /antithesis/ of isolation, and the focus of this bpost.

— my unique need for interaction.. Each retiree is different. For myself, I foresee a clear personal Need for human interaction once I stop commuting to an office every morning. I sense the same need in Arthur Brooks.

Once I recognize this personal need, I will allocate my (financial and time) resources. I will reduce allocation to “retiring in style” such as sight-seeing, food, housing, fashion

Human interaction is not limited to my own family or old friends.  I want to make new friends, and have wider social interactions.

— idea: donation .. I feel if you donate to a suitable organization, they would engage with you and get you involved.

Avoid donations without human interaction!

You have limited fund. The smaller recipients probably appreciate small donations, so you can spread out your donations and find those recipients that /reciprocate/ by providing social interaction to me. This is NOT selfish at all. Every donor should know what matters to him/her.

— idea: paid professional work for a nonprofit .. these clients/employers pay rather low, and are less picky.
* IT
* writing, translation
* book keeping

— idea: paid unskilled work for a nonprofit .. trading time for money
* fund raising
* cold calling

[[100Y lifestyle]]

Posted on by tiger40490

See also [1] hour-level time freedom

The author, Eric.Plasker, has a comprehensive view of the topic, better than my own. (This contrast reminds of my Q&A with Henry.Luo about database turning, when Henry said the main thing is index.)

Jolt: The “lifestyle assessment” is thought-provoking, incisive, and a seed of multiple self-analyses, although some of Plasker’s keywords are ambiguous (explained in his subsequent chapters).

(The question numbers below are NOT Plaker’s.)

Q: Do you feel good about your current health condition?
%%A: I feel “always”, though my (or anyone’s) health condition at my age always has weaknesses. This question is more about “feel good”, which is a “perception_of_reality”.

Sexual health is a huge part of “feel good”, but here I need serenity + zqbx.

Q: Do you live in a peaceful (stress-free) home environment?
%%A: “Stress-free” is impossible in a home with kids, so I think “Always” is not for parents with kids. I feel “almost always peaceful”.

Q: Are you surrounded by supportive relationships at home and at work?
%%A: I feel “always”. Relationships at home and at work are more functional. Another form of functional supportive relationship is healthcare (including nursing homes).
%%A: The more emotionally supportive relationships tend to show less “functional overlap” with me, such as grandparents, friends, colleagues from unrelated departments, often just passive listeners for me, but I suspect these relationships are far less crucial.

Q: Have you achieved the balance you are looking for
%%A: “The balance” is personal, and different for each, often about successE, successC, breakaway,,. The balance I am looking for was documented in many bposts. As such, I feel I have achieved it.

Q33a: Are you excited about the possibility of living to 100?
%%A: I feel “nearly always”. I feel “always positive”, looking forward to it. It is impossible to be always excited about anything, because by definition excitement is a burst of feeling.

Q33b: Do you have many goals that you would like to achieve over your extended life?
%%A: currently, I have a few vague goals for my retirement life, but not for my twilight years. Now I think clear goals for my entire extended life can be a life-enhancing motivation.

Q33c: Do you have a clear picture of how you want to use your time during your extended life?
%%A: I feel yes for my pre-retirement years, but no for my retirement years. See [1].

Q33d: Are you passionate about work and the way you earn money?
%%A: In my later career, I need work to fill my time, to provide engagement. A meaningful, engaging occupation is central to my later life. See [1]. I’m always deeply passionate about it.

##develop enjoyment].. #gam`,Creative art..

Posted on by tiger40490

 

k_soul_search

This blogpost is hard to remember and needs a better title. It touches on health, tcost and $cost.

— blessing or curse

  • #1 The fact that I have low appetite for some addictive bad food (like sugary drinks or alcohol, fried finger foods, coffee) is more a blessing than a curse, esp. for long-term wellness through retirement
    • I want to enjoy raw veg more. This is a blessing for sure.
  • #2 The fact that I don’t derive so much (addictive) pleasure from e-gaming[1] or gambling is more of a blessing than a curse.
  • The fact that I don’t derive so much pleasure from sight-seeing is more a blessing than a curse at this phase in my life. Sight-seeing costs time and money. The consumerist mass media portray it as high pleasure but I only feel something cheap and shallow. I find more pleasure in nearby natural sites like east coast.

If and when my appetite or libido stops responding naturally, then something is wrong in my “system”. It would deserve medical investigation and early intervention. More of a curse than blessing.

However, in 2021 I started noticing that I have stopped responding strongly to enticing commercial foods. Not sure how irreversible. I feel it is a blessing than a curse.

— [1] e-gaming … I see my son suffering when he feels that his classmates all have more gaming time than he has. I can see he really enjoys some of those games, and he wanted to improve his hand-eye coordination to match his cohort, so he could derive as much pleasure from the same game as his cohort.

For me, I find that pleasure second-class, inferior, unappealing … Virtual means fake to me. I feel extremely lucky.

These games cost money and health.

These games also costs hours and hours of disposable time. Many young men actually regret (rmSelf) spending that much time, even though their xpSelf probably had a good time.

Here’s a stark contrast. As I stroll into my fat-n-happy career phase, my carefre ezlife, I want 8~9 hours of sleep a day, not 6~7. (I also want to spend more hours with my wife.) This is completely wholesome and life-enhancing. The xpSelf and rmSelf are in agreement.
— movies
As I age I derive less pleasure from movies and TV dramas (cf grandpa). This trend now feels more like a curse than a blessing. ERE author also said that he derives less pleasure from a fancy restaurant meal as his cooking skill improves.

— creative arts, as an minimally-acceptable r-ikigai [human interactio, but no pay, no socialValue, no talent]
I want to derive more pleasure from creative arts such as music making, visual art making and writing.

They can be solitary or social.

Note most of these have limited commercial value and require a lot of learning.

I think this can be valuable in retirement.
— Dancing, singing… not creative but more health benefits.

hour-level time freedom #failureZ,retire,successE,,

Posted on by tiger40490

k_quietime k_def_of_success

Overall, time-freedom is a vague phrase, not a memorable impact phrase.

— financial freedom vs time freedom
Time-freedom is the Level 4 of ffree, and a part and parcel of ffree. Jacob of ERE asked

Q: freedom to … do what?
A: Jacob’s question was presumably about time freedom measured in months .

My idea of time-freedom is more granular, like hour-level:

  • blogg
  • successZ: techXX for career longevity and to keep the mind active
  • successZ: workout
  • failureZ: screen addiction, including random news and curiositySou
  • recreational reading, but for-a-purpose
  • recreational investing
  • see other energySinks

Like ffree, time freedom is highly personal. Once you have a better understanding of what it means to yourself, you may realize that you could realistically enjoy time freedom while employed, at least for a while.

Soon after retiring, you may realize that you want the _freedom_ to work in a team, on a engaging project i.e. return from retirement.

See also trading time for money, in the context of sustainable jobs.

— failureZ (flip side of the same coin known as time-freedom).. too much time freedom leads to unhealthy sleep patterns
Some retirees lose their daily schedule…

— successE … I feel hour-level time freedom is a non-trivial component of successE

— flexible work hours can lessen work stress, esp. if workload is lighter.

== retirement
— time-discipline due to work
If you love your job [personal interactions, engaging, purpose, in-demand,,,,], then yes your job will impose some welcome “time-discipline”.

Many retirees lose that discipline, and decline in health. See Lawrence Wong quoted in my blog

— daily commute .. a huge factor to _MY_ sense of time freedom. Paradoxically, some people treat the pockets of commute as personal quietime, as explained in the CNA article

Similarly, Flexible work hours prove to be another factor to my time freedom.

玩物丧志, 老年痴呆 #Jun.Z

Posted on by tiger40490
I probably can develop some variety of personal interests so that after retirement I have a busy life. 老年痴呆 (dementia) is a growing concern for anyone planning to live a very long life.
  • [e] take part in mid-sized software projects
  • [e] teach Chinese, English, math or programming, or perhaps physics .. hopefully engaging
  • selling things online?
  • [e = engagement is a key factor, giving rise to joy or meaning]
However, day trading is not widely recommended, some would say “a problematic hobby”. I kinda agree. That is why I said your son should watch out for 玩物丧志 in day trading.
— activities after full-retirement
  • raising pets
  • keep a small garden, if retiring in the U.S. .. but I think I will retire in Singapore.
  • blogging — I have been blogging for 10+ years
  • learn some music instruments, as my mother did
  • learn some drawing, as my mom did
  • 太极拳, 武术, dancing as a team performance sport … start at some age
  • basketball, boxing, yoga

##[17]retirement disposable time usage

Posted on by tiger40490

k_rikigai_via_nonprofits

See also my framework: Chore^Pleasure activities

Note this bpost is not about “spare time”. In retirement, most of the hours are “spare time”!

  • exercise in the park everyday .. like grandma
  • reflective blogging — likely to be a big time-killer
  • reading .. see below
  • sight-seeing, burning your cash reserve? Grandpa said he is physically unable to
  • — now the more productive endeavors:
  • volunteering for a worthy cause?
  • helping out as grandparents
  • ! … semi-retirement is clearly superior as I would have a real occupation with a commitment and a fixed work schedule

Grandpa pointed out that there are Actually-bigger factors than finding things to do

  1. cash flow
  2. health

— recreationalXX vs curiositySou

reading as a pastime? GP said at his age, he still loves reading and has many good books at home, but has insufficient physical energy

SGrn workers]40s: all-the-way despite low pay #w1r3

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“Most of them in the 40s are already stable and don’t want to quit. Even though the pay may not be so good, they’re willing to work all the way[1]. It’s an easy-going life.”

[1] I interpret “all the way” as all the way to retirement age or beyond, no change of direction, not giving in to boredom or stagnation, sticking to the chosen career despite occasional challenges (FOLB, pains, disappointments, setbacks).

I feel in this one-line description the stereotypical wage earner is not ambitious, often non-aggressive (even passive), often not so expensive. As such, this guy is often retained for his loyalty, value-for-money. This is by no means a general rule, not even the dominant pattern. Just look at Jack Zhang.

The observer was comparing SG (white or blue collar) employees across 3 or 4 age bands, and this is his/her brief observation of the cohort of 40-something. This observation is becoming increasingly descriptive of me… Semi-retired on the back of my passive income streams. Actually, my style of easy life is a common aspiration, even among my friends in a various age band:

  • Kun.Hu .. gave up on trader or desk quant domains. He gave many incisive explanations
  • XH.Fu .. really treasures his free time
  • H.Yi .. didn’t feel the need to earn higher and higher
  • Kam of RTS .. went to Swift