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@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
Mrs M has returned after a torrid 4 weeks with her terminally-ill mother and we didn't really have much of a family Christmas - it's been the longest we've been apart for 13 years. Arrived home looking tired and drawn and was just too knackered - even to be pampered.
We will chill out today (she'll be owning the TV) and do our traditional New Year's Eve meal tonight so that will mark a return to normality. Might go for a walk tomorrow if she's up for it.
Been really difficult, but the last month or two has also generated some great memories and intimate moments for us, which we'll keep, and there's a lot to look forward to in the coming months. So all, in all, I'd say we're both pretty content with the things in our lives.
The contentment in that post makes me smile.
Happy new year you filthy bastards (and loving husbands and fathers and mothers).
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
Mrs M has returned after a torrid 4 weeks with her terminally-ill mother and we didn't really have much of a family Christmas - it's been the longest we've been apart for 13 years. Arrived home looking tired and drawn and was just too knackered - even to be pampered.
We will chill out today (she'll be owning the TV) and do our traditional New Year's Eve meal tonight so that will mark a return to normality. Might go for a walk tomorrow if she's up for it.
Been really difficult, but the last month or two has also generated some great memories and intimate moments for us, which we'll keep, and there's a lot to look forward to in the coming months. So all, in all, I'd say we're both pretty content with the things in our lives.
High 10 to your high chin
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@MajorRage said in Happiness Scale:
@voodoo said in Happiness Scale:
@MajorRage said in Happiness Scale:
Great idea for a thread!
We did the lifestyle change 3.5 years ago. I had no regrets until this year, now I'm not so sure.
Love to hear you elaborate on that mate?
Basically, when we left Asia, we planned to come to the UK, and look to either buy or start a business. Both my wife and I had potential business partner & ideas. Anyway, my wife's idea was pretty much so beaten to by somebody up in Tooting which was going to make it difficult & mine was an automotive thing but after some research into the business I was looking at going partners in, I didn't get the feel that it was right. Or to be polite, the business was shit & my cash injection was really only going to cover some high interest short term debts (If anybody is seriously interested, happy to PM, but won't post (publicly).
So I went back into the rat race on a temporary measure, and then as a couple of things came up which we were looking into, Covid hit. And now it feels like we are treading water, with no easily visible way to get out of it.
I had to go internal at work (which provides stability, but a huge cash in hand cut from contracting) and now I'm spending my days stuck in political shit which I hate. Add to that, I don't get my dose of city life (London & Amsterdam) which I realise I needed to be happy.
Look, there's light at the end of the tunnel, and I've really no right to complain, but this simply isn't what I signed up for. Time will tell how 2021 will pan out. I love the UK and I love where we live. But not in Covid times. I happily signed up to the Brexit bullshit, but not this. Yeah, I know nobody did etc etc but we all have to deal with it in our own ways. It'll probably be 6 months till I see my folks again, but that will make it 18 months in total. Dad will have gone from 72 to 73.5 by then and his aging from 70-72 was pretty scary, so I've got to prepare myself for that as well.
I'm not far from content, but I'm not there.
Wife has launched her business!
Decent notch up the Happiness Scale!!!
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@MajorRage said in Happiness Scale:
@MajorRage said in Happiness Scale:
@voodoo said in Happiness Scale:
@MajorRage said in Happiness Scale:
Great idea for a thread!
We did the lifestyle change 3.5 years ago. I had no regrets until this year, now I'm not so sure.
Love to hear you elaborate on that mate?
Basically, when we left Asia, we planned to come to the UK, and look to either buy or start a business. Both my wife and I had potential business partner & ideas. Anyway, my wife's idea was pretty much so beaten to by somebody up in Tooting which was going to make it difficult & mine was an automotive thing but after some research into the business I was looking at going partners in, I didn't get the feel that it was right. Or to be polite, the business was shit & my cash injection was really only going to cover some high interest short term debts (If anybody is seriously interested, happy to PM, but won't post (publicly).
So I went back into the rat race on a temporary measure, and then as a couple of things came up which we were looking into, Covid hit. And now it feels like we are treading water, with no easily visible way to get out of it.
I had to go internal at work (which provides stability, but a huge cash in hand cut from contracting) and now I'm spending my days stuck in political shit which I hate. Add to that, I don't get my dose of city life (London & Amsterdam) which I realise I needed to be happy.
Look, there's light at the end of the tunnel, and I've really no right to complain, but this simply isn't what I signed up for. Time will tell how 2021 will pan out. I love the UK and I love where we live. But not in Covid times. I happily signed up to the Brexit bullshit, but not this. Yeah, I know nobody did etc etc but we all have to deal with it in our own ways. It'll probably be 6 months till I see my folks again, but that will make it 18 months in total. Dad will have gone from 72 to 73.5 by then and his aging from 70-72 was pretty scary, so I've got to prepare myself for that as well.
I'm not far from content, but I'm not there.
Wife has launched her business!
Decent notch up the Happiness Scale!!!
Good stuff! What is she doing?
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Just been skiing
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This post is deleted!
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@canefan said in Happiness Scale:
Started the new year with a pretty high rating. I've come to the conclusion we simply need to work less
Fucken ay. Wife started her new role as manager and she's relieved she doesn't have to deal with the old duck she replaced, but has found other things to stress about. Because that's what she does.
Meanwhile, I'm clocking in maybe five hours a day of good stuff to keep the wheels turning enough to make me look awesome.
I'm never going back to the office full-time. A mate of mine from the Rugby club works nearby, and is thinking of selling his house here and moving up the central coast into their investment place.
Now I'm thinking about buying an investment place up the coast and moving there when the kids are done with high school 🤔
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@NTA said in Happiness Scale:
@canefan said in Happiness Scale:
Started the new year with a pretty high rating. I've come to the conclusion we simply need to work less
Fucken ay. Wife started her new role as manager and she's relieved she doesn't have to deal with the old duck she replaced, but has found other things to stress about. Because that's what she does.
Meanwhile, I'm clocking in maybe five hours a day of good stuff to keep the wheels turning enough to make me look awesome.
I'm never going back to the office full-time. A mate of mine from the Rugby club works nearby, and is thinking of selling his house here and moving up the central coast into their investment place.
Now I'm thinking about buying an investment place up the coast and moving there when the kids are done with high school 🤔
Balance is so hard. But when Mrs CF is not working she is much more receptive to work. If you know what I mean....
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@NTA said in Happiness Scale:
@canefan said in Happiness Scale:
But when Mrs CF is not working she is much more receptive to work. If you know what I mean....
I think I do. But for me that is just a theory, and don't think it is likely to change 🤷♂️
We are nothing but opportunists
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@canefan said in Happiness Scale:
@NTA said in Happiness Scale:
@canefan said in Happiness Scale:
But when Mrs CF is not working she is much more receptive to work. If you know what I mean....
I think I do. But for me that is just a theory, and don't think it is likely to change 🤷♂️
We are nothing but opportunists
Dirty, maniacal sex opportunists
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@NTA I've just done the same! Re-read this thread that is, not hit that Reddit forum
Boy did we cover some ground. Workplace pay structures, bedroom antics, wives trying to kill us, magic retirement numbers needed from lotto. Good stuff.
By way of update, we have settled right back into the hectic Sydney life of busy jobs and crazy kid schedules. Wife starts a new job in 2 weeks, and it looks like I've lined something up to start immediately after I finish my current gig in April - different sector, super interesting, less comp initially but lots of potential. Scary but exciting! Not confirmed yet, but 🤞
I think we have just accepted that life is going to be mostly-happy carnage until the kids finish school. After that we can do whatever we want. We will still be young enough in our early 50's and hopefully healthy enough to enjoy it.
In the interim, just keeping trucking on assuming! And assuming this new job comes off, Covid may end up doing us a favour with the new WFH regime making stuff a lot easier to balance.
Hope 2021 has started well for you guys
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@voodoo said in Happiness Scale:
I think we have just accepted that life is going to be mostly-happy carnage until the kids finish school. After that we can do whatever we want. We will still be young enough in our early 50's and hopefully healthy enough to enjoy it.
The potential trap is in "whatever we want" being changed significantly, depending how things have evolved.
I want to make sure something solid is there on which to continue when the kids leave the nest, and that requires healthy continuation of The Relationship.
I'm not talking about The Marriage; I posit that The Marriage to me is a combination of The Relationship, kids and household etc. It isn't all of The Relationship, because part of that existed before The Marriage. So in a Venn diagram they don't overlap 100%
A few older couples get a shock when the kids fly free, because the underlying basis of their interactions got lost when kids came along, becoming more about the family unit rather than The Relationship with each other.
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@NTA no doubt, the relationship is a constantly evolving thing, and I reckon 90% of parents go through some form of struggle when the kids finally leave the nest for good.
I cant bring myself to worry about that now - the relationship is good at the moment, and if 2020 has taught me anything, it is to savour the now and not to stress about stuff years (even months!) ahead that I really can't control.
I plan to sort the finances out, help the kids as much as possible, then just see what happens!
In the interim, I'll drink much beer and wine, and come here to the Fern when shit doesn't work out like it should
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Ok I've only got as far as people saying 3 mill isn't enough to stop working and m4l saying 2 mill would hardly change his life and fucken hell I'm flabbergasted.
What the fuck do you guys earn and spend on that you couldn't live off 50k a year for the next 60 years?
I could easily turn 1 mill pounds into pretty much retirement with the odd spot of work on property or what have you here and there.
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@Bones said in Happiness Scale:
Ok I've only got as far as people saying 3 mill isn't enough to stop working and m4l saying 2 mill would hardly change his life and fucken hell I'm flabbergasted.
What the fuck do you guys earn and spend on that you couldn't live off 50k a year for the next 60 years?
I could easily turn 1 mill pounds into pretty much retirement with the odd spot of work on property or what have you here and there.
IIt's gotta be travel, doesn't it? You take all that free time and that's probably a good 3-4 trips away each year, each for a few weeks. To my mind, that averages out at ~5000 quid per trip unless your only holiday destination is Vietnam or Laos.
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@Bones As I am closer than most to retirement I have probably been giving more thought to this than the average Ferner.
I am aiming to have an income of $70K plus my pension. I figure this will allow me to live comfortably for a couple of decades.
As @junior says a lot of it is travel. I budget for two long haul overseas trips and half a dozen domestic p.a.
COVID permitting.....
Happiness Scale
