If you want to know what DIJATC means, go back to my blog that preceded this. ‘Bugger!’ you may say--- but come on, I need to get my hit rate up. I was talking to family and friends yesterday and I told them that once my blogs reach 2000 hits I (and that’s not so far away) we shall have a really nice dinner with expensive wine. I reckon a $40 plus bottle of New Zealand Pinot Noir will do the trick. For my lovely USA friends (who made blog history for me yesterday by outnumbering my Kiwi hits for the day). Mmmm--- that will be a subject of a whole new thread in future blogs.
Right, back to the reason for this blog. Like many others in the ‘Baby Boomer’ generation, retirement is just around the corner. Of course, I won’t be stopping work. My observations have led me to believe that ‘Counsellors’ (NZ spelling) have quite a long shelf-life, if they look after themselves. Hopefully, I will belong to that lucky group. Time will tell.
Either way, I will assume that it is best to ‘prepare now.’ I do not have a massive inheritance and I have not been a canny Scottish person, re my savings. True, I have made a few allowances, but it wouldn’t take more than a glance at my financial preparedness to see what camp I am in. Like many of ‘cohort, I need to get real. So here’s my plan. Laugh, cry, chuck in a bit of condescension and be judgmental if you wish, or surprise yourself by the admission, that you too face such a dilemma.
Lets pretend that we have about three years to retirement and that we only have very modest (or no) savings. SCARRY EH! But for many of the generation behind us, the situation is even worse, if they haven’t taken up the ‘Kiwi Saver,’ option. (God only knows what it’s like for you folks in the USA who haven’t made plans).
Are you ready to take stock? Look at your current spending habits. How much are you really spending on café outings or wine and gourmet food. It’s fine now, while you are still earning. Oops, I’m sounding like I have switched from focussing on myself and putting it all back on you. Well, if I do that, just assume that I am also talking about ‘me.’ Maybe all of those twats that ring me up (usually at dinner time, trying to sell me stuff--- bloody useless stuff, will realize that they are wasting their time). I doubt it, somehow. I bet there are many areas of our spending genre that far exceed our ‘needs.’ We have made our ‘wants’ transition into the absolute minimal ‘needs’ in order to sustain our very existence. I guess it has been a gradual process.
The simple fact is, that we will not be able to sustain this way of living. I think that this realization is going to be my new mantra. (Actually, I have never had one!). Where do I (we) start? The days of ‘Go West young man,’ don’t ring true anymore. For you in the USA, the west no longer holds the same promise and for us in NZ, well Australia may well be facing the same dilemma.
What I am going to say is not new or revolutionary, it is just a simple stamen of the obvious---we are going to have to settle for less. SO------DIJATC really is a call to action. Hehehhe--- next blog--- let me get my thoughts together and have a few more ‘Flat Whites.’ It’s OK--- for those who don’t know, Aussies and Kiwis know that it is not some sort of racist term--- it is the coffee style we both love as countries and no proud Aussie or Kiwi would be without it.
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