My work environment had changed dramatically. My long-term employer switched from an employee focused company to a shareholder focused one. Along with that corporate change, my desire to retire accelerated, it was a change where I felt the consequences right away but severely underestimated the extent to my health. I bet the entire corporate world has underestimated their actions over the last decade or so.
Sixteen years have passed since my experience, and even now, thoughts still stray to retirement some day, but past naïve thoughts have evolved and I look forward to entirely different things and I am busier than ever. Retirement was not in the cards but a change in attitude certainly was and change in the right direction provides an abundance of satisfying opportunity.
AgingIsMyHobby.com started because of an “aging in place” renovation my wife and I tackled early in 2017. The planning stages date back much further. This is how a simple renovation became a small cog of a big mechanism and became part of an intensive journey of freedom in aging, or aging gracefully as some refer to, and like Freedom 55 but vastly different. My Freedom 55 only meant release from a shareholder based company but became a springboard to a much better life.
Planning is a great mental exercise and dreaming is most rewarding when awake and both great tools against dementia. In the process mistakes will happen and can be costly. We have uncovered several shortcuts, learned from so many mistakes and had fun discovering lots of cost savings. Now is the time to share our experiences with others that might have similar dreams. This is a story of our adventure in home renovations, retirement dreams, hurdles and accomplishments all focused on extended quality of life. We hope you share in this project by adding comments, questions or any other input, then we will all learn and grow and have fun with this as a community.