If u had an extra $500/month...

[akrvbob]

The essential question is:

"What is a quality life?"

Is it living the longest? Os it having the most things? Is it being the most famous, the most powerful, making the most money? Is it having the most adventure and fun possible? Is it dying with the most glorious memories of a life lived deeply and fully?

Of course there are no right or wrong answers, every answer will be slightly different for every person. Sometimes they will be radically different.

What I do believe is wrong, is to never ask yourself the question, but to blindly follow what everyone else tells you is a quality life.

And even then, how free are you to think for yourself? From birth ("What will you be when you grow up?) to death we are each constantly told that the only quality life is the American Dream, (a "good, productive, citizen") nothing else is good or even acceptable. So very few of us can truly be sure that our answers to this all-important question is truly our answer; or is it just the answer that has been programmed into us?

Obviously we each must answer all these questions in the privacy of our own mind and heart. The only thing that matters is that we ask them and try to answer as honestly as we can.
Bob

 

[Sabatical]

Absolutely Bob. You always find a great way to get things across. We should always strive to be honest with ourselves.

 

[gcal]

The essential question is:

 Is it dying with the most glorious memories of a life lived deeply and fully.
Bob

That's  an interesting  question.  That's where honesty with oneself is important.  Sooner or later, health and finances are going to start taking our options away. Where are our decisions taking us and do we really want to go there? In other words, are we really running towards something we want or are we just running away from something we don't want.

 

[Bster13]

My biggest concern about retiring and becoming a nomad is the cost of healthcare outpacing inflation. If my medical insurance starts to take an ever increasing percentage of my budget, that'll be a big problem, and going back to work at my current salary won't be an option.

 

[Goshawk]

Interesting concerns about healthcare. And thinking many could use a radical education in hospice end-of-life decisions. Our American society is set up to take everything possible financially from you as you get aged and sicker. So do you compensate with a million dollar medical policy? Or do you accept you will die and deal with it via pain medication. -- do you live in a wheelchair as an old person? Or live bedridden for months and years? Many think that if you have enough money doctors can fix you. Not happening at 60 plus age. Have seen many killed by surgery process. It's a 50-50 coin flip if you will get better after 60. Many are willing to spend the insurance money and gamble on recovery

 

[akrvbob]

My current blog post is on this topic because of this thread. Basically, I said that many people live their lives so the last 10-20 years of their life will be golden, but that I don't. I live so that in the last 2 minutes of my life, when I have a moment of crystal-clear clarity of how I've lived, I can let go of this life full of peace and joy that i have lived it so fully and well with no regrets!
http://www.cheaprvliving.com/blog/what-is-a-quality-life/

 

[buckwilk]

The "American Dream" probably has as many variations as van dwelling does. That some chasing their idea of that dream try to influence others to join them or suffer the consequences goes without saying. The people who disagree with that lifestyle do exactly the same thing. The arguments are almost identical, which is right? That depends entirely on the individual. What is right for you may not be right for anyone else. The misunderstanding occurs on both sides of the argument. I remember once driving down the street with my wife sitting beside me in the car. A young lady with blue hair was standing waiting for the light. I commented that I didn't understand blue hair. My wife said " Maybe she's just trying to be her." That a lightening bolt of sudden understanding screamed through my brain would be an understatement. At that moment I realized I had been moving through life with blue hair. Suddenly the way people treated me and the way I treated people became more clear. That there is a lifestyle that everyone should live is not realistic. Everyone is trying to get on down the road the best they can. I wish I could say what I would do with an extra $500 a month, probably use it in the same manner I use my income now. As far as dedicating it to one thing, I think that's doubtful.