It's a hell of a milestone and I find myself in a reflective mood. So, the old and wise of the Core, what say you?
First, Happy Birthday!
Second, you are at the Prime of Life: enough miles to have real experience and wisdom, but the chassis hasn't rusted out. Really enjoy it. You will meet many younger people who are brilliant but jut don't have the life experience you do. It gives you an edge.
Third, things start rattling lose at about 45.
If it is not too late, don't do it - stay 39
Otherwise, happy birthday
Its just a number - if we had all been born with 12 fingers you would only be 34
Yes Happy Birthday... enjoy your 40's . I am.
If you have any major physical goals still on the list, do them now. You can sit and watch football/films/read later in life.
QuoteThird, things start rattling lose at about 45.
'Bout right. Getting too many injuries at 47.
Quote from: 4Eyes on October 28, 2011, 11:21:09 PM
If it is not too late, don't do it - stay 39
Otherwise, happy birthday
Its just a number - if we had all been born with 12 fingers you would only be 34
I love that. I shall bed using that myself... Particularly around the beginning of next year
I'd enjoy it, a great age where everything comes together.
It's a great time to get prepared for the coming years, things can start to drop to bits a little as you approach 50, sorry to have to tell you.
Personally I would spend the next few years laying a foundation of fitness that will carry you through, you need to be able to skip up a flight of stairs not just walk up. Boxing made a big impact for me, good for cardio fitness, very relaxing and most importantly makes you "sharp". I think the danger is that as the years progress you can start to plod, find something that will put a spring in your step.
Extra inch thing is a myth, that doesn't happen until 48 ;)
I'm 40. It's not a bad age at all.
>a reflective mood.
I'm not particularly a fan of country, but it's a good message.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSGLZd9Vg4
Happy Birthday :)
40 is fine - you get a big cake and some good pressies. 41 is depressing - plan to do something fun for next year!
Forties were good - I echo the 'do something demanding while you still can' message if you have any ambitions to trek the Darien Gap or ski Corbett's Couloir. Enjoy them.
(Fifties are actually not as bad as I had feared...)
QuoteSo, the old and wise of the Core, what say you?
Pretty much time to stop buying green bananas John.
Happy Birthday John! Only 37 here, so I will refrain from giving advice :)
I'd echo what NFFC said tough, getting in better shape is definitely a wise move. Doesn't get any easier over the years.
Happy b-day, LM. The forties are pretty easy, I whizzed through them thinking I was bulletproof. About the time of pubcon1, I hit 50 and was still doing A-OK. Now I'm 61 and it's starting to suck a little bit.
But, yeah, I have a few tips:
A#1: Put your household finances on Quickbooks (or similar full accounting program, not just checking). Do this NOW!
(Remember that story about Miles Clark?) Selling too soon is a good strategy.
Don't hire family. Make them work for others then hire them once they've proven their worth (to themselves and to you, but mostly to themselves) elsewhere.
Unless something is truly disposable, only use the absolute best quality materials/services. When working on a project I ask myself "How much would I pay to never have to do this again?" You'd be surprised how that changes your perspective on what you're willing to spend.
Write instructions and notes for your future self. (You suck at documentation, LM. hhh)
Spend on experiences, not things.
Happy bday lm, just turned 41 this year myself.
Recently it seems I'm shocked almost daily at things that seem like were just yesterday, but happened like 1 or 2 decades ago.
Great advice in this thread, keep it coming!
Please help me out, RC. I don't know the story of Miles Clark that you refer to.
Why so keen on the Quickbooks thing RC?
>Miles Clark
Oops, sorry. Here's a cut-n-paste from the old core:
For a very small town, my hometown had more than its share of significant wealth (relative to the current time). About 50 years ago, one of our big ones was Miles Clark. Sort of our local Warren Buffet. In a nutshell, as I understand it, he cornered Texaco Oil Company by acquiring all their shipping contracts and they had to buy him out because all distribution had to go through him. Anyway, he eventually became oil-magnate wealthy and he continued to leverage that wealth after he was out of the shipping business.
When asked how he'd built his wealth, he replied "I always sold too soon."
If I had to name the biggest fault my extended family has had in making money, it would be "hanging on too long." Sometimes the reason is financial (it's worth more than that!) or sometimes sentimental (but it's the FAMILY business!). That's why the quote struck me as worthwhile. There are several businesses and properties we should have sold over the years, yet we held on to them. Now they are in decline and will fetch far less (though we recouped some of that in rents while we held them). Looking around, the families that I see progressing financially tend to change "careers" by dropping their namesake businesses and moving into new or related fields.
<added>
>Quickbooks
Most people really don't have a very good idea of their finances. They think they do, but financial planners usually find that their clients are off by a mile. A full, but simple, accounting package let's you set up business-like bookkeeping on your personal assets and liabilities. Hard numbers instead of warm & fuzzy expectations. It also keeps damn good notes for when (not *if*) the taxman comes sniffing around. QB has saved my a## more than a few times.
Hey, gimpy, look what I found:
http://www.threadwatch.org/node/5202
Thanks guys, I really enjoy reading your words of wisdom.
Happy Birthday LM!
>>Hey, gimpy, look what I found:
Wow, do you keep a record of shit like that RC and wheel it out at the required time?
My shit is not sorted yet, I have things in place but I am not in the position I thought I would be, despite the intentions I had/have.
Got into things that did not help this aim, but ones that I could not just cut loose of.
Streamlining now and working with people that have done very well so 2012 is the the new 2006 :-)
Gimp is joing The Borg Empire in Lichfield:) Maybe we can make him some money this time......
Doug
>do you keep a record of sh## like that RC and wheel it out at the required time?
No, I just searched threadwatch figuring I had posted something about quickbooks there. From the looks of it, you routinely ignore my advice, hhh.
>money this time
Well, don't put him in the accounting department.
WRT things like accounting I can tell you what needs to be done, ask me to do it though. Slim chance of it getting finished.
Reflect on this, LM...
"brains are already heading downhill by one's early 30s, even late 20s, some parts faster and more precipitously than others. The prefrontal cortex where a good chunk of YOU resides is last to develop (thus helping explain why teenagers are teenagers) and first to start its slow drift and then increasingly rapid plunge downward."
http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/129543/
Congrats! Enjoy your youth!
Quote from: Rupert on October 29, 2011, 03:20:57 AM
'Bout right. Getting too many injuries at 47.
Strangely, been acquiring injuries since 47 too (now 48). Keep trying to get above it, but one thing after another.
That said, 40s have been great. Not only that, a friend of mine at 47 is poised to retake the speed record on the Nose route of El Cap, a record he first held in 1990 at 8 hours; now he's down around 2:37 and gunning for the new record (2:36;45). Maybe earlier. So decline is not inevitable!
http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/florine_and_honnold_45_seconds_from_nose_record/
Not only that, I saw some research that says that life happiness hits a low right around 40 for most people. So wherever you are now, it's likely to get better on that side.
I'm not that much your senior, but I would say that losing mental/emotional/social plasticity is the biggest "risk" of aging. Keep things in the mix. Put yourself in situations where you socialize with younger people (not as "boss" or anything, but as "peer").