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Hi All,

 

I just recently turned 63 years old, and I am giving some very strong thought to retiring from the workplace.  Up until now, I have been extremely fortunate in that my wife and I have lived  fairly low key lifestyle, and haven't spent extraordinary amounts of money through the years, but I have been able to spend pretty much whatever I have wanted on modeling, kits and aftermarket stuff, tools and paint, etc., etc., etc.  Now, with the possibility of retirement looming, I think it's pretty clear that I will need to begin thinking about spending, perhaps even to the point of ... egads .. a BUDGET!?!?!?  I was wondering if any of you have been in this position, where you needed to make some serious changes in certain areas of your life, and how you went about it.  Now, mind you, I am NOT complaining.  I have been EXTREMELY FORTUNATE in my life in many, many, many ways.  I could keep on working, and continue to buy whatever I want in terms of models, but, honestly, I already have more models and aftermarket stuff and tools to last a lifetime.  MAYBE I will need to replace some paints every now and then, but I believe I could easily go the rest of my life and just build from my collection of unbuilt kits.

 

I was just wondering if anyone has made a transition like what I'm talking about, and whether you found it, perhaps, more challenging than you anticipated.  Just some food for thought...  

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Turned 65 this summer and plan on retiring at the end of this year. Financially I’ve been living like I am already retired for the last 2 or 3 years. That means no new debt and living within an annual budget I mapped out over that time. Whether it’s kits cameras or cars I view each purchase (or often passing on a purchase) with that mindset. This has allowed me to (hopefully) fine tune my lifestyle so that there’s not any unexpected changes when the paycheck does stop. 
 

Oh and I’m also a whiz at spreadsheets now lol. 

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im 34y and as a graphic designer make a pretty good salary for my country, but with corona making supply shortages and companies deciding to pump up gas/electricity prices 20%, food and everything rising with brutal inflation... I had to make some choices. I can no longer afford to casually order takeaway stuff like 17$ sushi or 6$ subway sandwiches. I cant afford spending on 7$ burgers and 7$ "burritos". Im inching more and more into learning to cook.

Im sorry but my grandparents eat lentils with potatoes, potato+chicken stew and green beans stew..and they live comfy with 320$ a month.

 

we all have to face the music that if you want to eat something fancy, at least make it yourself so you dont get financially raped.

The money that you would waste on crappy vacations and sushi would be better saved to help your son, grandson.

 

And i, as a spoiled millenial, often now think i would rather buy my dad something than waste my money on junk

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I was most fortunate to land a great job at age 25. I worked there for exactly 35 years, retiring six years ago, at age 60. My wife and I both grew up on farms, so we learned to live a not overly expensive life. We have a investment guy who has done a great job of making us a great retirement fund. Though I don't bring home as much as when I worked, we don't have any great expenses or debt. If I want to buy some new modelling stuff, I just do it.

 

Retirement has been a great career move for me.

 

 

 

Chris

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We are also fortunate in that we have no debt...  We own our home and our vehicles outright.  And we owe no one anything.  Again, we have been extremely fortunate.  

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it is if you get bamboozled with high APR that they can change every year.

It is if you buy some meme plastic-fantastic german SUV to keep up with the johnesses.

 

but buying a house/apartment, you pretty much need a loan, if you want to buy it before youre 60.

Friendly reminder Im from east europe, I make 1200$ after taxes (a really good salary from a foreign company) and they want 240,000$ for apartments in the capital now.

And we are talking a commie style block with a park outside for druggies to gather at night and make noise, living in a block with nasty boomers and alcoholics.

240k is US/UK prices, what were they thinking...

 

A loan for a safe investment at the right time, can net you double the money, while you pay the bank 4% over a year.

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On 11/3/2021 at 12:28 AM, Curt B said:

I just recently turned 63 years old, and I am giving some very strong thought to retiring from the workplace.

Hi Curt,

 

If the job you're doing satisfies you, why stop doing it? In contrast, if it's a job that only provides you a steady salary then, is this the right age (63 years old) to retire?

 

Personally, I'm in my late 40s and I don't see retirement coming very soon!

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On 11/3/2021 at 2:16 AM, MR Brush Brutalizer said:

im 34y and as a graphic designer make a pretty good salary for my country, but with corona making supply shortages and companies deciding to pump up gas/electricity prices 20%, food and everything rising with brutal inflation...

 

we all have to face the music that if you want to eat something fancy, at least make it yourself so you dont get financially raped.

The money that you would waste on crappy vacations and sushi would be better saved to help your son, grandson.

 

And i, as a spoiled millenial, often now think i would rather buy my dad something than waste my money on junk

Ah, yes, Saul Bass, Milton Glaser, Neville Brody and the rest of the bunch!

 

I'm sure you are familiar with Michael Bierut. Well, in one of the good old issues of HOW magazine he had predicted that the graphic design profession will end in 2024, probably due to AI taking the job. How do you feel about this thought and in case it comes true do you have a plan (either for retiring or taking another job?)?

 

You mentioned something about $7 for a sandwich... My friend you better learn how to cook because $7 for a sandwich is a real steal. And believe me your grandparents know (knew?) how to live. the foods you mentioned along with olive oil and fruits are the best!

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19 minutes ago, SERNAK said:

Ah, yes, Saul Bass, Milton Glaser, Neville Brody and the rest of the bunch!

 

I'm sure you are familiar with Michael Bierut. Well, in one of the good old issues of HOW magazine he had predicted that the graphic design profession will end in 2024, probably due to AI taking the job. How do you feel about this thought and in case it comes true do you have a plan (either for retiring or taking another job?)?

 

You mentioned something about $7 for a sandwich... My friend you better learn how to cook because $7 for a sandwich is a real steal. And believe me your grandparents know (knew?) how to live. the foods you mentioned along with olive oil and fruits are the best!

I dont know who these guys are.

But there is no chance of AI taking over programmer/designer jobs.

those "Squarespace" "design your own website" memes you see are incredibly limited and would work only for "karen's homemade soap" website.

Working for a sports-bookie/online casino you cant automate the work because new banners, newsletters and promotion materials have to be constantly made every week. Someone has to put the stuff together and apply the changes that the managers want (and they often change their mind 5 times).

an AI would simply say "manager demand 5 changes = clearly mentally ill = emailed CEO to fire manager for doing nothing all day = thank you, have a nice day!"

 

Its the manager's weird little demands and corrections that just makes my job needed and an AI cant do it.

The real problem is everyone wanting to be a programmer/designer, but its hard to start without experience, and besides covid and vaccines are wiping out 40% of the population in the next 2-3 years.

I dont know what i would work if i couldnt work as a graphic designer, maybe ill open a small pizza cafe thing or a model plane store where i sell beer to kids in the back room $$$ (:

 

 

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1 hour ago, MR Brush Brutalizer said:

I dont know who these guys are.

But there is no chance of AI taking over programmer/designer jobs.

 

 

Wait, irrelevant with what Curt B asked but, you say that you're a graphic designer and now you mention to other job roles and thus, my question is, which is exactly your profession? Did you study Graphic Design or you simply have some programmes installed in your PC and you watched some tutorials on how to use them and therefore you self-identify as a Graphic Designer?

 

My questions are stated simply because if you had studied Graphic Design then, you should have known these infamous Graphic Designers.

 

Perhaps you are a programmer?:dontknow:

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1 hour ago, SERNAK said:

Wait, irrelevant with what Curt B asked but, you say that you're a graphic designer and now you mention to other job roles and thus, my question is, which is exactly your profession? Did you study Graphic Design or you simply have some programmes installed in your PC and you watched some tutorials on how to use them and therefore you self-identify as a Graphic Designer?

 

My questions are stated simply because if you had studied Graphic Design then, you should have known these infamous Graphic Designers.

 

Perhaps you are a programmer?:dontknow:

hahaha! my friend, I never studied graphic design in a university. I got lucky to be hired to retouch photos for magazines, and from them on slowly got lucky to work graphic design jobs, learning on the fly. In the end i ended up working doing marketing banners, landing pages for casino games and sports betting. I had to be creative to use various cartoon characters with backgrounds, and dress them up, and paint their hands, and make it a catchy meme for a promotion. And then I put some cool, shiny text. I even wanted and tried designing slot/scratch online games for my employer... but then my manager decided "We should all together design it" and practically POOPED on my work.

 

When our company wanted a new logo, I tried so hard to do something different and cool, and in the end the bosses picked the most boring and flat design that just sucks.

So, in terms what I have done...yea I have done some cool website/game/banners designs, I have painted on characters and even brushed 3d shadows.

 

But the magical thing you will learn today is "it just doesn't matter". Nowadays ALL bosses and managers have zero taste, and want the absolute worst looking, soulless, flat designs.

Everything has become absolutely ugly. Games, car designs, websites, interfaces, home design. Even if you have a great idea your boss/manager will poop on it and turn everything on a mess.

They practically want to do your job for you, and be the designers. All the passion and creativity I put into my work...amounted to nothing. Just me burning my eyes and worrying how to make something perfect, every day....when its not even appreciated.

 

Nowadays I do such simple work you will laugh so much - The "flat design" banners come pre-made, I just position the logo/character up up, left, right, a little bigger/smaller as my manager wants it. This is what I do. I fit the things and i put the text XD

When I tried to be creative, and give ideas they basically reprimanded me and rejected almost all my ideas.

 

I remember 5 years ago, begging NOKIA to give me a chance. "Let me design an OS interface for you. If you like it I just want an offer to work for you as a designer. I will build you an interface OS to rival Apple and make you millions!" Can you imagine what an idiot I was offering to give a company 10 screenshots of an OS design that they can steal...and make millions....just to beg them to hire me? Meanwhile they are paying 4000EUR to someone who does nothing all day. And the managers saw my message and basically rejected me 3 times. And NOKIA faded into obscurity.

 

So, the golden rule is! - I do an "ok" lazy job at work without caring too much (they still overwork me) and I save my creativity and ideas for my self. When I want to make something beautiful, I make it for my self, and only I use it. Unless some company somehow sees my work and employs me to work on something amazing, and actually appreciates me.

 

As for those designers you mentioned, yes, I am jealous of them. They probably made amazing stuff like the pringles logo, the original coca cola logo, the OS X when it had the amazing icons and dock. Those were some amazing designs and I am jealous of the people who made them. But then everything went ugly after 2010?

 

I am very lucky to have ended up as a graphic designer, even though my job is a joke. Most people spend 60k loans studying "graphic design" and then the boss hires whichever girl looks cuter.

And if you must know, since 5 years ago, the big "be jealous of me" thing is to be a"UX designer" or "UI designer". Me saying im a graphic designer can sound cool only to some granny.

 

And I actually took a course in UX design (that no one cared about, western companies didnt see my any better, still an icky slav to them) and let me tell you UX design is such a made up joke and a fake job, to trick dumb companies to pay you $$$. There are some real things and principles to learn, but its never used for good. Only to trick people to spend more time on facebook and annoy them with popups.

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21 minutes ago, MR Brush Brutalizer said:

But the magical thing you will learn today is "it just doesn't matter". Nowadays ALL bosses and managers have zero taste, and want the absolute worst looking, soulless, flat designs.

Everything has become absolutely ugly. Games, car designs, websites, interfaces, home design. Even if you have a great idea your boss/manager will poop on it and turn everything on a mess.

 

Those were some amazing designs and I am jealous of the people who made them. But then everything went ugly after 2010?

Ain't that the truth! Almost with every graphic designer that I have talked in the past but also in the recent past, they all express (freelancers and working as part of a design agency) the same thoughts about their bosses or the clients they had to deal with!

 

Regarding the year 2010, well, a lot of things went "haywire"!! as they say! One thing I distinctively remember is my brother wanting to go and study Graphic Design in the UK because of the educational quality that their universities offer and because it was cheaper and then suddenly the Universities? the UK Government? one of them (well, perhaps both of them) decided to triple the fees! So, for example, from 4000 UK pounds that you needed for each year after 2010, you needed and still do, 9000 UK pounds! Just for one year!

 

Anyway, education has always been a source of good income for the universities. The tutors and lectures on the other hand get, just a few thousands dollars, UK  pounds..... each month as a salary!

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I’m 76, my wife is 67, we retired fully three years ago, and have received great advice from our financial advisors over the years. Model-wise the question I ask myself isn’t so much whether I can afford it, but instead it is “will I actually build it or do I just want it just because it is ‘cool’?”

 

Seriously, as SERNAK said, if you enjoy your work, is there really a rush to retire? On the other hand, if work is no longer any fun, it is time to be making some serious plans. Even with Medicare, the supplemental medical insurance costs are more than we really anticipated (and neither of us have underlying health issues). When medical is deducted from pay, it is easy to overlook the cost, it is something else when you have to write checks for it each month. Spreadsheets will become very handy tools! My wife isn’t yet drawing on her Social Security, each year she holds off will increase the benefit approx 7%

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3 hours ago, SERNAK said:

Ain't that the truth! Almost with every graphic designer that I have talked in the past but also in the recent past, they all express (freelancers and working as part of a design agency) the same thoughts about their bosses or the clients they had to deal with!

 

Regarding the year 2010, well, a lot of things went "haywire"!! as they say! One thing I distinctively remember is my brother wanting to go and study Graphic Design in the UK because of the educational quality that their universities offer and because it was cheaper and then suddenly the Universities? the UK Government? one of them (well, perhaps both of them) decided to triple the fees! So, for example, from 4000 UK pounds that you needed for each year after 2010, you needed and still do, 9000 UK pounds! Just for one year!

 

Anyway, education has always been a source of good income for the universities. The tutors and lectures on the other hand get, just a few thousands dollars, UK  pounds..... each month as a salary!

It is normal to look a little iffy at graphic designers, since your brother couldn't attend the university, but this is a blessing.

Because in a lot of cases he could have became a designer/programmer/QA/CRM/social media manager without taking life destroying loans and wasting 4 years.

This is not like the old 80's where "i good sir you must have a certificate of university education to work this here coal mine"

 

Everyone is lying. It's the only way to land a job. You make some designs/code, you lie that you worked for some company, you say you made various projects for clients. You finally get a chance. And if you noticed HR want 5 years experience with some program that came out 1 year ago. So when they want 5 years of junior positions, its your only chance.

 

When they make me pick what ethnicity I am, you know im picking "other -" and writing "Thracian" cause it sounds more exotic.

And i would pretend to be LGBTQT too if I have to.

 

And funny story - You think I got it good, but for 7 years I was rejected by every western EU company, even in weird places like Estonia or Slovakia. Nobody wants an outsider. If im Slav, they see me as some skinhead mobster, no matter how much experience I gathered. My only chance would have been If I was a cute girl. And you can bet they hired some 21y girls straight from college with no experience. To this day I only have a job because a foreign company is employing my services for 1200$ instead of 3500 GBP.

 

You know what I would be jealous off? Some made up job like "head of integration" of "diversity manager" where you just pretend you are doing something all day and no one knows what you are actually doing (:

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10 hours ago, SERNAK said:

Hi Curt,

 

If the job you're doing satisfies you, why stop doing it? In contrast, if it's a job that only provides you a steady salary then, is this the right age (63 years old) to retire?

 

Personally, I'm in my late 40s and I don't see retirement coming very soon!

Hi SERNAK, I appreciate your comments.  And I 100% agree with the idea of continuing to work if the job is a good one, or at least decent.  However, frankly, I hate my job.  I truly do.  I may be looking into the possibility of a different position with the same company, and that might be a really good option for me.  I think the likelihood of this happening is pretty small, though.  We shall see.   I do have a slight complication, though, which is a disability that is continuing to worsen more rapidly with time.  At some point, I may no longer be able to walk.  So, there might be some benefit in retiring now so I can take advantage of the physical condition I have, which though already degraded, will no doubt go away in the not too distant future.  If I can do a few more years, at least until I get to 65, there is no doubt that there is real financial benefit.  But I'm weighing the difference between pretty certain daily high stress, and the reality of not being to be as free with our spending as we are able to do now, and enjoying a physical condition that I may not be able to a few years in the future.

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Regarding your health issues, you should thoroughly investigate the availability and cost of medical insurance if you retire before age 65. At 65 you should be eligible for Medicare but that time gap before 65 could prove expensive. Is there a way for you to qualify for disability coverage under your current employer’s health plan?  
 

I have a deteriorating shoulder joint. I had surgery that was covered by my company insurance and am now on short term (up to 6 months) disability at 100% of my salary. If I waited until I retired from the company I would have missed out on these benefits. Just something to think about…..…


.

 

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49 minutes ago, habu2 said:

Regarding your health issues, you should thoroughly investigate the availability and cost of medical insurance if you retire before age 65. At 65 you should be eligible for Medicare but that time gap before 65 could prove expensive. Is there a way for you to qualify for disability coverage under your current employer’s health plan?  
 

I have a deteriorating shoulder joint. I had surgery that was covered by my company insurance and am now on short term (up to 6 months) disability at 100% of my salary. If I waited until I retired from the company I would have missed out on these benefits. Just something to think about…..…


.

 

Hi habu.  Very perceptive, and thank you for bringing it up!  I can continue with my company's health insurance after retirement, but it is EXTREMELY expensive, and, the cost does not cover vision or dental care, which we can continue for 18 months under COBRA.  I'll only have to do so for 2 years, until I turn 65.  My wife won't be 65 for over 9 years, though, and I will have to cover her under the company plan, but it will only be half the cost after I begin Medicare.  I have considered disability, but I've heard that actually getting it is a process which usually is denied at least once, if not more than once, before it is finally granted, if it ever is.  I'm guessing that it would take the 2 years I have before Medicare to go through that process, and I'm not really up for that.  

Edited by Curt B
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Retirement is supposedly the time when you can relax a little and do some (or more) of the things you put off while working. But, as in your case, health issues can be a real stumbling block. Sounds like you need to do some serious planning to manage retirement sooner rather than later. And yes, medical cost can be significantly higher if you retire before age 65 and Medicare. Our medical was through my wife’s employer, and she retired short of 65. While we now have to pay the Part B premiums, the cost of that (based on prior year AGI) plus the reduced cost of our additional coverage is still less than if we were footing the previous pre-Medicare bill.

 

if you can work out a budget that lets you retire early, go for it and take advantage of what you are still physically able to accomplish.

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9 hours ago, Curt B said:

I do have a slight complication, though, which is a disability that is continuing to worsen more rapidly with time.  At some point, I may no longer be able to walk. 

You're lucky that your boss didn't consider your health problem as an obstacle for performing your job. The Aussies are in real trouble, for example. I have looked several job openings in the past and they all were asking to mention in the application for any medical conditions that could prevent from performing the job. That's discrimination. In other words, if I have a health problem such as the one you described what am I supposed to do? Not work?

 

As I said I'm in my late-40s and like or not, several health problems have knocked on my door that I didn't expect particularly since none in my family had neither of them. And this brings back to my memory a discussion my dad had several decades ago when he was near my age with his friends. They were talking about their health and some minor problems that each had and the fact that they didn't exercise, you know, like cycling or trekking. And I remember distinctively turning around and saying to a friend of mine "what are they talking about, we are healthy, we exercise, we will never have health problems!" Well, as it turns out, I haven't visited a gym or go for trekking, for example, for at least two decades now, and perhaps the health problems that I have could have been avoided if I had followed some simple but effective rules such as, watch my diet, drink less, and exercise.

 

Nonetheless, I am happy that I have a hobby to fill a few hours, which many people don't even have after they retire.

 

P.S.: I'm not a heavy drinker just a glass of wine with dinner.

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Luckilly for me (or is it?) I'm far from retirement. But I do have a budget on most things. Food, drinks, and models.

So generally, there is a set amount of money I can spend/month, be it buying paints, glues or kits. Being an administrative worker I'm almost all the time over the budget. However the budget is set lower than I can afford. If a kit is more expensive than my allowance, I can not get it unless I "save" for it. I'd say it's about 50$ a month. And my modeling budget is also my gaming/whatever else budget.

 

I always seemed to fall for the "bargain" kit. The one I did not really want right now, nor did I need but it was like 10-20% cheaper. Now I can't really buy all these bargains, and I don't try. I don't see them all that much nowadays too. And most of the "news" I can wait for. I did get the Meng F/A-18E as soon as it came out, but most of the stuff I can just wait. I probably won't buy every kit I'd like. Nor will I build them all in my lifetime.

 

Hell, right now storing complete kits is troublesome, as I'm running out of shelf space.

 

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@Curt B

 

Just turned 62.  Decided to "retire, retire". 

 

Covid, medical issues and the changed work environment.  

Living as cheaply as I can, and will (hopefully) be debt free in 15 months.

Restarted building models after a 12+ year hiatus.

 

Models are expensive if you go crazy, but cheaper then a day at the range.

 

Build from your stash, and limit the number of new models for a bit.

I am going with older models, but .mm accuracy isn't that important to me.

 

Retire if you can, keep building and enjoy the hobby.

 

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On 11/2/2021 at 6:28 PM, Curt B said:

>

>

, but, honestly, I already have more models and aftermarket stuff and tools to last a lifetime.  MAYBE I will need to replace some paints every now and then, but I believe I could easily go the rest of my life and just build from my collection of unbuilt kits.

 

I was just wondering if anyone has made a transition like what I'm talking about, and whether you found it, perhaps, more challenging than you anticipated.  Just some food for thought...  

I retired a few years back.  I could afford to keep buying kits but I already had more than I could ever build.  In fact, for the first couple of years, I was selling kits to reduce the stash and focusing on just a couple of eras/countries.   All I buy now are paints and supplies as needed plus the odd decal sheet.   What I do find difficult is resisting all the new releases coming from Airfix (Sabre, Swift, Phantom, Buccaneer, Canberra, etc, etc)  but, so far, I have managed to hold out and still plan to build what's in the stash.

 

David

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Thanks to all of you who have replied to my thread thus far...please keep them coming, if you're so inclined!

 

I'm waiting, now, to get the numbers back from my financial planner, but they've already told me that I should have no problem between income I'll get from pensions and Social Security, plus some from investments.  If the numbers look iike they've preliminarily indicated, I'll be pulling the plug for sure...unless I am able to move to a different position inside the same company.  If I can do that, and I've put out some 'feelers' for this, I would likely stay at least until I"m 65 (less than 2 years) or even, possibly until full Social Security retirement age (a little less than 4 more years).  That being said, everyone who has ever offered me any advice at all regarding retirement has said the obvious...you'll never get those working years back, since we only get one chance at this life, so get out as soon as you can.  A good friend told me that making any sacrifices you need to in order to retire ASAP is something I'd never regret.  So, if one of those sacrifices is fewer models or aftermarket stuff, it doesn't sound like too bad of a tradeoff. As I've written before, I'll never build even 25% of the models I already own.  The bad aspect of this limitation, though, as twomby noted, is that the manufacturers continue to come out with more and better models all the time!  The most dangerous webpage "out there" is, for me, is the Modeling News...where the latest stuff shows up EVERY DAY!!  Which is oftentimes too much to bear...if I think of not being able to get the latest and greatest.  Still...would I rather be retired and spend my days making models (the ones I have and will never be able to complete, anyway) or do I want to continue to slave away in the workplace such that I can build maybe 3 days a week at best...and never get that time back?  I'm thinking that the answer is obvious.  I just need to convince myself of that!!  😋

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