[Evans, Marv]

Well, I'm looking at retirement in a year to a year and a half. I've enjoyed my work in education for almost 30 years. I have noticed a couple of things: 1. Unless you are like Aurel or somebody intimately involved in his/her own business, you will probably get tired of the "system" after being in it for a long time - no matter how much you like your work & the people you work with. That's my case. Although I have had the opportunity to do many different interesting things within the "system", I'm tired of the system. 2. In my case, I thought I'd be "old" (early 60s) at my age. I've found that I don't consider myself quite so old as I thought I would. 3. So, I'm looking at retirement as an opportunity to look around for a small enterprise (already have one in mind you might laugh at) I can do when I want or not. 4. That way I can I can do my hiking & mountain climbing, kayaking, biking, gardening & working on my car. My wife is 25 years younger than I, and plans to work until she retires. I look at my retirement as a time of beginning freedom. The most important pieces of advice I could give to somebody younger is, unless you get run over by a steam roller or something else, you will wake up one day and find yourself "old". The earlier you start planning/saving/investing for that time, the better off you will be, and whether you have any money or not, stay physically and mentally active.