The Joy of Retirement

We are very fortunate today to present a new guest post by a great guy and devoted family man David Katugue. As you will see David lets you all know that there are many readers on MOB other then boneheads like myself.  I am honored to introduce you all to Dr. David Katugue who resides in California and also the Philippines.

I was going to give you a brief autobiography of Dr Dave, but honestly after reading his blogs, it would do him an injustice to try and put down his lifes history and accomplishments in a few paragraphs. I urge all our readers to stop by Davids blog here at The Intellectual Migrant, I found it a fascinating read and well written story of one mans life. Please also know Dr  Dave has a great sense of humor also, as you will see when you happen upon once of his comments here on MOB.

Because here at MOB we tend to be a bit informal and relaxed so Dr. Katague will become just plain Dr Dave, this way I will not feel intimidated and because I can. ( I always wanted to say that)  :-).  In all fairness though, I do want all of our readers to know Dr Dave has earned the respect and honor due him, so why he picked MOB to guest post is either 1) we are very fortunate or 2) we  must have caught him at a weak moment.  Either way we hope Dr Dave decides to come back and grace us with a few more posts. I know I enjoy his thoughts and wisdom. Plus it’s nice to know someone who owns a resort where the weather is warm and the ocean is azure.

Lastly before his great post on a topic that I know has been on my mind a lot these last few years, namely Retirement. I want to publish Davids full name with credentials as we all know, takes a lifetime to earn (we are not always irreverent here at MOB). Davids full name is David B.Katague, B.S., M.S., M.A, Ph.D.

So without further ado I present:

Joy of Retirement

I have been retired from FDA since 2002. At first, I feel I have lost my identity as an individual or have lost my contribution to society. However, within a few weeks all these feelings were gone. It started when my wife and I started baby sitting one of our grandchildren. As some economics professor states: “Your children are your capital investments, but your grandchildren are your profits. That is why you love your grandchildren more than your children”. Indeed, I really agree with the statement.

Retirement also gives you lots of time to do things you like to do, such as your hobbies and of course travel. In my case, I turned my hobby of gardening and landscaping into a small business in the Philippines. This endeavor was planned about five years before 2002. That year my wife and I started construction of our retirement home in Boac, Marinduque , Philippines. The next year we built a beach house, followed by a Conference Hall two years later. Needless to say, planning and executing the landscaping was a challenge and very enjoyable. With the help of local labor, I not only enjoy the time gardening and landscaping, but also help improved the economic situation of the province by providing work and jobs to the local residents.

With plenty of time, I have engaged into two specific activities as follows:
First, I created a website for my small business. By trial and error, I created and design the website, www.chateaudumer.com. I have never been a computer nerd or expert. As a matter of fact about 25 years ago , I had computer phobia. I felt that If I touch the key board it will explode and I will ruined the PC. With the help of my son, I was able to overcome my phobia and today, I spend about 4 hours a day in the computer. In addition with plenty of time and patience, the fruits of my labor could be enjoyed if you visit the website above. Critics say, my website is not so professional looking, but I am happy with in it. I do receive a couple of inquiries every month regarding the beach house, but with today’s economy, the travel business in indeed very slow. Hopefully, it will pick up in the next year or so.

The second activity , I have not done before was to utilize on-line activities, such as shopping, paying bills ( save you stamps) and playing computer games in the Internet. I really enjoyed playing duplicate bridge on line. You play with players all over the world and can chat in between games. But be careful, you are not spending to much time in the computer. It is very addictive. Last year I opened a Face Book account and I really enjoying social networking and advertising my blogs.

With a lots of time, my wife and I devoted more time on our favorite humanitarian project. For the last 12 years, we have been involved with medical mission to the province of Marinduque.
For details please visit the website: www.marinduqueinternational.org

As a summary, the joy one gets on retirement is very specific for an individual. Some enjoy their free time by learning new activities, getting involved with humanitarian projects or spending more time with their grandchildren. Others hate it, since they missed their former jobs and co-workers. Others with no children still enjoy retirement by traveling, turning their hobbies into business or more community involvement. Of course those that retire and hate it, is believe to die earlier than those that enjoy their retirement years. So, plan your retirement as early as you can. Financial planning should be done 20 years before the retirement date. The happier you are on retirement, the longer you will live.

For additional details on retiring in the Philippines, please visit the website.

http://livinginthephilippines.com or http://whyretireinthephilippines.blogspot.com

Dave and Macrine

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Posted by Glenn on Nov 16 2009 Filed under MONEY, SELF HELP, TRAVEL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry