I am working in the Electrical industry at the moment, and my background is as the son of two teachers (one Public school, the other G.E.D. program) - so I know all too well the current state of education and teaching in general in America.

That indeed is a good suggestion to look into - if not outright getting certified as a teacher, volunteering for tutoring aid etc might be a definite area to explore.

Thanks for the suggestion - it is appreciated!

As to your query: It has not always been the case - I grew into planning for the future as I have grown older and seen the results of not preparing properly (especially when I have the time to do so).

I was lucky and had some good early mentors whom got me situated financially for the future when I was in my 20's - yet just having accounted for my finances felt lacking across the past 2 decades - so I began about a year after my Mom passed (around 2015) just exploring internally where I was headed and what my goals were or should be.

After that time of reflection I have landed on some core ideas and ideals of what I want my later life to be about ... now I am just looking for focus and subject to dive into (and prepare for).

I have had a number of friends and co-workers retire across the past 20 years to very mixed results. And as many of us know - life never goes according to plan, but it doesn't mean a plan isn't valuable for direction and guidelines. I don't tend to work in definitives anyways, more loose concepts to aim for to maintain flexibility.

Hopefully as this unfolds and I gain some clarity I can share this out with all of you - if for nothing else than to see how the experiment comes out.

Thanks again,
-Tom C.