Hi there,

Anybody else unable to retire because of not having some big batch of money saved up? Especially women? Yeah, well, there may just be a few of us. I'm honestly not sure it's related, but when there's folks talking about 'high achieving women' or the even more icky 'high value women' my heart immediately rebels against those phrases.

Now, disclosure (it'll never be full) I am a rebel, have been all my life, so it's not a surprise that I have this reaction.
But because lots of people and podcasts and books and videos and whatnot that are targeted to the high achievers, I wanted to celebrate the reasonable achievers.

I think of myself as a reasonable achiever.

I didn't take a conventional path to just about anything, and the downside is that I don't have that mountain of money saved - or pretty much any - so retirement isn't in the cards. I'm aware that my life choices in this capitalist society mean that I'm living a little on the edge.

At the same time, those life choices felt like the correct ones for the person I was, and the person I am now. I'm single and enjoy it 90% of the time. I never wanted kids and I'm so glad I made the decision. I left college after 2 years and worked for a big NYC record label for 10 years. I moved to Japan to be an artist manager. Subsequently, I decided that the only artist I want to manage now is myself.

And so on. Also so forth. I have regrets, but just a few. I'm working now to pursue the creative projects that matter to me, including making music and writing and art and photography, and digital products that I wish I had access to along the way. Via my day job (which I’ll be starting again in August, yaay!), I'm the only investor in my solopreneurial business. And, at 68, I have a sense of freedom, within constraints, that feels more practical and sustainable than if I had tried to achieve 'high' in the conventional sense.

Instead, I'm building a reasonable foundation to achieve the most customized results.

And that's enough for now.

cheers,

Terri

(I’ve changed my approach to these newsletters, inspired in part by the fast and thoughtful writing I do with Patreon’s Quips; feels like I can just write to you like a friend, instead of taking weeks to craft something incredible. I’ll do that, too, but I’d rather be in touch more often in the meantime. I hope you like it).