Sirius

You will definitely want to read Finnegan's Wake. it's a classic, plus, it's a very easy read. http://finwake.com/

Songs: #1 Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, Jascha Heifetz recording 1957 #2 Mike Oldfield - Incantations Part 4 Remastered, not the 1978 recording. #3 65 Days of Static - Retreat! #4 Abinoni - Adagio in G minor #5 C.W. McCall - Wolf Creek Pass Movies: #1 Silent Running #2 2001 A Space Odyssey #3 Apocalypse Now #4 The Rocky Horror Picture Show #5 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Books #1 Wilson Rawls - Where the Red Fern Grows. #2 Gordon Kendall - White Wing #3 James Clavell - Shogun #4 John Steakly - Armor #5 James Joyce - Finnegan's Wake

When you quit there is no going back. You're either a ex-smoker or you are still a smoker. I'm not here to say that the path of an ex-smoker is all roses and butterflies. But the alternative as a continuing smoker is far, far worse. For those just starting the journey of being an ex-smoker you have my full support. Stay focused, renew the commitment every day, or every hour, or whatever it takes. Don't lose sight that complete abstinence from smoking (now and forever) is the only way out of the nicotine trap. It does get better.

I agree about the foundation. It's difficult to build but once you have a foundation it can work in your favor.

Two years seems to be the point were relapse rates fall off a cliff. 2% - 4%/year fall off the train after 2 years. This falls even further to about 1%/year after ten years of not smoking. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-02/cfta-srr022702.php PUBLIC RELEASE: 27-FEB-2002 Smoking relapse rates drop off sharply after two years CENTER FOR ADVANCING HEALTH SHARE PRINT E-MAIL The bad news for ex-smokers has always been that relapse rates are extremely high, but a new study suggests that staying away from cigarettes gets much easier after two years of abstinence, with more than 80 percent of former smokers achieving long-term success. Relapse rates for smokers trying to quit have been estimated to range from 60 percent to 90 percent within the first year, but few studies have looked at the long-term relapse rates of formers smokers, according to the study published in the current issue of Nicotine & Tobacco Research. "Former cigarette smokers who remain abstinent for at least two years have a risk of relapse of 2 percent to 4 percent each year within the second through sixth years, but this risk decreases to less than 1 percent annually after 10 years of abstinence," says study author Elizabeth A. Krall, Ph.D., of Boston University School of Dental Medicine. Among the ex-smokers who stayed away from cigarettes for two or more years, 19 percent eventually resumed smoking, the researchers found. The study included 483 men enrolled in the ongoing VA Normative Aging Study, a Boston-based study begun in 1960. On average, the men started smoking at age 18, smoked about a pack and a half a day and smoked for more than three decades before trying to quit. Relapsed smokers were most likely to report that they became too nervous or tense when not smoking; they felt they were addicted and couldn't stop; they missed the sensations of smoking; and they felt peer pressure to resume smoking. The former smokers who relapsed after two or more years of abstinence were more likely to use cigars and pipes, and to drink five or more alcohol beverages a day and more than six cups of coffee a day. "The relationship with alcohol appears more dependent on the amount of alcohol consumed than on the social situations in which it is consumed," says Krall. They found that men who didn't smoke while drinking socially were just as likely to relapse as men who did smoke while drinking modest amounts of alcohol. ### The study was supported with funding from the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Nicotine & Tobacco Research is the official peer-reviewed quarterly journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. For information about the journal, contact Gary E. Swan, Ph.D., at (650) 859-5322. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

John Carpenter's "The Thing" Best line "You've got to be ******* kidding me."

A well-earned Congrats. Very well done (extra crispy) Sir.

Bakon is going to have field day in this thread.

Excellent post, Reciprocity, and great to see you giving so much back to the community.

Martian5, you've made awesome progress. Stay strong and remain vigilant. Success breeds success.

Smoker's remorse sucks but nobody said freedom was easy. Recommend that you compare and contrast Smoker's remorse with Cancer victim's remorse.

The biggest tell-tale is simply "Do you have a fever?" You can tell you have a fever by checking your temp. If its elevated, you have a fever. If you are dancing and have a fever then you have Boogie Fever. It's terminal. If you have a fever, consider it flu and treat it accordingly. Otherwise you got's the creeping crud.

Perhaps I will always want to smoke. But I think about it less and less as time goes on. The wanting slowly withers away. The beauty of the human mind is that we can forget.

Speaking honestly, my last quit was not my first quit. BUT IT BLOODY WELL BE MY LAST QUIT!

Intellectually he knows that smoking is bad and so his advice was accurate enough. He's not completely in denial. Most smokers know, deep down, that smoking is bad. Really bad.

My smoker buddy offered me some advice when I was initially into my quit. "Don't ever smoke again." Good advice, and so far I've kept it. Fast forward to today and my friend had made the leap and stopped smoking. He actually was doing well, Been two months. I'd been offering encouragement and what not. Well he's back to smoking. I tried not to let my disappointment show and he didn't want to talk about it. The guy is 62 and retiring soon. The power that nicotine has is amazing. I know that statistics show that it takes several tries before people actually succeed but I was so hoping for success. I know I can't quit for other people and each person has to stare down their demons with their own determination. Still, his failure only strengthens my resolve never to smoke again. Tobacco is amazingly addictive. So...not one puff ever.

It sounds like you're right at or below the poverty line. That being $15K/year. I would recommend visiting www.ssa.gov and signing up for their online account (its free). Once you have an account, sign in and they can tell you, with some precision, exacty how much you will get from SS when you reach the age of 62, 67, or 70. Once you know what you will get from SS you can start formulating a plan to supplement your income. Incidentally, if you were married for more then ten years, divorced, and have not remarried you may be eligible for benefits based on your ex-spouses income record. Might be worth looking into.

Jetblack. Nothing to be embarrassed about. You're in good company. I'm not a fiduciary so any retirement advice is going to be in generalities. Advice is for entertainment purposes only. Objects in mirrors are closer then they appear. Your mileage may vary. Caveat Emptor. That being said... Most retirement planning is based on at least twenty years of savings in various investment products/vehicles/ouija boards. The common denominator is steady deposits of savings over long time horizons to leverage compound interest in your favor. If you own your home you might consider down-sizing or carefully consider/explore a reverse mortgage. Reverse mortgages tend to have "fees" and expenses, along with restrictions but they might provide you with a revenue stream and you get to live in the house. Renting out a room is another possibility but one fraught with complications. Other options... Delay retirement as long as you can and save like a madman into a IRA with a Vanguard index fund (gotta keep those fees low). if you can sock away $1,000/month @6.5% interest for 10 years you will have around $168K which is good for a $560 dollar per month supplement to social security assuming you're only taking 4% of the principle on an annual basis. However, given that we are ex-smokers and probably in our seventies at this point (saving for 10 years) I'd take 6% for $840 a month. You will burn through your savings in a dozen or so years but by then you're into your 80s. Actuarial - ily speaking, its a good bet. If you can find part-time work or a hobby that earns a bit of cash...woodworking, car repair, baby sitting, wall-mart greeter, collecting cans and bottles. The problem with part-time or even full time work is that we can only hope we can work into our seventies. It's not really a plan. We break down as we get older. Still, it's a possibility and we are keeping all options on the table. If you haven't done so already, figure out your net worth. What can you sell off to fund your future? Art, Real Estate, Numismatics, Old base ball cards. Some geographic areas are cheaper to retire in then others. If you are not tied down to an area you may wish to consider moving to areas where the cost of living is low. Delay taking Social security for as long as possible. The $1,600 you get per month at age 62 could be $3,000 a month if you can hold out till age 70. Anyhow, your options are going to revolve around reducing costs, maximizing social security, liquidating assets, and delaying retirement for as long as practical. I'll see you down by the river.

Asking yourself what it would be like to smoke again is like asking what it would be like to be re-enslaved. It's not a question that should be entertained. Just saying.

It's a traditional time to of renewal. 2018 could be smoke free. A clean break.

Okay Sgt. Barney, I did the math. Assuming average income of $50,000 for 40 years. Defer 11% of income into 401K (tax free) yields a net income of $38,550. Good for $3,212.50 a month. Depositing $350/month for 40 years with an 8% return on investment yields $1,221,852 which is close enough to 25X annual income. ==============doable but very difficult=========== Here's where it gets interesting. Assuming I was a military man who did twenty and then retired... For a Sergeant First Class to retire at age 39 would require a military pension plus an amazing savings rate. Assuming start of career was 19 we have 20 years of service so pay grade E-7 for (end of career) average annual salary of $54K (we will call it $50K) and 20 year pension covers 50% of this. So from savings we would need to come up with a match to reach roughly $25K/yearly. If we are only living on 2% of our assets then our assets are worth $1,250,000. $25,000 / .02 = $1,250,000 Now to invest to reach $1,250,000 in twenty years time requires....uh... Something like committing $25,200 a year of our salary every year for 20 years. Which is theoretically possible until we consider that we probably didn't start a career in the military as a SFC which would substantially reduce investments. Not saying it couldn't be done. Maybe day trading individual stocks or dumping the re-up bonuses into the savings could make it work? So Sgt. Barney, do you have advice on this? You stated you retired at the age of 39 and only live on 2% of your investments. I would dearly love to see your road map.

Actually, 25 X annual salary may be a bit overkill. I realize 4% withdrawal rates match the 25 X annual salary but there is also social security and the fact that many of the demands on your working salary are no longer present. For instance, we no longer need to save for retirement when we are retired. That should be a good 10 - 15 percent of your income freed up. Also, the nest egg will continue to earn interest depending how it's invested.

Hi Doreensfree, The balance appears to be 10X yearly salary according to financial planners. This is a very general rule of thumb and not meant to be a straight jacket Some of us have minimal requirements, others want to travel (in style) and order room service. We cannot determine what the correct balance is going to be until after the fact as much of this is going to depend on how long we live. I'm of the opinion its better to have "too much" then "not enough." So we leave money on the table. That just adds to our legacy.