My friends dad has lived in the outer part of Melbourne for at least the last 50years - he was in the Navy for his earlier part of his life, now heavily invested in community work and the RSL.
It is weird when you see someone you know when travelling over sees, we have been to 8 different countries, some more than once (we got our last trip in 2019 just before the Big "C" and are just planning our first trip overseas since the Big "C").
Coming from a very poor upbringing and working since I was at least 13 and left home around 13.5 years old. When I was about 30, I decided on a 20year retirement plan - retired, 47 and 7 months, retired a couple of years under the 20years I set myself, (some of it luck with a lot of hard work and commitment, with some sacrifices)
My friends dad, said he basically took his own advice he was getting paid to provide to others and believed the market had become unsustainable.
I am glad and happy you were able to secure a young retirement and enjoy life more, hopefully with some well deserved expendable income, to help ease some of life's burdens (death, loss, illness, worry, politics, financial hardships, grief, guilt, marital tension, traumatic events. Each a weight that we carry on our shoulders. Many of these burdens are inevitable and entirely outside our realm of control).
(20min delay)