BoatBanter.com - Halliburton gets a bitty fine for destroying Gulf of Mexico spillrecords

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I retired at 49, I am living on the water in the sunshine and we are
comfortable, not owing anyone any money. I did OK.

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When I was in my early 40's I set a goal of having the option to
retire by the time I was 55. Made it with 2 years to spare.
It's amazing what can be accomplished if you establish a serious goal.
Everything you do, every decision you make becomes contingent upon not
obscuring the goal but rather trying to support it, if possible.

In my case it wasn't trying to make as much money as I could so I
could retire early. When I worked for others I was not highly paid
and when I started my company, I was often one of the lowest paid
people as it struggled to get going in the early years. Instead, I
focused on building the value of the company in terms of it's products
and technology and it ultimately paid off, not only for me but for my
small group of stockholders and for all the employees who also shared
in the proceeds of the sale.

When I reflect back on things I've done in my life so far it cracks me
up sometimes. I am far from being particularly smart and I certainly
am not overly educated. Nothing I learned in formal schools
contributed much towards what I later did for a living because until
the mid 1990's there were no formal college level courses or degrees
offered in the technology in which I became involved. Probably a good
thing because it caused me and others who worked in the field to
constantly self-educate, try things and be creative. Looking back, I
can see how a degree in a specific field or technical discipline can
sometimes become a limiting factor because many of the rules have
already been established. I call it the Edison Syndrome. He never
went to school to get a technical degree and later one of his
associates claimed that had Edison gone to college he would have
learned that many of the things he accomplished were impossible to
achieve. If I had stuck with being an electronics engineer, I'd
probably still be designing high voltage power supplies for some
company somewhere.

Following nine years in the military, going to school part time and
then at nights under the GI bill after I got out, I've been involved
as a principle in three companies. The first, back in 1981, was as a
minor, sweat equity stock holder. The second was as the principle
founder and CEO of the company that I eventually sold. The third was
the more recent and goofy "retirement" guitar shop project that grew
more than I really intended or wanted it to. It didn't take long for
me to realize that I was never designed for working in a retail
environment, so I turned the shop over to a good friend who has more
skill and patience in that than I.

Second to staying married to an incredibly understanding and
supportive wife of 43 years and raising three kids, I am most proud
of the fact that all three of the companies I either directly created
or helped create are still in business, supporting the families of
many people. That's a good feeling when I allow myself a pat on the
back.

All of which leads me to a reflection on this country's current status
and trends. This is mostly for Harry, assuming he's still reading
this.

I believe in the concept of free enterprise and the right of everyone
to attempt to achieve whatever their goals are. It's not right for a
company to take advantage of people in it's pursuit of profit but at
the same time it's not right to discourage those who want to achieve
more through hard work to be discouraged by overly repressive
government policies designed to "average out" the rewards. I fear
that the latter is the current trend, not simply by attempted
legislation but also by the perpetuation of a social "mood" that
businesses and the management of them are the enemy. Not all people
aspire to the same goals. Their rewards should be consistent with the
effort they put into them.

Well said!