0:00 Who are you? [music] And where are you going? What do you want? Hello and welcome to People Making Money. I'm your host, Kevin Bemmel, and I'm here every uh Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to talk about job hunting, starting and running a business, and building wealth. So, the whole financial side of life. And uh I
0:35 probably sound a little bit weird. I've been I think like a lot of us struggling with a cold here for the last uh it's been a little over a week now. And uh so uh if if you're if you have the same struggle, I hope you feel better soon. And uh you know, I I can use your prayers for as we say in Hebrew, a refu Rafua shalma, complete recovery. So uh so um today I'm going to be talking about something that gosh, I sure wish I could do. the the topic is uh mini sabbaticals
1:12 maximum life and uh I would love uh to be able to go on a mini sabbatical about now um of the months of the year uh December is by far my favorite um you know I'm Jewish but the the Christmas time of year is just it's a wonderful time of year uh when I go into Beverly Hills. Um, where I I live just south of Beverly Hills here in the Los Angeles area, they're piping, they pipe Christmas music in the streets and and, uh, so
1:49 when I go visit um, you know, see my trainer, I you know, I come out of the parking structure and I hear the music and and people are generally speaking a little happier and a little nicer. Uh, and uh, I [clears throat] like I prefer colder weather. Um although preferably not when I'm not not being sick in colder weather. Uh and and and if and I think like um maybe a lot of Americans or at least Americans of my generation, I have this you know sort of uh affinity for the you know Denzian Christmas
2:24 Christmas carolers and cloaks and you know that sort of thing. uh and uh you know I've I've never been able to uh escape that. I I don't really want to frankly uh but uh in any event um it would be great to be able to take a sabbatical in December but the kind of work that I do uh doesn't really allow that. So uh so here I am. Um but [clears throat] the larger issue I think is what does retirement mean for people today. So
3:02 this this whole idea of retirement is a relatively modern phenomenon. So if we go back even let's say 150 years to the latter part of the 19th century. So there was really no such thing as retirement. So the the wealthy class or or the upper classes in in England. So while they worked for the most part um you know if we're
3:37 talking especially about the landed gentry they didn't work in the same way that we think about work where you know they go to an office or they have a profession or something like that they had an estate manager who managed their estate and and they would meet with him periodically to review whatever or or they may I should say they may not they did they may uh have met with their estate manager periodically, but for the most part uh they lived social lives with family and friends or if if they were um if they were at court uh they had their
4:12 court duties or if they were in parliament they had their parliamentary duties. Now I'm speaking of course specifically about England but it wasn't too different for any of the other European countries. Here in the United States um not not too much different. We don't have a landed gentry at least not a formal landed gentry meaning an an upper class that that who deres their wealth from the land that they own. Uh but the the wealthy class in the United States uh especially if it was uh generational wealth. So, uh, women in
4:48 particular, they paid visits, they made calls, they maybe got involved in charity work, maybe some got involved in some political things, uh, like the woman's movement. Um, but for the most part, um, uh, upper class women didn't do anything that would even remotely resemble work. and and the men too while they might oversee their wealth um in in many cases um they um they did not they had people overseeing it for them or if
5:23 it was if we're talking about someone like an Andrew Carnegie so he overseed his wealth until the day he died. So there was no such thing as retirement even for uh the wealthy. flipping the page [clears throat] um for the the middle and lower classes in Europe and for the middle income and lower income people in the United States. Again, there really was no such thing as retirement, not working any longer. People had to work to live. So, if you were a farmer, you couldn't stop farming. You wouldn't have uh food to
5:58 eat. If you were a factory worker, uh you you had no opportunity to accumulate wealth. Now on into the the um first half of the 20th century, so there were labor reforms etc. And uh for the for the first time, pensions became something for more than just uh government workers. So militaries had paid pensions of one sort or another really going all the way back to uh
6:34 Greek and Roman times. Uh and and some sometimes governments did as well. But for private indust what we would call private industry, um pensions were not part of the employment scheme, but they became part of it as as labor reformed. And uh and what eventually uh was created was a system based on um [clears throat] what are what were called they're still called I I suppose defined benefit pensions meaning that
7:11 the pension paid a specific benefit at the time that uh the person decided to take their pension. Okay. So the the closest we have to that here in the United States is social security. So uh social security is a it's not literally a pension plan because there's no money actually accumulating. It's a taxpayerf funded plan. I know people talk about the social security trust fund and all of that. That that's that's illusory. That
7:47 money is not sitting in any segregated fund. So, the um what what's called FICA, the Federal Insurance Contributo Act, or I'm not sure if I've got the words exactly right, but anyway, FICA taxes is really what they are. That that money goes into the treasury just like income taxes do. Okay? uh [clears throat] what happens is any particular worker's account is credited uh for the amount of FICA taxes paid by or and on behalf of that worker. Uh and
8:26 [cough and clears throat] so that money if you know if if you're my age, you periodically get uh statement accounts on uh potential social security benefits and and the benefits are somewhat determined by what's paid in. But um once uh a social security recipient starts taking social security payments, those payments continue in the same amount actually with a an inflation increase each year. Uh whether or not there were funds paid
9:04 in by anyone to sustain those payments. So the size of the benefit is what defines social security. And and again, Social Security is not a true pension plan, but for a defined benefit pension, the size of the payment, the size of the benefit payment is what defines the plan as opposed to how much is contributed. And and uh governments still provide defined benefit pensions. However, and and it used to be that private industry largely did as well. So famously automobile
9:42 companies had very generous defined benefit pension plans uh as did a lot of other companies in particular large companies. So the problem came that um [clears throat] as as the as lifespans lengthened [snorts] and um and the uh size of the benefits inc and and because of that the size of the benefit payments increased with with you know their inflation bumpers uh more and more. So the amounts paid into these defined benefit plans
10:20 started to become um uh insufficient to continue those payments. And so companies found themselves with huge deficit balances in their pension plans. And in some cases they sought a bailout from the federal government. Um there is a pension guarantee. um it's not a department but anyway there's a pension guarantee sort of thing in the government um and and sometimes uh companies would seek uh payments from
10:56 there or they would have to you know recapitalize the pension funds they might have to borrow money uh but what they found was defined benefit pension plans were unsustainable um and this was a a a a very big issue in starting in I I I I believe the 1970s and then on into the 1980s and and as a result, pension plans um uh changed over to what are called defined contribution plans.
11:32 So an um an IRA, an individual retirement account or a 401k. These are defined contribution pension accounts. They're defined by the size of the contributions made to them. The benefits that they pay will vary. And when the resources of the IRA or the 401k are it when the resources are exhausted so the benefit payments stop.
12:07 [snorts] Okay. And [clears throat] uh you know in some cases companies offer uh matching uh dollars to uh you know to these um you know in a 401k plan as you as you may have something like that. Uh but the the the shift or the changeover from defined benefit pensions to defined contribution pensions is the difference between knowing that when I retire I'm going to get a payment of you know whatever it is $2,500 a
12:43 month or $5,000 a month or whatever the defined benefit is versus well I'm going to have a pool of money of let's say you know $900,00 000 and the the withdrawals that I take from it have to last me as long as I live basically. Now, you know, depending on the type of um defined contribution plan, and I I've done a show on on defined contribution plans, but some of them have what are called minimum required distributions. And so, um, you
13:18 know, if if it it's it's entirely possible for someone to outlive, uh, the the defined, uh, contribution plans, uh, uh, benefits. Um, you know, because if if it was a a plan where the contributions were made pre-tax, meaning the dollars are allowed to grow without the contributions having without taxes having been paid on the contributions. So there are uh mandatory ages at which a person must start taking uh payments
13:53 from these plans because the government wants its tax money or what it views as its tax money. Right? So all of this means that [clears throat] when one retires, how one retires, even if one retires is at best a more complex issue than it was uh let's say through, you know, the mid 20th century, the 1960s, maybe into the 1970s. So for people like me, I was born in 1960.
14:29 Uh I grew up believing that you know well f first of all I I I never expected to get social security benefits. Uh it looks like maybe I will get at least some which is I guess you know okay good for me. Um but I also realized as a teenager I was not going to work at a job for 30 plus years and get a defined benefit pension. uh like well I mean neither of my parents did but like many you know of my parents' generation did
15:05 neither of those were going to happen for me and and so it was up to me to either save and invest sufficiently uh to be able to retire or to make alternative plans. And I think for you know many of us pardon [clears throat] me uh the the reality is that um you know the vicissitudes of life uh don't necessarily are not going to necessarily permit us to retire in the way that that idea has
15:41 meant has been understood for the last you know century or so and so that's why I wanted to do this is kind of a long introduction to why I wanted to talk about this idea of of mini sabbaticals or mini retirements or however you know you however you may you know call them doesn't really matter but the idea I mean I I'm conver I have a running conversation with my longest standing friend Rick uh who is just a few older a few years older than I am you know and
16:16 we we get together and like you know two old codgers, so to speak. You know, we talk, well, I don't know if I'm ever going to retire, you know, kind of thing. I wish I think I'm going to retire, what, you know, whatever, you know, whatever the convers but but the reality is is that both of us um enjoy our work. Uh Rick is the epitome of do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life. We were talking about it as recently as about a week and a half ago on our way to see a movie and uh I I you know very much enjoy what I
16:51 somewhat tongue and cheek call you know Kevin 3.0. This is I'm in my third uh career uh u administrating primarily I administrate as as you may know probates and trusts and I get to work with a lot of great people uh several of whom of whom are good friends of mine. So um you know I don't I I don't know that I want to retire in the sense of stop work you know stopping work completely. Uh I don't know that doesn't
17:27 doesn't really hold any allure for me. Um, on the other hand, uh, I would love to maybe, you know, take a month off. Uh, you know, maybe I I don't know, travel through Europe and see see some of the countries I didn't get to see when I was stationed there with the Navy or or travel through Africa or, you know, other places in Asia that I haven't been. That sort of thing. or maybe take, you know, a month and and do some kind of uh project that is uh not workrelated or do something that might eventually lead to uh a a shift in
18:05 the focus of my work, something like that. So that so I wanted to talk about this idea of a mini sbatical and and I've got several thoughts that I want to um that I'm going to share with you. Uh but I think uh we'll take a break here. When life brings unexpected changes, managing inherited property shouldn't add to your stress. Magnum Properties specializes in probate and trust real estate management. We handle the
18:41 complexities while you focus on what matters most. From property maintenance to tenant relations, from legal compliance to maximizing value. We're your trusted partner through every step. Magnum Properties, Inc., turning property challenges into peace of mind. Call us today at 213-264-4396 or visit magnumprops.com. So this is people making money and I'm your host Kevin Bemel and today's today
19:17 I'm talking about mini sabbaticals maximum life and I um shared some uh kind of introductory thoughts on why I think this is something for many of us to consider uh in contrast to the traditional idea of retirement where at some point we stop working completely and and and essentially for the rest of our lives and you know we're living off of pension benefits or or or whatever. So uh uh I I you know the the idea of a
19:52 a sort of you know traditional retirement it's it's very focused on this this sort of you know single you know somewhat distant milestone where you know you're going to stop working uh entirely and I I mean I suppose for some people that's motivating uh I I it that's never resonated with me. Uh but you know and and I I've I've read about you know various people who you know I want to retire by the time I'm 30 or by the time I'm 40. I I I
20:29 think what they really mean is they want to have enough money uh that they don't have to work at doing something they don't want to do. Uh because the idea I mean retiring at 30 you're going to live the next who knows 40 50 60 maybe 70 years doing nothing productive. That that's not that's not healthy. It's not healthy emotionally. Uh I'm not I'm don't think it's necessarily healthy physically. Um you know working means
21:06 that we're accomplishing things. We're interacting with other people. We're adding value to our communities, to our our states, our countries, even the world, depending on what we do. And so, uh, this idea of, well, you know, I mean, it used to be sort of the the typical retirement age was 65, right? Everybody like I'm, you know, now part of that I think it it was, you know, at at the time that typical retirement was 65. It was because you know lifespans often times didn't last much
21:41 longer than the late 60s to mid70s. So you know people would ret end up retiring and within you know 5 to 10 years they would pass away right now where it's common for people to live into their 80s even their 90s and I I remember this is maybe a year ago or more now seeing a billboard on uh Interstate 5 that that said something like um whatever was 30 or 40% of children born today are going to live to be at least 100red years old, right? So lifespans are lengthening significantly
22:20 and I mean so to retire at 35 and live for another 35 or 40 years, how are you going to make those those years meaningful? So I I I think too that this is something to to think about. So the idea of micro retirements or mini sbaticals or whatever we call them. So they they they intersperse work time with breaks throughout your career. Uh whether you work for, you know, for a company or
22:55 someone else, whether you have your own business. Uh but but what they do is they allow you to continue to engage in meaningful work while taking periodic breaks to sort of uh renew and refresh and and and that sort of thing. And you know whether you're an employee or you work for your own company uh you know these can be these can be worked out. So it from my perspective and and and this is something I'm going to be working on
23:30 uh myself in the coming years is I I think sbaticals can help prevent burnout and uh make long-term work more sustainable and be because in general I enjoy what I'm doing and I I really like interacting with the people with with whom and for whom my work. So, I want to continue that because I think that's the health that's a very healthy way to live. Um, but I but I'd like to take some breaks and kind of get away from it. So, there are there have been times
24:06 especially in the last four years with things that were going on in my personal life that I felt very burnt out. I had some, you know, health problems and such. Uh, for those of you who have been watching the show for the last, you know, several years, you know about those things. So, you know, to have it would have been nice to have been able to maybe take a, you know, a two or a four or even a six week sbatical, you know, to recover from uh some of these health problems or just to be able to take a break from, you know, the stress of of everyday life. And and so, again,
24:43 this is something I know I'm going to be looking to build into my life going forward. So when we talk about financial planning for many breaks, you know, this this is something that has to be done intentionally. So one of the things that should happen is there needs to be an an allocating of savings for these short-term retreats and and that that's a different mindset than planning for retirement. So, you know, if if if you know, we're going to take a month off,
25:20 let's say, and and maybe do some travel. So, the the resources required to do that, uh may include first of all, uh saving up a month's living expenses, whatever that may be, 5,000, 6,000, 8, $10,000 for the month, whatever that is. uh there may be a need if we have our own company there may be a need to bring in somebody temporarily to replace us maybe a a tempor if you're the CEO of the company maybe a you know a temporary CEO or have you know colleagues uh cover
25:59 for us in which case maybe they're they should be paid a bonus for taking on those extra duties and so there's a cost there [cough and clears throat] and then there's Finally, there's the cost associated with whatever it is, you know, you want to do on the the sbatical. So, so maybe you're going to travel. So, then what is it going to cost to travel for a month? How luxurious are you going to go? If you're going to stay at the Canon, you know, in London for a week, uh, you know, the the hotel alone is probably going to cost
26:34 something like, you know,5 to $10,000 depending on how fancy a room you get, right? And then there's food, there's transportation, right? So, you know, a month of traveling could easily cost, again, if you're going luxury, could easily cost who knows 20, 30, $40,000. So all told, [clears throat] [cough] excuse me, you might have to have uh you know $50 $60,000 saved up to take that one month sbatical, but that's a lot different
27:10 than the amount one would need to have saved if one were going to retire permanently. Okay? So, you know, if you're going to take, let's say, a one-mon sbatical uh every year for, you know, 10 years, well, so you have to save up $60,000 a year over a 10-year period. Maybe that's about, you know, six uh $600,000, $5 $600,000, something like that. With inflation, maybe a little bit more. Uh but that that $5 or $600,000
27:46 over the same 10-year period is probably not going to come even close to supporting you. uh you know at at a at the current lifestyle you have if indeed um you know your your um your monthly cost of living is $10,000 which is that's kind of what I was predicating that example on or even $8,000. So, uh, you know, at at 8,000, even at $8,000 a month, you're talking about $100,000 a year, uh, pre-tax. And so, depending on how the
28:21 pension, you know, works or not not the pension, depending on how where that money is coming from. So, over a 10-year period, you'd need a million dollars uh to you at least a million dollars to completely retire just with, you know, covering your monthly expenses. that that gives you no opportunity to travel or do anything else, right? And so if you were going to retire completely and and travel once a month, right? So you'd need a million half dollars for the same 10-year period, right? So you can see
28:56 there's a big difference between the two. Um and that's the kind of financial planning in which I think we need to engage in order to make a plan like this feasible. So, uh perhaps you know you create um a micro retirement fund or a mini sabbatical fund um within your you know investments and it's money that's uh in essence segregated and it's specifically there for you to take a mini sabbatical or or maybe you're going to take two two week mini sabbaticals each year or maybe
29:32 you're going to take three two weeks whatever it is um you have the money set aside to do that and it's not part of your other investments or I mean I don't want to say it's not part of but it's it's it's it's looked at separately from your other investments that you know may be for you know emer first of for you know first and foremost to cover emergencies second for maybe covering um you know your children's education um or help them start a business or what whatever it is you're in you're you're looking at
30:07 you're how you whatever however it is you're looking to use your investments. Uh and [clears throat] it might be that if you want to do this so that you know to do you know to set up a kind of a a micro retirement fund. So that may be motivation to live more frugally uh either temporarily or just in general in order to be able to build up the money that you need to take these mini sbaticals. So these are the kinds of financial decisions that you can make and and if you have a financial advisor,
30:44 they can help you uh set these things up. So So that's on the financial planning side. On the lifestyle benefit side, so taking uh mini sbaticals. So I I mentioned some of these a little while ago. So they give you an opportunity to travel, to learn new skills, to volunteer, explore hobbies without quitting your career. So you know, I I from time to time I've seen opportunities, for example, to go to Italy and learn, you know, Italian
31:20 cooking. Now again, like if you watch my show, Jiggers's Place, you you I make a cocktail every uh every show. Um, and you know, uh, mixology and and cooking are two of the things that I truly enjoy. And, uh, for me, it would be fun to go somewhere and for maybe a couple of weeks, immerse myself in learning the cooking techniques and traditions of another culture. Uh, Italy would stand high in that, right? Italian food is delicious. Um, so, uh, on the other
31:56 hand, uh, I love horses and, you know, going I know Yoki like an old guy like you, but like, you know, it would be great to go work on an actual working ranch. I'm not talking about like a do ranch where, you know, you you you sort of dress up, you know, like a cowboy, but you don't really do anything. I mean, like, really get out there and and work and uh, I don't know, maybe uh, you know, round up the cattle or whatever you would do. um you know uh something like that I think would be you know a great experience. Would it be fun? Well
32:31 maybe not in the traditional sense of fun but I think it would be meaningful and to have meaningful experiences I think is as is at least as important as having uh enjoyable experiences. So so that so I think from a lifestyle benefit that's that's one aspect of many sbaticals. Another is, you know, you you don't I don't know if you hear about this as much now as as you used to, but you used to hear a lot about work life balance. I I I think that's a misnomer at best. I'm not sure that balance is
33:07 the right thing, but I but what is relevant is that, you know, kind of like Ecclesiastes, you know, a riff on on on that uh great writing. There's a time to work and there's a time to play, right? We can't work all the time and and if we if we define play in a very broad sense where you know especially if you don't enjoy your work right play just means doing things that you enjoy. So that helps [clears throat] create a better mental health environment for us than uh you
33:46 know not taking such breaks. And I I I was talking to my friend Michael about this on Monday night. You you know, you you get a week's vacation and you spend the first three, four, five days just decompressing from work, right? So maybe you have one or two days left at the end of the week where you know you're you're you know sufficiently relaxed from all the stresses of work that you can maybe enjoy yourself. Uh but then and then but you know the day before your vacation ends you start getting back and oh I got to go to work the next day and blah blah
34:22 blah blah blah right so um having a longer break can be mentally uh better more efficient healthier however we would describe that from a lifestyle standpoint and then the other thing is having these periodic breaks I think they can reinvigorate us there's you know they they say absence makes the heart grow fonder. And I I think that's true for things beyond just that was applied to, you know, being away from the the the person that we love most, right? Absence makes the heart grow fonder. But I think that being away from
34:59 work, being away from our colleagues, uh you know, gives us a chance to miss them, to miss the activity, to miss the challenges, to miss even the aggravation on some level. And so we can reinvigorate our careers by, you know, going and doing something else for a period of time and then coming back. Maybe we learn something new that we can bring to our work that can make it more interesting or even more profitable. Who knows, right? So these are the opportunities. Uh so [clears throat]
35:34 there's many different ways that we can uh structure these breaks. So I know for people in the in academia, so sbaticals are kind of part of how academia works. There are paid sbaticals, there were unpaid sbaticals, you know, that people, professors and assistant professors, whatever, they will take time off, for example, to write a book, right? I I just read a um a really fun book called The Dictionary People. It's about the uh unpaid volunteers who helped in the writing of the Oxford English dictionary
36:12 and uh the woman who wrote it whose name is escaping me unfortunately. So, she took what amounted to a sbatical from her professorship or I not sure if she was a professor. She may have been an instructor, but in any event, she took what amounted to a sbatical from her teaching duties to complete the writing of this book, right? And that's that's pretty common in academia. So, you know, taking sabbaticals in the business world, we don't tend to refer to them that way. Uh but but in any event, you know, we can take paid leave, unpaid
36:48 leave, maybe work out some kind of flexible work arrangement, take, you know, an extended vacation, maybe part of it is paid vacation and part of it is unpaid vacation. These these things can all be worked out. They can be negotiated. And especially if you are a uh a high value employee and hopefully you are hopefully that's what you aspire to be uh and because that's the only true way to have job security these days. So your company will be willing to work with you in order to give you these
37:25 opportunities. Right? And I I I think today, perhaps more so than ever, companies are open to these kinds of uh situations because um th this is something that that that young younger workers, I think, are much more interested in than any previous generation. The idea that they're not li living to work, they are working to live. And I that's a very healthy perspective. people. I I think people,
38:00 you know, my age and and and you know, Generation X and such, I I think we we we wrongly uh were wrong when we condemn younger people for uh not having a sole focus on on work and for wanting to have work situations that allow them flexibility to do things like travel or engage in meaningful hobbies. I think they'll the younger people who do that will live much more satisfying lives. Uh they'll live uh um um they'll have more
38:39 enjoyable relationships because um they'll have um they'll have friends and and and such within um a number of of areas of life. So all of that is is much more positive than uh than it is those of us who I started my first business when I was 26. I've had my nose to the grindstone pretty much since then. First with my first company and then you know joining the United States Navy and working you know anywhere variously from 50 to sometimes 80 or more hours a week,
39:16 right? not not not exactly a way to uh um you know create longevity and you know and so now here I am in you know my third career and I'm much more conscious of these kinds of issues and how they can benefit uh me and and and the people you know with whom I have relationships. So um uh you know and and and by the way if your company is absolutely opposed to your taking periodic uh mini
39:51 many mini retirements or sbaticals or whatever you know you want you choose to call them. Well, uh, you know, again, if you're a high-value employee, maybe you can find another company for which to work that will afford you that opportunity and that may be a better situation for you and a more a a more sustainable, longerlasting, enjoyable situation. So, something to think about if you're job hunting right now and and and the the idea of mini sbaticals appeals to you. So maybe this becomes a negotiating point for you as
40:27 you seek to work out your compensation package. So you know as we look beyond the confines of the United States, the United States I think because of our Puritan heritage is a very workfocused uh we have a very work focused culture and society. But if you go to other countries, in particular Europe, uh you you you'll see that that long sbaticals or extended leaves are more common and
41:02 are much more culturally accepted. So I I I can't speak for Asia in that regard. My sense is probably a Asia and the United States are more similar in their work folk in our work focus. South America, I think, is probably more European in its focus. It's a it's a more um relaxed society in that sense. And so, you know, at at the risk of uh yeah, I I don't I don't mean to to lapse into politics here, but you know, not not everything
41:37 about American culture is is ideal. I can we all agree on that? I'm I hope we can, right? And so, um you know, Maybe it's time for us to re-examine this issue and and in light of how uh you know other cultures look at time off and and perhaps modify our our thinking I I'll put it that way. So you know again that micro retirements sabaticals they can
42:12 really expand our horizons. They can allow us to engage with different cultures in different activities. Look, you can be in business and you might decide you want to write a book and you want to take two months off to write that book. That's wonderful. If if you can work it out to do that, tremendous. And writing that book could be a truly broadening experience for you, right? And so that's where I think the mo there's the most benefit for many sbaticals is is how they enrich our lives. So finally um I think that you
42:51 know look regular breaks they can help us prevent burnout they can reduce stress they can improve our focus when we are working and look if we have a family right this there's opportunities to bring our families along to show them there's a different in indeed a better way to live our lives and what I I mean, I don't know. I think it would be wonderful if I had a family, which I don't right now. Um, to, you know, take a a a two week or even a one month
43:28 sbatical with with my family where we go perhaps and engage in another culture or we travel or we do some project together as a family. What a wonderful way to build closer familial ties than by having these amazing experiences together. In in in in this regard, I'm I'm I I I find myself perennially jealous of my my friend Rick, whom I mentioned uh earlier in the show. Uh he
44:03 his family uh spent time in Africa. This would have been in the late 1960s, early 1970s as I recall. Um I I don't recall exactly what they did there. Uh but it's it it was a bonding experience that has paid dividends for decades afterwards. and and you know kudos to his parents for uh taking you know for for for creating that opportunity and and you know bringing Rick and his sister Roxanne
44:38 along. Um you know their their lives were immeasurably enriched uh by that experience. Uh and and I think the other thing is that taking these periodic breaks, they encourage a mindset of enjoyment and fulfillment throughout life, not just after we stop working. And with all of the daily stresses that we face, workreated, family related, um you know, community and and and and
45:14 politically related, whatever whatever the sources of stress are in our lives to create a life that that is based on living all our lives as opposed to focusing for this, you know, distant goal. I think is a much more positive way to live and a much healthier way to live. So that's that's my pitch for many sabbaticals. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Uh you can um uh post uh
45:49 comments, criticisms, whatever uh in social media. All the links will be in the show notes when once uh this episode posts on YouTube. look look forward to reading those and responding uh you know as appropriate. Let's see then tomorrow at 5:00 pm Pacific time is my show Jiggers's Place. We're going to have a cocktail in a schmoo as we head toward the end of the week. And then next week I'll be back with the full slate of uh the Way to Wow shows on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. So I thank you very much for joining me.
46:25 always love to see my live viewers and I wish you a wonderful rest of the day. Signing off as I always do. Marie darling, you are my bell. Courage at all times, my friends.