A paradigm shift

A paradigm shift has to be made when all is not the same any more, for whatever reason.

I was thinking the other day of the paradigm shift required as one grows older and objectives can't be the same as they were when he was younger. Well, that is the paradigm shift I write about in this chuckothoughts. I am now 69, which causes need for thinking differently - about a lot of things - than I did 10, 20, or 30 years ago.

For example, I used to think a lot about trading cars (and buying trucks) and houses and such. Just sign on the line and pay for it in time. That was some time ago for sure. The last new thing I bought was a new truck. It was (and still is) a nice truck - a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado, with about 70,000 miles.

I financed that truck for five years. I bought a policy that paid it off if I died, so Clema would not be burdened with a payment. I was confident this was a good move. Well, it is about paid for - another four payments left. Clema will not be burdened with a payment on that truck we both call "Fred."

Now, just five years down the road, it is a bit different. If I traded it off for a new one and financed for five years, I am less sure I would be able to pay it off in my life time. Certainly, I am not in health to be able to buy insurance to pay it off. While I might make it another five years, if I don't, Clema gets saddled with a truck payment, unless there are funds somewhere else. So, this causes a paradigm shift. Not a good idea at this point to finance a new truck. Better off to look to a financial position where I can just buy one if I want one.

The other shift in thinking for me is in trying to get the house paid for, so Clema will not have that to pay for by herself. That means funds need to be more dedicated in the direction of reducing the mortgage. That is a paradigm shift, too, that comes to me later in life, one that I did not think much about before. Before, there was a life time to pay for a house. Now, that life time has to be shorter than it used to be.

My point: there does come a point in life where one needs to think differently than they did in a younger age. I am there! This is the point at which one stars drawing in rather than extending out, if I may put it that way. I now know more that that is a part of life.

I am comfortable with this change in priorities. There are a lot of things good about growing older. Being more realistic might indeed be one of them.

So, I am at a point of a needed paradigm shift. That is not bad. It just is.