The London Times: A Well-Planned Retirement
This story showed up in an email from a friend – thought you might enjoy this. To me, there is a certain elegance here.
Now this retirement plan beats the heck out of 401k’s and pension plans administered by corporations who are filing bankruptcy. It’s amazing to me how clear thinking and consistent service leads to achieving life goals.
In this example, this man took action, provided very good service and contributed to the overall order and balance of a public venue. And it worked effectively – no administrative garbage, no forms, no nothing. He did not embezzle money from his stock holders or an investment fund, did not pass legislation that created a financial disaster to his economy and nobody was hurt by his action in the least.
The idea of working and providing valuable service everyday AND KEEPING THE MONEY YOU MAKE is foreign to most of us now and absolutely contrary to government protocol.
I admire this guy and think that government should stay out of our business and our lives.
Outside England ‘s Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 buses. For 25 years, its parking fees were managed by a very pleasant attendant. The fees were 1 pound for cars ($1.40), for buses (about $7).
Then, one day, after 25 solid years of never missing a day of work, he just didn’t show up; so the Zoo Management called the City Council and asked it to send them another parking agent.
The Council did some research and replied that the parking lot was the Zoo’s own responsibility. The Zoo advised the Council that the attendant was a City employee.. The City Council responded that the lot attendant had never been on the City payroll.
Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain or France or Italy … is a man who’d apparently had a ticket machine installed completely on his own and then had simply begun to show up every day, commencing to collect and keep the parking fees, estimated at about $560 per day — for 25 years.
Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over $7 million dollars …… and no one even knows his name.
This story reminds me of how I felt when I watched “The Sting” with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. I love creativity, innovation and thinking out of the box. It’s the fuel of expansion and growth. Think how much simpler life would be if we could live it the way this man did.
“Clarity is power.” T Harv Eker
There’s a lot to be said about simplicity.
I Am Michael Barrett and I Am a Core Health Facilitator
