The Wild West on water

No.179: Tue 16 Jan 2024

Hi, it’s David here.

This week’s School of Athens Newsletter is written by Ben Mason, Problem Definer and Community Member here at BeenThereDoneThat and boat owner.

It is our belief that experience is invaluable, Ben takes it to the next level in his belief that experienc-ing is everything. (I’ve always lived by the motto ‘he who collects the most stories wins.)

Ben is currently moored up in Florida and provides us with a real life picture of a life that more people are choosing to live.

(We have recently built a community of CMO ‘inbetweeners’, marketers who have chosen to leave the corporate world. If you're interested, we would be interested to hear from you.)

So as you contemplate the life you are leading and possibly one that you are contemplating leaving, have a read about the road, or should I say waters, ahead in this piece from Ben.

As always, we are curious to hear what you think.

David Alberts

Co-Founder and Chief Vision Officer at BeenThereDoneThat

Hi, it’s Ben?here.

It’s like a scene from The Wire. But on water. One person is grilling a fish they caught off the dock. Another is making a bed behind the toilet block after her boat sank last night. It lies on its side, swamped, too close to the shore for its own good. “Fuck the pirates”??shouts Larry, his parting refrain to the dock dwellers as he heads out to his boat.?

I’m here because I bought a boat. And said boat sits here. Welcome to Florida — the centre of the luxury yacht industry. But my little corner of it is far from that. It’s more like the Wild West on water.?

For me this is the culmination of a dream and the start of an experiment. Can I turn this 50 foot sailboat into a globe-trotting home-office?

Living on a boat, slowing sailing around the world isn’t new. There have been cruisers, as they’re known, since there were boats. But it used to be the preserve of people who’d chosen not to have a job. The young ones labelled dropouts, the oldies as retirees. These days there are all sorts. Families home schooling. Remote workers taking remote working to the most remote corners of the seven seas. Aiming to live like retirees, long before such a thing is economically possible.

But perhaps this isn’t so new. It turns out that retirement is a fairly new idea, the 20th century result of booming populations and life expectancy. The economy didn’t need all its workers, hence the introduction of the first official retirement age of 70 in 1908. And at that time, 50% of Brits were dead by 68. So most people never retired. They died instead, which seems far more honourable a sacrifice to our economic deity.?

Professor Sarah Harper, the nation’s leading expert in population change reckons retirement needs cancelling. The economy lacks labour. And the biggest group of economically inactive individuals are retirees.

And while we’re gunning for Boomers, it’s worth mentioning the work of Conservative Peer, Lord Willet. A Boomer himself, he laments how the voting power of his cohort has unbalanced the economy. We’ve gone from pensioner meaning poverty to pensioner meaning property magnate. The only aspiration left for the rest is avocado toast.

I’m not gunning for Boomers for the sake of it. Like many of my neighbours in the anchorage, their situation is a result of their circumstances. But the current setup isn’t working. Ageing, unemployed populations are a drain on the economy. And also the defining story of our age. All around the world, birth rates are dropping and life expectancies increasing. When the only growing part of the population is retired, so does economic growth.?

Professor Harper has no intention of retiring. Apart from the irony that would entail, she also loves her work.

My neighbour Larry doesn’t plan to retire either. He doesn’t even have a bank account, let alone a pension. And he’s happy to work less and earn less. His career as a Hells Angel was far more lucrative than the odd jobs he does around the anchorage right now. The workplace is less intense too, one might imagine.

I think Larry might have it all worked out. Retirement is slowing down not giving up. Portfolio careers are the norm. And it’s never too late to learn a new trade. Bring on the boom of Boomer content creators.?

Larry’s father gave him some choice career advice: “Be careful son, you’re trying too many things. You’ll find something you love and it’ll fuck you up”.

I couldn’t disagree more. I think I have a new career every three years. And the current one resembles retirement. Who knows how long it’ll last.?

So go buy that caravan Move to the countryside. Take up tennis lessons. Because retirement is retired. The time to play is now.

Ben Mason

Community Member at BeenThereDoneThat?

Supporting Articles

1. Boomers Back to Work

How ageing populations and falling birthrates could change the world with Professor Sarah Harper from the Oxford University Institute of Population Ageing.

2. Have the Boomers Pinched Their Children’s Futures?

The post-war baby boom of 1945-65 produced the biggest and richest generation in British history. David Willetts discusses how these boomers have attained this position at the expense of younger generations

3. Women and the Wind

A trailer for a documentary by a group of women that sail with world with minimal technology and maximal passion for life.

4. A Family Sails the World

The comfortable cruising lifestyle, demonstrated by a family that has been sailing for over a decade.

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