How serious are you?

I am probably a 8. It has been a continuous passion for over fifty years… taking precedence over but not exclusively of other sedentary pursuits. It has not prevented me from traveling the world, SCUBA diving, riding my bicycles all over the continent around 100,000 miles, backpacking, rafting the Grand Canyon collecting and reading thousands of books, taking care of my disabled partner. My system is the second largest asset I own, after my house and before my two cars, and sporting equipment. While it has been a major expense, it did not bankrupt us or prevent enjoying other aspects of life. In retirement all the work and expense has really paying back in enjoyment.

@mapman 

Great to hear you are thinking of retiring. I have been lucky to have many interests and over my career have been able to take off a year or more four times to just pursue my passions… physical and intellectual. So, my interests instantly take over all my time.

The way you put the idea you were thinking of retiring and then decide what to do. You might consider slowly moving into retirement and developing other pursuits along the way. I know a lot of retired folks and those that just quit without a bunch of passions can have a hard time. The rule of thumb is it takes five years to adjust to retirement. My transition was really easy for the reasons I said… but there was still a transition from being so goal oriented (by conditioning all my life) to being more process oriented. 

@coltrane1 

Perhaps the next high end audio purchase should be air conditioning. 
 

@coltrane1

I live in the Pacific Northwest and have air conditioning. My 38 tubes are providing wonderful sound.

It sounds like you are postponing listening for more than a few days. Also, climate change will make the number of days that are over 90 much larger.