In-der-Blog-sein

The Financial Philosopher starts a post on figuring out your own retirement plan with a popular aphorism about language.

Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.

And his point is practical, as financial decision should be.

The quote of the day features Martin Heidegger, who was a controversial, yet brilliant, 20th century philosopher that placed an emphasis on language as the vehicle through which the question of "being" could be unfolded. He is certainly not the first philosopher who has warned of (and complained about) the inadequacies or sometimes complete falsehoods of language and the words that we use to communicate ideas.

In the realm of personal finance, "retirement" is just one of countless words that should be defined by the individual and not by any outside influences. Since there is no such thing as a "one-size-fits-all" definition for retirement, it behooves the individual to arrive at one for them self, otherwise their path may take them to a destination determined by popular conventions -- one that is completely unsuitable or even unattainable for the individual.

  ¶ 3:09 PM