Our Story

In April of 2010, I, Claude Lamour, sat with my wife Monica and established my target retirement date – December 31, 2012. I wasn’t myself anymore. My family saw it, my friends saw it and now finally, I saw it. I was so preoccupied with making a living I forgot who I was. I wasn’t enjoying life. Among others, my good friend and brother-in-law, Lloyd Tatum, kept asking me, “Dude, when’s enough, enough? You’re killing yourself!” Well, enough was finally enough.

After setting my sights on the big date, the next two and a half years proved to be some of the most challenging days of my life. I relocated my aging parents from Florida to Georgia so my family and I could care for them. We lived through multiple illnesses and ultimately my father’s death in 2012. I also saw both my daughters get married. While both were joyous events, they also heightened my self-inflicted stress to provide. At work I received more and more responsibilities and began putting in 55-70 hours a week. And I wasn’t the only one feeling the pressures at work. I witnessed several colleagues fall ill to stress and its effects. Other acquaintances took leaves of absence to prevent irreparable illnesses and sadly, one took his life due to job pressures. Through this whole trying time I kept hope with these three numbers – 12-31-12 – just hang on until then.

To help keep my eye on the prize, I downloaded a countdown clock application on my iPhone. The app tracked the days, hours and seconds to my target retirement date. The obvious first step to set up the app was to enter the date of my event. Easy. Next it prompted for the name of the event. That was a little more challenging. Luckily I had a friend to turn to for some creative help.

One morning, as we were celebrating our birthdays, Lloyd and I were having coffee and Bailey’s overlooking the Snake River Canyon (where Evil Knievel made his infamous jump) outside of Twin Falls, Idaho. We were discussing what I could do when the big day finally came. I had a nervous look on my face, as if I was scared of what my life would look like when work didn’t consume 70 hours of my week. Lloyd looked over to me and said, “You can’t fully retire, you still need to do something. I remember when my dad retired – he withered up and died before he should have.” That’s when the light bulb went off and my apprehension turned to inspiration. That’s the conversation that triggered the creation of the Half Ass Retired Dude* lifestyle brand. So now my iPhone event, and my life after retirement, finally had a name and a purpose.

*With my short term memory loss, I call everyone dude, dude.

Half Ass Retired Dude (H.A.R.D.)

The H.A.R.D. apparel line, HARD-Wears, made its debut in Daytona Beach, FL. And for the classy, beautiful women, the ones you dream about, a Dame’s apparel line is also in the works.

But we are about more than just looking good. H.A.R.D. is a mindset, an attitude. A lifestyle that asks, reflects and answers HARD questions like:

When is enough, enough?
What are you willing to trade for the things you want?
Are you willing to sacrifice anything for what you feel you need?
Does your spouse, family, body or soul get included in these deals of needs and wants?
Are the most important parts of your life escaping you while you are grasping for something else?

The creation of Half Ass Retired Dude was initially geared towards the Baby Boomer generation – the 78 million people born from 1946 to 1964. These are people in early retirement or those who will be retiring in the near future. However, as we began to ask these questions of ourselves, we realized we shouldn’t just target people our age. Wouldn’t I have benefitted from the life lessons and knowledge of an older, wiser version of myself? The younger generation needs to be aware as well. After reading pieces like the Bronnie Ware story, we should all evaluate our priorities before retirement…or before it is too late. The earlier we make these assessments and investments in life, the better we are – similar to a 401k. We’re building a quality of life for ourselves and taking care of our loved ones in other ways. At the end of our lives, we don’t want to have any regrets.

H.A.R.D. does not advocate quitting your job, but it encourages you to evaluate what you want and need. In most cases it just asks you to look at life differently. This is also something you shouldn’t do alone. Before making any hasty decisions, seek some advice, get a mentor, pray. A wise person always seeks counsel.

Who wants to join our club and become a H.A.R.D. member? No membership fee required, maybe just a little change of mind.

WHAT’S YOUR DATE?

The Team

Claude Lamour – Owner/Founder

After 32 years in the Telecommunications industry, Claude chose to sacrifice some worldly possessions for peace of mind. Claude now lives a simpler H.A.R.D. lifestyle just outside of Atlanta, GA. He lives with his best friend and wife, Monica, and visits with his adult children and granddaughter. When Claude isn’t home in Atlanta you may find him riding a bicycle on Daytona Beach or fishing in Port Orange. Claude’s new motto – all I have to do now is catch just one fish a day to eat. (click here to read an interesting fishing story)

Lloyd Tatum – Owner/Founder

When Lloyd was 16 years old, he set a goal to retire at 40. He saw his father work tirelessly his whole life, with very little fun mixed in amongst the long days, and he didn’t want that for himself. For the next 20+ years Lloyd worked his back to the bone. During those years he missed out on the childhood of his two sons and family memories, but he felt a need to provide for his family and hit his retirement goal.

But, as many of you may relate to, 40 came and went. So did 45. Then, after years as a full-time general contractor, dealing with long days full of mayhem, traffic and headaches, Lloyd said to himself, “There’s got to be a better way – enough is enough.” Following this epiphany and being reminded of his goal to retire years ago at 40, Lloyd decided to embrace the H.A.R.D. life. Shortly after Hurricane Andrew hit his family in South Florida in 1992, Lloyd packed his belongings and moved his wife and two sons to Idaho.

Lloyd still works as a contractor, but now he selectively picks his jobs and traffic consists of a few moose in the road, not hours wasted in city gridlock. He lives on over 30 acres of land, affectionately referred to as the Rockin’ T Ranch. Each morning he spends an hour in the “think tank”, his hot tub, and ponders what he’ll do that day.