Many people like to retire early and many do not like to retire till death. The single most important condition to retire at 40 is to have a desire to retire at 40. Many people who have enough to survive for a couple of generations are not retiring at 70. They keep working and work for money until their body says no. Some people are so desperate that the next day they retire from employment they take up some other job or consulting and feel happy about it.
People do not think to retire early for various reasons.
- Why would I retire if I can work and earn?
- Being active till the old age is considered an achievement.
- Fear that the existing savings might not be enough considering the rate of inflation.
- There is no other purpose in life than triple Es i.e. earn, eat, enjoy and die.
Our strong belief that life is not well spent in just earning money is the first step to retire as soon as possible. This belief will make all the difference.
“There’s got to be more to life than fighting for fish heads.” Jonathan Livingston Seagull
In the profound book, the Seagull realise what many human beings fail to realise.
Early retirement is not about early inactive life and doing nothing. Early retirement means what the Seagull realised.
Usually, this kind of posts would advise the people to do all of the following before thinking about early retirement:
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Enough Savings
Enough savings to earn an inflation-adjusted income of your existing income.
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Health Insurance
Adequate health insurance of the family to take care of expensive medical care.
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Life insurance
Reasonable life insurance to take care of the depended family members.
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No Debt
Make sure you have repaid all your debt. Your post-retirement income should not have the burden of debt repayment.
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Family Responsibility
The expense of children’s education, marriage etc should have been provided for or already done.
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The list is so burdening that this post becomes irrelevant. You might be tempted to look for an additional part-time job and request an extension of your retirement age with your employer.
We are so obsessed with the uncertainty of the future that we just can’t think boldly. Our decisions are clouded by huge fear. So much so that we don’t mind repenting than venturing and taking some calculated risk.
Early retirement isn’t the elixir to everlasting happiness, but it sure beats commuting to work and sitting in meetings all day long!” Sam Dogen who retired at 34.
He writes early retirement means not belonging to a company, no designation, no identity and no answer to people’s question – what you do for a living?
Jonathon look Jr who retired at 50 writes, “I am not a scientist, psychologist, gerontologist, or even a “life-coach” or financial planner. I am just a guy who retired at fifty and feels like he wants to live forever.
Retirement gave me the freedom to be location independent and the time to pursue my dreams of seeing the world. The extra time has given me the flexibility to develop new interests and find skills that I didn’t know I had. All lives are a race against time, and in the end, time always wins.
Knowing this gives me the motivation to expand my universe as wide as possible and cram as much living into life as I can.
I took early retirement in 2011, sold everything I owned, and began traveling the world. Before that, I had lived a relatively ordinary American life, however at the age of 50, I found myself surrounded by possessions, but longing for adventure and endowed with an unquenchable curiosity to see far beyond my familiar little corner of the globe.
Now I write, I make photographs in faraway places, and I look for opportunities to do more. I prefer to experience the full spectrum of life and expand my comfort zones rather than accumulate more stuff. I wouldn’t call myself a minimalist, but I have discovered that time is our most valuable asset, and there is much luxury in possessing fewer things.”
This is what early retirement is. We Indians are known to be workaholics. While people in the west are enjoying their Vanaprastha Ashram, We Indians have extended our Grihastha Ashram till death.
“The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.” Vince Lombardi
Answer some of the questions before you go to work tomorrow:
Do I want to earn money all my active life?
Why not retire early and do what I like to do?
Your financial planning comes when you are convinced about what you want to do in your life. Remember your financial planning is not the deterrent, your clarity of thought about your life is.
You may also like to read: Do You Know Your Busyness is Wasting Your Short Life?
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