ORIGINAL POST BY SAVINGS JOURNEY
“A lot of people aspire to retire early - age 40, 45, 50, whatever it may be. In the blogosphere, the phenomenon is pervasive - the dream of so many people! Everyone has their own justifications for their obsession with wanting to retire early - "write a book", "do things that I want to do that I can't now", yada yada.
Personally, I find that my work is enthralling and rewarding. I am very passionate about what I do and I keep very abreast in my industry. I participate in conferences, and I basically look forward to the work that I do nearly each and every day. I've always enjoyed my work for the 10 or so years that I've been doing it. So why the heck would I want to retire early? Consider this:
•Early retirement is a risk to your future earnings - what if you retire at 45 then decide 5 years into your retirement hiatus that you want to work? Will you be happy with that Wal-Mart greeter job? ;) You greatly risk your future earnings potential
•Early retirement likely means a decrease in your disposible income both in retirement and today
This is just one side of the coin obviously. Some people don't like their jobs, and some people don't make a million bucks a year. But if you're already planning for early retirement because you don't enjoy what you do today, and look forward to all that free time you'll have when you retire, you better think long and hard about things. Think about yourself today! What does it mean to work at something that you don't enjoy? Well for starters, you're not necessarily getting paid a lot because you're not passionate about it. You're also preparing yourself for a more mediocre future. I LOVE WHAT I DO TODAY! Do you? If you don't, then why don't you find something that you love doing?
Why sacrifice a possibly a lower quality of life / enriching life today for the purpose of a possibly lower quality of life / enriching early retirement life? Find out what your are passionate about today and pursue that today! If you're finding that your job is not something that you're passionate about, find a job that you will be!
Maybe then your life perspective will be different, and you won't want to retire so young, and as a result the overall quality of life that you will have today until you die may be higher.”
Tomorrow I’ll provide my take on the subject and answer the questions he poses in his post.
4 comments:
My husband is a self-employed work-a-holic who LOVES his job. I've often lamented his long hours and the fact that he will probably never fully retire. His parents, ages 80 and 77, still work (for him!) I've recently adopted a new attitude, though..his hard work has afforded me the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom for 20+ years, and now, in my late forties, i am able to travel and do what I want...as is he...because of our hard work. As I said he will probably never fully retire, although, he does say he's slowing down...we'll see! lol
To each his own...
My #1 worry is what if I can't live off my dream job, and risk a comfortable retirement completely. I'm looking forward to your post tomorrow.
A nice post.
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