stop rushing to retire early

[DK]

Found this interesting, thought I'd share:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140818145717-4398055-stop-rushing-to-retire-early

[UnleashHell]

good grief.

"what are you running from"


being chained to a desk and getting up 5 days a week knowing that you have to work for someone else to pay the bills.
buying crap you don't need or want in order to make up for the time you spend working.

that's a start...

and he claims to be a recovering Workaholic... yeah.... no I don't think so...

[RunHappy]

My goal is more financial independence and semi-retirement.  Right now I love my job as a consultant and the company I work for.  What I would like to do though is be able to pick and choose the contracts....work when I want to but not work when I don't.   I'm still many years from realizing this.

[RichLife]

I agree in part that retiring should be about the journey as much as the destination. However that should not have to be mutually exclusive with speeding up the journey where possible. I think it is absolutely worth it that if you still work to get the most enjoyable job, and I'd say it might be wise to take a less paying job if you are 100x more motivated to do that one. However despite which job you take it is still well worth it to avoid stupid expenses.

[chemgeek]

I think the author's point that you shouldn't hate work is a good one. I was hoping he would go on to say find your passion and choose a career accordingly but that never materialized. He also completely lost my support at the end.

"Let’s retire…
…our excuses for not living now and deferring our dreams.
…the idea that having lots of money or time is the only route to happiness.
…feeling helpless and blaming our employers are bosses for our unhappiness.
…feeling helpless.
…comparing and competing against each other.
…racing to nowhere fast."

Just too much here to shake my head at. Like all of these reasons people feel bad/helpless/stressed about work are self-imposed? yeah right.

[StashDaddy]

I think he makes some good points.  I think most here are focused on getting to FI (which is a great goal!), but have they really thought about what they will do if they choose to quit their jobs after that? 

Have they found something worthwhile to fill their time like MMM has with his construction "job / hobby"?

[Dr. Doom]

…racing to nowhere fast."

While I think his ideas are generally well-meaning, I don't like his assumption that the destination of RE is nowhere.  Most of the people on these boards have a) lots of confidence b) a strong sense of identity and c) a fair idea of how they'd rather spend their time other than mandatory 9-5 (or worse) labor for a boss and institution they probably don't like all that much just to pay bills.

Agree that it's important to incorporate things that you like into daily living even while you're working.  It can bring you joy, peace and happiness.  He plays pick-up basketball, others read, lift, bike, blog, hang with kiddos, whatever.  But for most people, those activities are a balm on an otherwise burning hot crap day.  Why wouldn't folks prefer to just have nice day after nice day?

Ridiculous.  Also note that he's only 33 years old.  I highly doubt he's going to feel the same way when he's 45, 50.  He also has limited personal job experience, and according to his linkedin profile, most of what he's done to this point in his career is create content about how to be a better worker.  Ick.

[Ynari]

I was horrified by that graph.  It seemed he was trying to use it to say "look!  You have free time even while working!" but all I saw was "become sleep deprived at 6 hours/day so that you can pretend to have 3 hours of free time while being miserable and coffee dependent all the time."

40+ hours of week of doing one thing (that is only voluntary because you're being paid) is not a great life, even if it's not torture and you do manage to have a few hours of "free time" in the evening.

[DragonSlayer]

Like so many PF writers, he makes some valid points but then loses credibility in the details. He is right that you shouldn't pursue FIRE to the extent that you hate your life today because it is true that tomorrow might not come. There has to be a balance. I knew a guy once who went to pharmacy school. I asked him if he liked pharmacy. "Nope. Hate it. But it's good money and I'll only have to be miserable for ten years and then I can retire."

This seemed like a very backward way to look at things and I think this is more the sort of person that the writer is referring to. You do have to do some things today that are fun and relaxing (and they don't have to be $$$) and you can't try to save up all your experiences for that magical FIRE date. You want to get there quickly, but you don't want to burn yourself out in the process, or get hit by a bus and think, "Man, why didn't I go for that walk with my spouse last night instead of working on the spreadsheets?"

[Public Hermit]

Of course it's a linked-in article. He's probably trying to score points with his "network" as indicated by his "workaholic" comment.

My goal is semi-retirement by 45. I would like to keep working very part time(10-15 hours a week) doing something I actually enjoy. In the meantime, I work 60 hours a week so that I can eventually find work doing something I enjoy because I want to, not because I have to.

[soccerluvof4]

To me the article is the same ole same ole! at the end of the day different strokes for different folks we see it on here all the time. If hes happy so be it but seems to me he is simply trying to write an argument to the contrarian view of MMM. Retirement for everybody has different meanings and the only real thing I agree with him is to be happy in whatever you do.

[MandalayVA]

Like a lot of people (including myself once upon a time) the writer thinks that retirement = not working at all.  "Doing what you love" may very well involve working.  Both my husband and I plan to have part-time jobs after retiring from full-time.  Ever since I was a kid I've wanted to be a museum or tour guide, and seeing as I live in one of the most historic cities in America I'm definitely going to pursue it--in fact I just learned that a local university offers a tour guide course in the spring.  I don't want to be like my father, who retired at 62 and sat around the house watching TV and turning into a conspiracy theorist, eventually dying of dementia that I firmly believe was caused by his sitting around and doing nothing. 

[Left]

I'm not hurrying to "retire" I'm hurrying as fast as I can (within living comfortably) to FI, so I can do what I want without relying on someone else paying me. I won't "have" to work then but I will still "work" doing what I want.

my goal is retire at 45, then travel the world, after I do that (maybe only a few years), I'd probably get a job at a coffee shop and just chat up the locals and being a "vagabond" and just meet people around the country/world

[hybrid]

I tune out when people insist there is just one proper way to do something. The author made a few good points, when he gets to my age he may have a different perspective. I don't hate my job. I would simply rather be doing other things...

[Nords]

Speaking as a guy selling a book on financial independence, Linkedin (and other employment-related sites) are not boosting sales of financial-independence books.  I'm shocked, shocked I say, to find a Linkedin member posting about learning to love your work.

But if you're writing a book on finding a job (or about Linkedin) then it's a great place to sell your work.

[Ozstache]

Speaking as a guy selling a book on financial independence, Linkedin (and other employment-related sites) are not boosting sales of financial-independence books.  I'm shocked, shocked I say, to find a Linkedin member posting about learning to love your work.

But if you're writing a book on finding a job (or about Linkedin) then it's a great place to sell your work.

LOL :)

[Johnez]

I enjoy my work.  It's not particularly rewarding, it's not very prestigious or anything, but it suits me.  I still want to retire, and fast.  The author's premise seems to rest on the fact that "work" (dreaded four letter word-gasp!) isn't particularly enjoyable, and that's why we all want to retire early.  For a lot of us that's true, as not all of us can be star baseball players, or scientists curing the next disease that hits us, or writing articles on the internet.  Yes we should all try enjoying our jobs and integrating it into our lives best we can, but damn out of 300 million or so Americans here, we all can't have that luxury. 

Work is an exchange.  My time, energy, and mind are exchanged for money from a company.  I'd rather have the other side of the exchange be something a little more worthwhile to me.  Time with my friends and family, putting my own ideas to fruition, etc.  If I want to slave away at something, I want the results and rewards to be all mine. 

[Dr. Doom]

Speaking as a guy selling a book on financial independence, Linkedin (and other employment-related sites) are not boosting sales of financial-independence books.  I'm shocked, shocked I say, to find a Linkedin member posting about learning to love your work.

But if you're writing a book on finding a job (or about Linkedin) then it's a great place to sell your work.

LOL :)

Me also find funny. 

[desk_jockey]

The parts about happiness at work aren't bad, and are things that I need to remind myself more often.  MMM has written similarly with his SWAMI post and his presentation from the first Chautaqua.

The title and some other lines in the article show that he misses other MMM concepts entirely.

[arebelspy]

Wow, this picture was good:
https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/3/005/07e/265/341d5cf.jpg


Shorten the red bars and add some yellow, but how are you going to spend those yellow times?

Fun to consider.

Not sure why there's two black (sleep and have tos?).  I guess "Have Tos" is stuff like eating, using the bathroom, etc.?  Would have liked to see those two as separate colors.  Also odd that it goes up to 30 hours/day, rather than 24 (i.e. all the white space at the top of the colored bars).

[Elderwood17]

That is a great chart.  Exchanging red bars for more yellow ones seems like a perfectly logical reason to decrease my current level of consumption. 

[Tyler]

The tone of the article has some typical youthful naďveté, but I generally didn't have a problem with it. The key is to not read it from the perspective of the Internet retirement police. Retiring from one thing to do other things you love (regardless of profitability) sounds just fine to me. 

[isbjshaffer]

I hate my job, so I can't wait to retire! What's the point of living if you can't enjoy it? I don't consider taking orders and pretending to like the people I'm around enjoyable.

[MrsPete]

I can buy into a theme of "look for balance, enjoy today rather than putting all your energy into preparing for tomorrow". 

I think most of us are just about as happy as we allow ourselves to be.  Genuinely hate your job?  No one's forcing you to stay; other options do exist.  I think some posters here are like my youngest child:  If 99 good things happen, followed by 1 negative thing -- she'll say it was all bad.  That negative sticks in her mind and outweighs all the positive. 

However, I also solidly believe that it's wise to live frugally and save today so that if the job disappears tomorrow, or if some tragedy ensues, we're prepared.  In that sense, the author definitely does sound young and naive -- as if work will always be available and possible.  Once you're in a position of financial strength, then you have the choice to continue working or to quit -- but you have a choice. 

[sleepyguy]

Meh, ho-hum article from an admitted workaholic.

Ask yourself…

Why do I want to retire early?
- more time with love ones and family
- actually RAISE my kids and teach them all kinds of fun stuff
- more time to do hobbies and enjoyable side hustle stuff
- all kinds of stuff... use your imagination

What am I really rushing to?
- see above

What am I running from?
- compliant order taking employee that lines shareholders pockets :)

Once I retire, then what will I do?
- see first answer

What do I really want beside to not have to work?
- huh?  ask same question 3 times.

How can I design a career where I’m not rushing to retire?
- don't care about career and never have

It’s not money that we want. It’s what we think money will get us. You retire early and have all this time. And then what? Now you have time to do what?
- it's not money we want?  WTF... hardly anyone is working for free... what a joke.  Again same question as the first

[LalsConstant]

These type articles all assume that everyone's passion in life is economically viable as a job or a business .

Also day of my life goals is to wake up and go to sleep whenever I feel like it every day.  No job or business you can run allows for such a thing.

[Helvegen]

I like my job, I just dislike spending so much time at it. I do it now because the pros of working FT at the moment vastly outweigh the cons from a purely financial perspective. I also do not see it as a permanent fixture in my life, just something I need to do until X financial goals are met, then I can drop back. Maybe in 4 years or so. I've lived the PT life before, so I know what I am getting myself into, for better or worse.

I dunno when I would like to drop out of paid work completely and permanently. Not anytime in the foreseeable future.

[Kaspian]

Bad premise on the whole thing.  It seems to me that most people here striving for early-retirement are much, much happier than average people and those who go into debt and buy things to impress people.  So, generally people here are happier than average but also more ambitious.  I don't hate my job, but hell--I got better things to do than work for somebody else and live paycheque to paycheque.  Even if I shifted to something which made me insanely happy for a living, knowing I have the freedom to not have to do it every day if I don't want to, trumps the excellent job.  I'm not running away from my job at all, I'm running toward true liberty.