Many Dream of Retiring Early but Don’t Think About Why
A friend tells the story about being pitched to join a multi-level marketing enterprise (you would recognize the name). When he expressed some doubts, he was told to go listen to the story of an attorney who had recently joined, quit his practice, and was now living his dream.
Our friend said that the attorney described his typical day as: getting up late, drinking a smoothie, and going for a run. Initially this sounded appealing. But as our friend thought about it, he realized that this was a person who made it through law school, passed the bar, and had gained experience through practicing law—and now they’re just sitting around doing nothing.
What a terrible waste.
This goal of not doing any kind of useful work is one of the problems of the FIRE movement. The acronym stands for Financial Independence Retire Early.1 You can find FIRE influencers on every social media platform, talking about how they amassed enough wealth in their 30s to quit their jobs. And now are letting others do the work.
If you’re smart enough and hard working enough to make a sizeable sum at a young age, will you really be happy doing nothing for the next 40 years?
Financial writer Jared Dillian goes one step further in his critique of the FIRE trend. He asserts it’s bad for society.
“FIRE people are the ultimate free-riders,” writes Dillian, “piggybacking off the efforts of others.” He argues that if everyone retired at 35, the economy would crash. Not to mention there’d be nobody to fix our cars, teach our kids, or diagnose us when we’re sick.
Sabrina Wex, who writes for Yahoo Finance, points out that it’s unlikely for this to occur, since very few people are able to sock away the kind of money required to retire in their 30s. Most workers are worried that they won’t be able to retire in their 60s.
Regardless of your net worth, living every day like you’re on vacation eventually gets old. It can be a lot of work to try to find new ways to amuse yourself.
A better goal for retirement, whether you do it at 35 or 75, is to embark on a new chapter where what you do with your time has lasting significance. It can be building into your family, volunteering, or even launching a new career. Maybe there’s a book that could be written only by someone with your training and life experience.
We all need money to live. But money alone can’t bring lasting satisfaction. As you think about retirement, don’t let your planning stop at the day you can quit your regular job. Instead, think about ways your life can be truly fulfilling as you make the most of your new freedom and flexibility.
For some good ideas on how to make retirement more than an extended vacation, talk with your trusted advisor.
