A meaningful life after early retirement

Published on August 5th, 2008

If you're new here, this blog will give you the tools to become financially independent in 5 years. Here is how I did it and here is how I currently do it. The method is robust and replicable (no need to win the lottery, start a blogging business, or win at real estate), but not easy; much in the same way that a diet results in weight loss but is hard to follow persistently unless you set your mind to it. The key is to save 75%+ of your net income and invest it in income producing assets (bonds and dividend stocks). There is a "step-by-step" plan for how to get to 75% in the right side bar. I try not to be too trite, so if I cover a topic, you will probably not see it again for a very long time, thus you may want to read the older posts here and here.

Is it possible to live a meaningful life after retiring early, like really early? I think this entirely comes down to the person. I think a person that manages to secure retirement at a young age is a fairly driven individual. I think there is little risk that this person ends up spending all day playing computer games and watching TV.

Many people fear early retirement because they are used to living a life that has been structured by their employers. Get up at 6. Eat food. Get in car. Drive car to work. Sit at desk. Fill out forms. Give forms to other people. Eat lunch at noon. Sit at desk again. Push more papers. Go home at 5. Eat. Crash in front of TV. Go to bed.

Most regular people I talk to thinks this routine is highly meaningful. And they are looking for something to replace this structure. This is actually the first thing I worry about when someone talks about retiring no matter how old the person is.

It seems that some people are self-starters and many people are not. I believe most people are born self-starters. Most children are capable of creativity. Even if you leave them with nothing, they start playing. They can turn a small rock into an improvised soccer game, a stick into a sword or a bicycle into a spaceship. Most adults have substituted this creativity for this so-called meaningful work that they do filling out forms, pushing buttons, writing memos, … In return they have lost their creativity and their ability to generate their own meaning.

They worry what they are going to do when they retire. Who will provide their meaning for them?

The question you have to ask yourself before you retire.

Can you do the adult equivalent of kicking rocks around?

15 users responded in " A meaningful life after early retirement "

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P said, in August 5th, 2008 at 11:04

I imagine bookish type folks would have an easier go with early retirement, or at least semi-retirement. Many personality types, esp. extroverts thrive on seeing and experiencing new and exciting things, which tends to be expensive if not opulent. The latter could be anything from fancy houses, late model autos, exotic vacations, restaurants, concerts, etc.

Jan said, in August 5th, 2008 at 11:41

I can’t stay long without starting to make plans, and then the illusion of “meaning” returns.

My inner child is more dead than alive these days. “Playing” has become difficult because of lack of practice. That’s really a pity and I hope it’s reversible.

The Executioner said, in August 5th, 2008 at 17:05

I’ve heard this sort of thing from so many people when I talk with them about early retirement (“I’d be so bored”, “I’d need something to do”). I can’t identify with it at all. If anything, I feel like my current job is keeping me away from the rest of my life. Hopefully within 5-10 years I’ll be able to leave those happily employed working stiffs behind and start living my dream.

Jason said, in August 5th, 2008 at 17:42

A simple, brilliant post. Thanks, Jacob.

Debbie M said, in August 5th, 2008 at 19:19

I have also noticed that some people forget how to have fun when they grow up.

Lots of people are little better, having only a single hobby on which they spend all their time.

I think people who like routine can create routines for themselves that they can enjoy much more than the ones presented to them by employers.

For example: Wake up, jog, stretch, shower, make and eat breakfast, practice an instrument, do housework, read a book, make and eat lunch, go to a class, do the homework for a class, do yoga, make and eat supper, meet friends for bowling/dancing/bar hopping/etc. (different each day of week), write in journal, go to bed.

I’ve also heard that hanging around kids can make you feel young and childlike again–maybe kids can re-teach you how to play.

doubleourmoney said, in August 5th, 2008 at 20:04

I plan on retiring early and I do not plan on being bored as I will do what I want when I want to do it. It makes sense that you have to keep busy when retired otherwise it will be very boring.

Retired Syd said, in August 5th, 2008 at 21:52

This is my all-time favorite post of yours!

Sylvia said, in August 6th, 2008 at 18:21

I wonder what’s really considered early retirement these days. I’ve just (a few days ago) turned 59 and will be retiring in three months. Is that early? Feels more like it’s just in time! I’m working through all of the issues connected to retirement – at least those that wake me in the middle of the night – in a blog at http://www.forthefirstime.ca and hope more women who’ve already retired will share their wisdom. We need to stick together. As they taught us in kindergarten – it’s better when we hold hands.

bongohipster said, in August 6th, 2008 at 20:09

I found you via retiredsyd’s blog. I’m hopping/planning to retire soon and what you write is something I struggle with in regards to retiring. I do feel that my professional life is a very important part of who and what I am. I love 90% of what I do. It’s the other 10% I would like to never have to do. Retiring means getting rid of that 10% but then with that 90% also gone, I can do things I’ve always wanted to do. It’s those things that can never be done in the short span of a weekend or even a 2 week vacation. The question is, given all that time to do these things, am I still enough of a self-starter to get to those things. I hope I am.

fathersez said, in August 7th, 2008 at 06:32

You are right. We have to do something with our time. I suppose retirement will never mean doing nothing for me. There will always be (i hope) some small business, or non-profit and grandchildren.

Otherwise, I might die of boredom.

Cheers

Texasqulter said, in August 7th, 2008 at 07:09

I so agree with your post. In fact as someone who as a stay at home spouse without kids at home, I have gotten this on and off for years. As to the one poster, I’m a person who likes seeing and doing new things, and there are piles of not expensive ways to do this. I travel, eat out, and all worts of things!! I do need to say that I think the most satisfied retirees are people who had interests that they developed before retiring. I dont sit around and do nothing, but I do love getting up and deciding what I will do that day (or week or month) all on my own.

Jacob said, in August 7th, 2008 at 07:59

@bongohipster – Job-identification is reversible by focusing on other activities. My guess is that most people do this automatically. For them a job is simply something that makes money for the rest of their life. For the rest of us I would say … for example, I am a scientist and I will always have this particular way of thinking regardless of my job title. So I focus more on who I am than where or exactly what I’m working. I used to do the latter, but it’s psychologically dangerous.

@Sylvia – Hmm, I don’t know what the classification scheme is or if there is an exact one. I would say below 40 is “extremely early”. That’s my cut-off. I don’t think 45 is extreme for instance. Most magazine articles talking around “early” retirement interview people below 50. I have also seen people at 55 talking about early retirement. The tax advantaged pension plans are released [in the US] at 59.5, so maybe that should be considered standard. Anything over would be late retirement.

@P – Nah, I think it’s very possible to have extrovert activities that don’t cost a fortune. The problem here though would be finding people that don’t spend all day working. Volunteering is a big hit here. As is all those light duty works … like part time camp ground maintenance. We have groups around here that play golf at 8a in the morning. Crazy people!

online dividends said, in August 12th, 2008 at 17:45

Well if you like talking to people you could always be a counselor/adviser for college kids for example.
If you move close to a college campus, where there’s always something to do, then you will keep your spirit young.

Pioneer said, in October 3rd, 2008 at 10:25

Let’s set the stage first. As a 58 year old retiree, I’ve been looking for something to do to feel productive. As my fellow baby boomers reach retirement age, I see a wave of people, like myself, searching for something to do to reinvent ourselves. Lets face it, most people work most of their adult lives at something that is unfulfilling, but it paid the bills. My job was even more unfulfilling considering that it was thought of as a necessary evil by society. What I wanted to do was be involved in a something that was challenging, but not too demanding of my time so that I could occasionally take some time off without being brow beat to death for it.

When I retired at 55, I wasn’t ready for the rocking chair just yet. Some people think that I have pulled up short and that I should still be a full-time member of the rat race. They are generally still employed full-timers and can not relate to anything less than a full-time commitment. All that I can say to them is that in my 58 years, I’ve been around the track more times than most people have in a life time. Those people who are most critical of me have lived in their comfort zone all of their adult lives and have rarely ventured out without their security blanket. I have a great deal of dislike for people who are threatened by my risk taking lifestyle. Unfortunately, my desire to reinvent myself places me in situations where I have to humble myself to these narrow minded individuals. These specialists in what ever it is they did for 35 years or more are out of tune with the rest of the world and fear the unfamiliar. However, they are my supervisors and I either play their game or quit. Reluctantly, I play their game.

After I retired three years ago, I moved to rural County in California. The fantasy of living in the forest was what got me through those times where I just wanted to take this job and shove it. My life has been filled with taking a lot of risks along the way. I attribute my ability to retire early to risk taking. After all, the bigger the risk the greater the reward. The risk taking has definitely taken it’s toll on my body and mind. Fortunately, I have been blessed with the ability to focus on what I have going for me, not my shortcomings. For example, I can no longer participate in my passion of running, due to a work related injury, but I can certainly hike a
trail to my hearts content. My wife and I hike daily for exercise and peace of mind. This is just one of many examples of how I ended up with lemons and made lemonade out of them.

When I retired at 55 I was financially able to do what ever I wanted without the worry of how much I got paid. Over my career, I discovered that the more money you made the more stressful your job was. Ergo, it would appear to be true that low paying and even volunteer positions would be less stressful and therefore more enjoyable. Because of that, I believed that I should have no trouble finding the brass ring that had eluded me my whole adult life. As it turned out, I was in for a big surprise. Soon after I moved up here reality set in. I struggled greatly with becoming a Private Investigator due to my lack of experience as a small business owner. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. I then took on a seasonal job with the Forest Service last summer. In spite of accepting this low paying job, the demands were very high and I learned what the term “Seasonal Employee Abuse” was all about. I was assigned the crappy jobs that they didn’t want to do and worked the shifts they didn’t want to work. In addition, I was never allowed into their “inner circle”. Oh well, needless to say, I didn’t return this summer.

So much for the blunt introduction. This brings me to my volunteer fire fighter position at Station 123. I’m not going to get into how I became a volunteer fire fighter, because that’s not important. I have learned a lot over the past 4 months. Actually much more than I ever expected in such a short amount of time. I have come to understand that rural areas are hard pressed for alternatives, so they just have to make due with whoever is available. That means that marginally qualified personnel, like myself, are expected to do things that are generally learned in programs that involve a long and disciplined training curriculum. In many ways, the training program here can best be described as putting the cart before the horse. Many tasks that I am expected to do, after seeing it done only a couple of times, are later taught in an abbreviated crash course. I still haven’t been through the “67 class” (fire fighting class) and I’ve been on three wild land fires and one structure fire.

Life at Satation123 has had it’s ups and downs. My Captain, an ex-college professor who started out as a volunteer fire fighter at the age of 16 is, shall I say, a f***ing-know-it-all. He is a 64 year old man who is a legend in his own mind. He refuses to play second fiddle to anyone and being the first on scene is more important than anything else. It’s really not about helping someone who is in immediate need as much as it is beating the other units there so that he can have bragging rights. His method of instructing his trainees is to ridicule them in a condescending tone and finding fault with nearly everything they do. The last time that I dealt with that kind of person was in boot camp. I’m sure that you are asking yourself why I didn’t just walk away from that kind of abuse. Well, I have to admit, I have learned more in four months from that Man than what most people learn in a long structured classroom setting. I’m sure that the skills that I have learned from him will someday save my life or help me save the life of someone else. For that I will always be thankful to him, in spite of my dislike for his poor social interaction skills.

In conclusion, I have noticed that my self-confidence has grown in my abilities and that I am standing up to his sarcasm more often. Surprisingly, when I stand up to him, he rapidly backs off and his snide demeanor goes away. Somehow, I see myself like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ, discovering that the Wizard is really this insecure old man behind this curtain who is on this power trip in order to deal with issues of his own.

Welcome Baby Boomers to the finish line of the rat race. There’s a gut check coming up and by the way, welcome to OZ.

J-72 said, in October 5th, 2008 at 16:41

@Pioneer: If you only had one insecure boss, you are lucky. I have had too many. Insecure people feel threatened unless surrounded by mediocrity. Talent threatens them.

Congratulations on retiring to a life of doing what you want.

@Jacob: I think that philanthropy helps fill time. You can begin a charitable foundation. I think there is a paucity of charitable foundations to help middle class people that go through temporary crises. But, that is my opinion. There are few to help victims of ID theft. You like the environment. You can become a patron of a scientist. Pick a local one, perhaps. Or, let people apply.

I am not retired yet. I would have been if I hadn’t been a victim of ID theft and robbery and mail theft. I had to start over about 10 years ago. That’s hard to do. But, I keep going. I wish I could retire because I plan to start a foundation then when I have time. I am working all my free time toward that now.

Good luck to you and thank you for being a great role model to those of us hoping to follow suit.