How about financially independent for a job title? Or something like trader or investor as you do need to manage your money.

… and if people ask in reaction about the markets/economy, you simply say your area of expertise are helping people reprioritize their needs and achieving (semi)retirement.

So when asked about our job, what I suggest is naming our main activity rather than the word “retired”.

You are a free man. Most folks are wage slaves. Some are unemployed slaves, if that make sense.

I like “different things” or “all sorts of things” as a job title. Then the fun begins by trying to work off that, which you are free to do, or not do. Says it all for me. You can also try “personal wealth manager”

(When) fully non-obligated to a specific involvement of money-making, I plan to print up some business cards which would say:

Spencer Property Management
Herb and Joanne Spencer
(address info and phone info)

The above says nothing to anyone. I own some property, and I manage it, but it takes no effort, other than paying some taxes, and monitering some leases on it. It is land only and I lease it for hay and cattle to my neighbor.

The point is that it says nothing, but is the truth and if you stretched it, I can say I have a property manangement business, or my “title” is running a property management business, no matter how insignificant it may be. The business card gives an idenity of involvement, and if asked what I do, then “I am in property management”. Of course since I am 65, it would be perfectly ok to just say I am “retired”.

This is certainly not the case at present, but when and if I give up what I am doing now, and since I am now fully involved in property management and known to be by my associates, I can print of the cards and if I wish, I will never have to say I am retired. Even if I am not doing anything at all.

Jacob you might do this and become a “Technical Writer” ????

try:
Pretty Much What Ever I Want
Self-Employed Value Investor (SEVI)
Arbitrageur
Resilience Actuary
Cash Flow Developer

I like financially independent. Or jack-of-all-trades. Or free.

I have a bias against the word “retired” b/c it sounds old. I prefer financially indepent to retired for someone your age.

If someone is looking for a job title, you can go with one of the more general recommendations you’ve gotten like Consultant or Tech Writer. If you want to fight the assumption that everyone has to work, you could say, “Actually I’ve saved enough to have more free time than work time now.” If you want to say what you actually “do,” which is what people actually ask, though it’s not what they mean, you can say whatever you most want to talk about like play hockey for fun, fix bikes for fun, or study watchmaking for fun. If you want the person to leave you alone, you can say you’re an underemployed trailer dweller.

I like Van’s “free man” also.

And you can always make up a job title. One of my favorite job titles I’ve seen on a business card was Propeller Head. I think that guy sold wine over the internet, but it’s so versatile. Maybe you would prefer Court Jester, as someone who says things that sound foolish but are actually wise.

When I spent 6 months happily unemployed, I told everyone that I was a bum. If I cared to continue the conversation with the questioner, I was free to do so, but more often I just left them wondering if I was really a bum or not.

I like financially independent. That is my goal for the future. I call it early retirement, but I really mean that I want to be financially independent with the financial freedom to do as I please and try any job that I may enjoy.

“What does being (early) retired mean?” Isn’t that the same as asking, “What is the meaning of life?”?

As far as titles…

Private Equity Manager
Adventurer
Contractor
Professional Volunteer

It really depends on who is asking.

why cant you just say you work part time editing science papers?

What are you going to put on your tax return? Just curious.

I think you have “limited financial independence”.
i.e. you don’t have to work for food or shelter, yet you don’t have unlimited money to do anything you want right now.

Tom

kind of a yin and yang thing isn’t it??

So how old are you, Joseph? You sound like you are in your 40s. I’ve been reading your comments, but I can’t find out how old you are.

It sounds like you could use a real project or two…blogs are a passtime, but I can understand why you like it when you have no time to report to work.

Did you ever serve in the military? What do you think about that?

It’s funny, but despite all you tell us here, I find you still very much an enigma. Are you interesting to talk to, when the subject varies from the usual semiretired discussions of who shot John?

I have always liked work, despite the fact I grew up in a family which had so much money we never needed to – if we decided not to.

Did you like the Kennedys, who received giant trusts but who continued to work all their lives? My guess is that you do may not care.

And I guess that is my point. At 61, I still “work”, according to your definition, but as you might say – to each his own.

I think your ideas are mildly interesting, but most of them are overstretched and, (sorry), just a little boring. You seem like a nice fellow – just one without any sure sense of purpose.

I still work with young people…last year, before I got cancer, with Mexican students, and this year, with soldiers in Afghanistan. I feel alive, and I think I helped me beat the cancers. (2 of them in one year)….

To me, your lifestyle is mildly interesting but hardly sustainable from a mental point of view. I would go absolutely bonkers with boredom.

How about your FREE?

When I read a financial article that advises working in retirement to make ends meet, I’m always tempted to scream “then you’re not retired!” Semi-retired is much better.

What about Freelance Consultant? Or to be cheeky Self Appointed Societal Analyst.

I am FI & when people ask me my response is Inventor, Patents Pending. It is true, and usually ends the conversation because they think it has to be secretive until it hits the market. My kids say it is a trap because once they ask for details they commit themselves to a tour of my house full of prototypes in use.

DH also FI, tells the truth. Former Cryptic Decoder for Government and that his clearance level forbids travel to much of the world.