I was laid-off in Sept 2009. Was thinking about early retirement, but last week I went back to work. The pay is half what I was making before but I might like the work. We will see.
http://financialmentor.com/retirement-p ... /myth/5169
My early retirement ended.
The financialmentor article you referenced just continues the frustration and confusion found sometimes in posts on this blog and forum.
"Why bother with early retirement at all?" Well, maybe one of these days we will have a definition of "retirement", and one of these days we will all be on the same page as to what we think it is--or isn't.
Here is my take on being "retired" no matter what your age:
Working: You don't work--you don't eat.
Retired: You don't work--you eat.
Isn't it as simple as that? To me, it is. I am retired, and no matter if my feet touch the floor or not, I have income, and I live as well as if I were working. I have made certain provisions, and arrangements, so if I don't work, I still eat. By not HAVING to work to eat, I equate myself to being retired. Isn't that the gist of it?
Now I might even work much harder in retirement than I ever did in working for eating. I have always said the best way to have a job, is not to have to have it all. If you don't have to have the job (to produce food and roof and clothes) then you are just doing something you want to do. You may make as much or more money (actively or passively) as if you were working for your provisions of life. But, the provisions of life are a given now, and your working for your own choice---or not working at all by your own choice.
I never really have ever thought in terms of sitting on a beach and sipping umbrella drinks like the writer of the article talks about. Could I do that?---a resounding yes! Am I interested in doing that?--probably not. At least not more than once.
Can we do an equation showing something like this:
Freedom from having to work = Being retired.
One can use the ERE and choose to retire early (40 years old?)
Or one can retire at 50, 55, 60, or whatever/whenever.
I am retired so that means I do NOT have to work in order to eat. I think that's simple enough--anyone agree?
"Why bother with early retirement at all?" Well, maybe one of these days we will have a definition of "retirement", and one of these days we will all be on the same page as to what we think it is--or isn't.
Here is my take on being "retired" no matter what your age:
Working: You don't work--you don't eat.
Retired: You don't work--you eat.
Isn't it as simple as that? To me, it is. I am retired, and no matter if my feet touch the floor or not, I have income, and I live as well as if I were working. I have made certain provisions, and arrangements, so if I don't work, I still eat. By not HAVING to work to eat, I equate myself to being retired. Isn't that the gist of it?
Now I might even work much harder in retirement than I ever did in working for eating. I have always said the best way to have a job, is not to have to have it all. If you don't have to have the job (to produce food and roof and clothes) then you are just doing something you want to do. You may make as much or more money (actively or passively) as if you were working for your provisions of life. But, the provisions of life are a given now, and your working for your own choice---or not working at all by your own choice.
I never really have ever thought in terms of sitting on a beach and sipping umbrella drinks like the writer of the article talks about. Could I do that?---a resounding yes! Am I interested in doing that?--probably not. At least not more than once.
Can we do an equation showing something like this:
Freedom from having to work = Being retired.
One can use the ERE and choose to retire early (40 years old?)
Or one can retire at 50, 55, 60, or whatever/whenever.
I am retired so that means I do NOT have to work in order to eat. I think that's simple enough--anyone agree?
I'd call Freedom from having to work as Financial Independence. But its just a label, if you want to call it Being Retired... why not? Personally I don't feel like I'm there today, but maybe a year or two away. I will say it certainly helps at work, I can say what I want and not feel stressed someone will disagree.
I agree, the article is a little foolish. He seems to be saying "you won't like being retired because you'll be bored, and you'll find you like working better." But retirement doesn't necessarily mean "you *cannot* work", just that you can choose not to - or choose to if you want. So to me retirement is just a matter of having greater freedom to do what you want, whether it's a normal job, a low-paying job you love, no job, volunteering, or whatever else. I fail to see how that could be anything but a good thing.
@Maus, Bravo! to you for still giving the "elevator speech"... I abandoned that a while back and have now regressed to saying something brief, and hopefully close-ended, like "We're just frugal people." While internally my mind rambles on with statements like "I don't want the same things you do. I want freedom. I want health. I don't want a 5000sf house with an outdoor pizza oven..." (A recent offer. It's only $675k. And the price has been reduced.)