OK, it's not about working is it? The point is whether or not you HAVE to work. Someone may have a job as a Walmart Greeter, and is doing it because that person craves contact with people on a daily basis. But that person may have plenty of FI funds. It's just that they want that personal contact. So this person brings in plenty of money and could never leave home if desired.
So the point of this post is as follows:
"The best way to have a job is NOT to have to have it at all".
Here, we have chosen to do a wage type job and we get some money and benefit from it, because we have a desire to remain in the flow of things in the traditional world.
Another reason is the commendable one that you want to work somewhere that helps your fellow man. Maybe you work driving a bus at a Senior Center, taking people back and forth to the doctor, shopping, whatever. Maybe the Senior Center pays you a little wage. You don't need the wage, you need the feeling of being of assistance. You could of course offer to do it for nothing.
Maybe your just interested in some organization or outfit, and you stuff envelopes or mop the floor, or represent the organization. You might get paid, or just get expenses, travel, or reimbursed or even get nothing. Your doing it because you chose to do it.
The point is that you, being FI, can still do whatever you like to do, and pay or not, it is solely your own choice.
Bottom Line: ERE does not equal a rocking chair and being shut out of the day to day of things.
That is my view of it and I would like to hear yours.
Retired Status
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George the original one
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futuredoctor
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Jacob, I think putting the word FI in your blog name will be even worse. Too many blogs/experts/websites/wealth creation spruikers overuse the word "Financial Independence", it means pretty much almost nothing.
There are people who believe FI means having $12 million in your bank account, others consider FI as being on top of the bills and save a little each month. We have different standards when it comes to define FI.
Early Retirement Extreme is catchy and it piques interest. If people think it's all about sitting around and do nothing then they're definitely not ERE-doers. Or have not read your writings.
The word "retirement" often conjures up an image of a geriatric sipping tea on a rocking chair, that's just because of the old belief. And all this website and forum do is to debunk the old beliefs and redefine "retirement". Others will follow.
There are people who believe FI means having $12 million in your bank account, others consider FI as being on top of the bills and save a little each month. We have different standards when it comes to define FI.
Early Retirement Extreme is catchy and it piques interest. If people think it's all about sitting around and do nothing then they're definitely not ERE-doers. Or have not read your writings.
The word "retirement" often conjures up an image of a geriatric sipping tea on a rocking chair, that's just because of the old belief. And all this website and forum do is to debunk the old beliefs and redefine "retirement". Others will follow.
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Steve Austin
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'ERE' as a term works fine for me. Won't be long before the expansion is lost and no one will care that ERE used to be Early Retirement Extreme. http://ere.com ?
When I see 'ERE', I quite often also think of an 1872 book I read ~20 years ago, by Samuel Butler, Erewhon. Roughly, "Nowhere" backwards. Which leads me to ask how you folks pronounce ERE? In blogging and forum posting, it doesn't matter, everyone can have own pronunciation.
At the West Coast meet up earlier this year, how was 'ERE' pronounced by ERE and the attending ERErs? I have mentally pronounced it ee-ar-ee, tri-syllabic. But was wondering if anyone pronounces it as a non-acronym word, er'-ih? (Distinct from "era", which I'd pronounce "er'-ah".)
When I see 'ERE', I quite often also think of an 1872 book I read ~20 years ago, by Samuel Butler, Erewhon. Roughly, "Nowhere" backwards. Which leads me to ask how you folks pronounce ERE? In blogging and forum posting, it doesn't matter, everyone can have own pronunciation.
At the West Coast meet up earlier this year, how was 'ERE' pronounced by ERE and the attending ERErs? I have mentally pronounced it ee-ar-ee, tri-syllabic. But was wondering if anyone pronounces it as a non-acronym word, er'-ih? (Distinct from "era", which I'd pronounce "er'-ah".)
This thread cracks me up. We had a "20 year plan" ... I can't tell you how many times we talked about that word and what would be a more accurate one.
Reorganize < my favorite so far...
Changing gears
Chapter change
Regroup
Next Chapter
Metamorphosis
We knew we couldn't RE and be independently wealthy, nor were we willing to wait to long.
We knew it might mean a part time job here or there. Or workcamping etc...I also thought if we had the chance to pause our lives and grow into a more authentic kinder self we would find a better fit for growing income if needed or if we just wanted to.
I remember once seeing a word that rang true but darn if I forgot it. I have had my eye out for it sense. Maybe you will find it for me...
Reorganize < my favorite so far...
Changing gears
Chapter change
Regroup
Next Chapter
Metamorphosis
We knew we couldn't RE and be independently wealthy, nor were we willing to wait to long.
We knew it might mean a part time job here or there. Or workcamping etc...I also thought if we had the chance to pause our lives and grow into a more authentic kinder self we would find a better fit for growing income if needed or if we just wanted to.
I remember once seeing a word that rang true but darn if I forgot it. I have had my eye out for it sense. Maybe you will find it for me...
I keep getting worried about my 'soft' goal of 35, and hard goal of 40. Currently, 32 is looking like the magic number if a whole bunch of stuff comes together and I have the courage to actually move in with family.
My list of things to do when 'retired' grows and grows - and I've started just doing some now. Antsy.
My list of things to do when 'retired' grows and grows - and I've started just doing some now. Antsy.
Among my other vocations, I am a writer, so I have a "thing" about the use of language. I wrote a diatribe on the use of the word "retirement" at the articles section of my website:
http://www.tmgbooks.com/sonotretired.html
And I agree with Jacob about his use of the term "early retirement" in his URL but at this point the brand is established; just another lesson in the wisdom of choosing the name of your webpage carefully.
Reading here and at other FIRE sites, what most people seem to be after (and what I was after, myself) is an escape from the routine and drudgery of the rat race -- the nine-to-five, five days-a-week grind where the balance between work and life is too heavily weighted on the side of work. Certainly, TOTAL financial independence is one answer to escaping the rat race but I consider it too extreme an approach.
Instead, I think the answer is simply to adjust your lifestyle so that you can live on the income of part-time work you enjoy augmented by some amount of "passive" income in the form of interest on savings. Much of what Jacob writes about concerns those lifestyle adjustments I mention.
At my website, I post a new article once a month. After some requests for more frequent posts, I started a blog: financial independence extreme. My use of the word "extreme" in the title of my blog, however, is the opposite of what Jacob means by his use of the word in his website title:
I use the word to imply that total or "true" FI is too extreme a goal for most people who are really only after a more preferable mix of work and leisure time.
And to attach the word "retirement" to a condition of part-time employment is incorrect. And why would you want to, anyway? Why not call a thing what it is?
I do, however, advocate for true (total) financial independence as a long-term goal to be achieved by the age when certain government benefits kick-in (Social Security, Medicare, penalty-free withdrawals for retirement accounts, etc.) and make the cost of total financial independence much more reasonable. At that age, one might actually want to detach from paid-employment entirely; before that age, I do not think that most of us actually do.
http://www.tmgbooks.com/sonotretired.html
And I agree with Jacob about his use of the term "early retirement" in his URL but at this point the brand is established; just another lesson in the wisdom of choosing the name of your webpage carefully.
Reading here and at other FIRE sites, what most people seem to be after (and what I was after, myself) is an escape from the routine and drudgery of the rat race -- the nine-to-five, five days-a-week grind where the balance between work and life is too heavily weighted on the side of work. Certainly, TOTAL financial independence is one answer to escaping the rat race but I consider it too extreme an approach.
Instead, I think the answer is simply to adjust your lifestyle so that you can live on the income of part-time work you enjoy augmented by some amount of "passive" income in the form of interest on savings. Much of what Jacob writes about concerns those lifestyle adjustments I mention.
At my website, I post a new article once a month. After some requests for more frequent posts, I started a blog: financial independence extreme. My use of the word "extreme" in the title of my blog, however, is the opposite of what Jacob means by his use of the word in his website title:
I use the word to imply that total or "true" FI is too extreme a goal for most people who are really only after a more preferable mix of work and leisure time.
And to attach the word "retirement" to a condition of part-time employment is incorrect. And why would you want to, anyway? Why not call a thing what it is?
I do, however, advocate for true (total) financial independence as a long-term goal to be achieved by the age when certain government benefits kick-in (Social Security, Medicare, penalty-free withdrawals for retirement accounts, etc.) and make the cost of total financial independence much more reasonable. At that age, one might actually want to detach from paid-employment entirely; before that age, I do not think that most of us actually do.
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George the original one
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>At that age, one might actually want to
>detach from paid-employment entirely;
>before that age, I do not think that
>most of us actually do.
I think a lot more want to depart from paid-employment than you give them credit for. Freedom from bosses, financial stress and more leisure pursuits increases happiness.
Some people manage to find employment in their leisure activities, but most do not. For many, employment in our chosen leisure activities would bring stressors into what had been a pleasurable activity.
>detach from paid-employment entirely;
>before that age, I do not think that
>most of us actually do.
I think a lot more want to depart from paid-employment than you give them credit for. Freedom from bosses, financial stress and more leisure pursuits increases happiness.
Some people manage to find employment in their leisure activities, but most do not. For many, employment in our chosen leisure activities would bring stressors into what had been a pleasurable activity.
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jacob
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I second the last paragraph. Before I turned physics into a job, I was reading Nature, SciAm, Sky&Telescope, Astronomy and I always had a physics textbook and a popularization going just for interest. After I started studying, the subscriptions and the popularizations fell away. Eventually, I stopped on the textbooks as well; I was only reading relevant articles and books. If someone asked me what I thought about string theory or the big bang, my response was fairly disinterested: "not my field."