Why Should Anyone Want To Retire Early?
When I mention my plans for early retirement to friends and family members, the response is generally somewhat dutiful. As the person with whom I am speaking ponders the subject of retiring early, the look of skepticism on his or her face is revealing. The line of questioning that follows usually tends to express the “have you really thought this through” attitude the person is trying to hide while trying to seem less critical – as if retiring in my 30′s is as mythical a goal as taking flight beneath a pair of wax wings. It seems that sometimes people even think it laughable.
The other day I brought up the subject with my brother.
“I figure I should be able to retire in less than ten years,” I told him.
He looked at me quizzically and hesitated, before replying “…what are you gonna do then?”
The question struck me in its matter-of-factness. I’ve thought about it, oh, plenty of times. But nobody has ever asked me point-blank like that before. I answered, then felt like I was in a Napoleon Dynamite movie. “Whatever I want. Take trips, sit around the house all day, work on my own projects, see movies, go out to eat, whatever.”
“Hmm…” he said, then didn’t speak again for awhile. My brother is a fairly quiet person to begin with. Then finally, “that’s cool.”
Despite being a man of few words, he made me really think about why I’m striving so hard to become retired. I’ve interrogated myself so many times that sometimes I feel as if I’m repeating myself while having a conversation with someone I’ve just met. Do I want to retire because I’m lazy? Not really… I’d say I work pretty hard. Is it because I hate my job? Not at all; actually I’ve got a great job. I enjoy what I do, the pay is good, and the people I work with are good too. So then what is it, really?
For me, the bottom line is security. Or at least, a greater level of security than I feel like I have now. I always just feel better when I’ve got a few grand stashed away in my savings. Maybe because I’ve lived through times where I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pay my bills the following month, or maybe because I’ve had health issues that have kept me out of work in the past. It’s also partly because I don’t like feeling like I’m a slave to one means of making an income. Even though the company I work for treats its employees really well, I can’t get comfortable with the fact that, were I to lose my job and find myself unable to get another, a day would come when those savings would run out and I wouldn’t be able to support myself anymore.
There are always risks, of course – no matter where your money comes from. But a great deal of the age-old wisdom is true: the fewer your dependencies, the more each one of them hurts to lose. Job security only lasts as long as your job does. For me, the ability to stop worrying and realize that I’m working toward a day where I won’t have to be reliant on just one thing is what makes this worth it to me. People might look at me like I’m crazy, but I don’t mind. It’s not about proving anything to anyone – not even myself. I want to retire early so I can not retire – so I can keep doing what I’m doing because I want to, not because I need to.