The most common personal goal that individuals hear about these days is early retirement. Working for another 30 years appears overwhelming to the young in their 30s. It is common knowledge that one will not work for the same employer for the rest of one’s life; nevertheless, not wanting to work at all is a new concept. Work was not as time-consuming as it is for today’s youth. Many people work 80-hour work weeks regularly. Wait a minute that is equivalent to working every waking hour. It is no surprise that they have realized this can’t go on indefinitely.
When the job is exciting, peers are engaged, and the money is good, young earners have realized that complaining about work hours is worthless. As a result, they regard their occupations as having a lot of promise in terms of money, advancement, and status. They hope to achieve in 15 years what their parents achieved in 35 years of hard work. Retire Early then makes sense as more than just the conclusion of a long career, but as a well-earned pivot that allows them to pursue their passions. It is also crucial to recognize how difficult growing up has been for this generation of helicopter parents. This generation has been conditioned to learn music, athletics, and volunteer hours while constantly preparing for competitive tests and high grades, even as it yearns to break free and follow its heart.
It’s critical to build a corpus to fall back on. The fund must be large enough to generate enough money to cover the necessities. There must be sufficient funds to cover rent, food, utilities, and education, as well as a modest surplus for luxuries. This fund must increase over time, ideally at a faster rate than inflation. This corpus was not built solely based on earnings, savings, and investments. It’s about imagining a new way of existence. Is there a break from the present’s luxuries, expenses, duties, and expectations? Quitting a job without a thorough idea of how different it would be might be perilous.
Retirement should be about finding a new purpose in life. It would be dull, hedonistic, and wasteful otherwise. Retire Early can be hazardous to one’s mental and physical health if one does not decide what one wants to do to meaningfully interact with the world or the society in which one lives, to contribute, or to divert one’s energies towards. Burnout cannot be used as an excuse to do nothing for years.
People must be willing to think about how these lifestyle changes will affect their entertainment, social interactions, education, and healthcare. Many people want to prioritize travel. Travel necessitates a high level of physical fitness, as well as a willingness to put up with the bodily discomforts of travel, as well as acclimating to new settings, languages, and foods. Early retirement and the start of a new life should not imply a disregard for basic financial fundamentals. Wealth management and asset allocation will still be required; proper insurance will be required, and asset performance will need to be monitored.
