Glimpse of early retirement.....not what I thought.

[Scott Passman]

I’ve been off work the past 5 weeks on paternity leave and it’s given me a chance to catch a little glimpse of what it would be like to retire early. To be clear, it has never been my goal to retire early. My goals are to build up enough income outside of my W2 to reduce to part-time in order to spend more time with my family. But I’ve really struggled the past 5 weeks with a sense of direction, lack of routine, loss of focus etc.  I like to be busy and have a list of things to work on/toward. I've mostly paused working on my next RE acquisition because I think there will be better opportunities in 6-12 months, the library is closed so my access to books is limited, it's tough to get to many house projects while taking care of all the kids...so my days have been very unstructured and for me, relatively unproductive which is very internally frustrating. 

Part of it is likely due to state wide quarantine restrictions limiting the ability to do much of anything, and the other part is likely being at home with a newborn and 2 other children under the age of 5. But this has been a great opportunity to realize that I want and need to have a bit of routine in my life to stay on task and drive hard toward my goals. While I am not someone that hates my job, I have certainly had periods where I dread going into work. This time has helped me see that my job actually helps propel me toward my goals despite having nothing to do with RE and I make more progress when working compared to when not working.

I know there are a lot of people out there who are pushing as hard as they can to hit FI so they can quit their jobs. Make sure you know it’s what you want, because it would be a shame to risk and sacrifice so much to get something only to find out that it’s not what you thought it would be.  

[Nathan Gesner]

Far too many people claim they want to retire so they can travel the world or spend more time with family, but then they actually don't do it or get burned out really quick.

It's important to be honest with ourselves. Yes, I do want to travel more, spend more time with family or friends, and focus on a couple hobbies. But I'm also honest enough to know that I really, really enjoy working. The only way I'll be happy is to be productive. So I want financial independence so I can afford to take time off for the things I enjoy or that I can survive if something tragic happens and I'm incapable of working.

I ate at a small diner last year that was owned by a couple in their 80s. The wife cooked and the husband waited tables. They only served lunch, so work was about three hours a day. They seemed to be the happiest people I've seen in a long time. I could see myself doing some kind of "mindless" busy work like that until the day I pass away in my easy chair.