5 Wonderful Things about Early Retirement

This was a particularly difficult post to compose, not because it was hard to find 5 wonderful things about retiring early but rather limiting it to only 5. I hope this post helps incite your internal motivations to double down and chase FIRE!

Time Freedom

• Time with the people and things you care most about most. As simple as that, life really is short and we really only have one shot at it on this planet.
• Time freedom allows you to run errands, take care of life’s mundane tasks on your schedule. You can avoid peak hours when others are at work. Especially as an introvert, this is pure gold. Working out at the gym in mid-morning, going to Costco on a weekday afternoon, or shopping at IKEA whens it’s empty. Priceless.
• Bandwidth for Creativity. According to a 2020 study in Frontiers in Psychology, retirees who left work before 60 reported a 33% increase in creative engagement (e.g writing, art, music) compared to those who continued working. I guess this blog is proof in the pudding.
• Be first in line for events. You’ll have the time to sign into Ticketmaster or whatever platform when event tickets are released or be able to win that eBay auction because you’re not tied up in a work meeting.
• You can travel freely on weekdays and avoid long weekends all together. Not only will you save on travel costs but it’ll save you so much stress as well.
• You don’t have to spend the better part of your days and weeks at work, just unadulterated time all for yourself and your family.

Improved sleep

• Wake up everyday refreshed. We’ve all been there, sometimes we wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back asleep only to have to wake up to an alarm before we’re fully rested. Well, no more, you can sleep in on a weekday if you choose to do so.
• You can take a mid-day nap if you’re feeling a bit drained by the day.
• You can adequately rest from hard exercise instead of having to goto work sore and achey.
• Research from University of Turku (2022) showed that retirees – especially early retirees – get an average of 46-50 more minutes of sleep per night, improving cognitive function and emotional resilience.

Genuine Mindfulness.

Without the stresses of work your mind does really focus on the moment. Whether you’re cooking, reading, walking the dog, driving, visiting your loved ones, or crafting a blog post. Without the distractions, inherent stresses, and anchoring thoughts around work you’ll find yourself centered and mindful of the present. I have nothing more to say on this topic 🙂

Location Freedom

I know this may not be applicable to everyone but it is a legitimate option to consider. You’re no longer tied to a city because of work. You’re technically no longer tied to a country because of work. I know there maybe circumstances outside of work that may keep you in your current location – but location freedom even for part of the year does become an option.

If you’re living in a High Cost of Living area just because that’s where you work – you can move. Literally to anywhere you want, but I would recommend visa requirements and cost of living of the new, prospective location. You can even move out of the a quieter part of the city you’re currently in if the cost of the suburbs are lower.

No Work Related Stress

• No worry about answering those emails in the evenings, on weekends, or even during vacation.
• No more on-call rotations and having to worry about being paged at the worst times.
• No more dreading Mondays every time Sunday evening rolls around.
• No more ‘big presentations’ or client meetings.
• No more stack ranking employees or being stack ranked.
• No more layoffs or selecting people for layoffs.
• No more having to wake up to an alarm for work.
• No more late nights trying to getting some deliverable over the line.
• No more asking permission to take time off.
• No more dealing with that difficult coworker, direct report, or client.
• No more thoughts of imposter syndrome or anxiety around work performance.
• No more chasing KPIs, or SMART goals.
• No more enduring the smell of microwaved fish or the emotional toll of stolen lunches. (Just trying to keep this lighthearted :))

I can drone on and on about the benefits of retiring early but I’ll leave this amount of food for thought for the time being. I hope this helps you form a vision of your early retirement future, to work towards. And if you’ve already achieved FIRE hopefully this helps you to be just a little more mindful about the all the greatness that comes with it.

Before you go…

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