“Retirement may or may not include any of the following lifestyle attributes:

-the complete abandonment of alarm clocks, and a soft chuckle specially developed for anyone who tries to make you be somewhere before 9AM.

-a general lack of awareness of what day of the week it is

-a work ethic that ebbs and flows with your natural human cycle. There may be times of extreme productivity and late nights, and other times of dormancy.

-work and areas of interest that change over the years, some of which might earn you money, and some of which might be neutral or even involve spending instead of earning money.”

—

For whatever it’s worth, I feel like the above is a great way to live your life whether you’re retired or not. And it’s somewhat possible to do if you have a few different skill sets and you’re willing to work for yourself.

In fact, I just put in notice at my soul sucking job, and I’m going to attempt to do exactly that. I’ll do various work as an internet marketer, hypnotherapist, and hot dog vendor (I’m building a cart to be ready for the weekend fair circuit this summer).

On top of that, if I need to supplement my income any more than that, I have a good working relationship with an account manager at a staffing firm, and I can always pick up a little temporary work to fill in the gaps.

I’m 43 and I have no savings, but no debt either.

I’m effectively at “Net Zero” halfway through my life. (Hey MMM, I might make an interesting case study on that point alone!)

Also don’t have a college education, so high paying jobs are generally out of my reach. Even if I started saving for retirement today, I wouldn’t get anywhere until nearly “standard retirement age” anyway.

So why not enjoy the life I have now and live it in the way that suits my personality and ebbs/flows the best? It’ll be fun – something I wouldn’t necessarily want to “retire” from anyway until I was literally too old/feeble to do it. :-)

Thanks MMM, for clarifying what had been swirling around in my head for the past few years and giving me the push to go for it!

The problem is these IRP’s are living in a world that doesn’t exist any more. In their imaginary world of living in the past, people work at one company their entire lives for 40 years, retire with a pension, then sit around and do nothing for the rest of their lives. More people are moving around to different jobs and more are temp jobs so if they are efficient mustachians they can actually enjoy time between jobs rather than dread it. Some people who are officially “retired” come back to the work force for short term assignments.

As for myself I took a buyout from a company at age 34 in 1995 and have been working temp jobs ever since. I have taken the time between jobs to pursue other interests, hobbies, and travel. In my case, that blurs the boundaries between being employed and retired, a concept that some people understand but many more don’t. If more people worked on and off this way, it would go a long way to solve this nagging unemployment problem facing the more mature economies of the world and we would all be better off. Presently I am “working” at building an income producing portfolio so I won’t need to worry at all about having enough income to live on in years to come.

One final word, I don’t feel AT ALL guilty about those times not working in conventional paid employment past, present, and future. In so doing, I’m freeing up a job for someone who needs the money more that I do. That’s especially true of younger people who have a ridiculously high unemployment rate.

You get a similar reaction when you answer the question,”do you have kids?” with: “Hell no. Kids are an option. The world has too many consumers. I’m most proud of what I didn’t do – reproduce.”

Hope that didn’t sting too much. It’s just my opinion and my choice.

But, I said this not to piss off the parents out there, but to point out that it’s how you answer the question that determines the response.

Just watch a politician in action to understand that concept.

If you don’t want to get a response that makes you twitch, then lie. Or “spin” the answer so people don’t get all in your face with their curiosity and confusion.

So, the spin to the question “do you have any kids?” could be “No, we couldn’t.” Sort of true. “Couldn’t ’cause we didn’t want to.”

If you don’t want to upset the herd with your independence, spin the answer so it doesn’t confuse the sheeple that have never heard of such a thing as early retirement/financial indepedence.

Or, just get used to the “what the f*ck” response when you proudly tell them the truth about being retired!

This one is great. I am so tired of others telling me how to run my life. Though I am not retired, I get to hear about the issues with the way I deal with my money and my choices. Who in the hell gave you the authority over my money? Jealousy brings out the “jack” in “asses”!

this all reminds me of a story I read years ago…

A Simple Life Well Lived

The businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The businessman complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied only a little while.

The businessman then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The businessman then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time? The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos; I have a full and busy life, señor.”

The businessman scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor and eventually open your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City where you would run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But señor, how long will this all take?” To which the businessman replied, “15-20 years.” “But what then, señor?” The businessman laughed and said, “That’s the best part! When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.” “Millions, señor? Then what?” The businessman said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, “Isn’t that what I’m doing right now?”

Yeah! This post is the very definition of badassity.

I was actually pumping my fist while reading it.

I still freelance every day in order to earn my keep, but my “work week” is under 8 hours. Compare this to my old office job at 40+ hours per week and tons of stress. I also have enough assets built up that I could choose to not freelance at all.

I’m retired!

MMM, You are doing so much good work on this blog that I think you are adding more value to the economy than hundreds of people working formally in the economy. If one MMM can do so much, I can’t imagine what would happen if there are many and the whole concept goes mainstream. One problem I see today is that since USA is one of the richest countries in the world and most people here work long hours, for more years and spend a lot of money, this concept is catching on in Asian countries where traditionally people were frugal.

First I went Primal, now I’m going Mustachian. Such a natural progression. Financial and physical health = what a combination

My wife and I just reduced our spending allowance from 1000/month EACH to 400/month EACH and will now be retired, I mean financially independent, in 7 years instead of 15 (42 years old instead of 50). Doesn’t mean I’ll walk out and tell everyone i work with to fuck off, but knowing that I could is awesome.

7 more years…to find ways to further reduce our expenses and try to get it down to 6, 5, maybe only 4 years away….

Then what…..hmmm

Quick question: what about your family who knows your retired and they need money and know you have it. How do you deal with those situations without feeling guilty?

Even millionaires and billionaires continue to work, even many of the older ones. Not all of them, but I would say most don’t spend 365 days partying, sleeping and staring at the ceiling. People just aren’t made to do nothing. The younger you are, the more true that is.

As far as the word “retirement” goes, everyone understands the general idea: you don’t have to work for money anymore. Whether you choose to do paid work, non-profit work, volunteering, part-time, full-time, or nothing at all doesn’t really matter. Same situation, different circumstances. To each his own.

Congrats to MMM and all the others who can choose to work or not.

IRP sounds like a nursing home.

I think what is actually going on is once you are doing something that makes money in your “retirement”- there are a large number of people (who are probably not regular readers) who basically don’t “trust” that you don’t need the money you are earning (either 1) the actual dollars or 2) the safety factor) to be financially independent.

Something they might be comparing it to, is if they or their friends had enough money to quit (say they had a pension that covered their expenses) but engaged in “just one more year” type thinking before they quit their jobs, they would not consider it retired.

I think its hard to make people see the distinction (which depends on what you claim is going on in you head vs what they believe is going on in your head) in any one post. It is much easier for regular readers who hopefully already trust that you are speaking honestly to them.

I used to talk about saving for retirement quite a bit and my family hated it! They had the “fold up and watch cable t.v. all day” idea in their heads. My boyfriend even got mad at me for talking about it “too much”. It was, and is, a big goal of mine! And I never, ever, meant I would quit working. My retirement is just as MMM describes: doing something I love. I could never give up working/learning or even making some money. I love to make money (who doesn’t?!). At any rate, it’s nice to have a group of people who understand a goal I’ve been after for years–fuck you money. And then, I’ll do whatever the heck I please, all damned day.

To the people arguing about retirement, I’m confused. Educate me please.
Lets say I’m retired and I love classic cars. I even have one. It’s a basket case with good bones. I take everything apart, and put it back together. It’s fun! Now I have a flashy ride. I hear about another, even cooler basket case. I buy it. I take it apart. I put it together! It’s fun! Now, everyone in town knows about my flashy cars. Someone approaches me about buying their basket case – the coolest car ever! But I don’t have room for another car. The first one was fun, learned a lot. Now I want the much cooler one! Can I sell the first one at market rate – say $50k, or do I have to sell it for what I paid for it, plus parts – say $8k? If I “profit” $42k on a hobby (one which was never intended to be paid), am I still retired? Basically, the real question I have for you is; Does intent matter?

MMM,

Great stuff. Brandish that fist!

The idea of retirement as slothing around on a beach or couch somewhere for the rest of your life because you are somehow precluded from ever earning money ever again is completely ludicrous.

So if you retire early and want to help others and write a book on how you did it, you are no longer retired? You’re an author now? What if you give the book away for free? Now you’re not earning any money from it…so you must still be retired, right??

This is so closed minded. Really quite unbelievable.

Glad you posted this. This is something that really bothers me. If you earn money, even if it’s a hobby that you’d otherwise partake in for free, you’re no longer retired. It’s like the word retirement is completely focused on economic activity for these people, instead of the freedom and actions that are available with retirement.

To me retirement means being free. Free to do whatever the hell you want, for money or not.

Best wishes!

“The only rule is that you theoretically must have sufficient savings (or other assets) that you could live indefinitely off the passive income they provide, and these savings must give you the freedom to realize that any work you do is totally optional. You don’t actually have to live off the income, it just has to be there.”

People can define words however they want, but all a definition does is let you put different labels on things. I suggest that what’s more important is how you live your life — your values and if you live by them — independent of what definition your life fits or not.

I think the key value in that definition is freedom. I would add a feeling of security too, though the definition doesn’t mention it.

You can get freedom and security through other means than passive income. Personally, I’ve chosen to have enough savings to last me way more than enough time to get a job if I have to and then to live my life how I want in that time.

You could say I don’t have the security of someone who could live off their assets, but many people who could live off their assets in 1929 found they no longer could in 1930. Or who worked in Enron months before its collapse, at the time considered a paragon of success, compared with after its collapse. Or before a war began compared to after.

In other words, whatever your assets and passive income, you still have risk. Anyone who thinks they have none is only fooling themselves. The question is how much.

I bet I could produce statistics everyone here would agree with that I have as much security, based on my skills and experience, as they do with their assets and passive income. So I’m not “retired,” but I bet my life espouses everyone’s values as much as anyone.

I know people who have virtually no assets, yet travel the world. Whole cultures don’t even have concepts of assets and income, yet people in them live lifestyles we might envy.

Consider an immigrant who works night and day to give their grandchildren opportunities they never had. They may never be “retired,” but they may feel more pride and happiness in their achievements than many readers of this blog.

Again, I’m not arguing with the definition. I don’t care what word someone else describes my life with and I suggest you don’t either. I just suggest you focus most on your values and the emotions you live by, which that definition puts second.

If you love your life and wouldn’t change a thing about it or a decision that led to it, who cares about passive income? If you don’t, I suggest no amount of passive income or savings will fill that gap.

I like FINANCIALLY FREE. You’re not “retired” from all forms of work, but you are retired from the “rat race”, because you can go whatever pace you want (or just sit and watch the others run by, and not give a shit).