Do we REALLY want to retire?
Generally speaking, most of us avoid planning for retirement as actively as the Cleveland Browns avoid the Super Bowls—likely because long term planning forces us to recalibrate and refocus on our future priorities which involve risks, investing in long term assets and having an optimistic outlook on the future (true of football, too).
A couple days ago, I was asked why was I investing so diligently for retirement when that time horizon is clearly decades away. There’s a lot I could say—but when I think about it, I’m not necessarily investing so I can retire—I’m investing so that I have an option to retire. The truth is even if I was in the position to retire today I wouldn’t want to—I enjoy what I do.
And I think most of us have a similar impression where we don’t necessarily want to retire, we just want to the option to do so. Similar to how renting buys us the option to move investing early and consistently analogously buys us the option to retire.
Wouldn’t it be nice to sit on the porch and enjoy a nice cold beer and not worry about a paycheck?
It turns out this is simple and possible. That is, for you to retire comfortably. (And that Cleveland Browns winning the Super Bowl part that I’m not too sure of)
You know, retirement is a type of freedom. The manifestation of that desire is different for each of us, but at the root of it, is the same. We’re all looking for that kind of freedom—we just have our own ways of defining it.
BTW—I have nothing personal against the Browns.