Category Archives: Retire Often

Never Say Never Just Say No Thank You

Career, Passion, Retire Often, Working In Retirement, ,

I was just reminded of my diplomacy mantra “Never Say Never Just Say No Thank You” when I need to reject an opportunity. I also use it on myself to quell ego and greed. Two insidious human conditions that are counter to the way I want live now. You see, sometimes when you least expect it and are least prepared an opportunity can present itself. After the initial surprise my best instinct is to follow my gut. But then my brain kicks in. You may think that is how things are supposed to work. But my making a shift to a passion driven mindset means thinking beyond money when living my retire early and often lifestyle.

My brain is very good about identifying financial benefits.

Especially after all the exercise it got during the long trek to financial independence. My brain can’t help itself, running the numbers starts-up immediately. However my being open to opportunity in my early retirement does come with important limits. After all it is my finite time I am trading for money when I CHOOSE to accept paid work. In this case the opportunity was aligned with what I have previously identified as work I enjoy doing and have interest in. It even matches up with my last early retirement side hustle but this time my gut immediately said something else to me. It said, “Hell no, not again”.

Passions Can Change so Never Say Never Just Say No Thank You

Sometimes I see or hear about opportunities that look interesting because I have done them before and I am very good at doing it. My ego then will have me consider stretching the work interest and passion limits that I have set. My brain runs the numbers and lets greed chime in to make its case.

But my gut is the gate-keeper trying to calmly keep things balanced and aligned with the passion driven way I have chosen to live. This time with this latest opportunity offer my gut had something important to say.

  • Perhaps it was how my last side hustle turned into an extension and didn’t go as promised.
  • Perhaps the corporate world is just more than Leisure Freak Tommy wants to deal with anymore.
  • Perhaps I am just having too much fun now not doing paid work and not ready for any paid work.
  • Perhaps I just have too much planned now. Projects, travel, celebrations, and whatever I want to do.
  • Perhaps my passions and interests have changed as it just doesn’t fit well with me anymore.
Putting Trust In My Gut

There was no “perhaps” about it. After some self-assessment of what my hesitation and gut was telling me it was all the above.

I hadn’t given it much thought until now so I am surprised with the results of my honest self-assessment which put money totally aside. I really don’t want to engage in Tech anymore. Not as a telecom engineer or technician. Not working in IT and being a business, data, or systems analyst. I am no longer interested in any of it and have scratched those skills and work from my passions list. At least for now. They served me well with my first career, my encore career, and even my early retirement side hustle but I want to move on. I checked off some bucket-list items doing it and now it is time for new adventures when I am ready to begin another.

So to this opportunity I simply said to myself Never Say Never Just Say No Thank You. To the consulting company I replied No thank you, due to current obligations I am unable to accept the opportunity at this time.

It is a truthful response.

How to Walk Away from the Money

  • Ask yourself, if money was no object, would you want to do this work?
  • Set Retire Early and Often (working in retirement) limits tied to and aligned with your interests and passions.
  • Live by the interest and passion limits you set so you won’t dread any paid work you accept.
  • Remember your mortality. I see the government actuary tables  show my life expectancy to be 84. Simply do the math. No sense wasting any of it in misery for money.
  • Remind yourself that your health is best now while younger and don’t put off doing what you want to do until later when older age physical conditions will change.
  • Trust your gut. If it doesn’t feel right it probably isn’t regardless of how much money it pays.
In Closing

I use saying to myself Never Say Never Just Say No Thank You to cope with the fact that my passions and interests can and will change. For all I know someday I may have a change of heart and would enjoy doing tech work again. So I leave myself open to that fact this way.

Life and early retirement is an adventure. You never know what you will find along the way.

How about you. Can you see how your passions and interests can change but see the benefit of saying never say never?

Robert Redford is Right about Retirement

Passion, Retire Early, Retire Often

Robert Redford is Right about Retirement, well sort of. Redford was quoted in a Market Watch financial article today from his interview with The Wall Street Journal,

“I think retirement can lead to death, and that’s not for me.” The Market Watch article is titled Did Robert Redford get it wrong on retirement?

As someone who believes in living a lifestyle of retiring early and often I may be grouped with the Never Retire crowd and my agreeing for the most part with Robert Redford as no surprise. However I limit my being open to opportunities (paid-work) to only those I WANT to do that are aligned with my interests and passions. Otherwise I am one happy early retired Leisure Freak. Meaning I am not chasing after work and I am just living life on my terms enjoying my time and freedom. Just between me and you, Robert Redford is already retired, he just doesn’t know it.

I have non-traditional retirement beliefs

My definition of retirement breaks with the traditionalist. I believe retirement is leaving behind meaningless and soul sucking work but being perfectly open to paid work and still be considered living a retired life on my terms. I have also referred to my retiring early and often lifestyle in a couple of my site pages as somewhat like an actor’s lifestyle were I am always open to the right part, being choosy about any project I sign on to. I am only as good as my last gig in some cases to be able to continue catching the waves. The waves of opportunities that come my way.

So I see where Robert Redford is coming from because I use the same mindset-model. I am sure he is one picky SOB when it comes to the movie parts he agrees to do and the people he works with. His lifestyle off-stage is hardly working in the sense that the rest of the world endures either. It is probably closer to retirement between gigs than grinding it out in a nine to five situation. Even with his Sundance Film Festival and everything else he has his hands into. It is all exactly what he wants to be doing and any long hours are out of passion not dreaded grind. When he does work he works hard for as long as the gig lasts. Sounds a lot like what I and others are doing in our early retirements.

Retirement is Living Life on your Terms.

Successful actors and those who have always had the ability to work at their true passions and live life on their terms have always been retired, they just don’t care to realize it or call it that way. They retired long ago by retiring to the life they WANTED to live, a life they never need to retire from. Walking away from a lifestyle you love would probably lead to death.

Robert Redford is Right about Retirement Leading to Death

Robert Redford is Right about RetirementThe Market Watch article states many study results that both support and reject Robert Redford’s retirement leading to death comment. The mixed results support for my mind and others who are living their lives on their terms that it all depends on what work you are doing. Obviously for someone in heavy labor careers in construction and the like will not be able to physically “never retire” even if they loved doing it.

I truly believe that if I had stayed in my first Telecom Engineering career that the stress and soul sucking environment would have certainly caused my early death. But if someone in those laborious or stressful fields have outside interests and passions that they could turn into paid opportunities then they will agree with Mr. Redford and maybe say they will never retire under the traditional definition.

Living with purpose

Living with purpose is the reason why anyone who has plans to continue working at some capacity in their retirement will agree with Robert Redford.

We have to strive for something that is important to us, something we enjoy doing. Something that we love doing or love to support. If there is nothing that we want to be involved with or do then what would we do in retirement? Sit on the couch and watch TV all day long, complain about politics with the other old geezer down the street or your spouse? That is the real path to a short life. The sweet long life is all about what we retire to.

We have to have a reason to want to get up and move our asses and dance in this life. Stay curious, keep learning, keep growing, and know you have value, not retired and sent out to pasture. It doesn’t HAVE to be paid work but we should never be closed to it being paid work just because of the word and label “retired”.

In Closing

I love articles like this from Market Watch where something can be said and people come out and add all their negative comments at the bottom. Obviously Robert Redford is talking from his life experience, passions and opportunities not from the view of a ditch digger. He knows just as I do as a Leisure Freak doing my “retire early and often” thing that as we age the waves of opportunities may slow and eventually end and we will have to support our passions and purpose in another way.

Maybe there would be no question if he had simply said retirement from acting and film, my passion and purpose can lead to death then it would have been accepted 100% with all easily agreeing that Robert Redford is Right about Retirement. There would have been nobody giving a second thought and a whole different Market Watch article written about Robert Redford and retirement. We all will die someday but as long as I am still moving my ass and dancing it won’t be because of my retirement.

What is your view of YOUR retirement? Will it lead to your death?

Stay Healthy my Retiring Friends

Early Retirement Lifestyle, Health, Retire Often,

I don’t always pursue paying opportunities of interest and passion in my early retirement. But when I do I prefer being healthy enough to do it. Stay Healthy my Retiring Friends.

So you may be wondering why the play on good health. It seems that good health or at least not having bad health is key to living the retired lifestyle you dreamed of. Particularly those who wish to work at something new in their retirement according to a recent survey of retiring boomers.

The study by Bankers Life Center for a Secure Retirement – “New Expectations, New Rewards: Work in Retirement for Middle-Income Boomers” finds that Middle-income Boomers view employment as a part of the retirement experience. Of which I, Leisure Freak Tommy with my “retire early and often” mantra just can’t help but smile to know I am not as big a freak as I thought I was.

This may have surveyed Boomers. But the results should apply to any retiring generation. People are people. The survey found that 28%, almost a third of retired Boomers said they are now employed or have been employed for pay during their retirement. Of those currently employed, 61% work because they want to. Not need to work. Oh yes, the true definition of retirement: The absence of needing to work defines retirement, not the absence of working.

The survey dug deeper. It found that 59% worked for non-financial reasons. Like remaining physically active, to have a sense of purpose, and/or staying mentally alert. Finally I want to also list here that 78% of these employed retirees state they are as satisfied or more satisfied with their work when compared to their pre-retirement job or career.

A whopping 32% reported they were much more satisfied now than their pre-retirement career. All of this is exactly what my experience has been. But I now want to get to the purpose of this post. With all the wonderful results for the 28% who successfully pursued paying opportunities of interest and passions. What of the rest of the survey respondents?

Stay Healthy my Retiring Friends Because Poor Health Crushes Plans.

Of the surveyed retired Boomers who have not or are not currently engaged in paying work almost half (48%) would like to pursue paying opportunities but can’t, more than not because of health reasons.

It is bad enough to not need to work and having dreams of an encore career crushed by having to sit it out due to poor health but it is a very raw situation for those who need to work for pay to supplement their retirement income.

  • For many of the surveyed retirees they wanted to work longer but found themselves retiring earlier than planned due to poor health reasons. In total, 69% said they had to retire earlier than expected. Of that a huge 79%, almost eight out of ten people retired for reasons beyond their control like personal health reasons (39%), having to care for a loved one (9%), or being laid off (19%).
  • Of all the surveyed retired middle-income Boomers who had never worked for pay in retirement, half (48%) would like to work but can’t, either because of their own health reasons (35%), the health of a loved one (5%) or because they can’t find a job (8%). Health reasons is the biggest issue keeping retirees from finding any kind of retirement work.
Health has to be a higher priority.

We spend a lot of energy and planning setting the perfect frugal lifestyle budget, paying off all debt and keeping it paid off, and saving/investing a large percentage of our income to reach our early retirement and financial independence goals. But how much are we doing to insure we are as healthy as we want to be and need to be when the time comes to live the lifestyle that we envisioned and created? It is never too late to start taking our Health seriously and making it a priority.

  • Stop smoking. Why keep doing something you know is slowly killing you.
  • Don’t drink too much alcohol. Moderation is the key.
  • Eat healthy. We all know we can’t get away with eating Pizza like a college student anymore. Make an effort to eat better.
  • We should continue to exercise daily and plan for it to be part of our envisioned retirement lifestyle. Ride your bicycle, hike, use the stairs, and join a gym if that is what it takes to keep you motivated.
  • Get your Medical checkups. Get your physical exams, colonoscopies, mammograms, etc. as recommended. We never know when something goes wrong with us medically. Catch it early and chances are it won’t ruin the rest of your life or crush your retirement dreams.
  • Correctly take your prescribed medication. Pay attention to the directions and make sure you take them as recommended and take them regularly.
  • Drink more water. Time to move away from soft drinks and energy drinks.
  • Get plenty of sleep. More and more the importance of getting enough sleep comes up as important to good health.
Final Comments

The survey was targeting the most current group of retirees who happen to be Boomers. I hope that seeing “Boomer” didn’t turn any of my non-boomer readers off from reading the rest of this post because the same issues will be true for the next generation coming behind the Boomers. Check out the survey. It is an easy read and has some interesting findings.

Stay Healthy my Retiring Friends, no matter what generation you are or how young you are when you can pull retirement off.

Do you put your Health as a high priority just like you do your finances?

Numbers Support Partial Retirement

Passion, Retire Early, Retire Often

If you feel like you are never going to be able to save enough money to fund an early retirement or retirement in general, then you may be happy to know that the Numbers Support Partial Retirement as a perfect consideration. Partial Retirement fits in nicely with my Retire Early and Often lifestyle. I am totally open to it. Partial Retirement is usually defined as retiring from a full-time and possibly stressful career to work part-time. Or at least to work where you have more flexibility. Hopefully doing something that is more aligned with your passions and interest. This could be a job as an employee or your own business. Obviously for most this means you are of adequate health to continue working your dream partial retirement gig.

A New Retirement Mindset and the Numbers

For a successful retirement we should always be retiring TO something not just FROM something. We create a vision of what that will be so we save and invest to make that visualized lifestyle happen. Obviously the less needed to fund that dream retirement lifestyle means less money will be necessary in your retirement portfolio to support it. It may take even less in your portfolio if you change your retirement mindset to consider Partial Retirement. Think about it, retiring from a full-time career to working part-time doing something you love to do.

Look at it this way, if you were to make $10,000 a year as a Golf Pro or Fly Fishing Instructor then that is the same as having an added $250,000 in your portfolio using the classic 4% rule withdrawal strategy. Make $20,000 and it is like an extra $500,000 in retirement portfolio assets.

When your work is aligned with your interests and passions then what do you need to retire from? NOTHING.

What Partial Retirement does is give you a way to retire early when your career’s salary wasn’t high enough to have a super-sized portfolio even with all your debt elimination and frugal lifestyle.

Numbers Support Partial Retirement, Here’s what’s Required

  • You have to have interest in doing something and be someone who is ready and willing to chase their own adventure.
  • Identify your interests and passions based on your past career and personal life. Include hobbies and experiences and then look at the skills you have developed and where they overlap with your favorite activities.
  • Always have an open mind and open eyes to opportunity and adventure.
  • Utilize your network and the relationships you built over the years.
  • Figure it all out before you retire. Start doing it part-time or start doing it as a side hustle. If you need certification to become the Scuba Instructor you have always dreamed of being then get it.
To Conclude

Not everyone has adventure sized dreams to turn into a partial retirement. Your interests and passions may be as simple as you want to be social and love working with or helping people. You may have a personality that just attracts people and you can sell fire to the devil. The point of this post is that the traditional retirement may be out of reach to many. Out of reach due to lower-income or a late savings start.

But instead of suffering through a career or job that you feel is slowly killing you 40 hours a week. Instead of working until you are age 70 for increased Social Security. Instead consider the partial retirement. It may just be the alternative retirement that will get you to your visualized lifestyle much sooner. Even if you do have the portfolio to support your retirement lifestyle. Being open to part-time opportunities that align with your interest and passions will only add to your retirement. It is an adventure.

Would you consider partial retirement or do you know someone who is living the partial retirement lifestyle?

Confessions of a Serial Retiree: I Will Always Win

Career, Retire Early, Retire Often

I am considered a Serial Retiree. I write this post just after finishing an early retirement side hustle. Looking back at it I have to say that it went very well. Now the entire ride was not as perfect as it started out but I have to take some blame for that. There was some frustration and conflict but I made some concessions and stuck it out.

That said, I have some Confessions of a Serial Retiree to offer after successfully retiring early twice now. First from a long telecom engineering career and then starting and retiring from an encore career in the cable video IT realm. With this last 6.5 month early retirement side gig under my belt it is evident that I should reveal a few things. It’s an entirely different working dynamic shift.

I have expressed how wonderful and awesome it is to have the financial independence to be able to pursue opportunities of interest and passion. How living a “retire early and often” lifestyle is both personally and financially rewarding. However there is the flip side to of all of this. A side that is a bit more dark and less than inspirational or motivating that I must confess.

You see, I am all about pursuing opportunities that I am interested in doing. Where I work at the things I find rewarding and have a passion for. There are things I want to learn. All of that is what makes living this way great. But I do concede that doesn’t always work out so nice for those I am working for or working with.

Confessions of a Serial Retiree: I Will Always WinImage source

So IF I was to look at my passion-driven lifestyle as a coin toss where “Heads” I win. Win because this side of the coin represents what is awesome and perfect for me as a serial retiree living the retire early and often life.

THEN that means “Tails” you lose because this side of the coin means someone isn’t very happy about it. I do confess that in this coin toss I always win.

Confessions of a Serial Retiree. Blame it on the Corporate World.

It is not my fault. The fault lies in the way the corporate world operates.

When I do the résumé and interview dance I don’t mention my financial independence, early retirement, or my retire early and often philosophy. I go in based on the job description and how it measured up to my interests and passions. Then it’s all about matching skills and experience to get the position.

The company doesn’t necessarily list any of the mundane and bad parts of the position either. Those are not discussed and come only after you have accepted an offer and start working there. That has worked for decades. All because standard corporate policy is to dump stuff on people and if they don’t accept it then threaten to terminate them. Or later rate them badly in their performance review thus financially hitting them. That policy works for the multitude of desperate employees that these companies rely on.

But it doesn’t work for me. If the mundane and unpleasant isn’t fairly distributed then this opportunity isn’t to my satisfaction. I am only too happy to return to retirement leisure. The problem is the employer doesn’t know that until they need to know that. You see, I have been in the corporate world a long time. It seems there is always those who are politically connected and/or inept who escape having to do the unpleasant and mundane activities of any corporate operation.

To get the others to carry the load there is a kind of acceptable corporate bully culture that is allowed. That crap doesn’t fly with Leisure Freak Tommy any more.

Confession #1-

Heads: It is about chasing rainbows and finding the pot of gold.

During my first long career while on my FI journey there were aspects of the job that I loved and those that I didn’t. Now I only want to do those things I love to do. I have no interest in performing all the mundane repetitive operational and production related tasks.

I prefer working on the product creation side of things. Being project oriented instead of the reactive problem resolution and tracking side.

Tails: You might not like it:

When I say I will work for you doing certain kinds of work and I have no interest in doing the other types of tasks then believe me. I won’t be helping you out with that crap-work if the pain isn’t fairly shared.

I am only trading my time for money doing what I have interest in doing and learning. Otherwise we need to part ways. This isn’t about some generational inflexibility. This about someone who is financially independent and doesn’t have to put up with BS anymore.

Confession #2-

Heads: Flexibility goes all ways.

In my first career there was always talk of a balanced work and personal life. But they picked and chose who got to have that. For me it was required I be there at my desk for the day. Now I love to take advantage of any flex work benefits offered. From scheduled work hours, flexible start time to home office.

Tails: Look who is balancing their personal and work life.

Now when a company offers flexibility to some employees on the team and not to others, like flex-time work schedules and work from home, all or partial days. I am not going to ask or say anything. I will just participate in the same benefit as long as it fits my work needs and job completion requirements.

Look, I do get-it. The only way you can allow some people to not be there is because you have other people’s cheeks-in-seats to carry the office presence load, clear ticket queues and answer the phones. As far as I am concerned flexible benefits are going to be shared. If you don’t like it then let us have that awkward conversation.

Confession #3-

Heads: Encore Careers are most likely short careers.

My encore career in the cable-video world lasted less than four years. I have always found that after a couple of years you have learned as much as you can or want to and then master the position. After that you just get sucked into all the operational and production related minutia. Once my interest wanes or passion leaves its time to retire again. If I start another encore career I go in with no time-frame limits so who knows, I may prove this confession false someday.

Tails: You feel like you made an investment in me and just as it pays off I leave.

I understand that you feel like you are now just benefiting the most from my employment but this is about me now. It’s time for corporate policy to get use to the idea that it isn’t just a company perk to be able to dismiss someone when they want to. Now some of us are dismissing our employer when we feel the time is right.

Confession #4-

Heads: Keep it realistic. I don’t care about doing the impossible to climb the ladder, I only care about my work.

With my first career I gave heart and soul to the company and my organization. It was expected. Loyalty is not reciprocated in the corporate world now. I lived and died with results. I “Leaned-In” and worked whatever hours it took to get the job done no matter how stupid the timelines or expectations were. Now I only care about doing my part or task the best I can within a manageable and reasonable timeline. I know what it’s like to be top-dog from my first career and now I am out of the competition and will happily let others chase that false dream.

Tails: You have no idea what to do with someone purposely and obviously “Leaning Out”.

It seems there is always a crisis or all hands on deck situation. I am happy to help but burning through a night and day and do it for FREE, no thank you. If I am on a 40 hour a week paid contract to provide you work based on all of my years of experience and skills, then you can have me paint houses or dig ditches for 40 hours (for as long as I will put up with it). You are paying for the time but I won’t be that go-getter that is willing to do anything to please the corporate masters hoping for special recognition and advancement. Been there and done that. I leave that now to those who feel they need to taste it for themselves.

Confession #5-

Heads: I can happily walk away at any time.

The beauty of living this lifestyle is NOT NEEDING to work. I only do it when it aligns with what I want to do for as long as it stays aligned with what I want to do. This is total freedom to live life on my terms.

Tails: I am not afraid to tell you that I am willing to or going to walk. Best of all I get to pick when.

Maybe I get pushed too far, maybe being falsely reprimanded in front of the team because you are having a bad day with those above you, or maybe things have just run its course and I am ready to move on. I did give a months’ notice when I retired from my video encore career.

I came close to giving a negative couple of hours during my most recent side gig. You know, leave your lap top and badge in the desk cabinet, go to lunch and then call your contracting company to let them know that it isn’t working out anymore and have them call the client and tell them that I am already gone. I fantasized about it but after hearing positive input from my team members who matter more to me than the disconnected management I cooled down and stuck it out. That experience is one of the reasons for this post.

My final thoughts on the Confessions of a Serial Retiree.

I prefer to just think about the “Heads” side of the coin where I go in and do my thing for as long as it is beneficial to us both and when it’s time to move on I just give reasonable notice and retire again.

As for the “Tails” side of the coin, none of that stuff really came up during my encore career. My encore career just ran its course and I was ready to go.

However the side hustle through the 2015 extension period did touch on most of the darker side of the coin. Same company as the encore career but a totally different team and focus. It had me utilizing skills and experience from both my first and second career doing work in their voice telecommunications group. I made some compromises. Not for the company or the management but for some of my team mates. The company went against our agreement but I am just a softy and can’t stand it when someone is getting unfairly dumped on.

I hope that reading through my Confessions of a Serial Retiree you don’t think I am just a jack-wagon and you can instead focus on the “Heads” side of this coin. The side where there is an agreement about what I will work on and everyone plays nice. However I will tell you that reaching financial independence and retiring early and often is like being able to give the corporate world’s unfair work policies your middle finger by living life and working on your terms.

Do you have a confession to make?

High Encore Career Success Rate

Career, Retire Often, Working In Retirement, ,

I was reading the results of a recent study that destroys the biggest argument from my naysayers about being able to start an encore career living the Retire Early and Often lifestyle. They insist that finding a new meaningful and rewarding career is impossible due to age discrimination. They insist that anyone’s encore career success is due to luck.

This survey just came out from the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER). Their study results clearly show a High Encore Career Success Rate for those 45 and older making a sought-after career change in their later life. Success at a far better rate than people would expect.

Surprisingly the results go against most published articles on the matter. As the majority of respondents not only found and started new careers that provided them greater satisfaction. But also received higher pay than the career they left.

Of the survey respondents: Eighty-two percent reported they successfully transitioned to a new career after age 45. The key was having and using their transferable skills that they gained from their earlier career.

Not only did they find themselves being happier in their new pursuits but also receiving higher pay to do it. Some said they did initially start their new career at a lower salary. But they worked hard and climbed the income ladder to be paid higher than their first career paid.

My Experience Matches the Study Results.

This is certainly what I experienced. My first retirement was from an Engineering career working in telecommunications network operations. After some time off I started to pursue opportunities of interest in the wireless industry. I focused on skills that I liked doing. I did land a sweet position in a wireless company’s network operations and was enjoying it when I made another move. This time pursuing interest in the video (cable) industry working in IT as a Systems Analyst.

Again I was using my transferable skills to win the position. My wireless experience did pay less than my first career but that job was a lower stress and lower expectation job. The video position was in a new industry and career segment for me (IT instead of network operations). It paid around 13% higher than my first career. I retired from that IT career after a few years and later returned for a little early retirement side hustle in their telecom IT unit.

It seems that success can be found pursuing opportunities when using your first career and for myself even my second career gained skills and education despite everything we hear to the contrary that most people can’t find meaningful work in their later years.

Results Show a High Encore Career Success Rate but not 100%.

Although there was a high second career success rate from the respondents. There were still those who were unable to make a career change. The study results explained it came down to being short of the necessary education or skills required. The study found that for those who failed to connect to their dream position. They only had two of the required attributes being looked for.

From this we can see the importance of planning ahead and getting the necessary education and skills needed to improve our odds of making a later life career change. Respondents did go out and did exactly that in many cases. Although it would seem through the high success rate that age discrimination wasn’t a brick wall to overcome. There is no way to know how prevalent it was as a factor among respondent’s pursuits.

Conclusion

The study was actually called “New Careers for Older Workers”. But all the findings would fully relate to those who retire early and often by seeking their desired encore career. Because starting a new career in later life is exactly what starting an encore career is about.

If you want to see more about the study you can download the PDF from the American Institute for Economic Research site using the following link: https://www.aier.org/new-careers-older-workers. Just find the “download report” button. Your email is required.

The download even includes the survey questions so that you can evaluate how the survey was done and the depth of the questioning asked to come up with their results.

Have you found success pursuing an encore career?

Do you plan on retiring early from your current career and then seeking a new encore career?

Do you find the High Encore Career Success Rate surprising?

How My Big Mistake Saved My Financial Keister

Retire Often, Working In Retirement,

Sometimes you make a mistake and you just have to suck it up and soldier through it. If I was to put a chapter title to the first 3 months of Leisure Freak Tommy’s book of 2015. I would title it Sadness, Frustration and Budget Hits. How my big mistake saved my financial keister.

My Big Mistake

If you have read some of my earlier posts you may recall I took on a little early retirement side hustle last October. It was funded for a sweet two and half month gig that went to the end of year. It was the best gig I have ever had. When they asked if I would consider accepting an extension I laid down my boundaries by being rationally unreasonable. They accepted my conditions and made me an offer to stay into this year until mid-May. Of which I accepted.

It all started wonderfully but slowly as the weeks went by the corporate behemoth I am consulting for started pushing past the agreed upon boundaries. Pushed to the point where now they don’t recall anything about said boundaries.

My big mistake is I allowed them to do this and I didn’t just say that it is time for me to move on.

I get it. They have business needs and after losing some staff the work needs to still be done. I am just a softy and decided to be nice instead of being right. It isn’t the end of the world but it does add some frustration. That’s because I prefer to spend my time doing the things I am interested in doing. Not the boring meaningless stuff of everyday production problems.

It makes me feel a bit of a fraud because for me it’s all about being passionate about what I am doing. I am not to the point where I hear that little voice saying there is more to life than this. But I do think that if I didn’t know I was returning to retirement soon that voice may just be singing to me now.

That said I am honoring my end of the deal until mid-May. I do take solace in knowing that I held up my end of the bargain and maybe that is my passion connection. Living honestly with integrity.

I am looking forward to returning to early retirement in a few weeks. I am being well paid which is what has saved my financial keister. For the most part this early retirement side hustle has been very rewarding.

How My Big Mistake Saved My Financial Keister – My Three Pay-Offs

Mistake Pay Off #1-

I had posted about recovering from the blown budget blues in January where I explained how our long time beloved pet, our fury family member was diagnosed with terminal heart disease. I am sorry to announce that he passed away a couple of weeks ago. From his first symptoms through all the tests and medications we did spend $2800. We spent that to make his last months as comfortable as possible. The money from the side hustle certainly spared taking this money from my emergency fund.

Mistake Pay Off #2-

My mother could no longer climb the stairs from her basement apartment at my sister’s home. She was basically trapped because she would restrict climbing the stairs due to pain and the length of time to get through the ordeal.

After speaking with my sister the logical decision was to find one of those stairway chair-elevators. My sister hasn’t the money. Even though Medicare will help pay for a Jazzy-Chair to zip around the neighborhood. They do not pay for a way to get up and down stairs in your old age.

So as I am on this side hustle I happily purchased said chair elevator system for $4900. Once again the money from the side hustle certainly spared taking this money from my emergency fund. Because even if I wasn’t still working this side hustle I would have done this anyway. I love my mom.

Mistake Pay Off #3-

Last week totally out of the blue my father-in-law passed away. As the family is trying to recover from the shock we will be traveling out-of-state to the funeral. We will also be pitching in money for the wake and obituary.

As this trip is coming in the next couple of days I don’t know the total we will be spending. But the money from the side hustle certainly spared taking this money from my emergency fund. Or at the very least from our travel and vacation fund for this year. It sucks to deal with a death in the family at a personal level. But I feel badly for anyone who has to also suffer through financial pressure too.

In Closing.

Things happen in life that you can’t budget for. Having an emergency fund is very important. I have also been thinking a lot about how my early retirement side hustle was extended. How it has turned out with me sticking to my end of the bargain by staying on even though they broke my rules for being there.

I certainly could have walked off the job anytime I wanted to. I can’t help but think about the old saying that things happen for a reason. With all that has happened through March I hope that my life quiets down, my contract comes to a quiet but exciting (for me) end, and I return to my early retirement life living totally on my terms.

Have you ever had a run of bad financial hits within a short time period?

Have you had a business deal go sideways but you still held up your end?

What is Your Kind of Retirement

Retire Early, Retire Often

Occasionally a retirement based article comes out on the old inter-web that catches my eye. Especially when it covers things in an interesting or informative way that I just like for whatever reason. This article spells things out so you can ask yourself. What is Your Kind of Retirement?

If anything else on this Leisure Freak site I challenge the traditional definition of retirement.  The one of calling it quits once reaching old age. Then just sit on your duff, hit the links, or fly fishing 365 days a year as the one and only exclusive definition of retirement.  Certainly that traditional definition doesn’t sound all that bad. I will probably do just that when I grow older.

But my thing is why wait until you are of advanced age to retire in the first place? Get off your dumb-spending carousel and start saving for an earlier departure from servitude. Get out of the rat race and live your retirement freedom courtesy of financial independence.

The article neatly broke down retirement to be of four different flavors and asks which is right for you.
  • Early
  • Mini-Retirement
  • Financial Independence
  • Part-Time work

I will get to summarizing how each was defined. But I have to say that I think all of them fit in nicely as options available within my retire early and often lifestyle through financial independence. My lifestyle doesn’t see them exclusive of each other as separate retirement flavors. I see retirement as freely jumping between the four kinds of retirement outlined in the article throughout retirement.  That said, here is a summary of the four kinds of retirement.

Early

This was defined as saving enough through a high income or savings savvy to retire before age 65. Retire to what was described as the traditional definition of retirement.

“Early retirement usually means you follow the model of an uninterrupted period of work followed by permanent retirement, but you stop working in your 30s, 40s or 50s instead of in your 60s”.

Leisure Freak thought– That’s one way to retire early. I haven’t met an early retiree yet that just “retires” to the old traditional definition of retirement. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any. But I think it is more plausible that all the ambition, drive, curiosity, and energy that gets someone to early retirement isn’t going away. That is where I say all the retirement flavors listed in the article are available options. It is certainly true for me and the others I know.

Mini-Retirements

This was defined as working and then retiring many times.  It goes on to say that you mix periods of intense work followed by periods of complete rest.

“You might work hard and save a substantial amount, travel for a year or two, then return to the work force. This allows you to experience retirement-like activities at a younger age. However, it also often means you likely must work well beyond typical retirement age”.

Leisure Freak thought– Certainly this could be an option for someone who is unable to reach full financial independence. But has a lot of living to do. I do believe that this kind of retirement is also just another option for those who do reach financial independence. Having the freedom to pursue work they are interested in doing or passionate about doing. Not HAVE to do.

I purposely strive to have mini-retirements or living what I call a Retire Early and Often passion-driven lifestyle. You can work for as long as you WANT to do it. Then retire again. If following this “Mini Retirement” as an exclusive kind of retirement. Then I suggest save more than you need for your next retirement intervals in a separate long-term fund. Then you won’t HAVE to work past traditional retirement age unless you want to.

Financial Independence

The article compares this to the traditional definition of retirement. Retire from working at age 65 on your savings, pensions, and Social security and never have to work a day again.

“you don’t need help from your children, you are free from major debt and can probably enjoy a sort of “permanent vacation” lifestyle. But financial independence can also mean you are free not just for a permanent vacation, but to pursue a passion unencumbered with having to make money from it”.

Leisure Freak thought– It does state you are able to pursue passions without HAVING to make money and I totally agree with this except for one thing. Why limit the definition of this kind of retirement to reaching age 65? This was listed as the third kind of retirement in the article but I believe it should be number one. That is because no matter your age Financial Independence allows you to choose any and all the other kinds of retirement that are being defined in the article. You may not start your Social Security for years after retiring early through financial independence but it is still part of your long-term financial plan. In the meantime live life on your terms.

Part-Time Work

Also known as Semi-Retirement, retiring from full-time work to part-time or consulting work. It’s defined as for those who would miss working after they retired.

“means you don’t necessarily save as much money before you leave your full-time job. It’s appealing for people who really enjoy what they do but want more of a work-life balance”.

Leisure Freak thought– That’s one way to retire to less stress and more flexibility in your lifestyle. It would certainly help someone who hasn’t saved enough to fully fund their retirement. I’m not sure about the missing work part, especially meaningless work, however I do see it as just another retirement option for those who have chosen financial independence hopefully while they are still young enough to enjoy it. Working part-time at something of interest or passion is an attractive option where you can even retire from this kind of retirement when you want to.

My Freak Conclusion

If you would like to read the article I am referring to it is What Kind of Retirement Is Right for You? By AJ Smith at credit.com.

I liked the article for pointing out all the options available for those who retire early or at all even though they are pitched as separate kinds of retirement. Although I don’t agree with all the limitations it places within the definitions it does touch on all the things I think are wonderful about financial independence and supports my belief that there isn’t just one way to retire. Retiring costs money so live well within your means, pay off all debt, and ramp up savings and you will have options to choose or jump around all of these retirement flavors.

What is Your Kind of Retirement?

Why Retire Early and Return to Work?

Retire Early, Retire Often, Saving Money

I get asked the following two questions in various flavors. Why Retire Early and Return to Work? Isn’t the whole point of early retirement being able to call it quits and just do whatever you want to do? The answer to the second question is an absolute “YES”. This then answers the first question about why return to work, “Because I WANTED TO do that particular work”.

I have a couple of early retirements under my belt and as I write this a soon ending early retirement side hustle. So I know a thing or two about early retirement. One of the biggest myths about early retirement is that you will never engage in profitable paid work again.

Early retirement is a game changer. Folks need to get over the word “retirement” and forget about the old definitions. I haven’t met an early retiree yet that doesn’t engage in or wouldn’t consider doing something that they were interested in doing for pay. It all comes down to if they want to do it.

My tag-line for several years before retiring the first time was “retire early and often”. At the time it sounded funny to all of us career-mindset engineers and technical workers. Yet it described exactly what my early retirement would be about.

The thing is, retiring early doesn’t just blow away one’s ambition, energy, curiosity, and drive. All of which I think would be common traits among early retirees. That said, I and the other early retirees I know do love the early retirement lifestyle. Whether taking extended periods to travel and other non-paid pursuits or taking on work that pays that is aligned with our passions and interests.

When taking on work that I want to do I control how long I will be doing it. If I decide I am ready for a change then I make a move back to retirement leisure. I believe most people could actually like working for pay knowing that they can quit or make a move anytime they decide to. It’s all about living life on your terms.

That is why I still consider myself retired even if I do return to work. Eventually as I get older I may lose some of my energy and ambition. Maybe I won’t return to paid work or at least as much as I have since retirement number one. But I will be able to look back and say what a ride it has been.

Why Retire Early and Return to Work, these are great reasons.

Why Retire Early and Return to Work? Here's to your health, Prost!To your health. Prost!

There are obviously financial benefits to being open to returning to work that you would want to do and enjoy. But there are non-financial benefits too. That being your health, both physically and mentally.  You will probably be more active and mentally stimulated while on a job you are passionate about doing.

It could be that you are working for the social interaction or for all the high energy of where you are working rather than money. Being where you want to be and doing what you want to do is much healthier than someone retired to the worst case scenario. That being sitting in a life of isolation and boredom watching TV all day long. More than money, improved health is a side benefit that continues to pay you dividends the rest of your life.

Perfect time to do something different.

Why Retire Early and Return to Work? When you retire early it is the perfect opportunity to look at your skills and experiences and pick out the things that you are passionate about doing. There were aspects of my past career that I really enjoyed. There were many that I wouldn’t want to do again. I happened to pick some of my passion-skills and use them to find opportunities in other industries that I was very curious about learning and doing.

As I finish my early retirement side hustle in the next few weeks I plan on returning to full retirement for a while because I WANT TO. If and when I decide to try something new, I want the next go-around to do something completely different. While I am enjoying retirement freedom I will let my natural curiosity guide me and maybe I will take some courses or volunteer to learn more about what I want to target next. I have interest in self-employment and may just decide it is time to go that route.

Financially speaking it is a win.

Why Retire Early and Return to Work? No doubt retiring early and returning to work will improve one’s retirement finances. In my situation where I fund my retirement with 72t SEPP IRA and receive monthly payments until age 59 ½ means while I live off of my retirement funding everything I earn can be saved and added to my portfolio.  I was able to use income from career number two to pay off my near $100,000 mortgage.

The same thing could happen to those who have a pension. In any case even if you didn’t have 72t or pension payments coming in each month and you are funding your retirement lifestyle with your new paying adventure you are delaying or at least reducing the tapping of your retirement savings. If you never added another dime to your portfolio your retirement accounts benefit from compounding returns.

If what you WANT to do is work part-time or your target retirement passion-driven work doesn’t pay a lot, anything and everything you earn is still a financial benefit. So why wouldn’t you consider to return work after you retire early? Nobody says you have to sign up for a long career or continue working forever. It is all about doing what you enjoy doing and if you aren’t getting what you want from it then move on and find what it is you want to do next, a passion-driven adventure in leisure or another paid adventure.

Some Last Words.

Why Retire Early and Return to Work? Well, nobody that retires early should HAVE TO return to work or there was something missed in the retirement plan or an unplanned financial catastrophe came into play. Hopefully if that is the case it is short-term and finances improve enough to be free to only return to work when you WANT TO.

If you retire early and WANT to start a new career, work part-time and/or follow your passions to a paying opportunity then there is nothing but health and financial benefits that can be gained. It can take considerable effort and patience to find the perfect fit but when you do it is nothing but rewarding. If anything, early retirement is a time of options and being able to focus on your health and pursuing your passions. And yes, being able to call it quits and just do whatever you want to do.

Do you have a vision of your early retirement that would include working at something you WANT to do?

Road Trip Mindset on my Journey to Financial Independence

Career, Financial Independence, Retire Often, ,

I love a good road trip. The way I define a good road trip is I am going somewhere I really want to be. I am excited about the destination but I don’t have an unrealistic timeline to get there. On the other hand. Taking to the road with a mindset that I have to frantically beat the travel, traffic, and distance odds to get there by a certain time is not a good road trip. Because anything that delays me or gets in the way of a tight arrival time leads to high frustration and stress.

You see I believe in enjoying the ride. Taking my time to see the sights and just relax into every turn of the highway. I have an idea of when I want to reach my destination. I even have hotel reservations along the way for those longer drives to get there. So there is no need to drive all day and night or to full fatigue and road weariness.

There is a PLAN but all within a reasonable timeline based on the reality of the distance. But I also planned for some sightseeing detours, some padded time for the surprises or the unexpected. All of which can be either good or bad, etc.

If only I had this same good road trip mindset on my journey to financial independence and my first early retirement. Maybe then my last few years of career number-one and my life back then would have been so much more enjoyable.

road trip mindset on my journey to financial independence-Enjoy the rideI am a patient freak. I did have a 10 year early retirement plan. The problem was I let the job drag me down in the final years. All of the corporate bull crap and ridiculous demands consumed me.

I should have just stayed focused on my plan and the parts of the job that I actually enjoyed.

I was fully engaged in my plan. But the plan was all about the financial aspects of the financial independence journey. You know. The saving and investing, budgeting and smart spending. It was obvious I needed the job to reach my financial goals. But with my focus on the destination I didn’t consciously plan for the pot-holes, flat tires, detours, construction cone-zones, encountered road-rages, and everything else the career highway can and will throw at me.

Maybe it is because I am older now. Maybe it’s that I was able to have an encore career where I followed my passions and interest. Maybe it’s my second early retirement that has made me wiser.

Now that I am in the final two months of my early retirement side hustle. I can see clearly where I went wrong before.

If I had kept a road trip mindset on my journey to financial independence and early retirement I would have:

Realistic Time-Frame –

Given myself enough time to get there. I did pretty well here. I had a 10 year early retirement plan. I can see if I had tried to cram all I needed to accomplish into a shorter than realistic time horizon how I would have been even more stressed and frustrated. There is a lot of financial ground that needs to be covered to get to the FI destination. In fact I was stressed when I decided I wasn’t ready to pull the plug-in my tenth year of my plan. I stayed another year.

I let a delay bum me out. That final year was less than enjoyable. I have only myself to blame.

Enjoy The Ride-

During the last few years of my first career my company was going downhill. There were constant layoffs, increased responsibilities and never-ending demands. That is exactly what I still think about first when recalling my career there. In that is the problem. I forgot to focus on what I liked about that career and job. I was still spending part of my time doing those things I enjoyed. But instead I let myself be consumed by everything that was wrong with what was happening.

Not every journey is going to be traffic free or without its obstacles. But there is always a lot of nice cruising to focus on. I should have concentrated on the parts of the job that I still enjoyed. Remembering that having a job is just as much a part of the FI journey and needed to reach my destination as all the financial plans that I made.

Plan Time to Sight See–

I knew I was going to live a “retire early and often” lifestyle where I would pursue opportunities of interest that were aligned with my passions. Although I poked around looking at areas I would target I was over-consumed by my current job. I planned on retiring first to decompress. Then start identifying my passions and the positions I would look at in detail.

A better plan would have been to take the time to identify these things and do in-depth looking around before leaving. Even if taking some time off was on the table. This knowledge would have helped cement in my mind my future direction. It would  have been adding something else to look forward to.

Split the Trip–

Once I reached that certain date to secure what was left of my pension benefit I should have considered splitting the journey. Split it by making a change to a new opportunity. One that was aligned with my passions before reaching full financial independence or early retirement readiness.  Even before meeting my pension eligibility date it would have been a good time to think about an internal company transfer to a different department and job. Instead of driving straight through a plan at the same company or job that was no longer enjoyable no matter how much I focused on the parts I did like. I should have made a move to something that could be.

This is the “Life is short” move. A job was still required to reach my destination. But if while sightseeing I found the perfect gig I could have decided to take it then and used it to finish my FI journey. I see where I could have tried harder to do this and at least saved myself the misery of year number eleven of my ten-year plan.

I certainly think much more highly of my encore career that I retired from because it was aligned with what I wanted to do and my passions.

Conclusion

Life is short. Do what you can to enjoy the ride by having a road trip mindset on your journey to financial independence and early retirement.

Are you enjoying your ride to Financial Independence?