There is an early retirement myth that people believe. It is time to drop the myth and get real about early retirement. First I want to define early retirement. To keep it simple I will say there are two flavors.

• Extreme early retirement where you retire before you reach 50.
• Early retirement where you retire before age 62.

There are probably many so-called early retirement myths but the early retirement myth I am writing about is that early retirement means you will forever stop engaging in productive and compensated work. Wow! You worked hard and lived a smart frugal and balanced life. All done so that you are debt free, could save an enormous amount of money and/or become pension eligible at your job. Now that you can retire early and young. Your are to retire to a life of leisure. Never again work another day in your life. FALSE! What a myth.

A Large percentage of people who I speak with believe that retirement is all leisure and every day is nothing but beaches, mountains, and martinis. Now I am as big a Leisure Freak as anyone and I can tell you something. Leisure is a state of mind. If there is no context to compare your activity against, like physical labor or anything that causes personal sacrifice. Then you won’t appreciate your leisure time.

After my first early retirement I was employed at a position I really wanted to do and still considered it as leisure. That’s because I was thoroughly enjoying the experience. I don’t care if you are in your 20s or 30s reaching for extreme early retirement or someone who has slogged away many years in agony within the corporate world trying to retire early before age 62.  Try to free your trapped mind from the early retirement myth. Be open and get-real with the early retirement reality. You may just be able to pull it off sooner than you think.

If you are pre-disposed to think within the box provided by the so-called retirement authorities, Corporate World, the Financial Industry, and the government. Then you may be causing yourself unwarranted retirement delay. Trapped because you are stuck sacrificing your happy life attempting to reach your early retirement goals. You have to be a Freak and break the norms by thinking outside of the box to make any real leaps.

Early retirement myth: You will be retired a long time. Or will you?

Early retirees will stay engaged in all kinds of activities. Whether it’s becoming an artist, writer, starting a new career, a business pursuit, or anything that they have an interest in. It’s a myth to think you will leave the workforce with all your talents, energy and ability, and spend 30 to 40 years in a life of leisure. The myth retirement as defined by the mainstream.

That myth is a little hard to swallow if you read any of the multitude of early retirement articles, web sites and blogs. People who have actually retired early are at least either occasionally working at something they want to do or are open to doing so if they felt the desire to.

Of course depending on your background, where you live, and your health or fitness you will have to be realistic about your dreams. I always wanted to be a fireman. But I assure you that isn’t going to happen.

There are of course obstacles in regions of this country where opportunities are limited. Some may say the early retirement myth then stands. You retire early and that is it. Never being paid again. However I feel that early retirees will still have the desire to pursue their dreams. When an opportunity does arise, they will jump at it. Early Retirees will enjoy the leisure of retirement and when the time is right they WILL engage in something that they can be passionate about and interested in doing.

Retire TO Something

Early Retirement success and happiness is based on what you are retiring to. Not what you are saving and trying to retire from. Sure, job dissatisfaction may have been your trigger to seek a better life. But you will be retiring young and full of energy. Full of enthusiasm for your passions. At some point early retirees will WANT to engage in an activity that will not only compensate them, but will be something that they have an interest in and passion to do.

This is exactly what the Retire Early and Often lifestyle that I live is all about. It is a lifestyle I very happily live. You should plan to retire to something, not from something. That is as important to your early retirement planning as the financial parts. I am now retired TO retirement number two. It came after a couple of awesome opportunities I have wanted to do. At this moment I have no targeted positions to pursue. But I sure will know when I am ready for the next great adventure when it comes to me or lands on my head.

How is retiring and then working again still considered retirement?

Once you have the means to fund your retirement lifestyle and you have left a career that just doesn’t float your boat anymore, you are retired. Forget what the mainstream retirement definition is for a minute. This is what retirement truly is. Having the financial freedom to do whatever interests you, lights your spirit, and drives your passion. What the early retirement myth does is makes us think we can’t do it. That we need to continue paying into a system hungry for our precious time and our money. A system which is designed only to delay our retirement.

Certainly if you thought you would never work again you would believe you have to save much more money. Why take that position and stay in a career or occupation that you no longer enjoy when you could start a life following your dreams? Once again, you do have to be realistic about future endeavors. If you plan on staying in an area with limited opportunities. Then you must take that into consideration when analyzing your retirement savings and funding.

Having a Pension Benefit

If you are someone who has a pension benefit and have reached pension eligibility you have an opportunity. Once you reach pension eligibility you can choose to put that pension to work for you instead of leaving it sitting in the pension fund. The difference in any pension yearly increase may not be worth wasting another year doing something you no longer like. By retiring you will give yourself the opportunity to not only pursue what does interest you. But also allows you to increase your wealth doing it.

Final Words-

If you are in this position to even consider early retirement you have already been living a smart frugal and balanced lifestyle. Look at your unique lifestyle requirements with a Leisure Freak mindset. See if you can make the leap. I heard a line recently that I liked, “When it comes to dreams you have a choice, you can forget them or live them.” I hope the early retirement myth isn’t holding you back from living your dreams.

Have you retired early and engaged in another opportunity, planning to do so or at least open to it?