If you knew you could never retire, would you make any career changes, or would you be satisfied with your current working situation?
I’ve spent the past week chewing on this question, and have really shifted in the way I thing about financial independence as a result.
This question arose after I listened to last week’s Afford Anything Podcast where Paula interviewed Joshua Sheats of Radical Personal Finance.
The Never Retire Question
Asking people what they would do if they were retired is not always a great question to start out with when talking about personal finance.
In the world of early retirement and financial independence, we talk a lot about retirement, and that’s useful. Many people like to dream what they would do if they won $1 Million in the lottery today.
Sure, someday spending your millions can be an important motivator to save money and build wealth now.
Joshua teaches people to start with a different question. That question is: what you would do if you knew you could never retire.
We sometimes make the mistake of always focusing on retiring comfortably when we haven’t made a plan to work in a satisfying career.
“The reality is that most of the things you would do if you were retired you could probably figure out how to build an income or business on doing those things now.”
Jim the River Guide
This interview made me think back to our whitewater rafting guide on our summer vacation (yes- that brain-eating amoeba one). Jim was about my age, graduated from a great public university with a degree in Physics, but chose to be a river guide.
Jim loved whitewater rafting and really didn’t want to wait until he “retired” to go rafting every day.
The point Jim made with his career choice is that you don’t need to wait until you have a couple million dollars in the bank before you live your dream. Figure out how to can make a living while living your dream now.
Nothing’s Forever
Jim probably won’t be a river guide for his entire working career. He mentioned that he was giving it a try and for a couple of years and then would probably get a corporate job.
I’m assuming he’s probably not contributing much to retirement, but maybe that’s okay while you live your retirement dream.
Many people have a snapshot view of life rather than a view of the extended timeline. Both fear and comfort can keep us trapped in untenable situations.
Nothing’s forever, including life. Why not spend the majority of your life doing something you enjoy?
(*Side note: If your dream is small, why not do it on the side as a side-hustle? Stop watching TV and put that extra time to use instead!)
A Word to the Critic
You might be reading this post and saying to yourself, “Are you drunk? Who would ever pass up a $65K career with a physics degree over a $25K job rafting with snotty nosed kids?”
I would respond by saying you’re correct. You don’t always have to sacrifice income for doing something that you actually like.
Since you spend so much of your life working, why not do something that’s a net enjoyable experience, which also earns an income that helps you build wealth?
I’m blessed to work in my dream field and I get fairly compensated thanks to advanced degrees. In almost every field, there are ways to increase income. Whether that’s taking more classes, getting another degree, or just showing up and grinding hard, you can make good money regardless of what you “do.” Don’t believe the lie that to live your dream means you must sacrifice your income.
You’re also probably more likely to succeed financially if you enjoy your work. Trust me, people notice.
I loved listening to the Joshua Sheats interview and it really got me thinking as well about that. Honesty, if I could never retire, I’d probably just want to be a lifelong student. Love learning. But of course, that costs money too.
Or maybe I’d just be a bike messenger and bike around town 8 hours a day, enjoying the fresh air and getting exercise. I dream pretty small.
I’m with you on learning! I don’t have enough life to learn all I would like to. Thankfully YouTube and online learning has greatly reduced the cost of learning. Ha-ha small dreams are good! You can reach them quicker!
I came away from that episode ruminating on the same point. I have a lot of different creative endeavors that I would like to spend more time on, so I will probably use that line of reasoning to reallocate how I use some of my free/side hustle time.
Great plan!
Nice thought provoking post! I think coaching youth sports would be a ton of fun. And it’s the type of coaching job that you don’t necessarily need to be a stellar coach of the sport, just enough to know basics or a little more.
I think it would be fun to coach my kids one day. We’ll see though.
I’m with you on coaching! I would love to help coach a football team. Unfortunately I don’t have enough time.. you should coach your kids!!
We were really thrilled to finally cross over that point to where all our bills are paid by our passive income, so we can choose work with out worrying how well it pays. I think Mr. Mt would still do similar social service type of jobs. Looking back on the types of work I have done, some I would do again, and a few are a firm NO. I doubt I would do commissioned retail jobs again; even though the pay was good. I might, however, work in coffee again. Because I really liked that work; and the pay was not great. But it’s nice to be able to have more choices and more freedom.
Totally agree! Freedom and choices are the spices of life! Congrats on reaching that point in life! 🙂
I think about this same question from time to time. If money wasn’t an issue, or if I had to do this job forever, or if no one else worked, would I still be doing XYZ?
For me, I think my answer would be yes, I would still be doing the same job. I enjoy helping other people and working with money, so from that regard, my job is a perfect fit. As I grow and get older, I’m sure my capability will outgrow my current position, but for now, I enjoy doing what I do.
In a different realm, creating a blog was a bit of an outlet I have explored because I wanted to start the next thing. For me, creating a blog was what I would tell my girlfriend about for years as the thing I would do once we reach early retirement/financial independence. Once my work schedule cleared up and I had the time to do it, I figured why not start today. As you put it, the future isn’t guaranteed and nothings forever!
Love this post.
If I found out that I could never retire, I would pick a job that just pays the bills for the least amount of hours worked. The only reason I work so hard today is so I don’t have to work hard later. Hoping that it all pans out!
Best of luck to you! 😉 #grindhardstayhumble