Posted by Editor's note: inAmerican Life Insurance GuideIn recent discussions in the community, many 30-year-old readers have expressed their financial planning needs with the goal of "retire as soon as possible", so that we involuntarily start to have in-depth discussions with them, "retire too early", to us In the end, is it a good thing in the traditional sense?
American Life Insurance GuideNetRetirement columnThe author Ben, provided a story about "retirement too early" to share.The protagonist of the story, named Sam Dogen (Sam Dogen), comes from an ordinary middle-class family.Relying on his own hard work and hard work, he graduated from the University of California Berkeley School of Business, and has worked in the investment banking field for more than ten years, and has been committed to "financial independence and early retirement."When Sam was 34 years old, he saved up to $300 million and announced his early retirement.
However, when announcing his retirement, Sam discovered that "retire too early" will face the following five major problems:
1. Identity crisis
People often ask when they first meet: "What do you do?"
When we retire early at a young age, it is often difficult to answer this most common question.Especially after announcing my retirement, after months of no email and phone calls, I realized how much I actually liked my original job.
At this moment, I must accept that I am no longer needed.
2. We will doubt ourselves
When we were youngFull retirementNow, we are easily attracted by the work and social photos of former colleagues or friends on social media.For a long time like this, we will involuntarily doubt ourselves. We have "retired" so early, did we make a correct decision, give up money, status, and fame, regret or regret it?
3. People will think we are alien
Maybe it’s because we retired at such a young age is not the mainstream form of society. Maybe it’s because others are secretly jealous. Treat us.
Many people have a prejudice against people who can retire at a young age: wealthy families, second-generation officials and second-generation rich, spoiled children.They are lazy.They won the lottery.But this is not the case.
If you don't want to tirelessly explain your own efforts and hard work, or trust the Baby programs, the best way is to make up an identity for yourself, such as calling yourself a writer.
4. We may find that we are not so happy
The vast majority of people believe that once they achieve financial freedom or leave a job they hate, they will always be happy.However, rational research points out that the rapid increase in happiness is only a short-term nature.
If I use a scale of 1 to 10, my happiness level has soared to 5 after I received a severance fee that was enough to cover my living expenses for 10 years.But shortly after the check hit my bank account, I was back to normal happiness standards.
In the same way, if we would "Early retirement"As the ultimate goal of life, it is also possible that after the goal is reached, you may fall into the emptiness and emptiness of life. This is the next question:
5. We may feel very bored
"early retirement"It was like watching the last episode of a TV series. At that moment, we were very happy because the story finally had a good ending.
But at the same time, "what will happen next" has become something we want to know more.
due to"Early retirement"The free time every day has increased, our work efficiency may be affected, and the motivation to work has also weakened. Neither my friends nor former colleagues can arrange time to travel with us. There are no company parties and various customer activities. , I feel that the world is going away from us. Only then did I realize that I actually like those things very much.
It wasn't until 3 years later that my wife joined my "retirement life" that my boredom began to dissipate.We often travel, but more importantly, we become parents.
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The story a year later...
After expressing the above views and announcing "early retirement" a year later, that is, in December 2019, Sam returned to the public eye and informed him that his early retirement financial plan had failed.According to his analysis, the main reasons leading to the failure of his early retirement plan are the following:
- Cost of child's schooling
- Underestimated the decline in earnings from the Fed's consecutive interest rate cuts in 2019
- Increase in medical and health insurance premiums
Finally, Sam concluded that in the past year, the happiness brought to him by "early retirement" was not as lasting as he thought.
At the end of the article,American Life Insurance GuideQuoting the results of a study expressed by the National Radio and Television Station NPR in the program "Won the $16 billion lottery jackpot and the relationship between happiness":No matter how much financial freedom we suddenly gain, we will eventually return to the pursuit of daily happiness and happiness.
