One of my recurring interests since my twenties has been early retirement. I’m sure this comes from the last day of school, when all responsibilities were over and I had absolutely nothing to do. My childhood memories are fading, but I can still remember walking home from the last day of school, smelling the flowers, feeling the sun; it was literal ecstasy.
Aside #1: Here’s one of the many influences of school. We are artificially kept “in jail” for 3-4 months at a time, doing what we are told by authority, graded, ranked and herded like cattle. This is, of course, our preparation for entering the “real world” where we once again do what we are told by authority, get graded with performance reviews and continue to be herded like cattle (rush hour).
Because of all this artificially imposed structure, my goal in life became “Make enough money so I have nothing to do.” Now that’s a sick goal if you think about it. 1) I waste all of my best years working and saving money at 2) a job I do not like, for a dreamed of future where 3) I will then get to do what I want: ie, nothing.
Aside #2: I don’t know about you, but for me, there’s no “job” I like. Whenever someone forces me to do something, it ruins it. Hence, for me, “job” and “work” implies I’m doing something I don’t like.
As Kramer said to George in Seinfeld, “Do you yearn?” Well, I don’t know if it’s yearning, but I certainly wonder how I would have turned out, had I been unschooled. (What’s unschooled? Having parents that let you literally do what you want. Another name is “child led” learning. Children are born learning machines and the idea is to keep that going. The parents only goal is to answer their questions and facilitate their interests. Google it!) My goal in life might be something other than “Do nothing.”
Is the damage irreversible? It’s turns out: NO. But it takes years of “vegging out” to get over it. An 8 year old that’s only been in school a few years would recover in a matter of months. A teenager would recover in a couple of years. A 39 year old that exits the rat race, may take half a decade to recover (using myself as an example.)
So getting back to the subject at hand, early retirement, I’ve been reading retirement books most of my life. The best one, without a doubt was, “Cashing In on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35” by Paul Terhorst. In that book he comes down with a number: $500,000. That’s how much you need. You can spend $50/day, travel all you want, live like a king, and keep your nest egg safe (and growing).
Now I think I can hear some people saying, “That’s not enough.” Well, Paul is still doing fine after 19 years of retirement! And he has a web page. He and his wife started out buying an apartment in Buenos Aires because it was so cheap to live down there. Vickie couldn’t bring herself to sell her piano and actually had it shipped! From this state of affairs, they eventually evolved into what’s known as PT’s: Perpetual Travelers. Now, they own nothing but a laptop and a suitcase of clothes. They have no house or apartment, no furniture, no nothing. They fly around, and rent furnished apartments. Take a look at this article Paul wrote on the PT lifestyle. It’s my new goal in life! Heather is not convinced, but I’m working on her.
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