Retire Early, Really?

We have all been tuned to live a life that demands us to eat, sleep & breathe our work, not necessarily because of the passion or love for work. As we grow higher up the ladder, the sheer responsibility makes us slog day and night. Not sure if weekend gives much respite to many of us, apart from occasional timeout with family, friends.

I Will not bug my readers reminding how hectic our work life is, the point I am driving towards is how our professional life has plagued our lives. Some might have philosophical angle to it "Don't confuse work with life, work is only a part of your life" - is it? How many of you truly believe in that? I feel my work has completely taken over my life.

A common thought in all 40+ men like me, would be to think of retirement as a way out of the stress - mental, physical, emotional stress that we have let our body be abused of. And at this age the stress starts to show up as your body begins to give you signs - BP, Sugar, Warning attacks, digestive diseases.

Now the real question is: When? How?
More importantly - financial readiness. Apart from the retirement planning in terms of ensuring steady monthly inflow, How much money would you like to have in your account? 25 L, 50 L, 1 Cr, 3 Cr?

People with kids might have different complexities to ensure children's education, marriage etc, before they can think of retirement.

Anyone would dream and aspire for an early retirement, the decision boils down to the right time to retire.

Point to ponder: Harder you work, harder it is to quit.

For working professionals, the decision could be based on the financial readiness and time when they believe stress levels have peaked, and can call it quits.

For entrepreneurs, "to retire" is not just quitting, but to either find someone to pass on the baton, ensuring business continuity without our dependency or to sell the Company....as complicated and as difficult as it sounds, isn't it?

Assuming all necessary things are taken care financially and responsibility wise, the next dilemma: What will you do after retirement?
Most of our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to amass assets.

Will retired life be as rosy as we thought?
We work all our lives so we can retire – so we can do what we want with our time.

Retirement will change life, perspective and takes time to reinvent ourselves to come to terms with lot of time at hand and the freedom, recalibrating our lifestyle & way of living.

I have been talking to many of my friends and getting their idea on an ideal retired life. The most common things people want to do:
- Travel the world
- Relocate to Hometown
- Relocate to a Plantation / Estate and engage in farming
- Engage in Social Service

Few others who are content in life say "I have lived good life, just want to relax, read books, spend time with family".

I also came across people who want to be in touch with their professional life and want to continue providing freelance, consulting services and be Subject Matter Experts, and few others wants to encourage and Mentor young entrepreneurs / Startups.

I see many examples of retired people around me, who toiled their entire life and now happily relaxing, and having a peaceful time at home with their loved ones.

I had worked out a detailed plan for myself when I was 35. I wanted to build and develop couple of businesses, sell them after good valuation when I turn 45, make enough money and Relocate to a village near Udupi.
I intended to buy couple of acres of Plantation, build a Farm house amidst the greenery, move in with entire family along with in-laws. Engage with some spritual activities in the morning at Udupi Mutt, involve in some plantation activities till evening and peacefully sit along Preeti in the middle of my Plantation with Single Malt to accompany, under the starry sky.

Not sure if I am anywhere closer to my plan, as I near my target that I had set myself. Let's see where life takes us and leads us to. Hope we are Hale and healthy, with the near and dear ones around us when we make the switch!

"The joy of retirement comes in those everyday pursuits that embrace the joy of life; to experience daily the freedom to invest one's life-long knowledge for the betterment of others; and, to allocate time to pursuits that only received, in years of working, a fleeting moment.”