Let’s talk about different ways to think about retirement. If you are like me, you have a vision of traditional retirement: a grey-haired, happy senior, who has said farewell to their desk job and now gets to enjoy lots of rest, hobbies and travel. There seem to be a lot of peaceful activities like gardening and sailing in retirement, right? I aspired to this goal as it sounded just fine to me: work hard for a long time, then when you are old, stop and finally enjoy life.
As it turns out, after a couple of decades of employment, this version of retirement didn’t make a lot of sense. And luckily, I’m not the only one to have this epiphany.
Traditional retirement is being turned on its head, folks! There are 25 year olds who consider themselves “retired”. There are people who have the financial security to retire, but choose to work until their final days. Anything is possible.
A few subjects piqued my interest and helped to re-program how I think about “retirement” and by introducing these concepts, I hope you’ll be curious too. In the upcoming posts, I’ll introduce my favourite financial topics to inspire your dolce vita: the FIRE movement (or Financial Independence Retire Early), Ways to Master Your Money, Barista FIRE and passive income streams. The theme running through all of these topics is freedom: freedom to spend your time and energy pursuing things that interest you, with the people you care about.
One of the most valuable lessons I learned years ago was that your time is the most valuable commodity. At the end of the day, if you love your job and want to move up that career ladder, go for it! Even if you want to stay in your current role because it still drives you, it’s nice to know that if you plan accordingly, there are options for your financial freedom if you ever decide it’s time to make a change.
For me, this is a great way to encapsulate la dolce vita. Your best life is the one that allows you the freedom to do what you want, when you want and with the people you love.