{"id":5383,"date":"2019-02-22T08:30:36","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T08:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.foxymonkey.com\/?p=5383"},"modified":"2019-03-29T07:44:40","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T07:44:40","slug":"downsides-early-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foxymonkey.com\/downsides-early-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"The Downsides of Early Retirement & How to Overcome Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are there any downsides to early retirement? We often want to achieve financial independence as soon as possible. At least, that\u2019s the goal in the FI circles I\u2019m part of. Maximize your income, cut your expenses and invest the rest. The soonest you\u2019re able to invest 25x your annual lifetime expenses, the better! You can call it a day or tell your employer that from now on, you\u2019re working for fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s all great. After all, the FIRE principles can teach us some great lessons along the way. Living within your means, not spending recklessly, avoiding lifestyle inflation every time we get a pay rise, strive for extra income<\/a>, to name a few. It can even improve us in other ways that cannot imagine. I started focusing on self-improvement. For example, motivation and productivity while reaching for financial freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if you can never achieve full financial independence<\/a> the benefits are huge, anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I want to take a moment and reflect. After reading a recent review of the Work Optional<\/a> book, I feel I must pin down what life I want to live after becoming financially independent. Design my \u201cnext life\u201d. To those of us that don\u2019t have a dedicated plan of how to spend our time after FIRE, this exercise will be very valuable. Maybe not changing jobs or working part-time will be just what I need.<\/g><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because there are downsides to retiring early and leaving your full-time job. And I\u2019m not talking about money here. Your investments will take care of that. I\u2019m talking about all the other consequences. Here I list the most important early retirement downsides I could think of:
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1) Risk of cognitive decline<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My grandpa used to solve Sudokus and crosswords in order to exercise his mind when he was 80 years old. That\u2019s in traditional retirement of 65 years old+. What if you retire at 40? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody wants to deal with office politics, bad bosses, annoying colleagues, daily commute etc. But solving problems as a working person keeps my brain power in shape. I\u2019m exercising my mind. The risk of cognitive decline is definitely something I consider as a negative and it\u2019s what worries me the most. I\u2019m not saying that I will be watching Netflix all day. But it takes some discipline<\/strong> to work hard when you don\u2019t have to.
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2) Identity loss<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I am associated with a professional identity that will be hard to remove. My social circle, family and acquaintances will no longer refer to me as a software engineer at Megacorp anymore. I will be just, Michael. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now a part of me doesn\u2019t care about titles and how people will think. But another part feels strongly connected with the technology profession. I feel I\u2019d miss the profession and the problem-solving challenges it throws at me every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am I willing to give up my tech identity? I may find out that working part-time or taking one short contract a year may be the ideal situation.
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3) Lack of life structure<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Financial independence will give us the power of not having to care about covering our transportation, housing, health costs etc. We can do what we want when we want it.<\/strong> But with great power comes great responsibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, I cycle about ~1 hour a day. I will need a lot of discipline to keep exercising when I have no job. 
My life will lack structure which is both good and bad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good because\u2026 you know, you can do whatever you want! Brew your own beer Monday mornings \ud83d\ude42 Or you can go build a wood oven in the garden from scratch. You define it. That\u2019s why people love weekends. Because nobody plans a schedule for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But lack of structure can be problematic because simply, you are responsible for building your own structure. There are some built-in benefits to a working life that are often overlooked. Routine is one. Your life has a schedule. Currently, my life looks like this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wake-up -> Cycle to work<\/a> -> Work -> Cycle back -> Cook with my wife -> Eat dinner -> Read a book\/Watch Netflix – Sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"foxymonkey