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Originally Posted by Fuzz
That strategy seems like such a gamble though. You could die long before then, or have illnesses that prevent you from travelling or exercising or whatever you intend to do. And once you "retire" you will then get bored and want to keep doing something for work anyway. I get that it is nice to have options later in life, but you only get one chance, and missing your 30's and 40's to bank it for later just doesn't compute for me. And I'm a saver.
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It's only a gamble if you view it in black & white terms like win or lose. Working various jobs and starting different companies have given me opportunities to do and try things many people normally would never have. We all value different things in life.
I have never taken a vacation in my adult life and I honestly see no need to do so. I hate vacations. I never know what to do. I've done school semesters in Europe, I've traveled for work. I've taken trips to do business research for my own company, etc. One time I went to Hawaii for a family wedding and I was completely lost as to what to do with my time. I ended up buying a guitar from a ukele shop and spent a few days teaching myself a bunch of songs on the beach because I needed a purpose or needed to be productive. People value different things and are driven for different things.
I might be on the wrong track, but when I say I'm working x number of hours a week so that I don't have to later, my real goal for doing this so that I don't have to work the 8-5 shift at an office anymore in 5-10 years and can do the actual work that I really want to do. I wouldn't want to retire. You're right, I'll probably never stop working.
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Originally Posted by TheSutterDynasty
This is absolutely crazy to me. By the time you retire work is ingrained in you and you will probably just be bored, no? Besides, why spend your prime physical years working when you can be traveling, playing sports, trying new things, etc?
I work 35-40 hours a week and depending on circumstance in a few years I want to cut back to 4 days per week (30-35 hours). At 40 hours I feel there's barely enough time to do what I want during the week (gym, run, dog, friends, sports). Weekends are of course perfect.
This is of course a huge privilege that not a lot of people get to enjoy. But some may have that opportunity and yet choose 60-80 hour work weeks? What is it you do?
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I work a full time professional office job with lots of OT, I started 3 local businesses in the last 3 years, some which requires me to be hands on. I am launching an online store next week. These are all a hectic juggling act. I'll get off work at 6PM and go straight into more meetings or working on another job. Same with weekends, I'm usually working another job as well. Some have been successful, some have been abject failures. Maybe it's a little like gambling. You feel the need to keep doing it. In terms of the dream job discussion, I definitely don't have that. I hate a lot of what I do. Finding something that works and becomes successful is what I'm chasing and I have an impulsive need to keep trying different things.
I did some school abroad in early 20s, travelled to every continent already for family (weddings, funerals) or work or school things already. I've had enough of travelling. I don't see the point. I don't play sports either, I did cycle about 1000 KM last year but that's about it. People just value different things. You can manage to squeeze all these things into your time if you are creative. A lot of my coworkers cycle to work every morning to get their fitness in. I used to play music with a bunch of people at work, we'd get together at lunch and have a band.
I've always been different than normal people. I don't see the point of a lot of the things people want to do on weekends or in their spare time or in their retirement. People have different things that keep them going. I'm pretty indifferent to the usual things people enjoy like socializing, travelling, being a foodie, adrenaline sports etc. Most of those things bore me or it's a "been there, done that, don't need to do it again" thing for me. I've tried all those things in my early 20s, I don't need to do them every weekend or even anymore at all. I'm that annoying person that would turn down social gatherings unless we could gather to do something productive. I'll show up every time to help you move and build furniture but I'll never show up to play board games.
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Originally Posted by Dion
A friend of mine had parents who had similar ideas like you. They both died before the reached retirement and never got to enjoy the life they envisioned for themselves.
The time to enjoy life is when you're young and in good health. None us knows when we're going to die.
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That's true, but I'm pretty indifferent to whether or not I am able to bear the fruits of my labor or I die trying. It's the journey or struggle that matters for me. At the end of the day, people have different goals, aspirations and plans. I learned this when I kept trying to pull my childhood friend into my serial entrepreneur-ism and for the longest time I couldn't understand why he wouldn't want to try new things. Ultimately, his goal was to raise a family, have a stable job, enjoy his time on the weekends doing the things he loved, retire at a set age, and not take any major risks. This is not what I wanted. We are just different people.