Comments on: What’s Your Definition of Retirement?

By: marci

marci — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:09:51 +0000

I agree with MoneyNing – Retirement: having enough assets/wealth to quit my day job anytime without worry of money. I’m there.

However, I chose to work an easy parttime job for the free health insurance – as I am too frugal to pay for it!

Ability to work on projects that I enjoy – I can do this at work now – I just have to keep the doors open and answer a few phone calls. Not hard – lots of free time :)

Flexibility to working as much (or as little) as I want to – I have a lot of free time, and can divide my 30 hrs up as I wish. I can babysit the grandkids here and take time off for their school activities.
Flexibility to when I want to – I have to be in the office, but I don’t have to be working for the boss all that time…
Flexibility to work from wherever I want to – not an option yet…..
Freedom from having to take orders (which I might disagree with) from others – I’m the boss here – and only person here :)

For me, this job IS mental retirement…While I might need to show up, once there most of the day is mine to do with as I please during the work time. It’s 10 minutes from home, I get free gas and free cell phone and free internet at work. I just take plenty of activities along with me – sewing,scrapbooking, reading, blogging :) I even have a garden here at work to tend to :)

By: Andy @ Retire at 40

Andy @ Retire at 40 — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:25:48 +0000

That’s exactly what I consider retirement. That I can quit my dayjob and do what I like, for however long I like, when and where I like. Essentially, I’ll still be working but working for myself instead of for someone else.

By the time I’m 40, I’m still going to be able to do a great deal of things, such as volunteer work, charity work and of course, still keep things ticking over so I can keep getting that passive income.

By: Brip Blap

Brip Blap — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 15:01:45 +0000

Lazy Man’s done a good job of representing my position here. My idea of “retirement” – a very dated word for what I’m thinking of – is that work is optional for basic needs. If I have “living costs” of $2000 per month (utilities, rent/mortgage, taxes, food) then if my investment income (or other ‘passive’ income) covers that, I’m retired. I could then pursue blogging, or alpaca raising, or professional poker playing without worrying about basic needs. The extra income would pay for non-essentials: netflix, travel, etc. So I’d still need income for the ‘fun’ part of life, but if I felt like hanging things up for a few months after I built up some savings I could.

That’s different than still needing income from work. I guess it’s just a question of whether a blog would continue to generate income if you stopped posting for a while. Mine sure wouldn’t :)

Interesting post on one of the central questions of most people’s financial lives…

By: The Travelin' Man

The Travelin' Man — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:34:51 +0000

I think you should make an effort to quote Lloyd Dobler in at least one post a week! To me, THAT is the definition of retirement! :-)

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 18:29:04 +0000

Retirement for me is when I have enough assets/wealth to quit my day job anytime without worry of money.

By: Harrison

Harrison — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 07:23:39 +0000

Financial Freedom is my goal for retirement. So as long as I hit this, I’m considered as a retiree. Yes I agree with you that this doesn’t means that I will stop working and hanging around without doing anything. Instead, my plan is I want to travel around the world, do what I like to do, spend my time and energy in society contribution and of course, at the same time I still make more and more money.

By: Matthew Paulson

Matthew Paulson — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 01:20:46 +0000

There’s something to be said about not having a full-time job. I do the blogging thing and do a lot of web-development work on a contract basis and it suits me just fine. I make more than enough to pay for life and college, and I get by just fine.

By: fathersez

fathersez — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:32:43 +0000

Yes, I am also aiming for FI.

Then the choices available will be very different.

So shooting for FI is what I am doing now.

By: Early Retirement Extreme

Early Retirement Extreme — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:37:17 +0000

I think retirement should be seen in conjunction with financial independence. My definition of FI would be in having enough assets to generate income to satisfy all of my needs and most of my wants until I expire. Reaching FI I certainly found myself to be a lot more picky about what I do with my time, yet I’m busier than ever. Whereas retirement is becoming fuzzier and fuzzier I think FI is fairly clear cut. You either are or you aren’t. Financial independence is the new retirement.

BTW I am a bit curious as to your $2.25M goal. You’re currently generating $1800 while having a net around $225k. Do you see yourself as spending ten times as much in retirement e.g. close to $20k/month? 8-)