About six months ago I transitioned from a 22 year career as a financial advisor to a state of early retirement. Since the beginning of my career it was a long term goal of mine to be in a financial position to have the option to retire early. While I will likely not stay retired in the long run, I am trying to use this extra time as wisely as possible. In no particular order, here are 5 musings from the first six months of early retirement:
1. Time is a valuable thing to purchase with money
Everyone has the same amount of time and most of us trade a large quantity of this time for money, as I did for most of the past 22 years. The idea of being able to purchase back some of that time in early retirement was a major motivator for me to save and invest over the years.
2. The ‘What do you do?’ question
It’s difficult to describe what I’m doing to acquaintances. Inevitably, when you meet someone new or see someone you haven’t seen in a while they will ask, “what do you do?” or “how is work going?” As a relatively young person, saying I’m retired usually elicits a raised eyebrow. Furthermore, it’s not a very precise word as “retired” would imply to most people that I am completely done with paid work for the rest of my life. I have found that saying I’m on a “mid-career sabbatical” makes the most sense to my peers, and is probably more accurate.
3. Mornings are great
Having a non-rushed morning with time to reflect and plan the day is one of my favorite things about this time. Contrasted with my earlier life of being up well before the rest of my family and starting a long commute (pre-Covid) or getting to my home desk in time for the west coast market open. I will miss this time when I eventually go back to work!
4. Lack of structure can be a challenge
While working, there was built in structure in my weekdays from about 6:30am until around 5pm. Wake up, get ready, commute to work, work-day, commute home. Now those hours are up to me to schedule. It is more difficult than expected. I recommend having at least a loose schedule for each day. For me this looks something like:
- 6:50am – wake up, daily bible reading, help the kids get ready for school
- 8am – drink coffee and plan out the day
- 8:30 – 11am – read, write for this blog, research investment opportunities, etc.
- 11am – daily workout
- Noon – lunch
- Afternoon – Get outside or accomplish something longer term. This could be a house project, working on something I would like to learn longer term (current options include a foreign language, programming language, and a musical instrument), or an outdoor activity weather permitting.
I don’t always follow this schedule, and sometimes there is something that takes up most of the day, but having a built in routine for most days really helps.
5. Using the time well
There are so many things to do and learn, it can be hard to focus on one thing. For me right now the pull is between productive day to day (say completing a project in the house or yard), and focusing on learning something new that will be valuable in the long run. My fear is that I will waste this time or have regrets for not taking advantage of the extra time to do things that are not possible with a daily work commitment.
