Is Early Retirement Right For Everyone? A Reader Comments

A new reader, who goes by the name "Avondell," left this great comment a few minutes ago in response to my post, Eating On 90 Cents A Day:

Americans, males in particular, are programmed to work from a very young age. The question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" is a classic example. That question bothered me a lot when I was a kid and led me and my father into long conversations that ultimately guided my path. In some, that programming is very strong. Some people simply are not happy unless they are working at something.

If you're one of those people, then don't retire unless you have a SERIOUS plan.

Doing nothing is bad for people. It leads to physical, mental, and emotional problems. The fact is, life is hard...whether you are rich or poor, retired or working 16 hours a day. Life is difficult and it requires work. Happiness requires work. If you think you're going to retire when you're 40 and be happy sitting around watching The View every day...then don't retire.

If you are the sort of person who cannot envision going through life doing the same thing...if you are interested in a lot of different things...then maybe retirement is for you. Or at least semi-retirement.

If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have spent so much time goofing off. The real value in having the ability to retire isn't so you can do nothing, it's so you can pursue something. If you can have enough money that you can choose what you want to do for work...and you have the freedom to quit and change careers at any time...that's probably the best kind of early retirement.

In any case, life is about sacrifices. People approach that two different ways. Some people make sacrifices so they can have things later on. Others sacrifice their future in order to have things now. Sacrifice isn't ever enjoyable, but it is unavoidable.

Speaking of work, I'm in the middle of my working day today as I post this (I came home for some breakfast and now I must head back out into the field), but I just had to spend a few minutes getting this up on the main page here for all to see. I don't have time to comment at the moment except to say that I agree with what Avondell has to say on this topic.

Avondell - many thanks for sharing!