On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 3:03 PM, Sandhya aka Sandy <[email protected]> wrote:
> So I had a long hard look at my financials and by overhauling my world, > retiring from corporate life is in the realm of possibility. Not retiring > from productive life - there are a million, zillion things I'd like to do > and I can probably consult as well. > > What do you think? Those who've been there, done that. Those who're > considering it and haven't yet taken the plunge. Those with feet planted > firmly on the ground. And any others in between. Thoughts, advice, comments? I've spent a lot of thought on this topic over the years, and had several conversations with members of this list as well. It seems to me that there are three pieces of the puzzle, each of which needs to be thought about in some detail: - Financial independence: The most obvious one. One needs some combination of an emergency fund (which can range from a few weeks to a few years of living expenses), some invested funds that grow and produce income, and possibly other revenue streams as well. Some re-engineering of expenses might also be required. - Purpose: One needs something to do to give meaning to one's life. Whether this takes the form of something similar to your corporate avatar, or volunteer/charitable work, or a plunge into something totally new, it is something without which one's days (and life) would be empty. - Structure: A more subtle aspect of 'retirement'. It takes thought and discipline to ensure that the things you want to do actually get done. Another aspect to look at, especially for those who work from home, is to put effort into developing 'third places' [1]. I could write more, but this is the distillation of my thoughts on this so far. Udhay [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
