Hey Sandhya, thank you for bringing this up. I may have my $0.02 to add, having tried to retire at 30, then at 32 and now - 17 years after the last attempt, believe I lead a retired life where I work every day.
It started with me reading one of those James Clavell novels in my teens - Shogun perhaps? - where I first came across the concept of "F*** You Money". (Mild digression: I used to write a column in BusinessWorld a decade ago, and I wrote a couple of pieces about this very thing then: they're at http://archives.digitaltoday.in/businesstoday/20030216/columns3.html and a follow-up at http://archives.digitaltoday.in/businesstoday/20030316/columns3.html if you'd like to see how badly I used to write in 2003.) A couple of interesting things happened: one, while I did calculate and have the FYM I thought I needed before I decided to do nothing - the point is that I never ever touched that money, or needed to. It actually served as some sort of mental talisman. So the thing I realised, at least about myself, is that FYM is important only when you don't have it. When you have it, you actually don't ever use it and it makes no difference. It causes some sort of mind-shift, where you release the ropes from what binds you to the shore, and you sail away. Which eventually led me to believe you actually don't need the FYM - you just need to act as though it is there somewhere, and that makes the difference. And the second is that - and it took me a while to recognise this - I just couldn't do nothing. In my time off, I tried my hand at a few things - learning roku, trading derivatives (something I found I actually was good at), writing a screenplay and stuff. But I got bored soon - and eventually, after the first attempt at retirement, took up a job, and after the second one, took up a consulting assignment. I do think I was able to approach both with more objectivity as I wasn't dependent on the salaries / fees for anything critical, so I could shoot my mouth off as I desired without fear of being fired and take risks I normally wouldn't. Funnily, doing both of those actually made me better at my work, pushed my career forward - and what one would think of as career-limiting moves turned out to be quite the opposite. Fast-forward to today, I work two or three days a week, usually when I feel up to it, help run a couple of businesses, do things I never dreamed or planned of doing, spend time with my kids, travel at random, live as frugally as I ever did (blame the Tam Brahm upbringing!), enjoy my singlehood, make time for people and experiences I never could before - and as a result of all this retirement, actually end up earning more money than I ever did before by working fewer hours than I ever did before, and have less use for that money personally than ever before. So that money tends to go into things that end up making a difference to others, either through investing as an angel, or simply helping out. Retirement actually vastly ups one's earning ability, and hence the ability to make a difference to the planet. :-) Truly odd it is. We should all retire the minute the day we start working I think :-) My $0.02, Mahesh On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 3:03 PM, Sandhya aka Sandy < [email protected]> wrote: > Hello Folks > > At the brink of yet another huge restructure in my company, I'm beginning > to tire of it. Just a wee bit. Quite a lot, actually. While I no longer > look for logic in the actions of a big company, these restructures and > their ensuing impact are really getting old. And perhaps, so am I. :) > > 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 may be a dreamer but I'm not the only one > Sandhya >
