You shouldn’t try to retire early: A man needs to work
You shouldn’t try to retire early, because a man needs to work in order to be happy and fulfilled. Retiring early is a bad mindset to have. It can cause you to do something you hate in the hopes of not working in the future. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes you need to do something you hate now so you can save money and not do it in the future. That’s fine. And that will be necessary for many of you as it was for me. But the goal shouldn’t be to retire early and never work again.
Men need to work
As men, we’re designed to work. We actually enjoy working and getting shit done. We like to accomplish things. That’s what producers do.
This doesn’t mean that we need to have shitty job that we hate. That can be draining, soul-sucking, and is no way to live life. By “work”, I’m not saying have a job you dislike. I mean that you have something to do. Even volunteering if you’re already rich could count as work. It’s not just about the money.
We need to work to have something to live for to keep us motivated to improve. Progress is what makes us happy. If you can always find a way to improve in life, then you’ll always be able to find fulfillment. That’s the key to having a life that you’ll be proud of and that you will enjoy.
Trying to change jobs, careers, or start a business is fine. But the end goal shouldn’t be to retire early just so you’re not working. You’ll get bored real quick. Now, if your goal was to “retire early” so you could start a foundation, volunteer, spend time with family, or do something, then that’s different. But that’s because you’re not retiring early to do nothing. You’re just shifting your energy from one thing to other areas you care about.
But there’s a problem with people wanting to just retire early from the sake of doing it.
These people generally end up bored and depressed. And they end up dying early unless they find something to do. This is why you see a lot of successful business people join boards for non-profits, become venture capitalists, or start new companies. They know that they need to have something to do.
What about balance?
People need a purpose in life in order to be happy. A purpose may mean that you work like crazy like Elon Musk 100 hours a week. Or it may mean you work normal hours but get shit done in that time period. You don’t need to work 80 works a week for life – although we likely will need to work 60 to 70 hours for a few years to get ahead. Especially if you’re trying to get financial freedom.
You can do what you love and do that for 70 or 80 hours a week. And then even though you love it, you can also cut back to 20 or 30 hours a week and have more time for hobbies, traveling, spending time with family, and so on.
There’s a time to grind and work like crazy, and there’s a time to ease off the breaks and enjoy life. But even when you’re not going as hard with your work as you do when you push yourself, you still need to have work. There needs to be something for you to do.
Why retiring early is a bad mindset for men to have
Retiring early sounds nice. However it’s abad mindset for men to have.
The desire to retire early will lead to bad things in the way a man lives his life. This kind of thinking leads to:
- not living life now
- afraid of risks
- hoarding
Not living life
When you just want to retire early, you’re not living life in the moment. You can’t enjoy the gift of life because you’re putting your happiness in the future. Having something to work towards is what purpose is about. But retiring early isn’t something to work towards. Because it has a false destination. It’s not something you can grasp. If you want to retire early so you can do something else, like surf everyday, help your community, or do something specific, then yes, that’s fine to want to retire early.
But most people who want to retire early don’t have something to actually look forward to. They just hate work. Which means you’re not living life now and you won’t be living life in the future.
You need a vision for the future so you can have something to work towards now and find joy in that. By having something to look forward to, you also have something that makes life better now.
Afraid of risks
A man needs to take risks in order to rise to the challenge and grow. These risks don’t need to be careless or stupid. But all great things will come at some risk. You risk failing when you start a business. You risk rejection when you talk to a girl. And you risk your safety exploring new parts of the world or going on adventure. But if you don’t take appropriate risks, you’ll never experience life and develop yourself as a man.
Being afraid to take risks that could be beneficial to your career will only cause you to have regret in your old age. When your goal is to retire early, you are naturally looking to avoid risks. You don ‘t want your ability to retire early be set back by not making as much money for a few years. This fear of failure will hold you back if you indulge in it for too long.
Hoarding
I talk about having a freedom fund. This can vary depending on where you live, but it’s where you have a nice savings that can cushion you from having to do things you don’t want to do. If you have 100 or 200k in the bank, then you can afford to take a pay cut or even get fired if that situation arises. Most of the younger guys on here need to focus on saving money and working towards financial freedom.
But hoarding in itself is bad and becomes an addiction. Hoarding every bit of cash even when you already have a freedom fund is a waste. That’s when you have guys who have a net worth of 5 or 10 million dollars, but still live in a shit apartment or house. They live in fear and still don’t take risks or even life a little. Even though they made great money, they’re too afraid of losing it. Because these guys still hate working and think that their money will save them.
Money is necessary, but it’s not just about getting a bigger bank account
Listen, you need money in this world. 100%. But once you have a freedom fund, and you’re generally making good investments, you can afford to live life a little. You can afford to start a new business or travel.
Guys who hoard their money generally don’t like what they do.
If you’re smart about how you spend your money, and you love what you do, then you’ll be able to live your life accordingly. You won’t be worrying about retiring early because you’ll be doing things you love and getting paid to do it. Of course you still can keep a solid savings and have good investments – real estate or the stock market. But when you’re focused on actually doing shit you like, you don’t hoard.
Hoarding is a fear-based mentality and should only be applied in survival situations – like when you’re broke as fuck or if you’re in a warzone. Once you’ve achieved some success, you need to learn how to use money to elevate your life and the lives of those around you.
Retiring early is the betaization of male at work
Men who want to retire early are bitches. Unless you have a chronic health condition that makes your existence terrible, you shouldn’t have a dream to retire early. The only reason you want to retire is because you don’t like what you do, or you’re not in control.
If you enjoyed what you did and you had control over it, aka you’re your own boss, then you wouldn’t want to retire early.
But when you don’t have this, all you want to do is get of your job. Then you get men in their 30’s and 40’s, and some even in their late 20’s, who dream of retiring early. This is a beta way to operate. An alpha man should be driving forward at his career, not trying to figure out how to do nothing.
What we should strive for instead
Don’t strive for retiring early.
Strive for financial freedom and finding purpose. Yes, get your money right. If you have less than a few hundred thousand dollars in the bank, be cautious with how you spend your money. Don’t go into debt for stupid shit. But retiring early isn’t the goal. The goal of being smart with your money is to have freedom. Freedom doesn’t mean a man doesn’t work. It means he can choose what is work is.
This is so you can earn money doing something you enjoy. If you ever want to reduce your hours or go travel then you’ll be able to do so.
You don’t need to work like crazy when you’re in your 60’s and 70’s, although there are men who do. However, you should still be working in some capacity. Even if it’s 4 or 6 hours a day. If you have a purpose then you’ll want to be involved with that. Your purpose could be a business, saving baby turtles, or mentoring younger people in your community.
With financial freedom, you’ll be able to do what you want, when you want. But you’re not retiring. You’re just choosing when to work. And guess what. When you do what you love and work because you want to, not need to, you tend to work a lot better.
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