How recent death of a former co-worker reaffirms our decision to retire early: A path to FIRE (financial independence retire early)
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| Shavers Lake, West Virginia |
Michael Landon: “Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows.”
My wife and I have been retired early since August 2020. During the early stages of our retirement journey, we like most early retirees, were still apprehensive and at times doubtful about our decision. Had we made the right decision? Were we too young to be retired? Will things work out ok?
We couldn’t have known how we would handle our early retirement until we were actually living through our retirement. It took about two months for us to realize we had made the right decision. We needed to see our plan work itself out before we could proudly say that we had made the right decision.
After living our early retirement for the past 14 months or so, we are happy to report we are enjoying and fully embracing our decision to retire early.
Just recently, I received bad news that one of my coworkers, who I had worked with for more than 7 years passed away. It hit me like a ton of bricks. She was only 55 years old. She was so young…
It’s times like these that reaffirm our decision to live the way we want to. Like the above quote says, there are only so many tomorrows…
I know what it’s like to be stressed out at work. I also know what it’s like to be stressed from dealing with family or money issues. One thing is for sure: everybody has stress. Living each day is full of stress. Getting up to the sound of alarm on a workday is the beginning of that stress.
Commuting to work is stress. Working is stress. Dealing with people is stress. Making ends meet is stress. I can go on, but you get the idea…
My colleague, who I’ll call Sandy (not her real name), was stressed out on more days than not. Her boyfriend was getting kidney dialysis regularly and was not in the best of health. Her son, a veteran, was suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and had tried to commit suicide.
I watched her go through these hardships while we worked together. She was unsurprisingly, stressed to the point of exhaustion and frustration. I watched her dealing with her stress best she could, but there are limits to how much one can take…
Towards the end of her life, I truly believe that the culmination of all these stresses got to her. Most people would agree that stress is one of the most harmful things detrimental to our health.
It would’ve been tough enough for most people to deal with what she went through. Add work stress, and you have a recipe for disaster…
As I was reading through my colleague’s obituary, I couldn’t help but realize (yet again), how fragile and how short, our lives really are. One minute, we’re teenagers with its set of problems and issues, worrying about the future, and how our lives will turn out. The next minute, we’re fully grown adults staring at midlife, with its own set of (bigger) problems and issues…
It seems the rat race (and the stress it brings) gets faster and harder as we get older. There are more stresses put on our lives. There are bills to pay, kids to raise, parents/siblings to appease, and daily grind of work to survive…
For parents, especially, the need to look out for the well being of their children, never ceases. It’s one thing if their kids all grow up to live the good ‘American Dream’ lives (house, family, dog/cat, cars, vacations, etc.). It’s another thing if they are having a hard time trying to achieve that dream…Watching our parents as well as watching our siblings rear their children, confirm the never ending cycle of worrying, caring, and hoping by parents, that their kids will all turn out ok.
All these factors, of course, puts unduly amount of pressure on adults/parents. I’m no psychiatrist, so I can’t tell someone how to properly live with stress.
What I will say is this: Having even one LESS stress goes a long way towards living a better life. For me, the stress of work got to me the most. For the last two years of my working years, I dreaded going to work. It got harder and harder to deal with ever increasing demands of people.
For me, as soon as my wife and I reached financial independence, we took the leap to retire early and not have to stress out about work. This in turn, ended up reducing our stress level to near zero. Combined with our newly implemented diet (vegan), we’re hoping we can live even healthier lives.
In conclusion:
Despite our initial trepidation and concern over our decision to retire early, we are happy we made the leap. We always believed living a good life is not about owning the biggest home, nicest cars, fancy furniture, or toys.
We believe a good life is in enjoying the day to day, the simple pleasures with someone you love and care about. We also believe in taking care of ourselves, whether that’s eating right or living with less stress.
Every time we hear bad news about someone we know, it reaffirms our decision to retire early. Life is too short. We can’t wait forever until the ‘right’ time. Life will pass you by in a blink of an eye, if you’re constantly waiting for the perfect time.
Work hard, save/invest, and be financially independent. After that you’ll be in control of your destiny! You can quit your job and travel (like us), or you can find a less stressful job that brings you joy.
Remember, reducing even one stress factor will help. For us, it was our jobs. By quitting the one thing that caused most stress for us, we are now living much happier lives. If work brings you the most stress, then you should seriously consider achieving financial independence so you can quit that job.
Follow my advice, as well as others who have reached their financial independence, to get there. Remember to budget religiously, invest constantly, invest for the long term, and repeat the process until you get there!
Thank you all for reading!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
Please check out our YouTube channel ‘Wandering Money Pig’ showcasing our travels and our Pomeranian dog! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3kl9f4W9sfNG5h1l-x6nHw
