Investments and redundancy

You may be in a job you don’t particularly like, but you need the money anyway. I had a deep itch to work for myself, but I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do. I thought that if I gained financial freedom, I could choose what I wanted to work on, or even if I was going to work or not.

Around 2010 I started on my journey into financial independence, saving and investing in property. By 2022 I realized that I could finish work and in effect coast until I was age 55 (2025); there is even a name for this: Coasting Financial Independence. I held off though, with the thought of ‘just one more year.’ I remember reading a post by Mr Money Moustache to this effect, but I still held off.

In the summer of 2023, my mind was made up for me. The company I worked for underwent a drastic restructure and my position was redundant. I was given a generous severance package and there I was, with almost 2 years left until I could get my hands on my pension. I had effectively retired.

The experience of retiring

We went on a couple of beach holidays and I decorated the house from top to bottom. Once this was completed, I had nothing to do. I felt bereft. I just sat around the house staring at the walls. Was this it? All those years of striving for FI and I was redundant. Not required. On the scrap heap.
I had achieved my number one goal and I felt empty.

The word retire

If you look up the word retire, its derivation is from the old French military – to withdraw to a place of safety. Later in English, it meant to withdraw to somewhere else as in ‘withdraw to the library after dinner.’ Or a Gentleman might ‘retire to his country house’ once he has amassed his fortune. Alternatively and tellingly, he might no longer be required in the City and will therefore live off his pension. In other words, he has become redundant. To retire then became as it is today, to finish working and live off your pension or investments.

Here therefore are the 5 reasons I won’t retire:

1. Purpose and mortality

The life of leisure and not needing to work for money, seems very appealing, to the worker especially after a difficult day at the office. But people need a purpose. Studies have shown that mortality rates increase when there is a lack of purpose. Even the routine of getting up for work every day keeps you going. It keeps you alive. Also, the lack of personal connection and community you get in the workplace can cause an increase in mortality. Yes, being isolated is bad for your health. A combination of a lack of purpose and a lack of connection is a killer. This is one of the reasons why I won’t retire. It is not the only reason though.

2. I Won’t Retire Because what else would I do

Another reason I won’t stop working is that what else would I do? I don’t play golf, I’m not particularly into gardening. I do like travelling, but I can do this in my sales business, which has taken me the length and breadth of the UK, not to mention, Italy, & Germany. We also get a couple of holidays in a year.

So, I’ve said to myself that unless and until I have something better to do with my time, then I will continue doing what I enjoy.

3. Tax

Working generates income and profits, which are taxed. No one likes paying tax, I’ve written a post about setting up a limited company to buy property in the UK, so I could minimise my tax burden. However we should pat ourselves on the back and say we are doing a good thing, when we do pay tax. We are a net contributor to society when we work and pay tax.
There is also a moral aspect of carrying on working, if you can, and that is that whatever your work is, you are providing a service to your customers or employer. You are helping your fellow man and therefore the world is a better place.

4. Creativity

For me, my work is an expression of my creativity. Whether it is writing this blog or designing a new sales and marketing campaign, in my sales business, I am expressing an innate facet of my being. In those months where I finished working and in effect retired, something inside of me died, or at least lay dormant. It was work that brought it to life again. Now I see that work is a virtue and yes, idleness is a sin.
Working allows me to develop my gifts through my creativity, to help others in some way.

5. Life

Working is an expression of life. When I was young, I worked to earn money so that I could live. Now, I realize that this was backwards. My work is an expression of my life, money is the bi-product. That’s why I won’t retire.

The post 5 reasons why I won’t retire appeared first on Mike Holden Sales.

In my Financial Independence journey, I started by wanting to get to a position, so that I didn’t have to work again. As time went on this changed so that Financial Independence, to me is the state where I only work on the things I want to. A subtle difference but the distinction is that now I say don’t stop working. 

FIRE – my story 

I reached my FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) number in Summer 2022. I was not ready to quit just yet, as I wondered, did I have enough money? More importantly I didn’t have anything to replace the work with. So, I gave myself the task of setting up other projects and business ideas so that I would be able to easily transition.  

Little did I know that fate would intervene. My last post of employment became redundant and I received a generous payoff. This was the kick up the backside I needed to really go it alone. To continue working but for myself. 

It is just keeping score 

Money. There are many definitions of it but ultimately it is a measure of keeping score. How much you earn is a score of how much value your customer or employer perceives you have given. Your net worth, will isn’t that a score of how well you’ve manged the money you have received, plus what luck you’ve had? 

So, once you get past the point of financial independence, then continuing to count your increasing net worth can be thought of as a score of how you are improving in providing value. 

Personal mental health 

Another reason to continue working is to maintain mental health. Isn’t it often said that the best cure for melancholy is to get busy? Keeping busy with some project or other helps you stave off sadness and depression. Conversely people who suddenly stop working suffer from a lack of purpose, or a reason for getting up in the morning.  

I was determined this wasn’t going to happen to me. 

The economy 

Imagine some future utopia were no one worked. How would the economy function? We need workers to provide services and goods, to pay taxes so that society can function.  

In our futuristic scenario where no one works, how will society function? Therefore, we have some duty to perform some work or provide some value so that societal cohesion is maintained. 

Purpose vs. Work 

I mentioned purpose before. I do agree that it is different from work. Yes, you can have purpose in your work, but purpose can be outside of paid employment. Many people volunteer or have some unpaid project on the go, which can give them a sense of purpose outside of paid employment. 

Conversely many people in paid employment don’t have a purpose other than to earn a wage. The drudgery of a dead-end job can drag you down. These employees will often suffer in silence or jump from job to job. The trick then is to find some purpose or create it. 

Nothing to do 

I used to dream of financial independence; a time of leisure where I could do want ever I wanted. What usually happens is you do nothing. Sure, the annual two-week holiday is blissful but aren’t we usually ready to get back to work at the end of the two weeks? Imagine the boredom of perpetual holiday. To quote Shakespeare: 

If all the year were playing holidays, 

To sport would be as tedious as to work; 

But when they seldom come, they wished-for come’ 

And nothing pleaseth more than rare accidents. 

So, even though I no longer need to work, I wish to work. Yes, I might have more breaks and I have more freedom, but I will not stop working. 

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