Never Retire - 3 Things You Should Do Once You Accept That You'll Never Retire
As promised, time to dig back into core Never Retire concepts and strategies.
They’re not nearly as straightforward as what precedes traditional retirement. Basically saving as much money as you can each month on a quest to accumulate a nest egg you can outlive once you quit work.
For many of us, the above is next to impossible, especially if you get sucked into the double whammy of traditional retirement.
There will be more variation between people who determine they’ll Never Retire—and accept this reality—than people who follow the path to traditional retirement.
There will also be uncertainty.
Both strategies come with risk. It just comes down to which risk you’re more willing to take.
These five things come from my view—from my life—of accepting the reality that I’ll Never Retire. At least not in the traditional sense.
#1. Embrace your reality. This helps offset much of the uncertainty.
The idea that you’re accepting the reality that you’ll Never Retire can come off as negative.
Because our standing image of somebody who will Never Retire is the elderly person forced to take part-time work at Walmart because Social Security and their meager or non-existent retirement savings just wasn’t making ends meet.
This isn’t the fate for all people who will Never Retire. It’s merely one potential and not-so-attractive outcome for a person who failed to prepare—or didn’t succeed to some extent—to Never Retire.
This often happens because we try to have it both ways.
We accept that we’ll probably Never Retire, but still direct our energy toward traditional retirement. So we’re working super hard in, say, our forties and fifties in pursuit of something we know is highly unlikely.
When you embrace the reality that you’ll Never Retire, you swear off traditional retirement. Because, short of something extreme happening (you win the lottery, get a big inheritance, etc.), you know you’re not going to get there.
Embracing your reality gives you the practical and psychological ability to let go.
You can work 20 rather than 40 hours a week because you know 20 hours a week will—in theory—increase your longevity whereas 40 hours a week might decrease it.
I’m telling you—from firsthand experience—working 20 hours a week instead of 40 hours a week is fucking awesome.
However, it’s not something you can just do, at least not if, like me, you’re of modest means.
Which leads to—
#2 Assess your work situation.