Why Never Retire?

Making "Never Retire" the most positive phrase in personal finance

The idea for this newsletter came naturally from my writing on Medium, which came naturally from my real-life personal financial situation.

I discuss my journey in a Never Retire newsletter post from July—

Never Retire - Removing The Stigma From Never Retiring

When I first realized I’d Never Retire, I viewed it negatively and resisted, as I discuss in the stigma article. No surprise. We’re conditioned to think falling short of the amount of money you need to quit work altogether in relative old age is an individual failure.

Newsflash: It’s not. It’s more like an epidemic where the cards have been increasingly stacked against those of us of modest means who still manage to make decent or better money. We’re expected to do impossible things with money—simultaneously.

Typically, people who realize they’ll Never Retire double down on the same strategy that led to their current, so-called condundrum in the first place.

They digest the articles that tell them to save more money to catch up on their retirement savings. To look for a new job, work more hours, get a side hustle. Whatever.

Because if you work really, really hard, you can successfully plan for traditional retirement, even if you don’t have shit saved in, say, your thirities or forties. This often comes at the same time as living an expensive lifestyle thanks to things many people accept as the cost of doing the business of life, such as home ownership or market rate rent.

This is what often leads to financial distress in old age.

Attempting to do the impossible in the face of super clear writing on the wall.

I didn’t want to end up like that. So I decided to adopt a new outlook.

To organize work and money around my life, not the far more typical other way round.

This newsletter post basically sums up the new outlook and attendant strategies:

Never Retire - 5 Key Themes That Can Help You Develop A Viable Personal Financial Strategy

So there’s no denying it—many of us Never Retire out of necessity. Because we don’t have the means at our current or future disposal to retire traditionally. I’d be lying if I said I would be writing this newsletter today, at age 47, with $3,000,000 in the bank.

That said—

Once you embrace your reality, you realize falling short financially ended up a blessing in disguise.

Why?

Because it forces you to slow down. Saving for traditional retirement defines the rat race. You’re up against the clock, working your ass off in your prime years, to hit a number that’ll allow you to quit work altogther. Then you’re up against the clock again to ensure you don’t blow through your nest egg prior to leaving Earth.

You put work in its proper place. Flowing from that ^ you realize you don’t need to work 40-plus hours a week at a high-paying, demanding job—or whatever—if you don’t want to. Because you don’t need to. Simply put, when you embrace your expression of a Never Retire lifestyle, you probably discover something pretty cool: You can spread your earning efforts out over time. You don’t need to cram it into 30 or 35 years of your prime.

A low cost of living actually facilitates a life that’s more fun. Most of who will Never Retire quickly embrace the notion and practical strategy of cash security. The best way to attain cash security is to maintain a low cost of living. To find the floor.

When you keep your housing and other expenses low and don’t have to worry about building a traditional retirement nest egg all at the same time, you end up having more money left over each month. More money left over each month gives you flexibility.

Flexibility to save more strategically, travel, and not worry so much about everyday discretionary spending. Because you’re not trying to satisfy an outsized cost of living each and every month.

When you find the floor, you have your bills paid earlier in the month. Everything from there—it’s money to help facilitate living the life you want to live now and for the duration. Rather than sitting around—working too much and not living enough—as you WAIT for the duration.

If you’re doing work you love alongside living more, you quickly discover you feel better. You’re happier. More content. You’re physically and emotionally more healthy. Life doesn’t have these rigid starts and stops. It flows more evenly across the lifespan.

Bottom line—When you come to the conclusion that you’ll Never Retire, it’s scary.

This is okay.

However, what’s often scarier is staying the course. Expecting new and faster results from something that hasn’t worked for you after years of trying.

Finding ways to live differently and view your future ends up actually making you feel good about your ultimate decision to Never Retire.

Yeah, circumstances forced you into the decision, but you embraced it, took bold and decisive action, and made it your choice.

A positive choice.

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