Comments on: Retiring Young

By: Steve Sergeant

Steve Sergeant — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:31:45 +0000

According to several researchers into human longevity, having a purpose, regular work that you HAVE to do, is one of the factors common among the longest-lived humans. People who just check-out and read books, lie on the beach, or spend their days garage-puttering, golfing, or recreational fishing (as opposed to subsistence fishing) aren’t apparently driven by the sense of purpose required.

I don’t expect to ever retire. (Partially because I never happened upon that right-place/right-time luck that made so many IT-industry folks into members of the rich-and-heinous class.) But that’s OK, because when I do start to feel useless, old-and-in-the-way, I don’t want to be around anyway.

By: darusha

darusha — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:47:06 +0000

I’m 33 and effectively retired. I didn’t win the lottery or have a 6-figure a year job before. I just saved, planned and wanted something different. Now I’m sailing the world and loving my life.

Some people get turned on by travel, some by writing software or novels, some by raising kids. Sometimes you can get paid for doing that thing, some times you can’t.

The important thing is to figure out what turns you on, and try to find a way to do *that*. For a lot of people, they have to wait until they can afford to not have to get paid for it to do it. But, worrying about what other people think is the right thing to do just gets in the way of the goal, whatever that might be.

By: Mom

Mom — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:39:25 +0000

Retirement means doing what you want to do, when you want to do it. not because you need a paycheck. What we do for love is more important than what we do for money. I waited 40 years for this time of my life and I’m loving every single minute.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:30:12 +0000

David,

You aren’t following me. I like my career a whole lot, and I like my current job. However, despite liking them I don’t plan on having to show up at the job for the next 20 years. You may not think retiring is a worthwhile goal but I sure do.

By: DHH

DHH — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:58:58 +0000

Do note that I wasn’t talking about keeping your current job, if that’s one that you’d rather not do. I was talking about finding a job that you actually like enough to be passionate about doing it. Then you don’t have to wait 20 years to do what you really like.

By: Ken Kennedy

Ken Kennedy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:12:16 +0000

Right on, Dave. Heck, I was just listening to Phil Windley’s interview of Doug Kaye for ITC’s 5th birthday, and Phil pointed out that Doug was in semi-retirement when he started ITC. (admittedly, Doug did well in some dotcom boom stuff. I’d love to be 1/5 as impactful in my retirement years. PLUS watch a lot of QVC. Win-win!