I became interested in the early retirement movement as a consequence of a rising sense of dissatisfaction with my job. It seems a bit ungrateful no matter how I look at it. I have a very good job, doing important work. Nevertheless I have a hard time doing the same thing day in and day out.
Gratitude
So what is the solution to mid life blues? I think having options is a good start. Having a sense of gratitude for what I have now is another piece to the puzzle. I have a great life, a wonderful wife, and good children. In nearly all ways I’m already a very rich man. Financially speaking I am earning really good money. The main argument against an early pivot is that I can’t imagine making anywhere near what I make now at any of my pivot projects. The opportunity cost of pivoting early is that I might not ever reach full F.I. If five or six more years is the difference between full F.I. and F.I.(ish) P.E.E. then is it really worth it to pivot early? Hopefully I’ll have answered that question by the time I have to make the decision.
Biology?
It seems that the sense of dissatisfaction that prompted me to start my FIRE journey is a common one. Research shows that happiness tends to bottom out during your forties. The decline is evident even after accounting for money, health, marriage, etc. So it might be that all this angst is premature. If I just tough it out I’ll end up back in a good place and have no need of a pivot after all.
Choices
Fortunately the act of planning for and working on my pivot projects won’t force me to actually take an early pivot. In its final analysis, F.I.(ish) P.E.E. is about having choices. Having some pivot projects and researching the options only makes it more interesting when the time for choice comes. It could even be that having options will make my current situation more agreeable.
Here are my options as I see them.
- Keep working until I reach full retirement age and retire with more in my 401K than I could ever spend.
- Keep working till the kids are out of the house, at around the age of 60, (this is beyond my projected F.I. date) then pivot.
- Keep working full time till I reach full F.I. likely at around age 55, then pivot to my other projects.
- Keep working full time till I reach 1/2 F.I. and pivot to a life of introspection, self improvement, and side hustle.
- Engineer a sabbatical or temporary part time work now, then proceed to one of the other options above.
- Make a career change that will inject a little more spice in my work day.
- Do something completely crazy like quit my job and become a traveling medical physicist (locums) while working on pivot projects between times.
- Go part time now and start my pivot without any financial independence at all. This would mean I need the pivot projects to fund my retirement.
- Some combination of the above.
What’s a guy to do?
So what will I actually end up doing? I’m not sure yet. I think I’ll try a short sabbatical of maybe a month or so this year to try things out. Then perhaps in a year or two I can work out a 60% or 80% work schedule with a lot more time off for other projects. After that I might find that I want to go back to full time for a while or maybe my pivot projects take off and I take a pivot even earlier than planned. I could also see myself finding another situation with my current employer that is more satisfying and keep working full time longer than expected. I might even go back to full time teaching so that I can use the extra time in the evenings and summers for my pivot projects. Once you have so many choices the hard part is figuring out which choice will be the best. On the other hand, having thought through my options gives me a better sense of satisfaction. My current situation is one that I am choosing, not because I have no other good options, but because I have made the choice to stay.
