There’s a great scene in the movie Office Space, where the main character, Peter, contemplates with a friend what they’d do if they had a million dollars (this was 1999, when a million bucks was worth half a million, so it was serious money :-). After his friends answered with the usual party/investment answers, Peter says “Nothing. I would relax, sit on my ass and do nothing.” (here’s the clip, if you are interested) If you are a fan of the film, you know that later, Peter gets the opportunity to “do nothing” and it was everything he’d hoped it would be.
In the FIRE community, the RE portion tends to be looked at in terms of what am I going to do next? There is a lot of talk about side hustles, businesses, volunteering, travel, but very little about just relaxing. Now granted, I am an Oldster, but I’m not sure that I subscribe to the theory that my retirement has to have some grand, larger meaning than the “tire” portion of the word implies.
It Is My Time, and My Money
I’ve worked hard. We’ve saved and, for the most part, been responsible adults. I may want to have some grand adventure or save the world or be the new Elon Musk when I hang up my spurs. But you know what? I probably won’t. And I don’t care what anyone else thinks about it. I refuse to be pushed into an “active” retirement because the world thinks I should. My circus, my monkeys.
Now, it might be different if I were 35 instead of pushing 60. And I am not saying that I’m going to nap my remaining years away in a hammock (though, today that sounds fine). But I am saying that whatever the remaining time I have, it’s going to be spent doing what I want, and not what anyone else thinks I should be doing – other than Mrs. Oldster – the only person who legitimately can tell me what to do 🙂
Alright, I’m getting off of my soapbox now. Your time here on this earth is yours. Do with it what you will and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.
Until Next Time, FIRE On! – Oldster
