BTW, great site. There are a lot of us trying to combat the ennui that early weath provides.

C.L.
(A PP-ASEL, living in SoCal)

C.L.

Hey Philip;

I sense you are a kindred spirit. I stumbled on your web site because I love dogs and photography. The “Early Retirement” piece was the icing on the cake.

I think of “early retirement” not as retiring from work, but as an impending opportunity to change tracks… to do something else as an occupation…. something that I have more passion for. I think we can all expect to live a long time and it’s not unreasonable, with the gradual gain of perspective and maturity, to want to try something else. Maybe we have discovered, through experience, that we have a passion other than that which launched our careers. ( Why not, everything else around us changes and evolves )

I’d like to see you add a discussion of how one can gracefully make that transition.

My specific dilemma is how can I evolve over to that (lower paying) passion sooner, rather than later.

A helpful book is “Second Acts”, by Stephen M. Pollan (c) 2003 Harper Collins. “Second Acts is a guide to reinventing your life”

thanks… Emile

Hey Philip;

I sense you are a kindred spirit. I stumbled on your web site because I love dogs and photography. The “Early Retirement” piece was the icing on the cake.

I think of “early retirement” not as retiring from work, but as an impending opportunity to change tracks… to do something else as an occupation…. something that I have more passion for. I think we can all expect to live a long time and it’s not unreasonable, with the gradual gain of perspective and maturity, to want to try something else. Maybe we have discovered, through experience, that we have a passion other than that which launched our careers. ( Why not, everything else around us changes and evolves )

I’d like to see you add a discussion of how one can gracefully make that transition.

My specific dilemma is how can I evolve over to that (lower paying) passion sooner, rather than later.

A helpful book is “Second Acts”, by Stephen M. Pollan (c) 2003 Harper Collins. “Second Acts is a guide to reinventing your life”

thanks… Emile

Phil-I agree with the people busting on you about non-profits. I’m sure there is a boatload of truth in what you say, but…How about spending 1 hour a week with Meals on Wheels or volunteering at a soup kitchen? Exposure to the less fortunate sods helps one keep in mind that we could have been born in India or Africa (etc., etc.)with the exact amount of brainpower, charm, and good looks and been a dirt farmer with no chance of escape…proper perspective can and should be a powerful tool for achieving happiness….

I HIGHLY recommend “Yes, You Can Still Retire Comfortably” by Ben Stein and Phil Demuth. It is the best book on investing for retirement and income that I’ve come across, plus has some advice on other life choices from college years to well after retirement.

The web site http://www.stein-demuth.com/ provides links to the book and other retirement and investment resources.

Great article. I think I’d agree with most other people & say retirement (ie. not working) isn’t the real goal — it’s finding other employment that’s more fullfilling than what you were doing before. And employment is any activity that you devote time to, paid or not. So I’d argue that your teaching & writing leaves you pretty well employed!

As for the non-profits, I don’t know if I’d peg ALL non-profits the way you have. However, as a person who does review applications from institutions/non-profits for funding from a family trust, I am often appalled at how much overhead is salary and how little money is actually spent on what the non-profit was set up to do. Then again, I’ve also noticed that many people don’t actually take a look at an institutions balance sheets before investing/donating…

Anshu, I’m not real clear on Phils “point” but I get his snide implication that not-for –profits are some type of slacker haven where people who can’t cut it in the real world of competition can reside. In the world of special needs residential treatment this just isn’t true. We provide our staff with wages and benefits that are competitive with private for-profit schools but certainly not higher. None of our staff has to work any less hard than the staff of a private for-profit school. We aggressively compete with for-profit schools for “heads on beds” and if the performance of a staff member is under par they are gone just as fast as in the for-profit world. Our mission is to heal kids and make a positive contribution to the community. The goal of the for-profit schools that I have experienced (during my 30+ years in the business) is to generate a profit for the owner and the treatment of students has always been, IMHO, secondary. I don’t know which not-for-profits Phil is alluding to but they certainly don’t describe the environment I work in.

Dana,
Did you not just prove Phil’s point that “The folks who work at a non-profit organization are very interested in drawing a salary higher than their skills…. competition”. You say you give annual salary increases, bonuses, generous starting wages …. as part of a non profit. You seem to be implying that ‘for-profits’ dont pay their teachers and staff as much as your ‘non-profit’ does. In other words you pay your employees more than what they will be paid in the ‘for-profit’ competitive world.

What about a section on some of the relatively inexpensive niceties of being financially stable? E.g., is it worth it to have maid service where you live? In many developing nations, and places where there are plenty of undocumented immigrants, it’s cheap and easy to get live-in service or weekly cleanings of your home. But if you do it in the USA legally, does it make sense? What about 1st class air travel? Luxury hotels?