T-minus 612

I am going to retire in 612 days. 

It will be July 1, 2026. So this T-minus 612. I will be 50 years + 9 months old.  

Wait WHAT? How can you / what are you going to / what about ?????    

I'll get to all that. There is a lot to figure out and that's why I'm here, writing about it, to help myself think it through. 

How is this possible?

I have a unique career and it comes with a pension. A pretty darn good pension. The pension becomes available when I turn 50, so I'm not retiring quite as early as I could, which I admit is slightly disappointing. I'm in Asia currently and need to finish a job first before heading back to the States, and the date for finishing the job is July 1, 2026. 

Sounds like one of those movies where a criminal has a conscience and wants to get out but needs to make money the only way he knows how. I need to do this one last job and then I'm out. For real this time, I'm quitting the business.

Most of those guys die or get arrested. Uh oh.  

In my case, this is all above board. I have a real (legal) job with a real pension and I can get that pension when I turn 50.

So that's why this is possible.

Why retire at 50? 

Because I can!  

Here's the thing ... I don't hate my job but I don't love my job either. I've loved my career but I'm not married to my career. Work is not my identity. For some people, work is their identity and THAT IS OK. Good for them. In religion it's a "calling." These people are lucky -- they have a sense of mission, and they want to / need to do the work. Awesome.

For others, like me, work is work. It could be interesting, boring, fun, stupid, important, absurd ... sometimes all of that on the same day. But it's not an identity. When I'm not at work I don't think about work. I think about books and hiking and investing and eating and coffee and sports. I look forward to the weekend, and holidays, and vacations, and if someone told me that I could just not show up and I'd still get paid enough to live a decent life, I would say, "You've got yourself a deal."

I think that's the key question, actually. If money were not an issue, what would you do? If the answer is that you'd work 40 hours a week on your calling, that's great. Or if you didn't have a calling but would work in an office somewhere grabbing lunch at your desk and chatting with coworkers about this or that and answering emails and being perfectly content, well then you should do that. As for me, I'll take the time off. 

Independence is what I want. Freedom. From email. From the commute. From business casual. From all the work stuff I do because I have to and not because I want to.  

Sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays! 

Why yes, in fact, I do have a case of the Mondays. Mondays -- for a lot of us -- are when you transition from your non-work life to your work life, from your chosen dwelling to your employer's space. It's often like Office Space. On the good days!  On the bad days it's like Severance. 

I don't want any more Mondays. 

I want days without a prefix. Self-determination. Starting a hobby that takes 4 hours every (no prefix)day for a month. Making pasta and simmering a sauce. Growing plants. Putting the plants into the sauce. Baking bread to dip in the sauce. Serving my family the handmade pasta with the homegrown plant-infused long-simmering sauce and the freshly baked bread.

Questions to Answer

Retirement takes planning. How should I plan for income? For expenses? What do I need to know about insurance? There are so many questions. 

Good thing I have 612 days to prepare my answers!