FIRE. (Financial Independence Retire Early). The movement started in 1992 with the release of bestseller Your Money or Your Life. The idea of early retirement propagated through the country. People began to realize that the typical life outline (start working after high school or college, and retire at age 65) was not the only way.

Many people were disillusioned with working at a job they didn’t really care about, waiting for the weekends and holidays, and finally being able to start living after they’re too old to do what they want.

So people began saving aggressively. Some went to extreme measures – never eating out no matter what, selling their cars and walking everywhere, avoiding vacations, and generally just making their lives centered around saving money so that they could reach retirement and start ‘living’ 10-20 years earlier.

There’s only one problem with this approach.

What the heck are you gonna do once you retire?

In this article, I’ll discuss the pitfalls many people face with retirement, early or otherwise, and my strategies for living a meaningful and fulfilling life, before and after retirement.

The problem

Take Steve and Emily. Married at 24, they both have good jobs making a combined income of around 200k a year. One day Emily was reading about FIRE and was super excited about it. Once she got Steve on board, they made their plan – save aggressively and retire at age 40. Sounds amazing! All they have to do is make it to that point, and then they’ll be free!

So they start saving. Obviously, this means that Steve should cancel his unnecessary gym membership (only temporarily, of course). I mean, think about how much more that $30 a month would be worth in an index fund!

It means that Emily won’t get to spend much time hiking because on the weekends; she is picking up consulting work to make some extra cash. But hey, the grind is worth it because they are going to be totally free when they’re 40 instead of 65!

Little by little, Steve and Emily save up – and cut down on all the things that make life really fun (but it’s only for the time being)! Their personalities are basically reduced to working super hard and using all their free time to research ways to generate passive income. They don’t particularly like their jobs… in fact Emily can’t wait to quit hers – all the more reason to work overtime so she can get out of there sooner! So they save. And they’re doing a darn good job of it. By age 38, Steve and Emily have stockpiled 1.5 million dollars – giving them a constant stream of $60,000 a year, totally passive. They are free! They both put in their two-week notices. Two weeks go by. That Friday night, they celebrate in style – a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant. The weekend is a blast. Then on Monday morning, they wake up at 6 AM (out of habit). And… then what?

Steve and Emily are free. But free to do what?

They have no idea what to do with all their free time. Opening up their calendar (usually full of meetings and other tasks), they find nothing. They had planned it this way – they wanted to be totally independent. And now they are. There is nobody telling them what to do, where to be… nothing.

Steve tries to get back into the gym, but is frustrated by the fact that he’s much weaker than he used to be, and struggles to make progress.

Emily goes hiking, but realizes that she used to love the hobby because it would clear her mind from all the stressful work situations. Now, she has nothing to think about.

A week goes by. Then two. Steve and Emily find themselves spending a lot of time at home, on the couch, watching TV and movies. Besides working, this was the only ‘fun’ thing they did for the past 15 years, sneaking in a movie after working a 12 hour Saturday, crashing on the couch, and spending Sunday dreading the start of the workweek.

Steve and Emily have it all. They have enough money to cover all their expenses. They can travel modestly if they want. They have unlimited time. So why do they feel so depressed?

If your boss sent an email saying that the office was closed and you didn’t need to come in for work today, how would you feel? Could you fill your day with meaningful activities? Or would you feel like Steve and Emily, trying to find something to do?

This is an important question. I used to work for a non-profit that helped rehabilitate ex-convicts who had recently gotten out of prison. The biggest problem that we were working on was trying to lower recidivism rates. Basically, these individuals would leave prison, but then lack a plan or system that would help them stay on the right path. Without a clear direction, they would fall back into old habits or engage in the very behaviors that landed them behind bars in the first place.

Just like Steve and Emily, these people are not inherently bad. It’s human nature. It’s not enough to just stop working and expect to suddenly fill your life with ‘your true passion’. If you haven’t invested the time and energy to discover and engage in activities that make you feel fulfilled, you’ll likely feel lost and directionless when you don’t have to work anymore. Studies show that people are 40% more likely to experience depression in their first year of retirement, and it’s not surprising.

How to know you’re ready for retirement

Okay, so we definitely don’t want to reach ‘freedom’ and realize it wasn’t all we hoped and dreamed it would be. Me personally, I’m not feeling ready to step away from the workforce (yet). If someone handed me $100M today (I’d never need to worry about expenses again), I honestly don’t know what I would do with all my time. I have some general ideas and I’m always thinking of more. But more importantly, I’m trying to make life meaningful today. Life shouldn’t be compartmentalized into all work and then all play. This drastic shift is what’s causing the problem. Instead, we need to be learning what drives us and being intentional about shaping our lives around those activities.

I got some good insight with this exercise:

Write down what you want your life to look like in 10 years, but don’t write down anything money-related (like what type of car or house you want).

For me, the list looked something like this:

• I want a good relationship with my wife and future children
• I want to be actively building my faith and relationship with God
• I want to be a man of integrity and discipline
• I want to be a positive influence in my community and on those around me
• I want to be in good physical shape and participate in many sports
• I want to be constantly learning about many different topics
• I want to be intentional with my time and be proud of how I spent each day

This exercise helped me recognize that the things that are really the most important to me:
1) can be attained now. I don’t need to wait for ‘retirement’ to work on these goals.
2) don’t require money. So obsessing about how much $$ I will have really isn’t going to help me in the long run.

Listen, I’m not saying money doesn’t matter. This blog is all about generating passive income and becoming financially independent. But don’t forget the why behind it all. There’s no point in making all this money to become free if you don’t know what you’re becoming free for.

If you could easily fill a Saturday, a weekend, or a whole week with hobbies and activities that are meaningful to you (I’m not talking about catching up on long-awaited chores or other tasks that need to be done!), then you’re on the right track. If you think you would wake up and struggle to feel intentional about your time, you’ve got some thinking to do. I’m definitely on the latter end of that spectrum. I feel like I have many ideas of things I would love to do, but haven’t invested enough time into those activities to really know. That’s one of my goals, to spend time each week exploring passions. I don’t want to wait until I’m retired to figure out what is most meaningful to me.

When in doubt, look around

The most meaningful activities will come from producing, creating, serving, or otherwise contributing to the world. If you don’t believe me, try doing something that is self-centered (doesn’t mean it’s bad!) like getting a pedicure, buying something nice for yourself, or watching your favorite show. Take note of how you feel.

Then, try something that is focused on others. This could be writing a note for someone, recording music and sharing it with others, serving in the community, or spending quality time with a child. Compare this feeling with the self-centered activity.

Early retirement will be an amazing opportunity to spend more time and money doing these activities, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t do them now. The key is to engage in these positive behaviors now. Then, when you have total flexibility, you already know how you want to live.

As always, thanks for reading. I hope something in here was helpful. Feel free to leave a comment with any of your own tips for finding meaning and staying grounded.