We all save up money to retire and spend it at some day later day when we don’t have to work anymore. But once we get to retirement, we might not have the energy and youth to actually enjoy it and live it to the fullest.
I love the idea of having multiple mini retirements throughout your life, where you still have a lot of energy and for instance spend more time with your kids while they are still young. It is a very different perspective from traditional saving for retirement, also very different from FIRE, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the two mini retirements I’ve had so far and don’t regret spending that money at all. Tim Ferriss even makes the case that a mini retirement could actually save you money if you spend less than you otherwise would
benefits
- time to recharge and reoient: you learn and change so much. Finding what things do you want to change in your environment takes more time than a single vacation.
- spending more time on health, working out / sports, going outside
- more time to spend intellectually and
- creatively, creating
- time to reconnect with older acquantances, broaden network
- having time to properly weigh following engagements
This spending of the best part of one’s life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it reminds me of the Englishman who went to India to make a fortune first, in order that he might return to England and live the life of a poet. […] “is not this railroad which we have built a good thing?” Yes, I answer, comparatively good, that is, you might have done worse; but I wish, as you are brothers of mine, that you could have spent your time better than digging in this dirt.” — thoreau (walden)
references
- Tim Ferriss - The 4-Hour Workweek
- Thoreau - Walden