Can You Retire?
When I was young and early in my career I never really thought about retirement. Now that I am at the other end of my work life it is time to actively plan. I have made some decisions over the course of my life they had a large impact on when I can retire. Of course, it all depends on what type of retirement I want. If I want to maintain my current standard of living, then I pretty much have to work for as long as I’m physically and mentally able to. If I am able to remain with my current job, I should be able to work there another 10 to 15 years.
I hope that in 10 years’ time, I will be able to reduce the hours I work per week if I am at my current job. This should be an option if I make wise financial decisions over those next 10 years. My only real desire is to be able to travel to Australia every 18 to 24 months. I would also like to be able to do some long cross-country drives around the US. I would be more than willing to reduce the size of my house I live in in order to be able to fund those travels.
I remember when I was young looking even 10 years in the future seemed like such a long time. With the benefit of hindsight, I know that the time does pass quickly. Even if I was able stop and retire now at my current standard of living, I don’t think I would be happy with that. I enjoy my current job and I don’t have any hobbies that would help fulfill the time.
It would be easy for me the fall into the trap of “I shoulda” type of thinking because there are many choices I made that put me in the position I am today with respect to retirement. However, I don’t think about that because it does no good and I have no one to blame but myself for those choices.
Even though I have many years to go until I can consider a traditional retirement, it is never too early to start. Now if I can just work on those hobbies.
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