How Does A 4 Hour Work Week Sound? Part 5

January 20, 2011

The 4 Hour Week is as much a guideline for the New Rich on working as it’s a philosophy on living.

One of the most pervasive and least thought about milestones we’re all faced with is retirement.  Tim Ferriss has much to say against conventional notions of retirement:

“Retirement planning is like life insurance.  It should be viewed as nothing more than a hedge against the absolute worst-case scenario: in this case, becoming physically incapable of working and needing a reservoir of capital to survive.

Retirement as a goal or final redemption is flawed for at least three solid reasons:

a)    it is predicated on the assumption that you dislike what you are doing during the most physically capable years of your life.

b)    Most people will never be able to retire and maintain even a hotdogs-for-dinner standard of living.  Even (having saved) one million (dollars) is chump change in a world where traditional retirement could span 30 years and inflation lowers your purchasing power 2-4% per year.  The math doesn’t work.  The golden years become lower middle-class life revisited.  That’s a bittersweet ending.

c)    If the math does work, it means that you are one ambitious, hard working machine.  If that’s the case, guess what?  One week into retirement, you’ll be so damn bored that you’ll want to stick bicycle spokes in your eyes.  You’ll probably opt to look for a new job or start another company.  Kinda defeats the purpose of waiting, doesn’t it?”

Let’s look at the various dictionary definitions of “retire”.  First let’s look at what I believe is a fruitful definition of retiring:

-    to withdraw, or go away or apart, to a place of privacy, shelter, or seclusion: “He retired to his study”.

This type of retirement is temporary but very helpful for us.  Sometimes we feel the need to retreat to a quiet, comforting place of solitude, even during our day to day working lives.  We use our time in this quiet place to pause and reflect on our life.

Filed under: Inspiration

Tags: 4 Hour Work Week, 80-20 Rule, 90-10 Rule, Ferriss, Four Hour Body, Four Hour Work Week, New Rich, Nouveau Riche, Pareto Principle, real estate, real estate agent, realtor, Tim Timothy, virtual assistant