How Does A 4 Hour Work Week Sound? Part 8

January 25, 2011

Conceptually speaking, retirement is as bankrupt an idea for living as it is a financial plan.  It basically says “go to school for 15-20 years to prepare yourself for the workforce.  Then go work at a job you may or may not enjoy for 96% of each year (which is 50 weeks out of 52 weeks per year) with only weekends as a respite before heading back to the daily grind.  Do this for 35-40 consecutive years.  Only when you’ve accomplished that can you enjoy some sense of freedom from work for the remaining 5-15 old and grey years of your life.”

“You have comfort.  You don’t have luxury.  And don’t tell me that money plays a part.  The luxury I advocate has nothing to do with money.  It cannot be bought.  It is the reward of those who have no fear of discomfort” – Jean Cocteau

The 9-5 plan basically means you traded 65 years of training for and working at a job, yet you only get 5-15 years of freedom from work and limited financial freedom in your declining years.  Then you die.  That’s an incredibly bad deal, no matter how you look at it or what you compare it to.  In fact, it’s sadistic!

Don’t think that retirement is any sort of paradise for most people.  Most people haven’t earned enough money by retirement age to last them for the rest of their life (however long that is).  So they typically do one of two things: live a thrifty, penny-wise/pound-foolish, miserly existence and die with loads of money left unspent, or get a part-time job to pay their expenses and settle for crumbs from the work table for the rest of their life.  Imagine working for 40 years only to have to work in your waning years alongside teenagers doing a menial job like a door greeter at Wal-Mart, adorned with all manner of pins on your uniform as if you’re some sort of retired corporate general.

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened” – Mark Twain

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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