I Retired at 20 Years Old and It Sucks
Early retirement won’t make you happy, so stop chasing it for the wrong reasons.
The idealistic view on early retirement has existed for some time now, but when the pandemic started the movement grew tremendously. People dream of becoming financially free and retiring before 30. You can find many blogs, Youtube videos and even full courses on how to achieve financial freedom. Frequent occurring tips are investing in index funds and living a minimalistic lifestyle.
However, why does early retirement appeal to so many of us? We dream of travelling the world, spending more time with people we love and being able to do what we want whenever we want to with whomever. We seem to seek happiness and think we can find this in the freedom that comes with being retired.
Happiness, purpose and fulfilment are all closely related. A life without purpose is almost inherently an unhappy life. We as human beings need this feeling of fulfilment in our daily life to have purpose and be happy.
Can early retirement give you a purpose and feeling of fulfilment? I don’t want to disappoint you but the standalone goal of early retirement won’t bring you more happiness. At least from my experience retiring is not satisfying.
Retiring at 20
From the age of 10 to the age of 20 I had always lived for my sport, soccer, and my grades in school. My days consisted of meals, sleep, studying, travelling and practice. I rarely had a day off and sitting an hour on the couch to watch tv or have dinner with my family were precious moments.
At age 20 I decided to retire from being a professional athlete. After playing professionally for 4 years, I decided to quit. I do have to admit that I still go to university studying for a degree in computer science and a degree in mathematics, but every day ends at 5 pm instead of 11 pm. I have so much time left every day that it feels like I retired.
For a year I have had dinner with my family and watched movies in the evening almost every night but boredom has kicked in. I could meet with friends each day or plan other activities each day if I wanted to. However, all these activities lack purpose. Therefore, this past year of being retired has not been a positive influence on my mental health.
From this experience, I have learned that the end goal should never be early retirement, but the aim should be to find your purpose and incorporate that into your daily life.
Hating your job
The early retirement movement originates from people disliking their job and being stuck to a job because of financial responsibilities. Working 5 days a week in a job you hate to make ends meet does not sound appealing nor fulfilling.
“If you are living for the weekend you are wasting 71% of your life.”
However, imagine going to that job you hate every day to provide for the family you love does sound purposeful. Here again, the root of (un)happiness does not reside in the actual daily activity but the intention behind it.
When you hate your job you could start to look for other ways to become happy which can easily be looked for in retirement, since this is connected to life without the annoying job. However, by doing this you connect your happiness to your job which is probably not the root of the problem. Doing something you don’t like doing every day won’t help you feel happy however it does not have to be the cause for being unhappy.
Blaming external factors
We tend to blame things like our jobs or financial status for our unhappiness. We often tell ourselves that once we are promoted, once summer comes around or we retire, we will be happier. And every time we change one of these external factors our happiness seems to increase but it is just like a sugar rush. We feel a lot of excitement and positive emotions until we realise this was not the thing we were looking for and we start searching for the next thing we need to change.
So, don’t eat the sugar, don’t fall into the trap of instant gratification and stop looking for fulfilment in changes in your surroundings. But start by searching for your purpose and look for those little things that give you fulfilment. In the end, when you are sure of what makes you happy take small steps in your daily life to create a more fulfiling life.
Takeaway message
To feel more happiness, we should focus more on ourselves. Find out what we want with our life, what we want to do for others, and what we would like to experience.
Sitting on a beach with your feet in the sand, looking over a beautiful blue ocean is a nice experience but won’t fulfil your need for purpose. Maybe retiring from your job is a goal for you, but it should not be because you just want to retire. You should be focused on what you want to do on the days that you don’t have to work your 9 to 5 anymore that will be fulfilling.
I always wanted to spend more time with family and friends which is why I ‘retired’ but after a year of mostly spending time passively with my family I realized I need to find my purpose again. Now, I am working on my own purpose again by writing blogs while still spending time with my family, but more intentionally.
When we find our own purpose and work on our own goals we can bring much more to the table and have more impact on the people around us.
“Retiring should never be the end goal, following your purpose and dreams should.”
