Taking a risk on retiring early

Daily writing prompt

When is the last time you took a risk? How did it work out?

I had been contemplating the idea of retiring early for at least a year before actually biting the bullet. When the company I worked for offered the opportunity due to downsizing, it provided the impetus I needed.

I was not compelled to take the offer; it was voluntary, and probably ensured the future of someone else who might have been forced out if the numbers required by the corporate overlords were not attained. However, I was compelled to make a change that reflected the about-turn in my outlook on work and life.

The normal retirement age in South Africa is around 65 years, although it is not mandated by law. Retiring a full eight years earlier was a daunting prospect for me, as it most likely is for others. In these uncertain times one is never certain if ones retirement savings will be adequate for a future with no certainty of income.

Fortunately, I had planned well enough and was assured of a fairly decent pension. Even so, I realized that it’s never really possible to plan with certainty for retirement. The more years you work to build up the capital you estimate will be enough, means fewer years to actually put it to use. I further accepted that I was not going to retire into the lap of luxury, and my changed outlook required living a life of simplicity. The process toward becoming unencumbered was set long before, and all that was left was to set it in motion.

I was frequently asked what I would be doing with my life after retirement. I had always maintained with great self-assurance that I could keep busy and remain constructively engaged. Many people didn’t believe that would be possible. I had off course many ideas and dreams, some of which as it turned out, were naturally impossible. Luckily most were well within reach, comfortably so.

After almost exactly a year, I find that I am very occupied doing the things I love most like listening to music critically (audiophile), reading and road trips. Then there’s the photography I used to enjoy, but need to get back on track. I have also taken to writing again, after abandoning my previous blog in 2016. International travel is also on the cards as soon as I complete the first major post-retirement project. I am currently constructing a listening room for my stereo equipment… and a personal space to hang out. While I don’t like using the term man-cave, it is something like that.

I’m frequently reminded of this cartoon which I came across a few years ago while I was still effectively a prisoner of the capitalist corporate world. It was vaguely amusing at the time, but being invested, and required as a leader to sing from the corporate hymn sheet, you don’t realize how soul-sapping it is, constantly being subservient to the further enrichment of the grossly affluent mob.

I had spent my last year or two deeply despising my complicity in a corrupt system, but now that I’m rid of it, I couldn’t be more content. The risk of escaping that mind-numbing, thieving, yet occasionally rewarding culture, by retiring early has paid off.

I have no advice for anyone contemplating a similar move. It distresses me to observe that most people are not in a position to make the commitment due to personal financial circumstances. However, there are people who most certainly can, but prefer to continue working, well into their 80’s, sometimes 90’s. It is in the end, a personal choice, and dependent on many factors, some or all of which are not within easy control.