Recently my SIL began giving me a hard time about retiring early. "Why aren't you looking for a job?" she said. "You have so much to offer."
I decided to try to change her perspective. "What if I told you that I DO have a new job?" I said. "What if I told you that I have recently been hired to manage a large financial portfolio for an important private client? I am in charge of all aspects of his retirement finances, his investments, his withdrawal strategies, even his day to day spending. It is a job that requires me to be on call at all times and be constantly learning and researching new approaches. Would that be an important job? Would that be 'offering' something?"
"Yes, that sounds like an important job", she replied.
"Well, that is my job now," I said. "But I am the important client that I mentioned. I guess you would consider it a real job if I were doing this for someone else. But managing my retirement portfolio for myself is my job now. I manage it like a business. The more I make, and the less I spend, the more I keep. While it may appear to you that I don't work, I am actually constantly working. And I work for myself. And it's the best job I ever had."
She still could not get her mind around it. But this perspective has helped me deal with some of the guilt and uncertain feelings I have had during my transition from traditional work.
