CoolRich59
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I had a revealing (for me at least) conversation with a friend over the holiday weekend. She is my wife's best friend, and I consider her a good friend of mine too.
She is 60 years old and was telling me how much she hates her job. She said that she is being taken advantage of by her employer (they put her on part time status to avoid paying benefits, but she works 50+ hours/week).
I suggested she see an atty, quit and/or retire. She kind of expected the first two suggestions, but was pretty surprised at the third.
"Why not?" I said. "Have you considered it? Have you reviewed your savings and your spending to see if it's an option? Even if your funds are short of the ideal retirement goal, you should also consider retirement for health reasons (she has a lot of health problems - IMO, many stress-induced). The next day I followed up and emailed her a great retirement article I had read recently.
After the "pep talk" and the article, she replied: "Thanks for the article, but I don't see myself being able to retire anytime soon, rather it's quite the contrary."
It hit me then how much the proper mentality is part of FIRE. Not to pat myself on the back, but I am now waking up every day saying to myself "What can I do today to accelerate my retirement?" Of course I know that there are differences between her situation and mine. But the more time I spend here, I am finding that it's not just dollars and cents that enables one to become financially independent and able to retire early. It is first and foremost the mentality, the attitude that one is going to examine one's situation and make the changes necessary to achieve those goals.
I think Bobby Knight says it best: "The key is not the ‘will to win’ . . . everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important."
Sorry if this is blindingly obvious to others, but looking at my friend concede "defeat" without even examining her situation really drove the point home for me this past weekend.
She is 60 years old and was telling me how much she hates her job. She said that she is being taken advantage of by her employer (they put her on part time status to avoid paying benefits, but she works 50+ hours/week).
I suggested she see an atty, quit and/or retire. She kind of expected the first two suggestions, but was pretty surprised at the third.
"Why not?" I said. "Have you considered it? Have you reviewed your savings and your spending to see if it's an option? Even if your funds are short of the ideal retirement goal, you should also consider retirement for health reasons (she has a lot of health problems - IMO, many stress-induced). The next day I followed up and emailed her a great retirement article I had read recently.
After the "pep talk" and the article, she replied: "Thanks for the article, but I don't see myself being able to retire anytime soon, rather it's quite the contrary."
It hit me then how much the proper mentality is part of FIRE. Not to pat myself on the back, but I am now waking up every day saying to myself "What can I do today to accelerate my retirement?" Of course I know that there are differences between her situation and mine. But the more time I spend here, I am finding that it's not just dollars and cents that enables one to become financially independent and able to retire early. It is first and foremost the mentality, the attitude that one is going to examine one's situation and make the changes necessary to achieve those goals.
I think Bobby Knight says it best: "The key is not the ‘will to win’ . . . everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important."
Sorry if this is blindingly obvious to others, but looking at my friend concede "defeat" without even examining her situation really drove the point home for me this past weekend.