I know that “you shouldn’t retire early” is a strange thing to say on a FIRE blog, but hear me out. The FIRE movement has gained a lot of traction in recent years because of the obvious allure of leaving the workforce at a young age. Quitting at 40 and never having to slave away for the Man again is an exciting thought. But people focus so much on the RE part that they forget the true meaning of FI. FIRE is more than just saving money to be able to retire early, it’s a way of living and thinking that allows you to spend money on what’s important to you rather than on things and keeping up with the Joneses. For some people this leads to retiring early, but it doesn’t have to.
Early retirement is just one way to use your savings, and I’m here to try to convince you that it’s not even the best way.
Purpose is what makes life worth living
The main tenet of FIRE is that you can use money to buy freedom. That can be seen most vividly in quitting the workforce, but early retirement in and of itself shouldn’t be the only goal. We’ve employed FIRE strategy to allow my wife, Courtney, to be a stay at home mom, or to not have to works nights or weekends.
Whatever you do find purpose in it. I work as an electrical engineer. I enjoy engineering, it’s a lot of fun, but I went into engineering because it paid well. My job is enjoyable and I like the people I work with, but I wouldn’t go to work every day if I didn’t get a paycheck. Currently the purpose of this paycheck is to support my family, but I plan to continue working after reaching FI. There are just too many charities to support. I would also like to be able to support a few missionaries full time.
Man was meant to work
One of the big issues with the FIRE movement is that mankind was meant to work. The desire to do something meaningful with our lives is a fundamental characteristic of humanity. Work doesn’t have to be grueling or even profitable to be meaningful, but working is embedded into our nature. When God created Adam, He gave him the job of tending the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:15 says, “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” It wouldn’t have been a hard job as the world was perfect, but it was still a job, and it was still meaningful.
Work doesn’t have to be grueling or even profitable to be meaningful, but working is embedded into our nature.
Working was part of God’s original design. There is no arguing with that. It wasn’t originally designed to be exhausting work, but it was meant to be work. It wasn’t until Adam sinned that God cursed the world. In Genesis 3:17-19 God says, “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you… by the sweat of your face you will eat bread.”
But even now with the curse in effect, work is still part of God’s plan and still intended to be meaningful and fulfilling. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived said, “I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his work, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him?” (Ecclesiastes 3:22) Denying a basic characteristic of humanity because you don’t like your job is foolish.
Retiring can lead to death
A 2016 study from OSU that followed roughly 3000 retirees’ health from 1992 on found that the age of retirement was directly correlated with lifespan. The range of retirement ages in the study was 53 to 79 with the average at 65 years old. They found that retiring one year later was associated with a 9% lower mortality risk, and specifically that delaying retirement age from 65 to 66 resulted in an 11% drop in mortality rates.
This study corroborates past research and makes practical sense. Work keeps your mind and body active. It also helps keep you socially engaged. For most people, the majority of their social life is structured around work. When they leave the workforce they leave behind their friends and daily structure. They develop more sedentary lifestyles, and no longer have a ready source of mental stimulation. More importantly, they often leave behind their purpose.
Work for fun, not for money
So am I saying that all this FIRE stuff is bunk and you should just live it up now and work your 9-5 job until you die? No, of course not! The problem is that our definition of work has been tainted by the Fall of Man. We think of work as toil and pain that we perform grudgingly because we need the money. But that’s not how it was originally intended. Adam didn’t need money; he didn’t even need to tend the Garden. The trees were already there and they produced fruit on their own. The purpose of tending the Garden was to have something to enjoy and fulfill him.
If we worked for the joy of it rather than just for the paycheck, we get that joy and fulfillment that comes with a hard day’s work without feeling like we have to do it just to survive. You’ve heard the old adage: “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. While that’s terrible advice to give an 18 year-old deciding what major to enroll in, there is some truth to it.
That’s where FIRE comes in. When you are in the wealth accumulation stage of your FIRE journey, work hard at a job that pays. Save what you can in order to reach financial independence. After that keep working, for the fulfillment and joy and meaning it brings. FIRE gives you the opportunity to do what you love, because you’ve saved enough to be free from working just to survive.
Why keep working if I can retire? The answer is two-fold.
First off, man was designed to work. Not working ignores a fundamental part of what makes us human. It’s like ignoring the fact that sweet food brings us joy or need human interaction, it rarely turns out well. There’s a reason depression is more of a problem in developed countries. Having something to work towards gives us something to live for. Personally some of my happiest days are the ones I spend hauling furniture and helping people move, and the most depressing days are the ones where I sit around doing nothing or watching TV. Meaningful work is an incredibly powerful source of happiness.
Secondly, having extra cash you don’t need is great for those less fortunate than yourselves. Imagine how much good you could do in this world if you could donate your entire paycheck to charity. For example sharethemeal.org says for $0.80 you can feed a child for a day. feedthechildren.org says for $34/month you can provide food, water, and education to third world countries. onetreeplanted.org will plant a tree for $1. Not to mention all the good you could do in your own family or community.
But, I hear you about to say, what if I hate my job?
That’s alright, the point of FIRE is that you don’t have to work a job you hate, because you don’t have to work for money. Once you’ve reached FI you can leave that job to pursue something else. That something could be another job, or you may volunteer for a charity, or learn an instrument, or start a business. The possibilities are endless because you don’t have to work for a paycheck.
Don’t just rot away in a cubicle, get out there and work hard at something you’ve always wanted to do, and if you work hard enough at it, someone might pay you for it. Elon Musk “retired” (read: was fired) from PayPal in 2000 and when eBay bought it in 2002, Musk ended up with $180 million.
In his 2012 commencement speech to Cal Tech Elon Musk said, “Going from PayPal, I thought, ‘Well, what are some of the other problems that are likely to most affect the future of humanity?’ It really wasn’t from the perspective of what’s the … best way to make money.” He decided the big problems to solve were sustainable energy and space travel so In 2002 He founded SpaceX and in 2003 he founded Tesla.
Elon Musk is a perfect example of this mentality. He had more than enough to retire and sip cocktails on the beach forever, but he knew that he was driven to work and that there were problems that needed to be solved. And since he didn’t need to think about the “best way to make money” he could focus on trying to good in the world even if it wasn’t profitable. And as icing on the cake, Tesla and SpaceX are both successful companies and Musk is the richest man in the world.
What else is there?
When you don’t work for money you can really focus on working for good
All of this isn’t to say I haven’t entertained the idea of retiring early. But, again, if I did it wouldn’t be to sip cocktails on the beach. It would be to pursue something else. For example I’ve always wanted to publish a video game and the current indie scene is ripe for making games. I’ve also considered writing a Biblical commentary or other theology book.
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Solomon said whatever work you do, do it will all your might. While you’re still working towards financial independence, that will most likely be your day job. But after reaching FI the sky’s the limit. Find the next goal/adventure to work towards. Retire early if you want, but never stop working!
What do you think? Is it worth working to do more good in the world? Let us know in the comments below!