Early retirement or work till you die?

O

Optional

I have an old friend, a mentor, who tells me that he has no intention of retiring ever. He will work until he drops dead. He feels that he needs to continue to contribute and generate wealth (he runs a small fund).

Personally - I want to stop WORKING as soon as possible. I've beern in the biz for 12 years or so and am about 5 years from early retirement in my early 40s.

Why do some people feel the need to 'never' retire. What drives people who are well-financially secure to keep working? Is working an addiction like alcohol or drugs? Do workaholics have poor family and social lives?
I know some peopke don't feel like their jobs are work but I can't understand how some people would never retire.

Btw, when I say retire, I mean leave a longtime business or venture to relax and of course at some point try something new, though not for financial necessity.
 
I dont see anything wrong with spending say 15 or 20 hours a week working even when you are supposed to be retired.

You definitely need do something mentally challenging to stop your brain from deteriorating.. why not do something that makes money?

But you dont want to be spending 50+hrs a week working, like you might have done when you were much younger.
 
Quote from Optional:

...Do workaholics have poor family and social lives?
More...

By normal people's standards - yes. As a self-confessed workaholic, I can attest to the difficulty I've had in forming genuine social relationships - especially those of a romantic nature. It's within my ability if I put in the effort, but it always comes down to how I want to spend my time. In the ideal world, I'd have the career-side locked down and self-sustaining where I could spend a bit more time with those I enjoy seeing and talking to, but it's never an ideal world. I do make it a priority to spend time with family, however. That is a limit I have placed on myself.

But as for retiring, I really don't know. Honestly I couldn't see myself being happy if I didn't have something useful to do. So, I don't really have plans on retiring. Not really into gardening or the golf course..
 
After 25 years plus of day trading, I am retiring from that at end of the month, I have in place programmed systems running and a few people I have taught that will trade my methods in my accounts. But now I find daytrading to be extremely boring, same patterns, same rules, same same same. Been reducing my hours each week, we all know it can be an addiction to a degree.

I, too, feel to keep the brain from "losing it", I will continue trading, but looking to add on to existing long term trading methods and spreads.

I have already traveled outside good old USA and throughout the states, not a golfer, I don't collect stamps, going to work on better health and my social skills, LOL I am in mid fifties, so a whole lot of life to go.
 
Quote from Optional:

I have an old friend, a mentor, who tells me that he has no intention of retiring ever. He will work until he drops dead. He feels that he needs to continue to contribute and generate wealth (he runs a small fund).
More...

Your friend will work till he makes 1 or 2 million dollars.
Later this 1 or 2 million dollars works. Not your friend.

A posh way for elite people to say that they are working till death.
 
You need to do something otherwise with current inflation rate your money will worth almost nothing in 10 years and you will be flat broke, old and unable to start anything new. Unless you have something like 10M in the bank. Remember

72/i

with a real inflation rate of 10%, your money will lose half of its purchasng power in 7 years. If real - not government - inflation rises above that, you are in serious trouble with savings of 500K or abouts.
 
Quote from goodgoing:

You need to do something otherwise with current inflation rate your money will worth almost nothing in 10 years and you will be flat broke, old and unable to start anything new. Unless you have something like 10M in the bank. Remember

72/i

with a real inflation rate of 10%, your money will lose half of its purchasng power in 7 years. If real - not government - inflation rises above that, you are in serious trouble with savings of 500K or abouts.
More...

+1
 
People who are doing things they find interesting and all consuming, things they would do if they had the time, never worked in the first place. They're just having fun. There's nothing to retire from. That we age into uselessness is a sick notion our twisted culture holds dear.
 
I have a very good friend who is a builder and he is 81 years old.. He has spent his entire life running a family business
that started with his grandfather, passed on to him, and through the years on to his sons.
He refuses to retire and will work to his last day.
I know it is his attitude and continued work at his age that keeps him in the excellent physical and mental shape he is in. He is an old school guy but I respect his attitude.

The op makes a good point to continue on to something after retirement and for the op or someone
after 20 + years of doing something maybe a fresh start is healthy .
I couldn't imagine what condition mentally and physically the builder would be in if it weren't for his continued motivation and determination to never stop.

I can't see how a complete retirement could be good for anyone, but a change in what you do
at some point can be mentally challenging in a positive way.
This is not to say work full time either, to free up some time to enjoy life is very important.
Personally.... continuing on to something that makes you feel useful, challenged will be beneficial to good health, and in retirement even a partial retirement, good health is a priority.
 
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