I hear a lot of people talk a lot about retiring by the age of 30 or even sooner. Their inspiration being these rags to riches guys who get rich in a short amount of time. If you’ve read the rest of my blog then you know that it was probably much more time in the making.
Passive income is the newest craze nowadays. The idea being that you execute on an idea and create a steady income while you sleep. Although it is great and you will be having money work for you instead of the other way around, I don’t think that this would be the best route.
Let me give you an example from my life. I’ve grown up in a low income immigrant family in the not so nice side of Los Angeles. As a result, I’ve always had the mindset of lack of money and not of the abundance of money so I always strive to make big bucks one day. Upon reflection though, I don’t know what I would do once I had all that money. Really, after a while, you become comfortable with the situation, it’s human nature that we are inherently insatiable beings. If I am being completely honest with myself, I would say that I would probably get bored because I wouldn’t have anything to do or to improve.
I think a great part about being human is that you get to grow, and the process can be just as pleasurable as the destination. Just realizing that one day you will get there and enjoying where you’re at will make the path to success that much more enjoyable. After all the road to getting there is 90% of the game so why not enjoy it? Why not celebrate the small victories.
Instead of retiring, I think that a better approach would be to keep improving little by little. Every day, constantly getting better at your craft, whatever that may be. What fun would it be to just be given a million knowing you hadn’t deserved it. Of course, it would be REALLY fun at first but I think most people forget the moments after the glamour when you face the daunting question of “now what?”
I think this whole “retire young” concept has come to fruition because all throughout our formal education and in our jobs, we are put to do “work” which is a word that brings negative emotions. The feelings of really not wanting to do it but forcing yourself to do it. It’s associated with unpleasurable experience. But the funny thing is that the majority of millionaires do an insane amount of “work.” But they don’t see it as work but rather as something enjoyable because they are doing what they love and not what they’re being told to do. So this whole notion of work being something bad can be shifted into being something good because you’re doing something you’re passionate about and when you do something you’re passionate about, time flies and you get such a good feeling from a long day of “work.”
Balance.
The ultimate key to lot of things. I think we can all agree that you don’t need millions upon millions to be happy. In fact you only need about an above average sized income and you’re set so long as you don’t overindulge in unnecessary things.
One thing I’ve always tried to implement into my life and one of the huge pillars in how I choose to live my life is to be as close to a balanced life as possible. I want to create a lifestyle in which all aspects of my life: health, finances, relationships, etc, are integrated so that they work in synergy with each other and not against each other.
I don’t want to be some millionaire who’s 100 lbs overweight and lonely in some mansion but I also don’t want to be the fitness freak who may have six pack abs but works in a crappy job that he hates. I want a life where I can make a great income doing what I love and most importantly having control of my time so that I can spend it on what I value: health, relationships, travelling, and any passion that may arise in the near future.
Nevertheless, this is just one guy’s point of view. As always take it with a grain of salt and develop your own perspective of how you choose to create your life. Hopefully this perspective will give you more insight into not only yourself but what you truly want!