Retired Early and Stressed Out Anyway

Yesterday I used a home as an analogy for retirement. To build a home, one must have a strong foundation. Although an ultimate necessity, this foundation, like financial independence, is just the beginning. How we fill each of the rooms and celebrate the structure will ultimately define the quality of our post work life. It is easy to think that once you have built the framework you are done. But as any home builder knows, there are still many improvements to be made. The journey doesn’t end with financial independence. It begins. There are pitfalls to be maneuvered around. There is no benefit to being retired early and stressed out anyway.

Although it seems counterintuitive that one could be both FI and stressed out, I think that many are. Life stressors don’t just go away when the bank accounts are stuffed. In fact, the very life strategies and qualities that lead to financial competence can also have a dark side.

The Achievement Treadmill

You have to be pretty goal focused to reach financial independence and decide to retire early. There has to be some front loading of the sacrifice and serious budget savvy. We strive on reaching the top of the mountain. In fact, for many of us the act of climbing is a high unto itself.

So what happens when you stop needing to climb? For a person who has been career oriented their whole life, this can lead to some vertigo. Often there is a transfer of addictions. All that energy and focus from work needs an outlet. It usually gets displaced to a new creative or business venture. While originally this can be quite gratifying, the treadmill can lead to the same dysphoric behavior that brought on the need for early retirement in the first place.

When you are having trouble sleeping at night or are waking up before the alarm clock because of a massive to do list, the benefits of the FIRE lifestyle disappear.

You are retired early and stressed out anyway.

Time Stress

I have talked in the past about my issues with time stress. As a busy multitasker, it can be easy to find yourself rushing through just about everything. Not only do you annoy your family and friends, you miss out on the flavor of all the wonder going on around you.

Yet not working can produce the opposite effect. Once you are unhinged from the daily schedule and slow down, it is easy to become completely inefficient. All the sudden that one task on the calendar looms so large you re cancelling all other plans for the day. I know it sounds silly, but there is such a thing as the efficient time frontier.

The less you have to do, the more emotional energy to worry about the few blips in your otherwise leisurely lifestyle. You become retired early and stressed out anyway.

Loss Aversion

There is so much joy thinking about how great life will be once financial independence is reached, it is easy to forget that finances are fluid. World circumstances change and markets can be stubborn. You may be financially independent one day and not the next.

Of course this idea is ridiculous. Most of the differences are just on paper and will likely not affect life. But the fear of loss aversion, of getting to the top mountain and then being forced a few steps back down, looms large.

We are scared to death that once we attain this wonderful marvel, that it will be snatched back out of our hands.

These worries can lead to all sorts of irrational behavior. There is a tendency to embrace stoicism and double down on the budget. We create new and diverse revenue streams although we don’t even need them. We end up retired early and stressed out anyway regardless of our best intentions.

Final Thoughts

Financial independence and early retirement are not just about the numbers. There is a philosophical and emotional side. The difference between contentedness and being early retired and stressed out anyway may be in how you handle the head game.

Recognizing the pitfalls and actively planning for them is helpful.

But you probably won’t know how it truly feels until you get there.