The first time I learned about the alternative to the traditional retirement was when I read a novel – the Deep Blue Goodbye by American author – John D MacDonald.
The novel features Travis Mcgee. He lived in a house boat moored in Bahia Mar Marina in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
He described his lifestyle as “taking retirement in chunks”. That exactly how he had taken his retirement – one chunk at a time. He spent most his time in leisure and only took on work when his money in running low.
Travis Mcgee is really inspiring in a way that it makes me realize that you don’t really need to work that much. You don’t need to wait till you 65 to retire. You can retire right now if you really want to.
Many people obsess about moving up the ladder in the corporate world, building up their resume, keeping up with the Joneses. Meanwhile, they let life pass by without really enjoying it. Working upward to 40, 50 hours a week, taking a two weeks vacation once a year.
Of course, not everyone can live like Travis Mcgee but there many other ways you can achieve similar lifestyle:
- Contract jobs – contract jobs allow you to work for short time depends on the duration of the contract. For example, if you have one year contract, you just have to work that one year and take a break between contracts. I’ve been doing contract jobs for many years up until recently. It’s great to know that there’s an end to it. You can take time between contract jobs to enjoy life like Travis Mcgee. When your money is running low, you can start another contract job. Rinse and repeat. Employers will look at your overall work experience rather than how long you stay at one company nowadays.
- Seasonal Jobs – Seasonal jobs are great option also. Some job sectors like servicing industries are thriving only in certain season. By taking on seasonal jobs, you can work for 3 or 6 months out of the year and taking the remainder of the year off. One of my old friend who works in the Nail Salon business used to work 6 months out of the year and spent his remaining months enjoying himself in South East Asian countries.
- Online Entrepreneurship – Nowadays, there are many things you can do online to make money – become a Youtuber, Blogger, Tiktoker, Onlyfan, E-commerce, etc. This allows you to work anywhere in the world. However, it’s not easy and sometimes you end up putting in more hours and effort than regular jobs. Nevertheless, it’s a lucrative option and even enjoyable for some. This also helps generate passive income which in turn buy you more leisure time to enjoy life.
- Living off your investment – This is probably the ultimate goal of everyone who is planning to retire. Whether traditional or early retirement – to save and invest enough to the point that your investment generate enough income to cover your expenses. This requires you to invest early, often and aggressively if you want to retire early.
As you can you see, retirement doesn’t have to be some distance future that you might live long enough to see (not everyone can live till they’re 65 🙁 ). You can retire right now like Travis Mcgee by “taking it in chunks”.
So slow down, work less and enjoy life some more while you still can like Travis Mcgee.
Sincerely,
The Minimalist Warrior