Does Retirement = Happiness?

[@edsteadham4085]

work is overrated. Retired (with enough money to live comfortably) means every day you get to choose what you want to do. Boredom is a state of mind. How one chooses to be bored when one is free to do ANYTHING one finds interesting is a mystery. Go for a walk. Read a book. Listen to Bach. Write a letter.....or do any one of 1,000 other things of interest.

[@kimhoward55555]

I do not understand how adults can get bored when there are endless interests to explore. That some people need work to not be bored baffled my never bored brain.

[@anthonynapolitano7407]

I've listened to your show for two years now. I am 7 months into RE and find all of your conversations so on point, great work! This episode hits on so many levels: travel to "fill the void", and being comfortable with "white space" is all uncomfortable for us to have to address. So to cope with that, there can be a tendency to shove as much "stuff" to make sure you are not one of the statistics you speak about in terms of being bored. That is one area that I am starting to work on is how to be OK with there being some downtime and not feel like it is a "fail." - I also love the question of does travel "still feel like vacation?" - For me, that answer is yes bc the experience is fun and not the "norm." In RE you still have a "norm" - so traveling is a break from that. You not only enjoy the travel experience, but I have found that enjoy getting back to my routine when I return home. I think front loading travel is natural bc its tangible and "easy" in a way. The more challenging part is asking "what do I want to learn" or "how do I want to find purpose" - those are deeper and more challenging to address. What I keep telling myself is that whether I retired at 52 (like I did) or 72 I'd still have to address these questions. So I'd rather take the time to explore and work through them while I am in good health/mind and enjoy the journey. This is a blessing! Great stuff, keep it coming!

[@danielstusnick6011]

Time freedom is true wealth, and I think it takes time for some to appreciate that. I’m 6 months into RE at 58, after 37 years in a financial career I never really enjoyed. I spent way too much time traveling away from my family, contributing to a “gray divorce”. After 6 months I can’t imagine ever giving that freedom up - I cherish it, even on days when I’m just puttering around. I spend my time on fitness, outdoor activities and whatever interests me at the moment. While I’ve done enough travel, my youngest is studying in Amsterdam, so I’ll fly over and visit her next week just because I can😉. I think some of the younger folks in the community who have lived extremely frugally and checked out of the working world very early are a little less appreciative of the value of freedom, and in many cases still have the need to contribute and create in some way. I have no such desire at this stage, and I can’t see that changing…keep up the great discussions guys!

[@benjaminmoebius2374]

Knowledge and new skills as post retirement “currency” is a really important insight!

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

🙏

[@bridgetgruich]

I can totally relate to your travel experience. We just went to Europe for 2+ weeks and balanced it with attractions / beach time / downtime / cafe culture. Still working, but it makes me look forward even more to retirement. Very insightful, Eric! Thanks for sharing.

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Thanks! And, agree 100%...it’s exciting to imagine more time for that kind of travel. Appreciate your thoughts!

[@grega4450]

Retired 2 years ago at 57. Best thing I ever did. I wake up without the stress I had before. I like not having to worry about what’s going to go wrong at work. Don’t follow fire. My plan to retire was to make sure i had zero debt. I bought two new cars a boat and had everything I felt I was going to need. Retired with 2.5m in retirement funds. At 4% that was more than I needed. That fell to 2m after the crash of 22. I am up to 4.2m now. I got 1m from the sale of the company I worked for in 23. Rest is growth. I find the stress I have with money is how to invest it and keep the principal as much as possible. Spending has not changed for me. I spend alot of time at my cottage just enjoying myself. I love just waking up and doing whatever I want. I love the videos and your journies.

[@Rionysius]

How did you get 1m from the sale of a company you worked for? I work with a small SaaS company, and I'm curious about how this works if a sale takes place. Were you a higher up? or did you have stock/partial ownership?

[@grega4450]

@@Rionysius I owned 3%. We started from nothing. Took in capital and sold after 10 years.

[@Rionysius]

@@grega4450 Very cool! Congrats and thanks for the reply.

[@juliegreb6859]

Retired at 45 in 2023. Never bored. Love my new life. One travel perk is being available to travel with friends and make their travel goals come to fruition! However I did say yes too everything in year 1. So learning to prioritize and say no is new. I like my home/ we moved and have a home people like to visit, so keeping travel to a comfortable balance so you can enjoy home is an important too. Learning balance in year 2 to 3.

[@kcfd28]

I really hope you do some sort of follow up on your experience with the group tour. I have always associated group tours with "old people", but now in our 50's there is something very appealing about having someone else plan much of the logistics and I have started researching them. I also think it could be a very positive experience spending a week or two with a small group of strangers and getting to know them and having some shared experiences. Have fun!

[@carlyndolphin]

I’d recommend taking Fridays and Mondays off before quitting work completely.

[@gerryfitzsimmons6316]

Make sure you actually take the off days off, I have found working part time intriguing

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Thanks for the tip-smart to test things out before fully committing.

[@rarelycares8416]

Retired earlier this year at 55 and it's one of the best thing that has ever happened. But you need to realize that it doesn't change who you are, if you were unhappy before you will most likely be unhappy after. If you were always pessimistic you will probably still be pessimistic. If you were easily bored, retiring won't change that. Luckily most of us who retire early are people who thought about our future, tend to be optimistic, and easily get interested in new things. We have a large 5 week vacation coming up next spring (will be fall where we are going) and I am so excited thinking about it even though it is still over 4 months away.

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Great point-retirement doesn’t fundamentally change us, it just removes the noise, leaving more room for who we already are. If you’re curious, optimistic, or driven by new experiences, that’s what you’ll lean into. Sounds like you’re living proof, with all the new adventures ahead. I agree that half the fun is looking forward to it all!

[@ddelmarsmith]

I see vacation and travelling as just living in a new environment. It opens up opportunities for new and interesting things to do but still allows us to do the daily things we would still normally do at home (ie. exercise, hiking, reading, etc..)

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Interesting, I think it will take some time for us to adjust to a new way of seeing travel as another way to live, not simply an "escape" from work.

[@ddelmarsmith]

@@TwoSidesOfFI Best of luck - i know you will figure it out

[@Bigboss-xe6lm]

RVs are me. It covers travel, freedom and flexibility. Also, being a minimalist it feels right. You can travel almost anywhere mainland in EU with an RV. Its perfect.

[@trevorjacobs]

Thanks guys, I find your chats really useful

[@AnhNguyen-bi6vg]

Again great topics covered. Redefining what productivity means post work makes sense. Thank you

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Cheers, thank you!

[@jamiestavarzlormeau2910]

This is a fun conversation and a great questioj to ask. Does retirement equal happiness? Like another commenter said, retirement does not change who you are--but for me, it did remove the stress. I retired 2 years ago at 55; at first I experienced the "honeymoon" stage. I took my daughter, who was a senior in high school, out of school for a trip to London and Paris; my husband did another trip traipsing around rural England; we've also done San Francisco, Nashville, Asheville, and have a Costa Rica trip planned for January 2025. But I will admit that at about the 18month mark, I started getting concerned about how I was spending my time. My kids are out of the house, and my friends are all still working. I found myself squandering time since there was so much of it. To balance this, I found part-time work that is related to what I did in my career but is much less stressful and just as rewarding. It will not impede travel since when I interviewed I told them I'd need time off (even if unpaid) for travel. As a perk, it brings in income that keeps me from spending savings. For now this is looking like the perfect balance for me.

[@guile-md6mg]

Working part time for many even eight or 16 hours a week pouring drinks can help people. My dad retired early after a career as a public school teacher. He worked at Target for 15 years. He enjoyed the interaction with the young workers as well as the customers. The extra cash was used as a vacation fund.

[@NorthernSunflower]

The best thing about first big trip I took after I retired was that I didn’t get that anxiety at the end of the trip because I didn’t have that stress of work to get back to. It was amazing, I got to enjoy the whole trip. In my travels since, I still get that amazing feeling.

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Very much looking forward to this feeling!

[@socrs]

That feeling of staying nearby for kids or others never goes away I think. But even for those that aren’t into travel as far as viewing attractions etc. , Travel and just living your daily life in different locations (exercise, deep hobby work, reading, learning, etc) is very much worth it. Now we are out of the us for 3 mos. At a time and back for a few weeks before off again

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

That’s an insightful take. Travel doesn’t have to be about attractions-it can be about living life in new contexts, which changes everything: habits, perspective, even how you see home. Thanks for sharing and safe travels!

[@driftingintoretirement]

Two years into retirement and loving it. Work is so over-rated. Minimum holiday now is 1-2 months. Slow travel is the key.

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Nice, this sounds amazing...

[@juliegreb6859]

@@TwoSidesOfFII find that I miss home. So 1 to 2 weeks works

[@darrenmatthews1667]

Just got back from the third trip to Europe this year and we are burned out. Going to give it a rest until we can get excited again. Too much of a good thing. The key for me in retirement is to just keep changing things up and go ahead and chase the shiny new objects. I've managed to stay quite busy.

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Thanks for sharing this. I get it-I've wondered if that would happen with travel for us, too. Even the best experiences can start to lose their edge when repeated. Here's hoping a reset will rekindle the original excitement.

[@kentverge]

For context I just hit the one-year mark, and as Jason said, trips still feel like vacations and are as exciting as they used to be. They do, however, have a different type of excitement as there are more possibilities than before. For example we were nearing the end of a 3-week visit to Ireland in our apartment overlooking the Belfast port, and there was a ferry loading up that was heading to Liverpool. My wife and I looked at each other, and I said, 'Do you want to just extend the trip and go to Liverpool?' We didn't do that, but the possibility was very exciting.

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Love it...that kind of freedom is a whole new way to experience the world.

[@Budgie_uk]

Ive so glad i found this channel. In a similar situation to you guys. Im around the same age and a scientist (who has just gone through redundancy). Contemplating RE as im finding it very difficult to find a new research position in the UK. I've been very intentional about saving and investing just trying to overcome the mental issues about RE and weirdly the guilt associated with it. Thanks for your insights, its been really helpful to me.

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

I get it-making that mental shift can be the hardest part. We're trained for a certain script for so long that even when you’ve done the work to reach financial independence, there’s still that guilt and second-guessing. But maybe the point is to trust that intentionality you’ve already built up. It sounds like you’re ready to choose the path that really matters to you, not just the one everyone expects. Glad the channel’s been useful-keep us posted on what comes next!

[@Budgie_uk]

@TwoSidesOfFI thanks for the reply and encouragement. Yep, I'll be sure to keep you posted and will comment on your excellent content.

[@michaelmartz9270]

Fun discussion! You may want to consider the Semester at Sea program. You can go as an adult through their Lifelong Learners program. A different way to travel for an extended time and incorporate learning and interacting with younger generations. My wife and I have this on our list to do during our early retirement.

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Nice...great idea! Thanks...

[@mikesurel5040]

If this is the future of the channel I am both happy and sad. I love the content and the discussions. But it sounds like the frequency of videos is going to go down. One thing I think would be awesome if you could swing it would be more conversations with other retirees and maybe with some of the financial advisors that post regularly in the space. I always find people contrasting theory and practice fascinating. Your conversations with Fritz and Karsten are episodes I go back to and rewatch. Thanks

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Who else would you want to see on the channel?

[@jamiestavarzlormeau2910]

Maybe you could feature the stories of subscribers--real people following the show and taking the journey with you.

[@mikesurel5040]

@@jamiestavarzlormeau2910 that sounds cool. I also regularly watch GenExDividendInvestor. I think it would be great to hear you talk through your different approaches.

[@wendytodd9673]

Always great content

[@shawnleary]

recently did a 3 night trip with a tiny clear back pack that you can take anywhere (ie stadium MLB games) and it was so freeing to only have a small amount of items to worry about. always something to learn about traveling

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Absolutely! Would be cool to hear which essentials earned a spot in that tiny pack-always curious to know what others prioritize when space is tight.

[@anthonynapolitano7407]

Not "empty nesters" its "free birds" - so much more uplifting and what it will be after you get used to the freedom.

[@PowerfulMoneyHabits]

I can’t wait for FI. Started late so I’m catching up. My plan is to not see snow- go 2 months either to Mexico or SE Asia. The spend a month in US. I’ve never spent more than 1 week away from my practice in 25 years. Ugh! I am having some fun but can’t wait for total freedom!

[@joyceforier5239]

I’ve traveled many times with G Adventures. They generally do a good job. Enjoy it! Love your channel :-)

[@mikesurel5040]

At about the 10 minute mark when Eric is talking about "go,go,go" all I could think was "ugh". I am kinda like "go, nap, grab a late lunch, maybe go?" I am ready to retire every way except financially 😂 You gotta find what makes you tick. I know a guy that could be retired many times over. He is running multiple companies instead. Retirement might kill him. You gotta figure out what works for you. Also I do not think most people know what to do with silence. Blissful, sweet silence. Productivity is bullshit.

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Hey Mike (Eric here) - I totally get that! Knowing what makes you tick is everything. For me, the "go, go, go" isn't about being productive more about fueling what keeps me engaged and excited. It’s different for everyone. I have a lot of friends in that camp who say retirement would take away what drives them, while others dream about those slow, quiet days. As long as we’re all building the life that works for us, that’s what counts. And hey, naps and late lunches sound pretty great too!

[@mikesurel5040]

@@TwoSidesOfFI amen!

[@patriciagolding7092]

Have you read ‘Die with zero’? It really helped me organize my big trips in life.

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

Yes, we have…it’s a nice way to think about spending ‘life energy’ by decade, for sure!

[@ms.z461]

Maybe early retirement is not for everyone. Returning to work is still a valid option once financially independent. The best thing about being FIRE is the freedom and endless choice

[@TwoSidesOfFI]

well said, absolutely!

[@christinab9133]

❤❤❤

[@ianwhittaker3041]

Great video guys. Sounds like you had a fun trip to Europe.., which countries and cities did you visit? Cheers from the UK 🇬🇧