Why Do We Work More Than We Have to And Want To?
Two years ago I realized we had enough money invested to coast to financial independence. In other words, we didn’t need to save another dime and we could achieve a healthy traditional retirement around age 60.
We were faced with a decision: keep going down the path we were on, working full-time, saving as much as possible, and working towards early retirement OR we could downshift, lean into flexible work, and focus on covering living expenses while staying on track for a traditional retirement.
We opted to downshift, making the deliberate decision to slow down our path to financial independence, in exchange for freedom and flexibility now.
It was a big decision, but ultimately, it came down to this:
Why would we work more than we had to and wanted to?
We were in a situation where we didn’t need to work full-time to cover our living expenses and we’d secured our future retirement thanks to the power of compound interest. We had the option to downshift.
Then it became a question about what we wanted to do. If we loved the work we were doing and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else with our time, why stop? But, if we didn’t love the work we were doing, or just didn’t love doing it as much as we were, why continue?
And for me, it came down to this:
As a dad and husband, I want to spend as much time as possible with my wife and daughter. I like the option to eat three meals a day with them, go on long morning walks, put my daughter down for a nap, do some work, eat lunch together, play in the afternoon, maybe do a little more work, and prep and eat dinner together.
For me: My family is greater than my work. I may never rise through the ranks and find myself at the top of a successful organization, but I know that I will develop and cultivate strong relationships with those that I love. I will always have the bandwidth and time for my family, above all else.
And that’s the power of reaching coast FI—you’ve got options. You can now spend your time doing things you want to do and design a life you love.