Category: personal finance

6 benefits of working (apart from the money!)

We all know the benefits of reaching full financial independence and being able to quit work. No more 6am alarm clocks, no more pointless meetings, no more being told when you can take your holiday and how many days you can take.  Its no wonder the idea of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) and never having to work again is so appealing.

However, there are also lots of benefits of still doing some work (apart from the money) which I think can be an added advantage for semi-retire FIRE (having enough saved and invested money to never have to work full time again.) Here are a few of the advantages –

  1. You will appreciate your free time more

Life is about balance. If we have too much of a good thing, its no longer a good thing. It becomes the norm and in turn can become boring. Same with free time. If we have unlimited free time and no purpose or challenge, we can quickly become bored. That’s why I believe still working part time could bring more happiness and fulfilment than not working at all. It will make those long weekends you can now have even sweeter!

2. Provides a sense of purpose

Still having part time work of some sort will give a purpose and a structure to your week. After a few months of never working again I would imagine each day may start to blur into the next without some sort of structure. I’m sure if I never had to work again I would spend a few too many days lazing in bed!

3. Pushes you out of your comfort zone

There are many things I have accomplished in life which if it wasn’t for the fact I was getting paid for it, I would never have pushed myself to do. For example, becoming a trainer in employability skills, giving a presentation on stress to over 300 professionals and working within several prisons to give advice and guidance to inmates. It has also lead me to meeting many people from all walks of life that I wouldn’t otherwise have met. These are all experiences that have enriched my life and given me a sense of achievement but that I may not have done otherwise.

4. An opportunity for social connections

I have gained many friends over the years that I worked with and have still kept in touch with. In most jobs there is some sort of social contact everyday whether in person or virtually. Equally I have worked with people that I would happily never meet up with again! Either way, your workplace can provide a great place to meet and connect with people.

5. Perks such as company pension scheme

There are lots of perks of being an employee. Access to a company pension scheme is a big one, but there may also be things such as health insurance, employee assistance programmes and a paid for works Christmas party, though this can sometimes be a disadvantage too!

6. Developing personal skills and knowledge

There maybe free formal training available to you at work to take advantage of and provide continuous development. Equally there may be more subtle ways you are learning everyday for example how to use latest IT software and developing communication skills.

I’m sure there are many more advantages to working but these are just some that hopefully highlight that semi-retire FIRE is not necessarily a next best option to full FIRE and might actually be even more positive for our wellbeing.

Let me know in the comments below of any others you can think of.

What is Semi-Retire FIRE?

I like to think of semi-retire FIRE as a more chilled out version of the traditional FIRE (financial independence retire early) movement.

Before I came across the FIRE movement, I often used to think the idea of working 5 days a week and getting just 2 days off to do what I chose to do, for the next 30 to 40 years just didn’t seem like a well balanced life to me.

So when I came across the idea of FIRE in my mid thirties it immediately piqued my interest.

I read all the classic FIRE blogs like Mr Money Moustache and JL Collins The simple path to wealth. But after doing the calculations to work out when I would hit financial independence, on my average salary and potential savings rate, I wasn’t going to reach FIRE much before age 60, and not that many years before my official retirement age. The trade off wasn’t worth that. I didn’t want to put my life on hold until a magical date 25 years in the future when I could finally get my freedom and financial independence.

But rather than give up on the idea as nonsense or only for other people, I decided to embark on my own version of it.

Introducing Semi-Retire FIRE

I still use the same principles and techniques of FIRE but to reach a stage where I have enough passive income from investments to never have to work full time again. I could subsidise my lifestyle and current income to work just 2 or 3 days a week, or work part time on a lifestyle business or freelance basis. Still giving me flexibility and more time to do what I wanted to do. And crucially would hit that number far sooner than 25 years!

And that’s how it all started.

If you want to find out more about how I did this I will be posting regularly on this site so do keep reading and hopefully I will inspire you to start your own Sem-retire FIRE journey.