Saturday 21 March 2009

Do I want to give up work?

I have been reading Retirement- a full time job where Syd has been considering her first year of retirement and linking me to all manner of other early retirement blogs. I always read Daizy's daily arm wrestle with her mortgage. Now I am prompted too think about my own situation.

I think I want to retire early. I want to pay off my mortgage and have some financial security. I like the idea that I can never be re-possessed. But then what? I don't actually need much money to live. Most of my money goes on the mortgage and loan repayments which relate to the property. If I didn't have them then we would have way more disposable income than we need.

So, once the mortgage is repaid, I could afford to stop working at my normal day job and do something else instead. Maybe come voluntary work or something at the zoo ( i have always wanted to work at the zoo-if there is re-incarnation and I get to be a person again I am studying zoology instead of finance). However I already work for a not for profit organisation. My job is important, but which I mean the business is important because we house people in housing need, not I am personally important. How do I find a job which is better than that. Not much point in retiring just to get paid less for a job of equal important to me.

I think I am striving to pay my mortgage off early not to retire but to have the option to retire or change what I want to do, when I want to do it. I like the idea of the chance of freedom without actually feeling I have to make the change that goes with it. Hmm, seems I do know what I want afterall.

4 comments:

  1. I think I would like to know that I do not need to work for money and if I do, that I am doing what I would like regardless of money.

    It too, may be what I am currently doing or it may not be. I'd like to have that choice.

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  2. I can't wait to leave my current job. Retiring completely is a different matter. I see part time work as giving me the right balance

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  3. Working at a zoo sounds very fun unless the mean monkeys throw things at you while you sweep their cage :P My niece is hoping to get a zoo job when she graduates this May. Too bad she is graduating when jobs are scarce and she needs a paying job.

    I totally agree with you. Getting rid of all the bills let's you choose to work or not work at what ever you like. That is what keeps me motivated!

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  4. I'm lucky beacause i can work from home, i don't think i'll ever give up work altogether. I can work whenever i want to so it's not like a real job. I would like to give something back, i'm thinking about doing some volunteer work. Or maybe i should teach other people how to work from home. What do you think?

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