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