This article is inspired by a
recent interview with Vivien Tan, the host on a TV programme titled "A
Life Enriched," aired recently on Mediacorp 5 on Sun, 23 July. When she
asked, "What does retirement mean to you?", my mind drifted back to four
years ago.
In July 2002, for the first
time in my working life, the paycheque stopped coming in. Also, for the
first time in my adult life, I felt truly liberated. I was free to do
anything that I want. I no longer lived by the week, but by the day. There
was no work. Monday is was good as Friday. Living each day to the fullest
seemed more attainable.
I played with Sean and Dylan
(our boys) each day. I read and read and read, and wrote and wrote and
wrote. But after two weeks of that, I discovered why they say too much of
a good thing may be bad. For a short time, I had a taste of retirement
living. No work to attend to. We had sufficient savings to last for some
years before we need to worry about money. Each day went by quickly simply
by doing things that I felt like doing. It was relaxing, happy at times,
but something seemed to be missing. Despite the freedom, I felt a sense of
emptiness in the soul.
It was then that I had learnt that the "early retirement" that most
working adults long for is not necessarily desirable after all. I wrote
somewhere in my journal:
To retire, is to die.
To retire young, is to die young
To retire old, is to waste the youthful years, and then die.
LIVE life. Don't retire. And don't plan to retire.
While I enjoy leisure, I am
also of the opinion that human beings essentially need to feel useful or
productive. And beyond simply being productive, we also want to be
engaged in meaningful work, be it on a paid or voluntary basis. This
realisation totally changed my perspective on 'work', from something to
escape from (through retirement planning) to a means to live meaningfully
for the rest of my life. So long as we continue to effectively
create value for others and make a contribution to the society, we
continue to maintain our our income generating ability.
Consequently, the best investment would be in ourselves, to continue
develop and grow in areas that will last us a life time.
The irony in typical work life
is that we often become the victim of our successes. We excel in things
that we do not like to do, but feel that we have to carry on for fear that
we might not be able to do well in other lines of work. But when we
consider work as a way of living that will last for the rest of our lives,
it is almost imperative that we begin to re-chart our courses align our
work with our passion and gifts early in our lives such that we are headed
towards a desirable future.
The 'walking costs' may be
high, and trying something new may seem risky. But when you let go
of the pursuit for retirement and ask yourself, "What kind of work would I
see myself doing for the rest of my life?",
hopefully some
self-reflections can breathe clarity to where you ought to be heading.
Once again, to retire is to
die. Instead of planning to retire and die, why not plan to live!
Best fishes,
Kenny, the Fisher
"In the end, it is
important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by
remaining what we are." ~ Max de Pree