Premature Departure

I received some very sad and unwelcome news yesterday. One of my high school classmates died unexpectedly.

She and I were not close friends in high school and it’s a tricky business remembering someone after they are gone ,which all makes my memory seem somewhat suspect. But still, feel I remember her well. And what I remember is that she was an absolutely lovely girl.

In my mind’s eye she always had a smile on her face that was both half innocent and half cunning. And she was always laughing.

I never saw her do anything petty or mean to another person. (Surely my high school classmates could not say the same of me.)

And the point is that to hear this news of a former classmate was truly shocking.

It suddenly reminded me of the central truth that I am forever distracting myself from.

No one gets out of this thing alive.

We are all going to die.

This is an obvious truth. But it opens up deep faultlines in my own consciousness every time I come face-to-face with its reality.

But this is not a mortality blog. And it’s not a religious column. And it’s not an obituary.

It’s just a humble little early retirement blog.

So the obvious question comes up; What does early retirement matter if are all going to die, and we don’t even know when?

Faced with a predictable death who’s timing is unpredictable, one could make a sound argument for hedonism.

Why save for tomorrow when tomorrow is so unsure?

Why not just pursue worldly pleasure as long as we have a body to enjoy it with?

And the answer for me comes down to happiness.

If I were to die tomorrow I would die a happier man now that I am pursuing early retirement.  There is simply little that I could buy to improve my happiness.

Spending money unnecessarily was a distraction which took my focus away from that which truly made me happy.

Somethings are worth spending extra money on (for me fancy cats, and delicious food, and travel.) but most things simply do not bring enough happiness to compensate for the future freedom which is frittered away by their purchase.

And it even goes a little bit deeper than that. By constantly weighing what it is that makes me happy, I have become more sensitive to that which adds value to my life and that which does not.

If I weren’t obsessed with saving for my own retirement, would my pursuit of meaning be quite so efficient? I doubt it.

And finally I find that the freedom of incrementally building up a financial cushion has de-stressed my life. I feel stronger and less vulnerable. And this feeling of strength is a comforting one that I carry around with me all the time.

So it turns out that this choice to pursue financial independence has ended up not being a question of trading today’s happiness for tomorrow’s, (which I’m not sure I could’ve predicted when I embarked on this journey.)

It turns out it’s a choice for both happiness and meaning in my life every single day both before and after I achieve financial independence.

And what is the common thread in the shock of losing a friend to a premature death, and the unexpected happiness of pursuing early retirement?

Time.

Since we are mortal, time is the most valuable resource of all.

Losing a friend reminded me that time is my most finite and precious resource. One day I will run out of it. (And so will you.)

And to pursue early retirement is to place a value on time over most material things. Once I have attended to my basic needs, and purchased a few items that may bring me some additional happiness, it just seems wise to pursue a strategy that focuses on the most valuable resource of all.

Time.