Most people I spoke to said retiring at 40 is much too early.

“What are you doing to do” they asked.

My reply?

“Lots of things and maybe nothing. It all depends on my mood!”.

That, my dear readers, is what early retirement is all about. The freedom to choose how you want to live without any constraint from anybody.

Early retirement doesn’t mean doing nothing. It means retiring from something that I hate. I don’t want to go through early commute hell everyday. I don’t want to ever sacrifice time for money because the former is running out.

Every. Single. Day!

Early retirement doesn’t mean I can’t do other things that interest me.In fact, there are tonnes of things that I want to try if I am free from my work.

In fact, I wished I had retired 10 years earlier and saved 10 years of my time doing the things I really liked. Since time can’t reverse for my sake, I can only retire as fast as I can.

So, what is the right age to retire?

It all depends on you. Do you want something you really want to do but can’t because of financial constraint? In this case, my answer would be to figure out how to retire as early as possible. There is a dream waiting for you to fulfill and you can’t be stuck in your current place. The longer you wait, the faster your passion will die inside of you.

If you have no clear sight on who you are and what you like to do, early retirement is not a must for you. What for? Since you got nothing to do, retiring early only makes it worse. With a job, at least you have a reason to wither your time away.

At the risk of repeating myself, early retirement is about lifestyle design. It is taking control back of your life to do something that you always want to achieve. This all starts with knowing what your true goals are. Without that as your beacon, you will be lost, even with early retirement.

Hope this makes sense!