The concept of “Retirement” has been heavily marketed to us for generations. As far as I can tell, however, it’s a modern fabrication. While making the shift from vocational work to enjoying leisure and family time during your golden years has the potential to contribute to wellbeing and happiness, it can lead people to waste a lot of time and resources preparing for an utterly unfulfilling experience.
In years of advising households on their financial goals, I’ve noticed that the generations that precede me (I’m a gen-X-er) tend to fall into what I would call the “retire early” camp. This camp defines economic success by being able to stop working in their 50’s so they can enjoy as many years of leisure as possible. Over time, people seem to have become aware that this model may not be for everyone and “retire early” has been replaced with “work optional”. Work optional, as stated by Raymond James “isn’t just about hitting a magic number on a spreadsheet. It’s a mindset shift. It’s the moment when you realize you can choose whether or not to work because your financial situation supports your lifestyle.”[1]
I happen to think that work optional is probably more meaningful than withdrawing from the work force early, but both models have at least two major problems. First, they require investors to save huge sums of money, which may do more good for financial institutions than individual investors. Second, and more importantly, both models miss this important truth, “work is the meaning of life.”[2]
Burdensome Work
I’m not naïve. I know vocational work can be very, very difficult. Since, I started working at age 15, I’ve pulled all-nighters at a local airfield, broken my fingers working on cars, and even been shot at by the Taliban (or whoever) while serving with the Marines in Afghanistan. Without a doubt, these experiences were burdensome, but the work has enriched my life in countless ways. For example, I met my wife because my career happened to lead me thousands of miles away from my home to a small town in Florida. Here’s the assumption I’m challenging: Work is a problem we should liberate ourselves from as early as possible. I believe it is burdensome work that we need to liberate ourselves from as early as possible. Burdensome work is work that we engage in that doesn’t align with our values and aptitudes.
Work can be a burden regardless of ease or pay. For example, a mechanic with smashed fingers making $80,000 a year may love the sense of accomplishment that comes with hearing car engines roar to life every day. While an esteemed attorney making much more may find the burden of his work unbearable because he has to deal with people’s problems all day. Even though well-paid work can be a burden, I’m not arguing that money doesn’t matter. A job that doesn’t provide enough income to support your goals will always be a burden. Additionally, doing a job, even one you like, will be much more of a burden if you have to do it to keep your bills paid.
Unburdened Work
In years of providing financial advice, I’ve seen people work hard and save so they can upgrade their lifestyles (nicer vacations or fancier homes), but most people don’t work hard and save so they can upgrade their work. Since our wellbeing and the wellbeing of others is inextricably linked to our work, one goal of saving and investing should lead to what I refer to as unburdened work. Unburdened work is work you engage in without money being the primary consideration.
An example of unburdened work might be the busy executive who takes a huge pay cut to work full-time as a journalist because that’s what excites him. Unburdened work is not an excuse to just do your hobby for 8 to 10 hour a day. While there’s nothing wrong with hobbies, work is only fulfilling to the extent that it helps you fulfill your purpose by serving others. Unburdened work is actual work that brings you joy and enables you to use your talents to better society regardless of economic incentives.
How to Upgrade Your Work: Assets & Liabilities
One major reason most people will never get to do unburdened work is because they acquire liabilities faster than they acquire assets. In simple terms, a liability is an ongoing expense. A mortgage is an example of a liability. It’s expense that your income has to cover, or bad things will happen. An asset is something that adds to your income now or in the future. A rental property that creates a net income of $800 per month is an example of an asset. Over the years, I’ve found that people can acquire liabilities pretty darn fast while assets take discipline and time.
For example, the person with a $20,000 a month income and $20,000 a month going towards a mortgage, car loans, and golf club memberships has a great lifestyle, but he can’t upgrade his work because he just can’t afford a pay cut. On the other hand, the person who has diligently increased their income to $20,000 a month whose expenses are only $8,000 per month can consider starting the small business they’ve been dreaming of or pursuing a PhD. It’s not enough to have margin in your monthly budget, however, you need to have the right kind of assets to support an upgrade in your work. A good financial advisor can help you make sure your assets support this particular goal.
Here are two examples of assets that don’t support unburdened work. First, raw land. It’ very common for people to buy a plot of land in a place that they enjoy with the hope of building their dream home someday. More often than not, someday never comes and people end up making mortgage and tax payments ad nauseum . Unfortunately, it’s also very common for people to not want to sell raw land, probably because they don’t want to give up on their dream. I have nothing against building a dream home in a remote place, but it’s a “retire early” kind of asset not an “unburdened work” kind of asset because it just doesn’t provide the income that would be helpful in a transition.
The second example of an asset that doesn’t support an upgrade in work, is a big old 401(k) account. It’s very common for folks with professional success to acquire large 401(k)s. They’re a great way to accumulate wealth but they can get people stuck for two reasons. First, they are very tax inefficient because you have to pay income tax on any funds you pull out and, if you’re younger than 59 and a half, you’ll pay penalties. That means, if you’re in the 25% tax bracket and 50 years old, you’ll only get to keep $65,000 of every $100,000 you pull out. So, if you’re dreaming of buying a small business that costs $300,000, you would have to pull $405,000 out of your 401(k) to generate $300,000. The second reason big 401(k)s get people stuck is it creates an incentive to stay with an employer even when it may not be a great fit. A person wanting to try something new may never take the leap because their current employer has a “good” 401(k) plan. Ultimately, a 401(k) was designed by Congress to be a traditional retirement asset. That is, an asset that, if allowed to grow big enough, will enable you stop working altogether. A 401(k) is not particularly helpful for working people or people who don’t intend to stop working later in life.
Conclusion
The goals of retiring early or achieving a work optional lifestyle requires huge amounts of savings, which may do more good for financial institutions than investors. It also makes the false assumption that work is something we need to liberate ourselves from. While work can absolutely be difficult, it’s what gives us meaning, particularly when it’s unburdened. A financial advisor can help you upgrade your lifestyle in terms of leisure and housing but don’t forget to upgrade your work! A “real” financial advisor will be glad to make sure your financial resources support whatever it is you’re dreaming of, even if it’s a career change at 40, so dream big!
[1] https://www.raymondjames.com/vivianinvestmentpartners/blog/2025/02/24/what-does-work-optional-mean
[2] Bahnsen, David. Full-Time Work and the Meaning of Life p.13