Early retirement.. some thoughts

Now days I see lots of articles in business magazines about people wanting to retire early.. or having retired early.

It's facinating to read their stories and how some people are living their dreams. All great things.

But let's understand when they say retirement what does it really mean. When I read some of these articles the people are not in a full time job but are still working but with their choice of roles and timings.

Getting financial freedom depends on a lot of things and some of them are below..

1.  Being clear on needs vs wants. Financial freedom means using the money one has saved or is earning passively is enough for keeping the family able to service the needs

2.  Defining what the family will pay for children's education . Outside of India usually education loans are taken by the children themselves since they are so expensive. In India parents usually want to save money and not let the children invest from their future cash flows

I have had a few friends who wanted to retire at the age of forty but never did.. not sure they want to now.

One of my acquaintances lost his job sometime back.  I spoke to him a couple of times . He initially did some calculations and said his networth was 6mn $ ( he was us based)... so he did not have any urgency to find a new role. He was financially  free  However a month down the line he was trying his hand at multiple interviews and pushing to find a job. He was 43 yrs old!

Another acquaintance who is 49 yrs has all but finished his children's education etc and is financially free. While he keeps saying that he doesnt need to work, one doesnt see him slacking off.

Even when a person is financially free one must understand that there is another component that helps decide what the person does with his or her time. In India one always has the push to be utilizing their time vs staying at home and relaxing. That could happen in the western countries but most likely not in the asian cultures.

So... in the end.. financial freedom is about being free from financial worries and not really about deciding to stop working and taking a VRS.

Learning from others.. thats simplefinancialsense