What Would You Do If You Didn’t Need to Work for Money?

I came across this comment online the other day and couldn't quite believe what I was reading:

"I am a 67 year old man that has been retired for about 5 years. My wife retired 2.5 years ago. Finances are not a problem for us and we have no debt. I retired from a job that was demanding with a lot of pressure… I never had any hobbies, cabin, fishing boat, I find retirement to be a real downer. My wife does not want me to get a job of any kind so I just sit here and exist every day doing small tasks"

Imagine having the good fortune to live to 67 (not a given for everyone), be able to say finances are not a problem (again, by no means a given) and yet saying that retirement is a "real downer"?! I feel so sad for this person.

For me, I love reading, learning random things and going down random rabbit holes, experiencing anything and everything wellness-related, trying new restaurants, exploring new places and countries, and of course the odd binge tv watch here and there.

If you told me I could never have to worry about money again, and have the freedom to engage in all these activities for the rest of my life... that would be literally paradise!

The difference, of course, is that I've never viewed my job as a core part of my identity.

I don't need work to provide structure for my life, I can create my own.

I don't need work for social interaction.

I don't need work for some sense of purpose, I set my own goals and make my own progress towards them.

The problem is many people have never given themselves the mental space to think about how they could live a fulfilling life, and so they accept the "corporate norm" and go along with it until it's too late, like the guy at the top of this blog article.

Someone once told me a nugget of wisdom: it’s not enough to want to retire from something (like a job), you need something that you want to retire to - and that makes all the difference.

So as the title of this blog says, what would you do if you didn't need to work for money?

Do you have some idea? No idea? Time to think about it as a thought experiment, even if it feels like it's 20 years away.

Time goes by quicker than we think, and it never hurts to start planning early.

I would love to hear your answers. If you'd like to share them, book a date, and we can chat about this (or any other topic) over a glass of white Burgundy, perhaps in a suite at the newly opened The Chancery Rosewood.