If there's one thing I've learned about life in general, it is that there is no shortage of people who are willing to telling me what I should or should not be doing with my life. Most of the time, it's unsolicited advice coming from the same people who also happens to love telling everybody else not to tell them what to do. I always wonder if they are aware of their own irony in this? The typical conversation is usually along the lines of:
Them: What you been up to these days?
Me: Not much, I'm retired now.
Them: Oh? So early. Why?
Me: I just want to live my life now, and on my own time.
Them: But you have so much time and energy still to do something, instead of just lying around doing nothing or being lazy, you should apply yourself more. Do this or that, or get back to work again.
Normally, I just kind of laugh, agree that they are not entirely wrong, and change the subject. However, if pressed, I do try to explain that I'm not unhappy with my life choices either. Plus, it would eventually have to creep into some financial questions that I am actively trying to avoid discussing with them: How in the world am I able to retire in the first place? Law enforcement, as anyone can attest, does not pay that well, and cops are not exactly the most financially-minded people in the world.
Now, to be clear, I have always kept my nose clean, OK? I didn't become financially independent by being on the take. In fact, on a few rare occasions, I've even had to yell at people that tried to bribe me that I can not be bought! But I digress....
While I am not filthy rich by any means, but after saving, investing, and sacrificing for two decades, I was finally able to realize my life long dream of "buying" my own life and my own time back. I did it the old fashioned way, it just took a while.
And yeah, such a pursuit doesn't look like anything at all is happening from the outside. That's just the nature of saving and investing, right? It's not like people are going to get excited or even see the money you chose not to spend.
Now, I don't know if saving and investing comes easily or naturally for you dear readers, but for me, trying to stay on the financial track is a daily struggle! Some days, it's a very difficult stuggle! I mean, if I wanted to book a hotel or cruise or whatever, I can literally do that right now. Or order something crazy over Amazon, and have it delivered to me within 2 days. No problem. Why? Because there is literally nobody here to stop me. Little ole me is my own one and only safeguard... and sometimes, I make me nervous haha. Like foxes guarding the hen house kind of situation or something.
With all that said, I can't disagree that I do have spare time and energy to focus into something more worthwhile. I just haven't figured out what, if anything, yet. Hmm. What about you? If you had more spare time and energy to do something, what would you with it?
March 21st, 2026 at 07:56 am 1774079774
March 21st, 2026 at 12:35 pm 1774096521
At the same time, I look forward to days when I have little to no commitments, complete unstructured time to do as I want. I can't say I'm incredibly productive on those days, though sometimes I am. It all just depends.
March 21st, 2026 at 01:07 pm 1774098454
patientsaver: I like that you keep yourself busy with things that are meaningful. Hmm, that's not a bad idea. I should consider that as well. Thanks for the suggestion haha.
March 21st, 2026 at 09:03 pm 1774127001
March 21st, 2026 at 11:06 pm 1774134381
When people ask me what I’m doing now, I try to tell them something that I am doing as that gives us a place to start a conversation. Even when we are ‘doing nothing’ we are not literally doing nothing.
My other stock answer is ‘I have no idea what I do all day but it takes me all day to do it.’
That opens up the discussion to the joy of retirement.
March 22nd, 2026 at 04:24 am 1774153448
LOI: While technically unsolicited, I do appreciate it very much. There is definitely value in open-ended and amusing responses to invite further discussion all the while providing some of diversion from the more personal topics that I don't want to talk about.
March 22nd, 2026 at 01:23 pm 1774185830
I've been reading books about retirement as I prepare to make that transition a few years from now (2029 plus or minus one) and one of the key pieces of advice I've read is that the most important predictors of well-being in retirement are having social connections and having a sense of purpose.
March 22nd, 2026 at 04:54 pm 1774198464