When you tell other humans that you’re going to retire early, you’ll get all sorts of pushback:
- What if you run out of money?
- You’ll be bored!
- Are you nuts?!??
One of the strange arguments that comes up every once in a while is this:
Early retirement is selfish.
I don’t think so…
I’m A Job Creator
By leaving work, you create a job for someone else. Since you had enough money to retire, it would have been selfish for you to stay at your job when you already had enough.
The exception to this argument is if you have some incredible skill that’s going to change the world. This is probably not you. Most of us are easily replaced.
I Pay Less Taxes, But…
Another argument is that I’m not paying my societal fair share. By not working, I’m paying less in income taxes. To this, I say that early retirees already paid their taxes.
If you’re able to retire early, you’re either living in a musty basement eating beans and ramen or you had a good job. I’ve never surveyed the community, but I’d bet that most of us are in the latter category. You don’t accumulate $1,000,000 by the time you’re 40 with a crappy job. You’ve already paid The Tax Man.
Early Retirees Are Generous
Early retirees tend to be a paranoid bunch. We’re all terrified of running out of money, so we question the 4% Rule and overstay our jobs. In many cases, this leads to an excessive amount of savings.
And sometimes, another funny thing happens in retirement; we start making money again (** looking at you blog **). Some of the things we choose to spend our time doing in retirement make money. Other times, the side hustles we started working on before we quit work turn into money machines. Regarding the latter, Mrs.-1500-Mindy got a real estate license back around 2014. The purpose of it was to save money on our personal real estate transactions. (Paying 3% every time you buy or sell a house amounts to big money after a few transactions.) Fast-forward to today when friends regularly ask her to represent them in a deal. She is selective about who she works with and has never spent a dime or minute on promotion, but this year, she’ll close at least 10 deals. We never planned for this.
So, many early retirees find themselves in a position of having more money than they’ll ever need. This is certainly the case with us. We had planned on 1 million in retirement savings and this year, our net worth roared past 3 million. This brings us to the next phase of financial independence, giving back.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what good we’ll do with our wealth. We give money away now, but mostly to the causes of friends and family. We’re still formulating a plan for big giving. Eventually, we’ll start our own Donor-Advised Fund and figure out where our money will go. For now, I’ll highlight the good work that others are doing.
Jenni and Chris over at TicTocLife started a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) where their readers get to choose where the money goes. They have a pretty neat goal:
We’re working to contribute one year of our FIRE budget (about $40K) by the 1st anniversary of TicTocLife (May 2021). We’re about halfway there and on track!
Mr. Money Mustache talks about Effective Altruism and giving away $100,000.
JL Collins wrote about how to give like a billionaire and giving when you have a business.
Revanche at A Gai Shan Life raises money for Native American families in need.
Amanda at Why We Money volunteers at Family Promise and gives money to local food banks and service dog organizations.
Leif (the Physician On FIRE) gave away $25,000 to COVID -19 relief charities in April. Leif also has a DAF.
The couple from Waffles On Wednesday travel for voluntary medical work.
The Frugalwoods have also set up a DAF. If you want to make a difference now, see Liz’s thread on Twitter:
(1) Still loving that DAF life over here. I’ve continued giving to hyper-local charities and, in light of the pandemic, have focused on: food pantries, winter clothing drives for kids, and domestic violence…
— Mrs. Frugalwoods (@FrugalWoods) November 24, 2020
Mr. Crazy Kicks has volunteered at food banks and given money to an organization that builds trails.
Andrew de Holl has a lifetime goal of giving $100,000 to Make-A-Wish.
Last, but certainly not least is Tanja from Our Next Life who also has a DAF and this to say about financial independence and giving:
How will you use your superpower? Not just for your own benefit, but for the benefit of others, and for the greater good. And might it take the form of a charitable mission?
Onward And Upward
Charlie Munger said this about giving his wealth away:
I’m soon going to be departed from all of my money. Why not give more of it away while I get the fun of giving it?
I couldn’t agree more. What satisfaction can there possibly be from laying on your death-bed* knowing that you’re about to buy the farm with $10,000,000 in the bank. It’s so much more rewarding to see your money doing good.
*Side-note:I don’t want to die in bed. I hope that when I croak. Instead of death-bed, <choose one>:
- death wing suit
- death Ferrari
- death stupid bicycle stunt
Let it be fun, just not anytime soon!
I want to die knowing that the world is a better place because I lived. If existence is .000000001% better because of my time here, mission accomplished! I’m not there yet, but it’s fun to think about.
What are your plans to deploy your money for good? Respond with a comment or shoot me an email and I’ll add you to the post.
Join the 10s who have signed up already!
Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.
*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.
Love this post! Great point about being a job creator. Why take up a good paying job when there are plenty of other people who would love to be in that position.
One correction though, I’ve only donated to food banks, I haven’t volunteered at any. When it comes to volunteering I was overwhelmed trying to find the right opportunities to formally volunteer. Then I realized there is plenty of work to be done in our community, and you don’t need someone supervising you to do it. So now I just take my own bags and go cleanup trash at the parks at my own leisure. I also make it point to check in on elderly neighbors helping them out around the house and with a prepared meals.
My wife and I don’t have kids, we’re planning to retire at 50, we’ve curated our lives to avoid driving… I’ll own it. Heck yeah, we’re selfish! That said we’ve donated something like 25% of our net earnings each month since This Whole Thing started in March, and we’ve been supporting local business to an insane degree compared to the previous nine years we’ve lived here. “Selfish” when it comes to avoiding things that don’t bring us joy, absolutely — while also as generous as we can manage toward those who can’t afford to be as selfish as we are.
I sent my wife a link to Fidelity’s description of a DAF earlier this month and she was a little grossed out. Corporate brokeragespeak can make it sound a bit slimy. I suppose I’ve gotta find some accessible posts in the FIRE community about the good they can do to get her more into it.
Or I should say, peruse the DAF blog posts you’ve thoughtfully provided above to find one that would resonate with her! ?
Both of my parents retired early and spend many of their “working hours” volunteering at the food bank, library, church, and with various VFW organizations – this is time spent, in addition to the funds that these organizations need to run. They do not hesitate to write a check or go shopping for the item(s) needed by the organizations they support. I only hope that I am half as lucky to be able to retire early and in good health to give back in the manner that they do.
Your parents sound like awesome people who have raised an awesome daughter.
I have always said “I want to go with my boots on”
Sounds good to me. Maybe in a fireball too. On my way to/back from space?
When a buddy of mine gave me a little well-meaning ribbing about quitting, I also tried that job creator line. Someone else can have the job and earn the income! They need it more than me, most likely!
It didn’t seem to work. 🙂 But, it’s a genuine point.
I wonder if we did have an actual survey of FI/RE folks…what the results would be compared to the average person in terms of giving—assuming we adjust for income.
My gut feeling is that it’d be accurate to say we’re a stingier bunch when younger during the accumulation phase. But probably much more giving when we’re older and especially once in retirement and things feel stable. *Most* of the time the 4% rule leaves all of us with loads of extra cash.
Overall, in absolute terms of dollars per life, I’d guess we might donate more.
And of course, thanks for the shoutout. It’s been great to have readers participate in our monthly poll, help hold us accountable, and motivate us to give to needy, worthy causes.
I always told Jenni that if I die suddenly, stick me in the Z and launch that sucker to space. I’m ready.
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“I always told Jenni that if I die suddenly, stick me in the Z and launch that sucker to space. I’m ready.”
The Z32! I never followed up! Email incoming…
I hate people who say everyone should pay their “fair share.” Who decides what is “fair?” Based on the tax code, all the taxes I pay are my “fair” share. It is my legal right to pay as little in income taxes as I legally can and as stated before that is my “fair” share. Want people to pay more taxes? Change the tax code, probably would be best to go from an income tax to more of a use tax. We know there is basically no chance the US would go from income to a use tax, they would probably just add a use tax.
My other point is, do you really want the government to have more of your money? They are terrible at spending money in a way that truly helps most people anyways. If you could say for sure that additional money would be earmarked, for example, for roads people would do this. They did this in my state, and still the way the law was written, it bamboozled the populous and we are stuck with a new tax where they can keep raising the amount yearly and use the additional funds for what other dumb non-infrastructure they see fit, which is not what people voted for.
Yep, just like everything else in life, you should earn, invest, and use money in the most efficient way possible including paying no more in taxes than you have to. Play by the rules, but keep as much as you can. If you don’t like the rules, petition your lawmakers to change them.
I think we’re pretty lucky here in America too. I’m always surprised at how little I end up paying because of maximizing 401(k)s and the standard deduction.
Mr. 1500 Your encouragement to inspire to financial independence has improved my life. Thank you for your blog!
You’re welcome! And I hope you’re doing awesome!
The weird questions are always from the weirdos who have their entire identity wrapped up in their work life.
DAF are great especially when you put moonshot stocks in the portfolio and it grows like crazy.
Financial Freedom Countdown recently posted…Year end tax planning strategies for 2020 with mistakes to avoid
Good post Mr. 1500. Especially in my line of work, one more good paying job in a field where they’re disappearing is definitely a good thing, so I agree.
My dad retired at 55, and probably could have retired even earlier, and he and my mom spend a good amount of time volunteering. I have plans to do something similar, though it might involve less United Way style and more running for city council or county board, or putting my time into tackling some major community issues. (Public transportation is something I’m pulling my hair out about currently.)
One more thing on the topic: I was watching a council meeting last night and there was talk about foundations in town and what they’ve helped bring about. I think that’s pretty powerful and I would like to have my money go toward a foundation one day. I know I wouldn’t be around to see it but the money would live in a fund that could perpetually help the community, instead of just on a one-time basis. I wonder what your thoughts are about that?
BC | FrugalWheels recently posted…Fuck you money: How much do you need?
I particularly like the sentence “another funny thing happens in retirement; we start making money again”. It’s true that if you set up side hustles while “classically” working, you don’t have to let them die in early retirement. Appreciate your answer to the question – now I have some ideas for how to respond if anyone calls my early retirement dreams selfish!
Jordan @ FIRE Your Own Way recently posted…Friday FIRE Round-Up #5
Wing Suit Haha nice
I envision mine being something along the lines of 98 yr old guy has epic climbing accident…
I would argue that in a lot of ways excessive consumerism is what is truly selfish (which is essentially the opposite of FIRE).
-Chris
Chris recently posted…PPO vs High Deductible
Mr. 1500 Your encouragement to inspire to financial independence has improved my life. Thank you for your blog!
I tell my family that I want to be cremated if they can find the body. . .
Also, I want my obituary to say that I died by misadventure.
Haha, that’s awesome! I may just borrow it!
There is nothing selfish about FIRE. It is really a personal decision. Most people will find other things to do like volunteering or a side gig.
Dividend Power recently posted…Managing the Downside – Dividend Power Week In Review
I want more personal time. More enjoyment out of life. I am new to this stuff. I just turned 39. And calculated I only invested 27% of my income in the last two months. I thought I was doing closer to 40%. Thats how long I have been at it 2 months. I don’t want to suffer. I want to control my time. I could careless about impressesing at work..but its customer service. Most days are good and its and its an easy job. Not on my feet too long.
This is incredibly important: “I want to control my time.”
I write the application for retirement before the age according to my personal preference. I stayed to work at the end of my age and then came home, but TCT was in a difficult period, needed to fine-tune its personnel apparatus, so I applied to retire early, creating conditions for the next class to develop.
Absolutely love the title to this post. My husband and I are crafting our lives around our early retirement dreams. Is that selfish? Heck yes. But do we owe it to ourselves? Absolutely. Our goal is to break free of the rat race. To have the freedom so we can do what we want to do. And I think everyone deserves financial freedom and at least the ability to choose to retire early.
Great post!
Cheers,
Fiona
Do it! Life is good over here on the other side! 🙂
In my opinion, early retirement is a good thing, because the growing society, we will always receive many new insights from a young age (a new generation). Besides, when you retire early, you can start a business or make money in a simpler and lighter way
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As you mentioned, I’m definitely afraid to run out of money. I didn’t come from a wealthy family so I’m sure that I’ll be handling retirement on my own without any inheritance from my parents. To ensure that I’ll be experiencing a smooth and enjoyable one, it might be a good idea to privately consult an expert and see how I’ll be able to achieve it.