At age 29 I had two paths.
One path was to crack the BRW Young Rich List and become one of the 200 richest Australians aged 40 or under. All I needed was a net worth of 20m by age 40. It looked likely that I would achieve this.
The other path was to retire with the aim of living life to the fullest. This is what I chose.
We are always faced with tough choices in life and there are no easy answers.
When I was reading the recently released 2016 Young Rich List, I calculated that I am still well on the trajectory to joining the list if I maintain my net worth growth rates over the past ten plus years. At the same time, I know how pointless the race for never ending wealth is. Yet, I still feel a sense of melancholy as I ponder over my decision to retire and live.
To retire is not the easiest choice. I am giving up enormous wealth. I have to put in effort every single day to be happy and make my life the best it can be. I know how easy it is to slip into mundane activities and routines that don't make me happy. I still have goals I want to achieve and I know in my heart that they will take hard work. Great achievement rarely comes without effort.
Despite no longer working, I still have the option to build more wealth and create more businesses if I choose to do so. While I sometimes flirt with this idea, I know that living a happy life and exploring the world are higher priorities for me.
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On a related note, I sometimes wonder whether I could have retired earlier. Under the most optimistic scenario, I would have retired at 27 and then taking 0.8 years to invest the proceeds of say a 10m sale with 30% ownership (around 2 years earlier than when I did retire) as I would have only started to look for jobs at 24, then work 1 year in banking and then 2 years in a startup and its sale finalisation. However, I retired at 29 and took 0.8 years to invest the proceeds.
As I retired 2 years later than my most optimistic scenario, I need to make the most of the time I have now. I generally wasn't happy during my last 2 years at work, but I cannot dwell on that any more as now is the only time I have. On the plus side, I learnt that there is no such thing as a dream job and I don't envy anyone's job (particularly so after having tried a few different jobs post retirement in technology and other sectors).
One path was to crack the BRW Young Rich List and become one of the 200 richest Australians aged 40 or under. All I needed was a net worth of 20m by age 40. It looked likely that I would achieve this.
The other path was to retire with the aim of living life to the fullest. This is what I chose.
We are always faced with tough choices in life and there are no easy answers.
When I was reading the recently released 2016 Young Rich List, I calculated that I am still well on the trajectory to joining the list if I maintain my net worth growth rates over the past ten plus years. At the same time, I know how pointless the race for never ending wealth is. Yet, I still feel a sense of melancholy as I ponder over my decision to retire and live.
To retire is not the easiest choice. I am giving up enormous wealth. I have to put in effort every single day to be happy and make my life the best it can be. I know how easy it is to slip into mundane activities and routines that don't make me happy. I still have goals I want to achieve and I know in my heart that they will take hard work. Great achievement rarely comes without effort.
Despite no longer working, I still have the option to build more wealth and create more businesses if I choose to do so. While I sometimes flirt with this idea, I know that living a happy life and exploring the world are higher priorities for me.
---
On a related note, I sometimes wonder whether I could have retired earlier. Under the most optimistic scenario, I would have retired at 27 and then taking 0.8 years to invest the proceeds of say a 10m sale with 30% ownership (around 2 years earlier than when I did retire) as I would have only started to look for jobs at 24, then work 1 year in banking and then 2 years in a startup and its sale finalisation. However, I retired at 29 and took 0.8 years to invest the proceeds.
As I retired 2 years later than my most optimistic scenario, I need to make the most of the time I have now. I generally wasn't happy during my last 2 years at work, but I cannot dwell on that any more as now is the only time I have. On the plus side, I learnt that there is no such thing as a dream job and I don't envy anyone's job (particularly so after having tried a few different jobs post retirement in technology and other sectors).
