Brad Barrett: 4 Mistakes of See Early Retirees Make

This as-told-to Essay is based on a conversation with Brad Barrett, who hosts the choosefi podcast. Business Insider Has Verified His Professional History.

My Journey to Financial Independence, or Fi, Started when I got my first job.

I began my career at one of the Big Accounting Firms. I was fortunate Enough to live at home with my parents, and i tried to save around 90% of my income we tears of my friends Began getting apartments alone or buying fancy Cars. I’ve always been a bit frugal and never cared much about impressing other People. I SAW SAVING AND MAKING SACRIFICES, LIKE MOVING TO VIRGINIA INSTTEAD OF LIVING IN NEW YORK CITY, AS A SERVICE TO THE LIFE I WANTED IN THE FUTH.

I retired from my full-time jab in 2015, when i was 35.

Fire, or Financial Independence Retire Early, is a cute acronym, and we used it a lot in the Early days. But it doesn’t matter whether you are working full time, part time, or are Completely retired. It ‘s all of the financial independence – reaching a point where we can control the only THING THAT MATTERS IN LIFE, WHICH IS OUR TIME.

From the countless questations I get from listings or those who read ours Newsletter, there are four commonies I see Early retirees make that keep u unsatysfied:

1. They’re retiring Frome something

One Broad Category of Mistakes I See Involves People Simply Not Having ideas of what they have to do in their post-work Life. In the 2013-2017 timeframe, fi was about getting to a number as quickly as Postible, and Little Else Mattered. IT’S Getting Better, but there needs to be a Mindseset Shift to: “I’m Not Running Away From A Job, but i’m Running a life that I want to live.”

If it were just about reaching a number on a spreadsheet for me, and then i woke up the next day expecting it to be the great, I would’ve been disappointed.

2. They Don’t Experiment Enough

I SUGGEST PEOPLE DON’T Have an Arbitrary Number of Hobbies for Post-Retirement. Instead, they should Experiment and Keep an Open Mind.

You is a make plans to travel around the world on a sailboat for the rest of your life, and with a month, you can have seasick and have to stop. But that is not failure – iTi’s just an Experiment.

Retirement Can Be Decades Long. You May Be Really Active in the Early Years Post-Work and Do Things like Climbe Mountains and Walk the Camino, but you maybe can’t that at 85.

This is a mistake of Also made in my journey. I got Very Busy with Raising Two Young Daughters, and i didn’t experiment Enough. I didn’t do a great job of leaning into what i love, Including Small Things Like Watching Soccer, and i’m Trying to fix that now.

3. They do’t take pride in being fi

LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE A HARD TALKING ABOUT Hitting Fi Becuses there is a degree of others’ not understanding or jealousy. I’ve People avoid talking about it Completely or MAKING UP SOME TYPE OF JOB, LIKE “I’M CONSULTING FROM HOME.”

Honesty is really important, and there should be a significant sense of pride attached to being fi. Just Being Able to Say, “hey, i worked hard at this. I saved for the most important THING TO ME, WHICH WAS MY ONTEM.”

There’s a way to communicate that with empathy, and it may be to the Other People also taking an interest in fi. If you’re volunteering at habitat for humanitity on a tuesday at 10 am, and People as you have been working, you can talk about it.

4. They Wait Too Long to Quit

The “One More Year” Syndrome is a Mistake of Still See. It ‘s people delay quitting their jobs or moving onto something new Because they’re their retirement nest isn’t big enough. Most of the time, it’s more than Enough, and People Are Being Too Conservative.

People don’t underestand the finitite of their lives. If we are really Lucky, we get eight or nine decade on this planet, and the tan fewer with goodness.

Everyday that that you work longer than you have to be a day that you’re not doing something with the only resource you can’t get back – your time.