The foundation for my argument is now built. The modern American retirement model seems normal, and everyone advises us to pursue it as hard as we can. But it is really normal? Throughout history do we see people working for a certain number of years, and then voluntarily leaving their work and lounging around while still in good health? Do we see men and women seasoned with wisdom, experience, and understanding, having truly mastered their art, just abandoning it because they hit a certain magic age? Even today, do other parts of the world see life this way?
I think normal isn’t really normal.
I’m young, healthy, strong, and have lots of energy right now. My wife is beautiful and energetic, and my kids are small and filled with wonder at their surroundings. We have two investment options.
1. We can save lots of money in a retirement account, hope the government doesn’t change the laws and take it, hope it earns interest and grows, hope we maintain good health, hope our community remains peaceful, hope we don’t have a fatal accident, and hope we have enough money to raise our kids and love people around us. And one day, we’ll get to spend all that money on ourselves doing fun stuff, if everything works out just right.
2. Or we can take most of the money we could be saving for retirement and have more family time to train our children, teach them how to love learning, teach them how to live life joyfully, and teach them skills they will use the rest of their lives. We could invest in our marriage, going out on dates regularly, having time to hang out, take some inexpensive out-of-town trips, work on dreams and hobbies together, and cultivate our lifelong bond. We could invest in other people, helping friends in need, giving money to complete strangers, and supporting a local charity or church. We won’t save much for retirement, but we’ll have built lasting relationships and changed the lives of not only our children, but many others who we were able to touch.
In the next post, I’ll tell you why I think we’ve chosen #1, even though #2 sounds much better.
rebelauthentic 