You Might Never Retire, So Here’s a Better Saving and Investing Strategy
By: Rocco Pendola
Tags: Saving, Budget, Investing, Personal Finance, Money

Redefining work

If you’re going to redefine lifestyle with your sights set on middle age and beyond, you probably gotta redefine work.

If you’re sitting behind a desk all day, stressing over meaningless crap, STOP! Find a way out. There’s always a way out. Don’t skate for the easy way out, which, in this conversation, tends to be complaining followed by a sense of hopelessness and inaction.

I turn to Elliott Smith to help encapsulate this dynamic:

You’ll take advantage ‘till you think you’re being used

’Cause without an enemy your anger gets confused

And I got stuck on a side you know I never chose

But it’s all about taking the easy way out for you, I suppose

Sure, he’s talking about a relationship gone sour there. However, you can interpret song lyrics any way you like. That’s part of their beauty and usefulness.

The second line especially makes sense here. When we feel stuck, we get angry. Instead of looking within ourselves, we look for an enemy. A place to direct our anger. We take the heat off of ourselves. If only the other person or party or world changed, we could change along with it. We take the easy way out.

If work sucks and/or isn’t providing the amount of money you need or would like to have, get the fuck out.

Everyone has a skill. Everyone knows how to do something well, or well enough. Everyone can learn how to do something they’re passionate about well, or well enough. Lots of people know how to do something as well, if not better than most people.

Find that something and pursue it.

You’ll reduce stress. You’ll ultimately make more money. You’ll create the physical and mental longevity you require to be in a position to not concern yourself with fear and anxiety over the (in)ability to work for as long as you want or need to.

None of this is guaranteed. None of it’s easy. It can be downright scary. But, in this new world we live in, you gotta do it. It’ll be easier if you’re twenty. Harder if you’re forty. Less realistic if you’re fifty, though not impossible. But you gotta make the push, particularly if you’re unable to successfully pursue the traditional trajectory to “retirement.”

One of the people I love most in this world co-owns a bar in Los Angeles. He’s in a tough spot right now. However, he’s still as optimistic, resourceful, and entrepreneurial as ever. He developed a passion for the health benefits of mushrooms. With a push from the pandemic, he’s starting a company fueled by this passion.

I look at my girlfriend and marvel at the incredible business she has co-created.

In a tough city to do what she does, she crushes the game. She does this because she doesn’t complain. She adapts. And she understands the reason why people come to her. Of course, they require the services she provides, but she understands she’s among thousands of people in Los Angeles who do what she does.

She understands that she’s in the hospitality business as much as she’s in her core business.

Redefining work doesn’t have to mean you run out and freelance as a content creator or whatever. This will not work for everyone. It means you look at what you do — or the things you think you might be able to do — and take them to the next practical and theoretical level. You thoughtfully consider and reconsider what you do at a higher level.

It’s at this juncture where you’re able to control your situation and future rather than letting your situation and future control you.