Reflections - Retiring early

Background

I am sure everyone thought of retiring early. It is tough to work for a living, and given a choice, I am sure many people will stop working. When I first started my investing journey, I wanted to retire too. Initially, my goal is to retire at the age of 30. But now, I want to closely examine why I felt the urge to retire.

Why did I not want to work?

I think it was attributed to a few reasons:

Escapism

I hated working in FnB. I hated the long working hours, I hated the physically demanding work I had to do. I hated having to face customers. I hated the relatively low pay. I hated the management, the bosses, everything. 

I had just started working and realised how hard it was to earn for a living. I thought that if I could retire earlier than others, I do not have to face these problems that were making me so depressed. 

Looking back, even though FnB isn't the greatest environment to work in, I lacked interpersonal skills to thrive at my jobs and thought early retirement is an easy way out. But early retirement will not solve the root cause of my problems.

I did not want to be stuck in the rat race

I wanted to enjoy life while I was still young instead of being stuck in the rat race. I did not want to slave away for bosses for my whole life.

I wanted to enjoy life with my boyfriend

I had thoughts of marrying my boyfriend and enjoying life with him. I know how much people spend their lives in the workplace instead of with their family and spouses and I did not want that.

What made me change my view?

When I had achievements at work

When I achieved something at work, I felt proud of myself. Achieving something at work is also contributing to a company and an industry. I think this is very meaningful.

I still have so much at the age of 30 to contribute to an industry, to work at a job I love

Realistically, after serving my scholarship bond, I will be 23-24. This means that I will only have 6-7 years before I retire. I think the tech industry is very broad and I don't think 6-7 years is enough to explore the various fields of computer science. I like programming, I like developing even though I am not very good at it yet. But I don't think I want to give up a job that I love

I still have a lot to learn

I was fortunate that my colleagues and supervisors were helpful and taught me a lot during my work there. They gave me insights which made me appreciate the tech industry more. I don't think I will be able to learn that much without working in a company that specialises in IT. In the workplace, companies are forced to learn as much as they can and employees have to collaborate with each other to gain competitive advantages in the market. I get to learn of the latest trends and best practices from my colleagues, who may be the top experts in my field. I don't think this is something I can gain if I retire early.

Living in Singapore is expensive

Realistically, I don't think I will earn enough to be able to cover my living expenses for the rest of my life. Price of basic necessities are increasing, and there are many catastrophic events that can wipe out my savings/investing assets that I will not be able to fully plan for. Insurance/savings can only help me so much. Working beyond 30 helps me to accumulate a better cash buffer.

What are my future plans?

So if I don't want to retire at 30 anymore, what do I want to do beyond 30? To be honest, I don't really know what I would want to do at that age. Maybe I would want to try working in a new environment? I will be working in IT consultancy after graduation, but I have always wanted to try out research and study for my Masters and Phd. Maybe I would want to consider working part time, maybe I would want to consider travelling or taking up a new hobby.

What should I do?

Here are some things I think I should do:

Develop skills needed to thrive in the workplace

• Look out for new trends/skillsets I should learn and seek to apply them
• Learn how to socialise, network and manage relationships
• Learn how to learn
• Learn emotional management
• Learn about the industry and how I can/should contribute to it with my skillsets
• Learn from the good and bad

Continue managing my finances

Finances are important even if I don't want to retire. I want to get to a point where I am financially free so I can support myself and the people around me. 

Continue exploring myself

I think I should continuously explore what I like and don't like, what I am good and bad at.