All Mike and Mary could dream about was achieving financial zen. They didn’t HATE their jobs. They weren’t MISERABLE.
BUT they didn’t want to work a day longer than they had to.
So they saved aggressively. They cut corners on their expenses wherever they could. They did everything right financially.
And their hard work paid off when they retired at 51.
With nearly 50% of their life to live, they went nuts and did all the things they dreamt of while they were working.
The first few years were a dream come true full of travel and golf and fun in the sun.
But just like taking a break from a diet, all that fun started to wear thin.
They felt a lack of contribution. Their existence lost a little meaning. Living the life of their dreams actually got… boring.
So 7 years after retiring, they went back to work.
Not because they needed the money, but because they needed something meaningful to do.
Mike and Mary were examples who turned into warnings.
If you’re reading this, you likely have the opportunity to retire insanely early if you do everything right.
But doing everything right to cross the finish line ahead of schedule is the easy part.
The hard part is staying fulfilled post-retirement.
Don’t take my word for it though. If you hop on the FatFIRE subreddit, you’ll see countless examples of people like Mike and Mary.
Speaking from experience, our most successful early retirees put as much work into planning their post-work life as they do getting to the finish line.
