Naval Ravikant kinda rules. He’s one of my business heroes. And also a neighbor (I heart SF!!)
In his now-famous tweet storm – which he admits should have been titled “How to Get Wealthy” instead of “How to Get Rich” – he lays out something I’ve been evangelizing for years.
There are only three ways to retire.
From The Almanack of Naval Ravikant:
“Retirement is when you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow. When today is complete, in and of itself, you’re retired.
One way is to have so much money saved that your passive income covers your burn rate.
A second is you just drive your burn rate down to zero — you become a monk.
A third is you’re doing something you love. You enjoy it so much, it’s not about the money.”
Most people are exclusively chasing Option 1.
Hit the number. Generate the passive income. Stop working. Done.
And don’t get me wrong – that’s a worthy goal and it’s literally what we help our members build toward every single day.
But it’s not the only path. And for some people, it might not even be the right one.
Option 2 – the monk path – is good for some, but not our people. File the original FIRE movement under this one. None of our people want to be monks.
Option 3 is my personal favorite, and by that definition, I’m already retired.
Warren Buffett tap danced to work until he turned 95.
Not because he has to. Because he gets to do exactly what he would do even if you took all the money away.
That’s retired. By Naval’s definition – today is complete in and of itself – he’s been retired for decades.
Here’s the honest question this framework forces you to answer:
Which path are you actually on?
The one you want to be on, or the one you woke up to a few decades into your career?
And more importantly – is it the one you chose, or the one you defaulted into?
It’s never too late to change the path your on. As Jim Rohn love to say, “we’re not trees.”