Early Semi Retirement Opens a World of Possibilities

The following is a guest post from Steve at Money Infant. Steve is an early semi retired guy living in Thailand and blogging about personal finance from the perspective of someone who values experience over material things.

Once you are semi retired there are a whole slew of possibilities that open up to you. This is especially true for those who choose early semi retirement because you are likely to have more energy and enthusiasm. In fact, it is these opportunities that often make people choose early semi retirement over continuing in their full time employment. Often there are trade offs involved, especially in your finances, but the world of opportunities can be the deciding factor.

If you are considering early semi retirement, here are 6 things you can do with your new found freedom:

1. Travel - Most of us love to travel, but with a full time job you are likely limited to 4-5 weeks a year at the most to indulge yourself in this particular form of pleasure. Not so when you choose early semi retirement. The world becomes your oyster and you can choose among the millions of travel options and destinations available to you. Whether you like short trips close to home, longer vacations in far off destinations or even if you yearn for the life of an expatriate (as I did) you can realize your travel dreams once you are semi retired.


2. Hobbies - Most of us have a hobby of some sort, whether it be woodworking, gardening, reading or playing with computer hardware or software. Once you become semi retired you will have enough time not only to pursue your favorite hobby, but also take up new ones that you may have put off because of the lack of time. And depending what your hobbies are you might even decide to find a way to profit from them, combining work and play and profiting from your passions.


3. Spend time with your family - This is one of my favorites. I have two older boys and I missed much of their younger years because of work committments. Not so with my 21 month old daughter. I get to spend as much time with her as I like and watch her development on a daily basis. Not to mention the increased time I have with my wife. Our marriage is much more rich and our relationship is closer than ever thanks to my being present on a daily basis. If you have loved ones that you want to get closer to there is no better way than to grant yourself the freedom to do so by becoming semi retired early in your life.


4. Write a book - It is said that everyone has at least one story in them worth telling. Why not express yourself in the written word by writing a book? There are only limited ways to gain immortality and becoming an author is one of them. Once you pen and publish your words they will be around for countless future generations to benefit from and enjoy. Who knows what influence you might eventually have?


5. Go back to school - Maybe you never had the chance to finish your degree or perhaps you've considered taking up a new career. Early semi retirement opens up the possibility for you to resume your studies or to branch off in a completely different direction if you like. Don't think you are too old because there is always a way to teach an old dog new tricks!


6. Volunteer - Now that you have more time available to you it might want to use some of it by giving back to your community. There are all sorts of volunteer opportunities from helping in soup kitchens to traveling overseas and assisting in less developed countries. Depending on your skill set you could make a huge difference. Those in the medical and engineering fields are always welcomed in overseas projects. And everyone is welcomed in those projects closer to home.

I think this list just scratches the surface of the opportunites that become available once you take an early semi retirement. The choices are only limited by your own interests and imagination. Let me know in the comments about some other early retirement options you may have thought of or are considering.

Comments

[retirebyforty]

I would spend the majority of my semi-retirement with our 1 year old. We'll have a ton of fun going out and about the town. Summer is coming up and I don't want to be stuck in a cubicle anymore. Other than that, I probably spend more time in the community garden and work on making a bit of money on the side. :)

[MC]

Not surprisingly, it sounds good. The question is, can I afford it? Since I'll have kids in college, unfortunately the answer is "no".

[Nick]

I'd definitely hit up all of these with the exception of #5. Part of me wants another advanced degree, but with 8 years of college/grad school I think I gave enough time to the education system. But I'd try and combine family, travel and volunteering for some sweet family experiences and sprinkle in a book or two. I have a lot to say... Anyone want to listen?

[Old Limey]

I started my full retirement fairly early at age 58 and soon started getting very interested in the technical side of investment analysis. Before I knew it I found it so interesting and challenging that it wasn't long before I had subscribed to a proprietary database of mutual funds and market indexes (updated daily) and in the process came into contact with a rapidly growing base of investors ranging from beginners like myself to some that were very experienced indeed. Pretty soon I found myself developing a comprehensive analytical software program that used the database and working longer hours than at any time in my life. Not at all what I thought my retirement would be.

In retrospect it turned out to be a totally unexpected lucky break. I recruited about half a dozen of the most knowledgable investors to become my unpaid "beta" testers and as my modular program started to grow I e-mailed free copies to all of the other investors that showed interest. To protect my interests each copy required the user's unique database ID number and also had an expiration date encoded within. Over time I kept adding new modules until I reached version 20 which had 36 modules at which time I decided that it was time for the free ride to stop and earn some money for all my work. There was an enthusiastic response for the software that kept my wife and I busy generating CDs, having manuals printed and making daily trips to the Post Office.
The maket was doing very well back then and as users spread the word about my software to their friends I was forced to putting in far more hours than I wanted.

While this was going on I started on a second program which more than doubled the capabilities up to 76 modules. By this time I found myself working very long hours seven days/week and my wife 'gently' encouraged me to call it quits and get on with our retirement before taking a hammer to my computer.

The financial rewards were very nice but I found that when you are self employed and working from home, as I was back then, it's pretty easy to let things get out of control and find yourself working far too hard.

There's an old English proverb that reads, "All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy" - and it was true for at least two solid years.

[Tie the Money Knot]

I'm quite a long way from that stage of life, but at this point can see spending time with family and traveling. What's more important than those close to you? Of course, we don't want to get bored either, and people I know who are retired that do have the ability to travel seem happy.

[WorkSaveLive]

Semi-retirement is a beautiful thing to think about and we're taking one step closer to it every day!

It will be a long journey for us but I hope to be able to retire or semi-retire by 40!

Of course that all depends on our ability to product large amounts of income now and limit the lifestyle inflation!

[Money Infant]

@Retireby40 - I have to agree with you, having the time to spend with my (now 22 month old) young daughter these past 10 months has been priceless.

@MC - Well college only lasts 4 years :)

@Nick - If it's purely for enjoyments sake then getting an advanced degree would be a wonderful way to spend part of your early retirement. I would definitely read your book Nick.

@Old Limey - It sounds to me as if those 2 years may have financed quite a nice lifestyle in retirement. I wonder if there would have been a way to outsource some of that work and take the burden off your own shoulders? Sounds like one heck of an awesome experience though!

@TTMN - Traveling can fill up a large amount of time and it's a great way to keep from getting stale or bored. The world is a BIG place.

@WSL - If you make it to semi retirement by 40 you'll be ahead of 99+% of others and will be the envy of all your friends :)