Can I Retire Yet? It’s a profound question that many of us struggle with. After saving and planning for years or even decades, there is no easy answer.
Many people stay in jobs and careers they are not passionate about and save more money than necessary, trapped by feelings of safety and security that accompany a regular paycheck.
The ideas of financial independence and early retirement have grown into a “FIRE movement,” buoyed by a decade long bull market in stocks and real estate.
The FIRE movement has created voices encouraging people to take the plunge sooner. In the worst case scenario, you can “just go back to work.”
About two years ago I left my career as a physical therapist. Recently, I’ve been pondering the question: Could I go back to work?
Financially, things could not have gone better for us since I left my job. The combination of my wife’s ongoing part-time income, the small income from my writing, and an ongoing bull market has led to our portfolio growing substantially in the twenty months since I left my job.
Still, the feelings of uncertainty and anxiety that come with early retirement have not gone away.
I’ve been thinking about the factors that could prevent an early retiree from going back to work. The biggest obstacle is one I never considered before leaving my career.
