When financial independence is irrelevant? That sounds like heresy! But such irreverence regarding the relevance of FI came from a regular blog reader, so let’s give him a chance.
The argument is a riff on the “If you find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Or “Live a life you don’t want to escape from, and you’ll never want to retire.” Something along those lines.
One day, Kelly and I were talking about our future goals in the context of our financial plans. If we suddenly became financially independent today, what would we do differently? Would we quit our jobs? Live somewhere else? Travel full time?
After some thinking, we decided the answer was no. Like 85% of actual lottery winners (with average winnings of $3.63M), we would continue to work. We wouldn’t make any significant changes to our lives.
I was previously in a high-stress, high-volume private practice where I would have quit if given this windfall. Kelly hasn’t always been in the place she is now with her job and with her work-life balance.