Saw this CNA story about a former semiconductor engineer who retired at 54.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/today/up-close/sg60-retired-engineer-entrepreneur-outdoors-5279566
This retired engineer has mobility issues but at 60 is still hustling through his second act in life
After leaving a high-pressure career, Juraimi Rahmat's retirement has been anything but slow. From starting businesses to taking up a diploma, the 60-year-old Singaporean believes in keeping his mind active and contributing to society.
But interestingly, retirement for him didn’t mean just stop work and do nothing. He and his wife left full-time employment, then spent their time doing small businesses, studying and pursuing other interests.
I think this is actually quite an interesting way to look at retirement.
Maybe retirement doesn’t have to mean
no more work.
Maybe it just means
no longer needing to work.
Once money is no longer the main issue, you can still choose to work — but only on things you like, at your own pace, without worrying so much about salary, promotion, office politics or whether your boss is happy.
Want to work 1–2 days a week? Can.
Want to start some small business and see how? Can.
Want to study something, volunteer, travel more, or just take it easy for a while? Also can.
To me, there is quite a big difference between:
Working because you have to
vs
Working because you want to
Maybe that kind of “work optional” stage is actually a better goal than completely stopping work.
If tomorrow you had enough money to retire, would you really stop working completely?
Or would you still want to do some part-time work, business, consulting etc — just on your own terms?