What happens if you dont want to retire early

What happens if you dont want to retire earlyWhat happens if you dont want to retire earlySometimes in the personal finance community, we fall over ourselves preaching the virtues of early retirement. Especially after weactually do it. Its our new way of life, and because its working out so well for us, its going to work out well for everyone.And therefore, everyone should pursue early retirement as well. Why would they not? Its working out so great for meFollow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moraBut heres the thing Yes, early retirement has been wonderful, but it also wont work the same way for everyone. Im not here to sell you on early retirement. Its not necessarily the best thing since sliced bread. Why?Enjoyable jobs can provide ahealthy purposeSome mayneedto work to support family and loved onesMany wouldnt know what to do with themselves without a jobWe get so hung up on theshittin ess of jobsthat we relentlessly attack their very nature. Ive done this, too.Ive made it no secret that I hate corporate America. I worked for 14 years and made good money, but I didnt enjoy it. Almost ever. I could not fathom another 30 years doing that stuff. It just didnt work for me and I needed out.Early retirement worked for me. My wife and I are proud of what we accomplished and make no apologies to society for bailing from the grind in our 30s.But, what if it doesnt work for you? Are you somehownot doing it right?What if early retirement doesnt work for you?First, dont feel bad. Just because you dont want to retire early (or cant), that doesnt mean youre a bad person. It simply means youre different than me. And, different from a lot of otherFIRE bloggers.We are FIRE bloggers because we arent finding fulfillment in our full-time jobs. But, thats not to say that jobs dont provide a whole hell of a lot of value for a lot of people. They do.Jobs provide purpose. Something to do with our time. An opportunity for us to get out of the house and meet people. Build a network of friends. Solve interesting challenges and do new things.All that stuff is good. HoweverLet me digress for just a moment.I do believe that finding a purpose in lifeoutside of your jobis chock-full of wisdom, too. There is nothing wrong with loving your job, but theres a risk inherent in that, too. Bare with me for a few moments.The problem with loving your jobFor most of us, our jobs are nothing more than a means to an end. Our jobenables our work. It puts into action the thing that we love doing.But, jobs also come and go. And, they can seriously suck sometimes.Right now, you might love your job. Love everything that you do. You have an awesome boss who genuinely cares about you as a person. He or she gives you theautonomy to do your jobin the best way that you know how.They dont care about status reports or wertzuwachs reviews.Everythings awesome. You love it.But, what happens if your company gets bought out by another much larger entity and strips out that layer of wickedly-cool management and replaces it with a collection of mindless automatons whose sole focus is the bottom line?Suddenly, weekly status reports are the norm. Youre having 1-on-1 meetings every week with your boss instead of doing the things you enjoy.Oh, and those raises that youve enjoyed the past five years? Theyre gone or at the very least, reduced. They are tied directly to an arbitrary 1 to 5number on your yearly performance review that would make the most bureaucratic manager extremely proud. You get what you get. And, youre no longer permitted to leave at 3 pm on Friday afternoons, either.The workday ends at 5 pm, pal. Bet you wish that youprepared for a job lossa little more aggressively now, eh?In other words,jobs change. If you are like most of us, youll probably move around within your industry, too (in fact, thats howsignificant pay increases tend to happen). Jobs come and go.Love y our work not necessarily your job. But I digress.If you love what you do so much that you have no intention of ever retiring much less retiring before 65, then heres the next best thingFinancial Independence. What if you have no intention of retiring early? Then set your sights on something thatsalways beneficial.Financial Independenceis more important than early retirementEarly retirement gets attentionin the mediabecause thats a popular buzzword that generates clicks. And, I get it. People are naturally interested in early retirement because its way different. It goes against the norm.And because of that, its also super controversial.But,its the financial independence part thats the more important elementof this whole retirement business,andthereasonisverysimple.Financial independence means weve accumulated enough money in our savings, investments and things like home equity to live out the remainder of our lives with a reasonable chance of never running out of money.NoteA lot of us use theTrinity studyas the foundation for figuring out when financial independence has been achieved.When we achieve financial independence, we no longer have to work a traditional job though we still can if we choose to. We are no longer required to maintaina consistentcash flow to fund our lifestyle.Early retirement, on the other hand,impliesthe financial independence part. After all, we cant quit our jobs (for good) without having enough cash to live. But, it also means weve gone that extra step and quit our jobs.In ER, we quit our jobsafterachieving financial independence.But make no mistake about itFinancial Independence is much more important than Early Retirement, and most retirees value the FI part more than the ER part.though, it may not seem that way sometimes.Financial independence provides the freedom and flexibilityto do anything.YOUbecome the ultimate ruler of your life rather than your full-time job. You zupflmmel and choose your schedule. You decide your lifes wo rk from that point on.Its not about earning a ton of cash, ornot having kids, winning thelottery, or lucking out in the stock market with investments.This FI/RE movement is about happiness. Nothing more, nothing less.The gritty details of incomes, cash flow, and net worths arent what is most important in this conversation. Those details matter, but they also dont tell the whole story of why.This is the story of what makes us smile and its going to be different for each and every one of us. We travel. Others hate to travel. Some might want to live in a high cost-of-living area while others prefer something different. Vanlife. House-sitting.Minimalism.FatFire.LeanFire.Guys and gals, it doesnt fing matter.Whats the difference between financial independence and early retirement?These two concepts are mutually exclusive, and its important to note that while there is incrediblewisdom in achieving FI, the ER part is 100% optional.Financial Independencemeans that you have enough money to su stain your lifestyle without holding down a job or a significant means of cash flow. Theres nothing to say that you cant continue to work a full-time job even after achieving financial independence.Early Retirementmeans youve quit the rat race. Youre no longer working a full-time job even though youmight be earning moneyin one of your passion pursuits (blogging,woodworking, etc). Early retirementimpliesthat youre financially independent.Sometimes, youll hear these two concepts referred to as FIRE or FI/RE. Though, other derivatives exist, like FIOR and FFLC.If youre looking for a bunch ofcompletely meaningless buzzwords and acronyms, I got ya covered.Important bottom line Whether you like your job or not or plan to retire early or not, the instant that financial independence is achieved,your life changes. Your ability to quit your job and dosomething else becomes simple. Layoffs becomemeaningless. Your confidence to try new things and exert yourself almost becomesautomatic.Early re tirement is not a magic pillIf theres one thing that you take from this article, let it be thisDont let anybody sell you on the idea that early retirement is going to fix all of your problems, or that if you just pay some money and sign up for such-and-such course, or read this or that book, youll surely retire early and fall ass-backward in money, fame, and happiness.Reality doesnt work that way, and there are too many who are selling the idea of happiness. But as we all know, happiness is very rarely bought.Dont try to buy it.This article first appeared on Thinksaveretire.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will ersatzdarsteller your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people