John O. Andersen: "Retirement Strategies for Wandering Ascetics, Non-teamplayers, and Other Societal Heretics"

Retirement Strategies for Wandering Ascetics, Non-teamplayers,
and Other Societal Heretics

By John O. Andersen

Most of the retirement advice out there applies to people who follow the 'approved' script for adulthood. This usually means working for X number of years in a full-time career, saving for retirement, building home equity, and so forth. Then, when you reach the years of physical decline, if you've jumped through all of the requisite hoops, your reward is two, perhaps three decades of financial "independence."

There are some people who intentionally rebel against this mainstream script. What about their retirement plans? What about the wandering ascetic whose modest needs liberate her from full-time employment? What about the non-teamplayer who turns away from lucrative positions that would require not just his time and loyalty, but also his lifeblood? What about the people who actually prefer a "career" of short-term assignments, part-time positions and contract work? As far as I'm aware, very little retirement advice exists for such people. So here's my stab at it.

It's important to remember that many so-called "radicals" enthusiastically choose their lot in life. They discover, sometimes very early, that they can enjoy independence without first following someone else's marching orders for 40 years and accumulating a retirement fund. And I'm not talking about rich kids here. I'm referring to those who teach themselves to take a "laid back" attitude toward work, and money, and drastically reduce their material "needs." These people often find that many of the benefits of conventional retirement (work, play, and travel as much or as little as you desire) are attainable throughout their lives. By basing their self-identity on intangibles such as resourcefulness and creativity, rather than things, they liberate themselves from soul-killing drudgery, and individuality-hemorrhaging teamplay.

Sure, there are trade-offs for choosing such a course. No, societal heretics don't need to sacrifice essentials such as good food, adequate shelter, reliable transportation and quality medical care. However, they may have to do without the luxuries, comforts and conveniences which many teamplayers, by virtue of their complicity with the mainstream script, enjoy. Yet true heretics don't mind giving up those things in exchange for the right to be their own person.

Retire from what?

The word retirement doesn't mean a lot to a confirmed societal heretic. They may sincerely ask, "Retire from what?" When you are your own person, and your life already includes all of the things you love and allows you to pick up and discard activities, interests, and jobs at will, why would you ever want to retire from that?

People who find their bliss early in life, pursue it continuously and remain in good health, may not want to stop working until well beyond the traditional retirement age. This continuance of work needn't be a sign of failure for not having planned well. Rather, working into the "golden years" can be a sign of success for finding their calling, and maintaining their mental and physical health such that they are still valued in the marketplace. People who happily continue working don't have to overly concern themselves with home equity, 401K's or IRAs. Having those things is certainly desirable, but for such people they won't be the only lifeline.

Making provision for the years of physical decline

Given that they do at least some work for money well into their seventies, societal heretics may only need to save enough for 15 to 20 years of not working. Of course, some may want to quit earlier than that and others may choose work into their eighties. The point is that a person does work that is agreeable in all major aspects (the way it should be for everyone), that is, no pressure to be phony, low stress, civilized hours, generous time away for vacations, recreation, and leisure interests.

Many elderly heretics will no doubt be inclined toward less physical work. Bookkeeping, consulting, writing, tutoring, oil painting, and drawing is just a small sampling of thousands of soul-rejuvenating ways for aged radicals to make some income.

Housing for heretics

Ascetics and non-teamplayers never heeded conventional "wisdom" on this score. As singles and newlyweds, they were tickled to rent a small room in an interesting urban area. As parents they may have purchased a modest "starter home," and then rebelliously stayed there until it was paid off and sometimes their entire lives, undeterred by social pressures to "trade up." Perhaps they put a high premium on mobility and accordingly chose lifelong renting; sometimes reducing that rent or even eliminating it as they took on maintenance, and upkeep duties for landlords and property owners.

Whatever the case may be, these individualists make housing choices based on what fits their bliss, not what reflects their status in society.

Health issues

People who spend most of their adulthood living as if they were retired, just may bypass many of the health problems that beset people who hate their work and regularly get stressed out. This is not to say that such people will escape all health problems. It does, however, make sense that people who live happily throughout their lives, free from unhealthy habits such as status chasing, and striving to "get ahead," have a good shot at staying physically healthy.

Transportation

There are some great options here. If someone doesn't want to pay the $7,000+ per year required to own, maintain, insure, and fuel an automobile, they may search out places to live where walking, cycling, and use of public transportation can cover all of their travel needs. For the odd trip to the country they might rent a car for a day or a weekend.

Increasingly, builders are constructing places to live where a person can enjoy tremendous mobility, comfort, and luxury without the need to own a car. In my own city of Portland, there are at least half a dozen affordable neighborhoods that fit this description. There are no doubt, many other cities across the country that offer similar options.

Freedom and finances to just take off whenever you want

Wandering ascetics usually know how to make the most of purchased pleasures and pay only a fraction of what others pay. For instance, some find that train travel is a most luxurious way to see the country, and has many advantages over the more clichéd choice of traveling by motorhome. A person could travel by train in first class luxury from coast to coast several times, meet many interesting people, and pay less than 10% of what it would cost to own and operate a motorhome.

Great travel experiences don't need to be expensive. For instance, if a person enjoys indoor activities such as visiting museums, cathedrals, and castles, they could travel during the winter and pay a fraction of what it would cost during the peak summer season. While on vacation, they might splurge every once in a while on meals. Much of the time, however, they may eat snacks, sandwiches, and other low cost fare purchased from supermarkets. Lodging expenses need not be onerous. There are many inexpensive, often high comfort options such as hostels, home exchanges, and budget hotels.

There is also the fascinating option of working your way across the country or the world for that matter. A person, unafraid of new experiences and unburdened with the need to keep up appearances, might take a job as a farm laborer, temporary employee, cab driver or room attendant in the place they want to visit. They may work two or three days in a week and then spend the rest of their time exploring. Perhaps they will find that a bit of work actually enhances their travel experience.

Conclusion

Finding and following your bliss is not inconsistent with having a sense of temporal security. Indeed, it can be the very foundation of temporal security. Wandering ascetics, non-teamplayers, and other societal heretics repeatedly demonstrate the truth of these concepts. They realize that they don't have put in forty plus years of work at some job that they may not completely love in order to enjoy a couple of decades of independence. Rather, they discover that with the proper attitude, and gusto for life, independence is more of a birthright to enjoy throughout life than a dream deferred until just before the final curtain.

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