OpinionIt sounds like a depressing existence to me - wishing your life away, denying yourself even the simplest pleasures

Wednesday, 16th October 2019, 14:25 pm

Do you work to live or live to work? New York lawyer Daniel does neither. Or rather, he works to live, just not yet. The 36-year-old, who earns a salary of $270,000 a year, lives on rice and beans, owns one worn-out suit and refuses to turn the heating on in winter. His plan? To save 70 per cent of his salary so that he can retire before he turns 40.

Daniel told the New York Post that he is one of a number of six-figure earners who ascribe to the FIRE - Financial Independence, Retire Early - philosophy, made popular in the 2008 book Your Money or Your Life. Its almost the opposite of the survivalist movement - while they stockpile kerosene and tinned beans, Daniel has the beans now, and hoards the cash instead.

It sounds like a depressing existence to me - wishing your life away, denying yourself even the simplest pleasures, all to escape the rat race. Dont get me wrong, I dont exactly bounce out of bed every morning, birds trilling and sun beaming, before slinging my laptop bag over my shoulder. Hi ho, hi ho, its off to work I go

No, I fantasise about that huge lottery win or that I might lock eyes with a Monegasque prince in my local Tesco Metro (a girl can dream). I could jack in this journalism lark and spend my days as a lady of leisure, idling over long lunches, drifting around art galleries, pursuing all those hobbies I never had time for and napping whenever I damn well felt like it. But would I be happy?

Work is, for most of us, an inescapable part of life. Its not always fulfilling or rewarding - how many of us could honestly say we would do it for free? For many of us, the motivating factor for getting out of bed in the morning is the fact that the bills wont pay themselves.

But when I was diagnosed with a chronic illness seven years ago, and a friend asked if I planned to quit my job, the thought filled me with horror. Whatever would I do with my time if I wasnt working?

In his book Why We Work, psychology professor Barry Schwartz points out that the majority of us are not engaged or motivated by our work. A 2013 Gallup report, drawing on data on 25 million people in 189 countries, found that only 13 per cent of workers feel engaged by their jobs. We are checked out, sleepwalking through our days, putting little energy into our work, he writes.

So it makes sense that people would want to escape it. But we can also change the way we work, albeit in a small way. A happy worker, Schwartz explains, feels they are given the opportunity to do their best and learn, feels appreciated by colleagues and feels that what they do matters. And as the retirement age inches ever higher, it has never been more important for employers to be aware of these needs.

The working day can be a chance to connect with people, to grow and learn, to overcome a challenge and feel a certain sense of (albeit weary) satisfaction at the end of it. If you hate your job, perhaps you should look at changing your job rather than waiting for the day you can stop working.

Besides, most of us are not going anywhere for a while. Daniel may have the self-control to save his pennies, but I fritter much of my salary away on coffee and cake, clothes and travel. But Im ok with that - my nest egg is far from golden, and I may be working until the day I die, but then again (not to get too Alanis Morissette about the whole thing) so might he. Ill take the simple pleasures now, while I can enjoy them, because you never know whats around the corner.

Ultimately, work is a reason to get out of bed in the morning. An aimless life would suit me just fine, for a while, but without a purpose, something to drive me, I imagine even the long lunches and galleries would become dull.

Still, good luck to Daniel - I hope his magic beans bring him everything he hoped for.

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Living on rice and beans while earning $250,000 just to retire early is the wrong way to live - iNews