Longing to stop working? Retiring early creates its own stresses.
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Retiring before age 65 is a dream for many workers. For Taylor Kovar, turning dream into reality made him anxious and depressed.
Having worked since he was a teenager, Kovar decided when he got married at age 23 that he wanted to say goodbye to working when he turned 35. The Lufkin, Texas, resident saved and invested aggressively—some years setting aside as much as 50% of his family’s income—and sold a healthcare business to retire in late 2021 at age 35. The next three years were spent traveling to all 50 states with his family, and trying hobbies like golf and fishing, only to learn how unsatisfying he found those pastimes to be.
The mental shift that came with retirement was even more difficult. Kovar remembers taking his children to a holiday event and checking his phone just to realize over and over again he no longer received messages from work. “When you have a job, you have this sense of importance and people depend on you and you depend on others," he says.
“When you go from checking emails several times a day or all day and managing groups all day everyday—and all of a sudden that stops—that’s a very hard transition." Kovar isn’t alone. Studies show that some people who hang up their briefcases end up suffering from depression and loneliness. It’s a problem that may need more of a spotlight from the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement, which involves aggressive saving and investing to say goodbye to your day job early.
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