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靠省吃俭用能够提前退休吗?

Alicia Adamczyk
2023-08-22

克里斯托弗·米勒的职业生涯大部分时间都任职于科技行业,这让他可以积攒不少财富。

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克里斯托弗·米勒在2022年54岁的时候退休。他说:“早上花三个小时喝咖啡,令我感到幸福。”图片来源:COURTESY OF CHRISTOPHER MILLER

自从克里斯·米勒于2022年54岁的时候退休,之后他再也没有过多地考虑过工作。

相反,他每天早上醒来喝喝咖啡,玩三个小时的平板电脑,阅读新闻和看电视。他会查看自己的待办事项列表,但大多数待办事项能够推迟到第二天完成,比如运动或打匹克球,以及看看有没有朋友可以见面等等。

这与他过去三十年作为软件工程师的生活形成了鲜明对比,但他并不介意。退休改变了他的生活重心。他的妻子米歇尔比他早三个月退休。他们开着自己的房车在北美旅行,看了19季《实习医生格蕾》(Grey’s Anatomy),在家里修房子,甚至开发了一款退休计算器,帮助其他人计算他们退休需要攒够多少钱。米歇尔每天会做志愿者和养猫。

米勒对《财富》杂志表示:“感觉每天都是星期六。”

退休是一个受人欢迎的巨大变化。米勒的职业生涯大部分时间都任职于科技行业,这让他能够积攒不少财富。去年公司宣布裁员,他决定自己应该休息一下,并谈判了一笔“有利的”离职补偿金,这让他更顺利地完成了向退休生活的过渡(这也是提前退休者的常见策略——如果你可以自主选择何时退休,你就能够获得最合理的离职补偿金)。

米勒在20多岁的时候开始按照最高额度缴纳退休金,但直到30岁左右,他才开始“痴迷于”退休,以及他需要存下多少钱才可以过上舒适的生活。当时他住在南加州,他看到硅谷的员工在互联网繁荣(Dotcom Boom)期间赚得盆满钵满。于是他决定搬到北部,尝试加入这股淘金热。他在一家初创公司找到了软件工程师的工作,并“梦想着迅速暴富”。

他的梦想并没有成真:互联网繁荣之后很快就迎来了互联网泡沫破灭(Dotcom Bust)。米勒曾经在四家初创公司工作,但没有一家公司取得巨大成功。最后,他决定留在一家他喜欢的公司,努力以传统的方式积攒财富。他说:“我省吃俭用攒钱,并进行明智地投资。”

图片来源:COURTESY OF CHRISTOPHER MILLER

在业余时间,他通过一些博客,例如Mr. Money Mustache等,发现了FIRE运动,即财务独立、提前退休,并决定提前退休。

他表示:“我知道我不想等到65岁”,才停止全职工作。“我编写了自己的电子数据表,并进行了计算,这是我的业余爱好。”

米勒拒绝分享他为退休积攒了多少储蓄。但按照约4.5%至5%的年度提取率,即使在2022年这种市场低迷的年份,他的退休储蓄足以让他和妻子住在湾区的房子里,并开着房车旅行。虽然他可能决定未来重回职场,但他称,如果要维持当前的生活方式,他在财务上就没有必要重新工作。

在朝九晚五的工作以外找到生活的意义

米勒在刚退休时曾经担心妻子会感觉无聊。虽然有时候他不像自己想象的那么繁忙,但只要他想起来他最讨厌的是公司里的事务以及通勤,这让他能够用正确的眼光看待事物。

此外,他发现,放轻松并不是坏事。工作了一辈子之后,你可以不让自己始终保持“超高的效率”。

他说:“人们担心会变成懒散的电视迷,有人会寻找新的激情。而我在两者之间。我会把一半自由时间用于放松,另外一半去做以前没有做过的事情。我从来不感到后悔。”

他补充道:“早上花三个小时喝咖啡,令我感到幸福。”

他还通过帮助其他人实现退休目标,找到了生活的意义。米勒鼓励其他上班族通过所谓的“蒙特卡洛模拟”,根据一系列可能的市场条件和其他详细信息,帮助预测投资者是否有足够的退休收入。当然,这种分析并不完美,毕竟没有任何事情是完美无缺的,但这种分析被认为比标准退休收入计算器更加全面,因为后者仅假设每年的标准回报率。

偶尔花几个小时进行分析,可以帮助其他储户遵守自己的储蓄目标。他还建议有志于实现财务独立的其他人,关注自己的支出,以准确预测退休时需要多少储蓄。

他说:“在退休时,你是选择了冻结自己的生活方式支出,这意味着在你退休后这些支出不能增加。要准备做出始终过这种生活并且绝对不能超支的谨慎决定。”

即使退休后也要持续关注自己的财务状况。他指出:“如果经济形势不佳,你就要做好调整支出的准备。我想明年买一辆特斯拉(Tesla),但我只能推迟这个美好的愿望,直到完全收回自己的投资。”

他表示,即使没有做过几十年软件工程师的人,也可以计算出符合自己条件的金额。他说:“有人的资产净值只有我的一半,但这并不意味着他们就无法退休,只是他们只能按照我的预算的一半生活。或许这意味着不同的生活状态,或者更小的房子。但总是有一些数学计算,可以适合各种情况。”

图片来源:COURTESY OF CHRISTOPHER MILLER

最后,米勒指出,提前退休者必须想明白,他们“愿意用金钱来换取时间,或许要失去生活中让他们有成就感的东西。”在美国,工作让许多人具有了使命感(尤其是高收入者)。但不全职工作,并不意味着你的生活就失去了意义,只是你的生活可能有了不同的意义。

他说:“在工作期间,我有许多想做但没有时间做的事情。排在第一位的就是房车旅行。现在我正在实现自己的梦想。”米勒目前正在进行为期47天的跨加拿大旅行。他和妻子的朋友也曾经与他们一起房车旅行,并且他们计划每年进行一次持续几周的旅行。

如果年轻20岁,克里斯·米勒就不会相信他会放弃自己的事业去房车旅行和参加匹克球锦标赛。过去一年,米勒甚至拒绝了一些合同工作的邀请,因为他很享受这种不需要做出承诺的日子。

米勒说:“现在,我很享受不需要承担责任的生活,而且我每天早上醒来只需要决定当天应该干什么即可。我听从内心的呼唤,做自己热爱的事情。”(财富中文网)

译者:刘进龙

审校:汪皓

自从克里斯·米勒于2022年54岁的时候退休,之后他再也没有过多地考虑过工作。

相反,他每天早上醒来喝喝咖啡,玩三个小时的平板电脑,阅读新闻和看电视。他会查看自己的待办事项列表,但大多数待办事项能够推迟到第二天完成,比如运动或打匹克球,以及看看有没有朋友可以见面等等。

这与他过去三十年作为软件工程师的生活形成了鲜明对比,但他并不介意。退休改变了他的生活重心。他的妻子米歇尔比他早三个月退休。他们开着自己的房车在北美旅行,看了19季《实习医生格蕾》(Grey’s Anatomy),在家里修房子,甚至开发了一款退休计算器,帮助其他人计算他们退休需要攒够多少钱。米歇尔每天会做志愿者和养猫。

米勒对《财富》杂志表示:“感觉每天都是星期六。”

退休是一个受人欢迎的巨大变化。米勒的职业生涯大部分时间都任职于科技行业,这让他能够积攒不少财富。去年公司宣布裁员,他决定自己应该休息一下,并谈判了一笔“有利的”离职补偿金,这让他更顺利地完成了向退休生活的过渡(这也是提前退休者的常见策略——如果你可以自主选择何时退休,你就能够获得最合理的离职补偿金)。

米勒在20多岁的时候开始按照最高额度缴纳退休金,但直到30岁左右,他才开始“痴迷于”退休,以及他需要存下多少钱才可以过上舒适的生活。当时他住在南加州,他看到硅谷的员工在互联网繁荣(Dotcom Boom)期间赚得盆满钵满。于是他决定搬到北部,尝试加入这股淘金热。他在一家初创公司找到了软件工程师的工作,并“梦想着迅速暴富”。

他的梦想并没有成真:互联网繁荣之后很快就迎来了互联网泡沫破灭(Dotcom Bust)。米勒曾经在四家初创公司工作,但没有一家公司取得巨大成功。最后,他决定留在一家他喜欢的公司,努力以传统的方式积攒财富。他说:“我省吃俭用攒钱,并进行明智地投资。”

在业余时间,他通过一些博客,例如Mr. Money Mustache等,发现了FIRE运动,即财务独立、提前退休,并决定提前退休。

他表示:“我知道我不想等到65岁”,才停止全职工作。“我编写了自己的电子数据表,并进行了计算,这是我的业余爱好。”

米勒拒绝分享他为退休积攒了多少储蓄。但按照约4.5%至5%的年度提取率,即使在2022年这种市场低迷的年份,他的退休储蓄足以让他和妻子住在湾区的房子里,并开着房车旅行。虽然他可能决定未来重回职场,但他称,如果要维持当前的生活方式,他在财务上就没有必要重新工作。

在朝九晚五的工作以外找到生活的意义

米勒在刚退休时曾经担心妻子会感觉无聊。虽然有时候他不像自己想象的那么繁忙,但只要他想起来他最讨厌的是公司里的事务以及通勤,这让他能够用正确的眼光看待事物。

此外,他发现,放轻松并不是坏事。工作了一辈子之后,你可以不让自己始终保持“超高的效率”。

他说:“人们担心会变成懒散的电视迷,有人会寻找新的激情。而我在两者之间。我会把一半自由时间用于放松,另外一半去做以前没有做过的事情。我从来不感到后悔。”

他补充道:“早上花三个小时喝咖啡,令我感到幸福。”

他还通过帮助其他人实现退休目标,找到了生活的意义。米勒鼓励其他上班族通过所谓的“蒙特卡洛模拟”,根据一系列可能的市场条件和其他详细信息,帮助预测投资者是否有足够的退休收入。当然,这种分析并不完美,毕竟没有任何事情是完美无缺的,但这种分析被认为比标准退休收入计算器更加全面,因为后者仅假设每年的标准回报率。

偶尔花几个小时进行分析,可以帮助其他储户遵守自己的储蓄目标。他还建议有志于实现财务独立的其他人,关注自己的支出,以准确预测退休时需要多少储蓄。

他说:“在退休时,你是选择了冻结自己的生活方式支出,这意味着在你退休后这些支出不能增加。要准备做出始终过这种生活并且绝对不能超支的谨慎决定。”

即使退休后也要持续关注自己的财务状况。他指出:“如果经济形势不佳,你就要做好调整支出的准备。我想明年买一辆特斯拉(Tesla),但我只能推迟这个美好的愿望,直到完全收回自己的投资。”

他表示,即使没有做过几十年软件工程师的人,也可以计算出符合自己条件的金额。他说:“有人的资产净值只有我的一半,但这并不意味着他们就无法退休,只是他们只能按照我的预算的一半生活。或许这意味着不同的生活状态,或者更小的房子。但总是有一些数学计算,可以适合各种情况。”

最后,米勒指出,提前退休者必须想明白,他们“愿意用金钱来换取时间,或许要失去生活中让他们有成就感的东西。”在美国,工作让许多人具有了使命感(尤其是高收入者)。但不全职工作,并不意味着你的生活就失去了意义,只是你的生活可能有了不同的意义。

他说:“在工作期间,我有许多想做但没有时间做的事情。排在第一位的就是房车旅行。现在我正在实现自己的梦想。”米勒目前正在进行为期47天的跨加拿大旅行。他和妻子的朋友也曾经与他们一起房车旅行,并且他们计划每年进行一次持续几周的旅行。

如果年轻20岁,克里斯·米勒就不会相信他会放弃自己的事业去房车旅行和参加匹克球锦标赛。过去一年,米勒甚至拒绝了一些合同工作的邀请,因为他很享受这种不需要做出承诺的日子。

米勒说:“现在,我很享受不需要承担责任的生活,而且我每天早上醒来只需要决定当天应该干什么即可。我听从内心的呼唤,做自己热爱的事情。”(财富中文网)

译者:刘进龙

审校:汪皓

Since Chris Miller retired in 2022 at the age of 54, he hasn’t thought about work much.

Instead, he wakes up, makes coffee, and spends three hours with his tablet, reading the news and watching TV. He’ll check his to-do list—though most things can be pushed to another day—maybe exercise or play some pickle ball, and see if any of his friends are able to meet up.

It’s starkly different from the three decades he spent working as a software engineer, not that he minds. His retirement shifted his priorities. He’s spent his time traveling with his wife Michelle—who retired three months before him—around North America in their RV, watching 19 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, tinkering around the house, and even building a retirement calculator to help other people figure out how much money they’ll need in retirement. Michelle spends her days volunteering and fostering kittens.

“Every day feels like Saturday,” Miller tells Fortune.

It’s been a big, but welcome change. Miller logged long hours in the tech industry for most of his career, which allowed him to save significantly. When his company announced layoffs were coming last year, he decided it was time to take a break and negotiated a “favorable” severance package, which helped ease his transition into retirement (it’s also a common tactic among early retirees—if you can pick when you retire, you can optimize your exit package).

Miller started maxing out his retirement contributions in his 20s, but it wasn’t until around age 30 that he became “obsessed” with the concept of retirement and how much he would need to save to live a comfortable life. At the time, he lived in Southern California and watched as Silicon Valley workers made out like bandits during the Dotcom Boom. He decided to move north to try to get in on the gold rush. He got a job as a software engineer at a startup and “had dreams of getting rich immediately.”

That didn’t happen; the Dotcom Boom was quickly followed by the Dotcom Bust. Miller worked at four different startups, none of which were hugely successful. Eventually, he decided to stay put at a company he liked well enough and try to build wealth the old-fashioned way. “I saved my pennies and invested wisely,” he says.

In his free time, he discovered the FIRE—financial independence, retire early—movement through blogs like Mr. Money Mustache and went all in on early retirement.

“I knew I didn’t want to wait until 65” to stop working full time, he says. “I was doing my own spreadsheets and calculations, that was my hobby.”

Miller declined to share how much he saved for retirement. But between him and his wife, it’s enough to live in a house in the Bay Area and travel in their RV on an annual withdrawal rate of around 4.5% to 5%, even in a down market like 2022. While he may decide to go back to work one day, he says he doesn’t need to financially if they keep their lifestyle the way it is now.

Finding purpose outside the 9-to-5

When he first retired, Miller was worried that his life would lack purpose. And while there are some days he isn’t as busy as he would like, remembering the things he disliked most about the corporate world—the commute being a big one—helps put things in perspective.

Plus, taking it easy isn’t so bad, he’s finding. After a lifetime of working, it’s okay not to be “uber productive” all the time.

“People are worried they’ll become couch potatoes, others find new passions. I’m in the middle,” he says. “I have all this free time and I use half of it to relax and half of it to do things I didn’t do before. I have no regrets about that.

“I’m happy to spend three hours drinking my coffee in the morning,” he adds.

He’s also found purpose in helping others reach their retirement goals. Miller encourages other workers to run a so-called Monte Carlo simulation, which is a type of analysis that helps project whether an investor will have enough retirement income given a range of possible market conditions and other details. It’s not a perfect analysis, of course—nothing can be—but it is considered more thorough than a standard retirement income calculator that only assumes a standard rate of return each year.

Spending a few hours running the numbers every now and then can help other savers stay on track. He also advises those interested in financial independence to track their spending meticulously so they will accurately know how much they’ll need in retirement.

“When you retire, you’re choosing to freeze your lifestyle expenses, they can’t really increase after you retire,” he says. “Be ready to make the conscious decision to always be living that lifestyle and never more.”

And keep following your financial progress even after you retire. “Be prepared to make spending adjustments if things are looking down,” he says. “I’m hoping to buy a Tesla next year, but I’m deferring that gratification until our investments fully recover.”

Even those who didn’t work as a software engineer for decades can figure out the math that works for them, he says. “Somebody else who has half the net worth of me, that doesn’t mean they can’t retire, they just have to live on half the budget,” he says. “Maybe that means living in a different state, or a smaller house. There’s always some math that works in any situation.”

Finally, Miller says early retirees have to be sure they’re “willing to trade money for time and possibly lose out on what fulfills you in life.” In the U.S., work gives many people a sense of purpose (particularly high earners). But just because you’re not working full time doesn’t mean your life will lose meaning—it may just take on a different one.

“When I was working, there were a lot of things I wished I could do that I just didn’t have time for. RV travel was number one on that list, and now I’m just living that dream,” he says, noting he’s currently on a 47-day trip across Canada. He and his wife have friends who also travel with their RVs, and they are aiming for a few weeks-long trips each year.

The Chris Miller of 20 years ago wouldn’t believe he gave up his career for RV travel and pickle ball tournaments. He’s even turned down some offers of contract work over the past year because he’s enjoying his commitment-free days.

“Right now, I’m really enjoying the lack of responsibility and the notion that I can wake up every day and just decide what to do that day,” he says. “I’m following my heart, I’m doing the things I’m passionate about.”

财富中文网所刊载内容之知识产权为财富媒体知识产权有限公司及/或相关权利人专属所有或持有。未经许可,禁止进行转载、摘编、复制及建立镜像等任何使用。
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