David Champion retired early at 53. In his own words, the first five years were “magnificent,” with endless opportunities for climbing and adventure. However, he knows the next five won’t come so easily.
Introduction
Retirement is often an ideal detached from reality. When overwhelmed by daily routines, it’s easy to imagine retirement as a stress-free life with a blank calendar and complete freedom. However, retirement often brings unexpected psychological challenges, including a lack of purpose, boredom, relationship strain, and a troubling sense of isolation.
Today’s guest, David Champion, retired from his software development career at 53. Nearly five years later, a line from one of his blog posts for Can I Retire Yet? titled Confessions of an Early Retiree jumped off the page. He wrote: “I am a proponent of retiring as early as possible.” While he had no regrets about retiring early, he later admitted to experiencing significant psychological challenges. In our conversation, David reconciles his “no regrets” view of early retirement with the difficulties of adapting to life without traditional work. David highlights the need for self-awareness and embracing one’s true identity to find fulfillment in retirement (and climbing).
Listen to the Podcast
Topics Discussed with David Champion
- Why David thinks you should retire as early as possible
- But…why he wouldn’t have been happy as a 30-something or 40-something retiree
- What you won’t expect to miss from work
- David’s adventurous first five years of retirement
- Finding partners with time for adventure
- David’s hilarious response to why he has so much time
- The problem with saying “I’m retired”
- Getting connected with Chris Mamula and writing for the Can I Retire Yet? blog
- Dealing with winter boredom
- Thoughts on working on the road
- The psychological challenges of a long retirement and how to create lasting fulfillment
- How to self-impose daily, weekly, and monthly structure
- “Become who you are” vs being who you think you should be
- David’s ideal trip length (HINT: It’s not very long)
- How “balance” becomes rigid and restrictive
- Adopting a seasonality mindset
- David’s evolving thoughts on international travel
- Social life in retirement. How social life revolves around the workplace
- The personalities prone to early retirement
- The pitfalls of aligning too many interests with a romantic partner
- Misleading FIRE bloggers, the “new status” of minimalism, frugality, or a race to early retirement, and why David has become what he once “hated”
- David’s financial measurements to secure his retirement
- Why the 4% rule is “way oversimplified”
- How David handles market volatility
- The psychological dilemma of switching from saving to spending
- The dangers of following market news
- Why David says he wouldn’t have retired if he knew what was coming next
Get in Touch with David Champion
David at Can I Retire Yet? (Website)
David’s “nerdy software projects” at GitHub
Other Resources Mentioned
Confessions of an Early Retiree (Can I Retire Yet?)
EP 5: Diana Crabtree Green: Pay Yourself First (Clipping Chains)
EP 3: Chris Mamula: One Bite at a Time (Clipping Chains)
EP 60: What You Need to Know About Financial Advisors with Chris Mamula (Clipping Chains)
EP 55: Darrow Kirkpatrick: Beyond Doubt on the Colorado Trail (Clipping Chains)
Am I as Rich as I Think? (Can I Retire Yet?)
Books
All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)
The Maniac (Benjamin Labatut)
Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell’s 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon (Edward Dolnick)
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