For so many of us in the FI community, reaching FI is the finish line.   You made it.  You reached your amazing goal. 

All those years and decades of planning, of sacrifice, of hyper-intentionality have paid off.  Literally paid off—you can see the dollars in your account statements.

But, whew, is this (that) the finish line?  

Analogy

I did Ironman Arizona.  I did a 140.6-mile “race.”  I pushed my body around a lake, 112 miles of bike roads, and then added a marathon at the end.

It was a LONG, tough effort. 

There were ups: getting through each transition, some slight downhills on the bike, and the straightaway to the finish line with Mike Reilly announcing “Kevin, you are, an Ironman.”  I have an mp3 of that PA announcement.

There were downs: getting leg cramps at 1m into a 2.4m swim, which is scary because I needed my legs for 10-12 more hours.  Never mind being in the middle of a lake with your legs saying, “We don’t want to move.”  I never even thought about the drowning risk at that moment because I still had half of an entire day left ahead of me.  I only thought about the finish line.  Then there was my stomach that didn’t want to eat an hour into my ride, which is bad in many ways.  I decided to just eat Goo for HOURS.  This nutritional deficient led to me bonking at 14 miles into the marathon.  Not to mention flatting on my bike around mile 75.  Downs, over and over.

Review: things went crazy, but I finished fine, in time, and have the medal to prove it.

That is the longest single challenging event I’ve ever encountered, so it seems like a comparative event.

Surprise

FI is like the starting line of the Ironman.

Starting line?  How so?  I spent WAY more time over the previous year training and preparing to get to this start than the race took me. 

I had to work hard, plan, be intentional, put in the reps (miles and miles, hours and hours) to get to my goal of starting the race, to become an Ironman. 

The Ironman race, the race start itself, was like reaching FI. 

I had built the base to start the race.  The unknown of the challenge, the race. 

Retiring Early is exactly the same.  You have built the foundation, and you are preparing for the unknown.

Tri timeline

Ooh, this is good.

Retirement may also be in three parts.

Often, retirement phases are often called GoGo, SloGo, NoGo.

We don’t know how long each or any of these phases will take (last).  It’s the same as my swim with cramped legs slowing me, or my bike ride with the flat, or the crazy 40mph winds that day, or running out of energy (funds?) on the run (NoGo for sure).

You don’t know if your race will go great and be 10-12 hours or a mess of my 14+ hours.  I still got my medal.

You don’t know if your retirement (post FI life) will be 50+ years or a crappy, bad-hand 5-10-15 years.

FI – Freedom and Independence

I’m just saying that getting to FI is the prep work (like getting educated and skilled) for your start (like graduating and starting a career). 

Post FI is where you really graduate and have earned something truly extraordinary.  Post FI is where you can truly be you.  Where you have such an amazing super-power to unleash.

Teaser

I know this, put in the reps, do the time, and get to FI so you have freedom, but in my next post I will talk about the “reps” along the way, through life.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.