Facing retirement

I was raised in a family highly valuing steady job and ‘guaranteed’ monthly salary. Although my parents are also investing and building businesses, they are, indeed, part-time entrepreneurs.

There is nothing wrong being a part-time entrepreneurs or working for a boss. My problem is actually in the way of thinking – believing that job security is everything.

Here is what I think of jobs: Employees are exposed to more risks than business owners, and these risks are amplified approaching retirement. Why?

Job security makes you lazy

Job security makes you feel privileged and lazy.

Don’t misunderstood me – By lazy, I mean it in entrepreneurial sense. In the ‘comfort’ of a job, you are not challenging yourself enough, thus you are becoming what your company want you to be.

For instance, if you are a Bank Branch Manager, you will be trained with various seminars and trainings on how to be a better Bank Branch Manager. If you are a Doctor, you will receive trainings that will improve your competence as a Doctor.

You will become a ‘corporate person’ – Everything you do is eventually more for the benefit of your company than for yourself.

And the risks are great, even before you think about retirement: What if your company is going out of business? What if your company can’t afford highly-skilled worker like you? That’s right – You will be downsized and made redundant. This happens more often today than ever, thanks to the recession.

Suppose you are a highly skilled employee that is able to reach the highest level in the corporate world. Still, the risks are great: You will work longer hours than ever, even you will be abroad for 3 weeks while leaving only 1 week in your hometown to be with our family, even more – I have heard stories like this too often, where a highly experienced and skilled employee is having a broken family.

And then the issue of retirement comes. What would you do when you retire as an employee? Travel the world? Live on beach? Do anything you love? Do nothing at all except having fun with your grandchildren?

Chances are, you will eventually feel that life is not meaningful anymore (doing the fun things need fund, and fund is limited after- You’ll lose your purpose to live, and guess what, you will start to decline in health. And yes, many people died not long after the retirement due to depression and anxiety of being an unemployed.

Job security makes it difficult for you to start a business and investing in assets – Something that I feel everyone should do, because retirement is proven to be not that fun, anyway. Moreover, job security makes you ‘entrepreneurially lazy’ and turns you into an employee with full of excuses – “I don’t have time to start a business,” “I don’t think entrepreneurship is for me,” “investing is risky for me,” “I just want to retire and live off what I’ve made in 30 years,” etc.

And without business ownership, retirement is not a pleasant situation you want yourself to be in.

What’s wrong with being ‘entrepreneurially lazy’?

You missed the key to happiness – The ability to have (more) control of your life, work as much and as little as you like, do whatever your heart desires and position yourself to be financially independent.

And things get worse if you are thinking about or approaching retirement.

You will have difficult times answering these real-life questions: (Again – what will I do after I retire? How can I support my life and my family after I retire? How to start a business after I retire?

Will your retirement fund, in which you contribute on regular basis, help you to finance your family activities after you retire? No, and I think retirement fund is one of the riskiest wealth building strategies of all today. You need something else smarter than retirement fund, and unfortunately, being an employee with a secure job hinders you from thinking creatively and learning for ways to invest your hard-earned money.

So what do you suggest?

Again, I suggest you to invest in knowledge about entrepreneurship and investing. Then, you might want to start or buy a business, along with plunging yourself into investing in other investment vehicles, such as real estates, precious metals and stocks (Never, ever, ‘invest’ in a Certificate of Deposit or bank account.)

Sure, many businesses gone bankrupt within the first year of operation, but entrepreneurship can offer you a better chance than a job to strike gold. The same thing also holds true for investing.

All in all, be sure you have the right tools to enter into business and wealth building campaigns.

Any opinions on this topic? Please share yours by commenting on this article.

Ivan Widjaya
Job security sucks
Image by bigevil600.