Retirement before the age of 40

         Essentially this has been one of my burning desires even before I had started my career. Now why would a sane person think of retirement even before starting a job ... well 2 things..one when did I say I was sane (joking u need to laugh), two who says retirement means sitting on a broken chair reading newspaper and waiting for the fated time.

This thought got 'Inception' (Since I watched this movie I have really been fascinated by this word) probably during my college days at AMU, where I had a gala time at the hostel and fairly enough I got to interact with a lot of people who were from different streams than me, like PhD(English), Doctors, Engineers, Bio-Technologist, Fine Arts students and due to my diverse friend circle I collected a lot of ideas. The most powerful ideas implanted were of entrepreneurship. Secondly I come from a background where all of my family had been into a job, I saw my mother work for 25 years imparting education, helping others, raising kids (including me) but never a time for herself; and also my father who worked for his set of life years and most my uncles and elder cousins, essentially all I grew up with was people working and working hard for money and saving and hoping to retire in peace. Now this was somehow very scary for me, because working for 40 odd years..boy not my cup of tea. I couldn't see myself doing 9-5 for another set 20-30 years.

So, my idea of retirement is time. Working for money is old school now, working for time is the key. The most valuable commodity is time and if I can have more time for myself along with maintaining my lifestyle and for my family is what is I strive for. Now after spending 9 odd years working in a job, I am clear that this path will never lead me to my destination which is when I started to lookout and got a fantastic option and grabbed it immediately (now that requires a separate post).

To cut a long story short, time-freedom is what is most important i.e I should be free to utilize my time my way for what I like which gives me happiness and I should also have the moolah to do what I want. I am not alone in this thought process and there are a lot more, especially these are the best times to break the jinx , follow your dream and make it real and the best way to do that is to think beyond the box (rather cubicle [sic]) !!!