What time freedom is really for

further thoughts on the inestimable value of time freedom

“Time freedom” is a concept about which I've written here and discussed on Two Sides of FI many times. I remain convinced that it is by far the most valuable outcome of retirement, whether at traditional age or early. Not being encumbered by your job, a boss, or all the many aspects of working that tie you to a schedule, is truly freeing. Some of that win is painfully obvious, and falls into the category of the benefits most of us seek - being able to vacation when we want, doing errands on lower volume days and times, and not being tied to an alarm clock. I struggled with that freedom in the earliest days post-retirement, but now I understand and embrace it. Of late I’ve been thinking a lot about one benefit in particular, and that was my inspiration to write today.

Over the years on 2SFI, Eric and I have shared many personal stories, and that often includes discussions about our families. I’ve always been appreciative of just how candidly he has spoken about personal matters, including the health challenges that come with aging family members. More recently, my wife and I have unfortunately had our own causes to become all too familiar with these challenges, with some family members experiencing medical issues. I’m not comfortable going into the details of these matters, but I don’t think that prevents me from sharing my thoughts on the topic in ways I believe will be useful.

I’ll be the first to admit that during my working years, and even during my first few years post-RE, I wasn’t the best about taking advantage of the freedom I had. More specifically, I mean that I could have traveled more often to visit my family, most of whom live across the country from where Lorri and I are based in California. Work provided a convenient excuse - vacation time was of course limited, and we treasure travel, so we tried to always strike a good balance between leisure travel and visiting our families. That’s what all of us do, right?

But since retiring in 2020, though I visited family more often, and for longer durations, I didn’t always give it the priority it deserved. I focused too hard on the financial side of the picture, controlling travel expenses more than was needed in those first few years after retiring early. We eventually increased the travel budget, and also just became more comfortable with the finances of FIRE, and knew occasional overspending wasn’t putting our budget longevity at any real risk. So it became easier. I’ve learned that this transition is pretty normal, so I don’t mean to say we are special for coming to these realizations.

In the past year, the health challenges of our distant family became real. Between things like surgeries and serious medical diagnoses, the need for us to be with our family members more often and for longer times became urgent. And so we responded. And you know what? We didn’t question the time nor the expenses incurred. I’m truly glad for that. What is this time and financial freedom for if not to use those tools to be with and to support those we love?

Both Lorri and I, together and separately, have spent a good deal of time in the air traveling to and from family visits in the past year. We’ve also had the opportunity to help support a family member with a big interstate move. It feels really good to be able to be there for our families when they need us; to support the people who helped get us where we find ourselves in life. It’s not always easy, it can be tiring, and it’s certainly been a whirlwind of emotions all along the way. But irrespective of all the gains we’ve had from our post-RE vacations and experiences, my Camino, etc., none of that compares to being able to use our time and financial freedom to be there for loved ones who can benefit from our support.

One of the most common attributes of the FIRE community is a tenacious focus on planning. The most frequently discussed aspects of the FI journey are all the financial modeling, testing and retesting, and refinement of our plans to achieve our targets, and then successfully draw down those funds to ensure our lives are funded as we intended. But life has a funny way of taking our best-laid plans and inserting unforeseeable events, doesn’t it? No matter how good your plans are, financial or otherwise, there will be events such as these that get tossed into the mix. Having time freedom means that you are able to adapt readily, be where you are needed, and help however you can.

Is there a “downside” to all this? It’s a matter of perspective, I’d propose. Just this morning, Lorri and I were talking about how sometimes it’s hard to look at it as “time freedom” when you feel like your time is all booked up with important obligations. We’re struggling right now to plan a short trip we’d like to take. But just a few breaths later, we discussed how we wouldn’t choose to do otherwise. We are truly grateful to have the financial security and the time available to be there for those we love. We’ll certainly plan those fun trips, even if they’re a little farther out than we’d otherwise do. They’ll happen, and we’ll enjoy them tremendously. Right now, we’re putting effort exactly where we want, and where it’s needed. We are so fortunate to be able to do so, and it’s important to keep reminding ourselves of that.

I hope this post finds you and your families well. Treasure your loved ones and the time we have together. All we have is now. Mahalo 🙏

Photo by Blake Guidry on Unsplash